OTTAWA—The Conservative government’s decision to eliminate the long-form census is being challenged again in court.

Lawyers for a coalition of aboriginal organizations and chiefs from Atlantic Canada will argue Monday in Federal Court in Halifax that the decision violates their Charter rights.

They also argue that changes to questions about ethnicity and ancestry will make it difficult for the government to discharge its constitutional duties to aboriginal peoples.

The Harper government cut the mandatory long-form census over the summer, and replaced it with a voluntary survey.

They argued that they were striking a balance between the need for reliable data and the right of Canadians to refuse to divulge their personal information.

The 2011 short-form census — with its basic questions about gender, date of birth and language — will remain mandatory, with the threat of fines for non-responders.

The aboriginal groups would like the court to issue an injunction stopping the new National Household Survey as well as stopping any steps that would make it harder to bring back the long-form census.

They ask that the court direct the government to reinstate the long-form census, or else insert questions about aboriginal ancestry into the mandatory short-form census.

A previous court challenge by a francophone organization failed when a Federal Court judge ruled against the argument that the long-form census was the only reliable source of information about minority French-speaking communities.

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