Happy birthday StatCan!
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Released: 2018-05-24
We love it when Canadians talk about our data, but sometimes prefer to remain in the background. We are statisticians after all.
Today, however, we would like to talk a bit about ourselves. It's our 100th birthday, you see. A century ago today, we were granted the right to ask Canadians questions to better understand our country.
That right came with a heavy responsibility: namely, the duty to protect the confidentiality of our respondents. We have been taking that oath seriously for 100 years now. We promise. Every one of us.
Many Canadians hear about our data through other sources, especially the media. However, media stories often start with us over here at The Daily, where we have been officially announcing new data and products every working day of the year since 1932.
The Daily is the last step in a very long process, involving countless hours and scores of employees throughout the agency and across Canada.
But without question, the most important person in the process is you: that is, every person living in Canada, along with Canadians travelling, living or working abroad. Every time you answer our questions, your voice is expressed through our data.
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing the video "Happy birthday StatCan." Please join agency employees across Canada in celebrating 100 years' worth of questions, and millions upon millions of carefully compiled, confidential and accurate data.
Our story is ultimately about telling your story.
Let's celebrate the day and share our stories on social media using the hashtag #StatCan100.
Over the course of 2018, Statistics Canada will engage with Canadians through a series of commemorative products and activities. To learn more, visit One Hundred Years and Counting.
The Daily: Statistics Canada's conduit to the world
From its humble beginnings as a typewritten fact sheet, Statistics Canada's official release bulletin, The Daily, has matured into an electronic document that is the envy of many a statistical agency around the world.
The first edition of the Daily Bulletin, as it was then known, was published on February 17, 1932. To put that into perspective, R.B. Bennett was Canada's Prime Minister, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic—and the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.
The Daily is arguably Statistics Canada's most important publication. It is agency policy that every new product or data set must be announced to the public through The Daily in one form or another. It is the first line of communication between the agency and the media and public.
The Daily, which is published every working day, in two official languages, has never missed an issue—despite computer viruses, floods, ice storms and blackouts.
The Daily milestones
• Very first issue: February 18, 1932
• First bilingual issue: January 3, 1938
• Last issue published on a Saturday: May 30, 1953
• First time the name changed from Daily Bulletin to The Daily: July 3, 1968
• First electronic issue: June 13, 1995
• First PDF version: April 1, 1996
• The Daily mobile application is unveiled: January 13, 2014
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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