The Federal Court of Canada has shot down a francophone group's attempt to stop the federal government from scrapping the mandatory long-form census.

The Federal Court of Canada has ended a francophone group's challenge of the federal government's decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census. ((Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press))

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has faced heavy criticism over its move to make the next federal long-form census voluntary.

The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities applied to the court for an injunction to block the Tories' move, arguing that the mandatory census is critical to language rights and that a voluntary survey will result in less accurate information and affect French-language services.

But in his decision, Federal Court Justice Richard Boivin said he found that the administration method of the 2011 census is not in violation of the Official Languages Act because the act does not state what methodology should be used to get information.

It comes after Graham Fraser, the federal official languages commissioner, said this week he had no power to reverse the government's decision.

The federation's president, Marie-France Kenny, said it is too early to say if the group will appeal Boivin's decision. She said the group's main goal is to make sure the data from the census is reliable.

"We're disappointed that the government's position was that they, the government, might eventually put in measures that would make the data more reliable, but we have yet to hear of any such measures," she said.

In August, Industry Minister Tony Clement, who is in charge of the census, amended the government's plan for the spring 2011 census by adding two questions on languages to the mandatory short-form survey.

But Clement has ruled out further changes, saying Canadians should not be coerced to fill out the census survey with threats of jail time or fines for refusing to divulge personal details to the state. He reiterated on Wednesday that the government has sought a fair and reasonable approach that balances the need for data with the concerns of individual Canadians.

"Look, I would prefer that everyone agrees with everything I do, but that's not the reality in politics," he told reporters in Ottawa.

The Opposition Liberals tabled a private member's bill last week calling on the Conservatives to reinstate the mandatory long-form census.

Munir Sheikh, who was the head of Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency, resigned in July in protest over Clement's suggestions in media interviews that the agency was in favour of the move to scrap the mandatory survey.