A woman recorded a video confronting an alleged Satistics Canada employee for entering her home without permission. (Courtesy: 604RAW/X)
A viral video has surfaced of a woman furiously calling out a Statistics Canada employee for allegedly entering her home without permission while attempting to get her to complete a census questionnaire.
The interaction got heated as the woman was shocked and enraged to see the employee at the open doorway inside of her home and repeatedly told her to leave.
“Why are you in my house? This is breaking into my house,” the homeowner can be heard saying in the video.
The employee eventually exited the house but the homeowner continued to argue the fact that it is illegal for someone to enter a private residence without permission.
“I knocked on the door,” said the alleged Statistics Canada employee in the video.
The deadline to have your household census submitted was in May of this year but residents are still able to submit late. However, Statistics Canada employees do make non-response follow-ups and phone calls, as well as in-person visits throughout the summer.
Not filling out a census or refusal to do so could result in a fine or criminal prosecution as it’s required by federal law.
In the video, the homeowner stated that she did not want to fill out the census out of fear that her information would be sold or shared.
The incident has also sparked mixed reactions, as some believe that this looks like an honest mistake from the employee, and others think that mistake or not, entering someone’s home without their consent is completely unacceptable.
“I did that once. I knocked on the door and I walked inside thinking it was an apartment hallway cause the door was open and I saw stairs so I thought I had to go up. Accidents happen,” said a user on The Brandon Gonez Show post.
“Sorry y’all just bc [because] she talking in a calm voice doesn’t mean she’s not in the wrong. Would you walk in someone’s house to knock on the second entry door? Prob not,” said another user.
One person is also finding it strange that an employee at Statistics Canada would not be carrying some sort of identification so that they can be verified that they are working there.
“Why would census Canada employees go around without ID and some kind of visible indication showing that they work for census canada? No uniform or ID tag. Something seems strange about this video,” the user wrote.
The Brandon Gonez Show reached out to Statistics Canada for comment regarding the incident, but had not received a statement at the time of publication.
While all the circumstances of the heated encounter remain unconfirmed at this time, the video has prompted conversations about consent, privacy and public trust during census collection efforts.
