The government of Nunavut opposes the new census.
Peterson said the Nunavut government needs information gleaned from the long form so it can plan how to spend millions of dollars every year on new housing construction. Nunavut has the highest rate of overcrowding — more than one person per bedroom — in the country, at nearly four times the national average.
The census information, Peterson said, helps guide decisions about what kind of housing to build to combat such issues. “To me, that’s valuable information we would have at our fingertips.”