Editor, the Times:

I don't want the long-form census questionnaire.

I filled one out 10 years ago and was upset by one particular question.Or rather, the lack of one answer and the targeting of one faith group.

The question was esentially: what faith are you? I scanned down the answers . . . Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim . . . but no Christian! Instead there was a selection of the more common denominations: Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox.

This troubled me as other faith groups didn't receive such attention.

Why should I care? Ask the Muslim-Shiite, Sunni, or consider Rwanda, or Second World War Jewish ghettos. I can see groups using Canada's census data to target certain Christian groups and Census Canada might feel it was 'harmless.' Even if they didn't, I would not trust the security of their computers.

Paula Brown,

Mission