Northerners are criticizing the federal government's decision to make the long-form census voluntary. (CBC)

The federal government's move to make the long-form census voluntary is being harshly criticized by government officials and aboriginal groups across the North.

The federal government has said it decided to make the 58-question long forms voluntary because some people object to the longer census as an invasion of privacy.

Participation rates among northerners, particularly disadvantaged northerners and Inuit, will drop dramatically, making it difficult to assess educational, housing and social needs, officials across the North say.

"We'd end up with, you know, challenges with the immigrant population not filling out the forms, potentially First Nations communities not filling out the forms, and people in low income not filling out the forms," said Greg Finnegan, director of the Yukon Bureau of Statistics. "That would be the expected situation. We do a lot of survey work in Canada and the evidence all points to that."

Susie Michael has worked for Statistics Canada in Iqaluit, going door-to-door to help people understand the census forms they were required to fill out.

Many Inuit, especially elders, struggle to fill out the forms and won't do it if it isn't required, she said.

"If the elder is unilingual in Inuktitut, they weren't going to understand these questions. They would, you know, be confused," she said. "They're going to lose a lot of the information that they're looking for."

Nunavut Finance Minister Keith Peterson said the long-form census data is extremely valuable to his government.

"We depend largely on information that they gather to help us shape our policies, programs that we deliver in Nunavut in areas such as the homeless issue, health, education," he said.

The population of Nunavut is 85 per cent Inuit, creating unique circumstances that the long-form census data illuminates, Peterson said.

"I really hope Ottawa changes its mind, has a rethink of this decision," he said.

The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents 50,000 Inuit in northern Canada, also said the data is needed.

A review of the Arctic education systems was prompted by census data that revealed only 25 per cent of Inuit children were finishing high school, Mary Simon said.

While the Northwest Territories government hasn't taken a position on the census, the Opposition has criticized the change, and Bill Erasmus, the regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations has spoken against it.

He would like Statistics Canada and First Nations groups to work together on improving census participation by aboriginal people, because he feels important information relevant to aboriginal people is not being gathered.

"There's an opportunity here," he said. "We need to have some discussion, we need to talk it out. We need to come to an agreement on how to approach this, because as First Nations, very few of our communities fully participate."