Transcript of the audio-visual presentation We are Statistics Canada

Section 1

On a daily basis you will hear, see or read Statistics Canada reports on the state of our economy and our social fabric. Statistics on health, literacy and crime makes front-page news as we help monitor the tremendous changes happening in our country.

All our programs begin with an information need… like child care requirements or the social and economic implications of an aging population or the competitiveness of Canadian industries.

By keeping in touch with our clients and stakeholders, we ensure programs are relevant to emerging information needs. In fact, Statistics Canada works in partnership with all sectors of government, the economy and society to identify and fulfil the information requirements of today and tomorrow.

The information produced by Statistics Canada is encyclopedic-a literal A to Z of every aspect of Canadian life and economy.

Statistics Canada's data collection include major themes such as:

Agriculture, Environment, Health, Manufacturing, Prices, Primary industries, Social conditions, and Travel and Tourism.

From these themes, we generate hundreds of publications and hundreds of thousands of data sets.

Every five years the Census provides us with an updated national portrait. Our work life, family structure, ethnicity and even our housing are redrawn to show what we look like today.

Information from Statistics Canada influences everything from government policy, to the location of schools and corner stores, to the investment patterns of the financial sector.

Behind the deceptively simple numbers in the evening newscast lies our state-of-the-art computing technology and expertise in survey methodology and statistical methods.

Section 2

While some of our information comes from existing administrative data, most is collected through businesses and household surveys.

That makes our survey respondents, our most valuable asset. And we make two fundamental commitments to them.

First, to protect the confidentiality of information provided to us. And second, to find innovative ways to reduce the time spent completing the surveys.

Survey results become reliable information. Statistics Canada is a world leader in developing innovative statistical methods.

We are guided by the fundamental values of confidentiality, accuracy, objectivity and timeliness-and we know that useful statistics must have no political bias.

Section 3

Delivery of the statistical results is the final but most vital stage of the statistical process to the end user.

The information is held secret until its Official release in our Internet publication, The Daily. By the end of the day, the information is spreading to all Canadians through the media and via our regional office toll-free telephone lines.

The Internet allows for instant publication of statistical reports. These reports are also available in electronic format.

CANSIM II, our social and economic database, is accessible from our Web site and through private-sector online computer services. Data packaged on diskette and CD-ROM are also made available for users wanting offline access to our data.

Informing Canadians about the information we produce starts with the education system. Through a long-standing program of education outreach, Statistics Canada has been introducing statistical concepts to school age children.

In fact, our data is now a growing addition in the Canadian school curriculum.

Section 4

Like Canada, Statistics Canada actively participates in the global community. Our technical assistance program helps developing countries establish solid statistical systems.

The United Nations and European agencies have adopted many of our models and methods as the standard for information development across borders.

Recognition of the world-class quality of our statistics marked the beginning of the 1990s for Statistics Canada, and it continues into the new millennium. Building on that trend, we continue to meet Canada's changing information needs and the challenge of reporting the new trends emerging in Canadian society and economy.

We are Statistics Canada