This section contains detailed information on the department's planned results and resources for its core responsibility. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.
Statistical Information
Description
Statistics Canada produces objective high-quality statistical information for the whole of Canada. The statistical information produced relates to the commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic, environmental and general activities and conditions of the people of Canada.
Planning highlights
Canadians have embarked on a transformational data revolution to become an information-based society. Statistics Canada must lead the way in order to be able to measure and understand the impact of this economic and social transformation as we continue to provide important insights to Canadians. As part of its modernization efforts, Statistics Canada has committed to deliver timely, relevant and high quality statistical data and insights to carry improved relevance to the decisions made every day by Canadian businesses, policy makers, legislators and citizens.
Acknowledging that while many users favour data tables, Statistics Canada is committed to improving access to this crucial information through improved communications such as infographics, visualizations, and through the use of transfer technologies such as Application Programming Interface (API) and improved direct access via regional data centres and through virtual data labs.
Statistics Canada believes that its data holdings will help deliver insights that assist businesses in making import-export decisions; support city planners' location recommendations for housing developments; guide a homebuyer's decision about the neighbourhood they choose to live in; and, provide data to legislators to help them make informed decisions about the national bank rate or the annual value of welfare payments – to name just a few.
In order to support its modernization efforts, and in line with the Government of Canada approach, Statistics Canada is adopting cloud-based infrastructure. Cloud solutions will allow the agency to deliver more timely data to better serve Canadian, researchers and the academic community by providing on-demand access to high volumes of processing and storage capacity for calculation-intensive modeling, simulations and analytics. Cloud services offer the flexibility to maintain information technology services as demand for online services increases and technologies evolve. Statistics Canada is in the planning stages of migrating systems to the secure cloud. Statistics Canada will only migrate protected information once its systems have been deemed secure for cloud services appropriate for sensitive information, as per Government of Canada procedures and processes. Certified and tested Cloud services provide a secure, efficient and cost-effective platform for the agency to migrate its data and business processes. Statistics Canada continues to work closely with the Communications Security Establishment, Shared Services Canada and the Office of the Chief Information Officer of Canada at Treasury Board Secretariat to ensure that the agency continues to adhere to all legal, policy, and regulatory requirements related to data security and privacy.
As part of its modernization strategy, the agency will follow through on its commitment to Canadians to provide more relevant, timely and tailored information while respecting Canadians privacy. It will also ensure that the 2021 Census is conducted successfully by ramping up its regional workforce. Lastly, Statistics Canada will address data gaps in various sectors to help inform government priorities, such as strengthening the middle class, fighting climate change, improving community safety, empowering Indigenous communities by helping build their data capacity, and providing timely information on the opioid crisis and substance abuse.
Statistics Canada continues to look for opportunities to engage with Canadians and stakeholders to ensure trust and confidence. To do so, the agency is working on the following priorities:
- strengthening trust in Statistics Canada and—by extension—its people, methods, services and products
- connecting more Canadians, governments, businesses, academics, associations and other organizations with greater, more frequent and more tailored insights
- establishing new partnerships to increase access to data and enhance the relevance and social acceptability of Statistics Canada's activities, data and insights.
Statistics Canada is modernizing its services to adapt to a changing reality in which data are part of the everyday lives of Canadians. To ensure that it meets the enhanced data-related needs and expectations of Canadians, the agency is working on engaging strategically with Canadians. This means that the agency is working on providing user-centric access to high-quality data, information and insights using modern tools and tailored, comprehensive communications products across the agency.
Statistics Canada's stakeholder engagement approach will make it possible for the agency to design client-centric products, services and technologies and provide existing and future clients with an enhanced user experience. Statistics Canada will develop an engagement strategy to increase awareness and social acceptability by identifying and consulting key target audiences, stakeholders and clients to help prioritize its activities. The agency plans to increase relevance by capitalizing on prior successes and its existing network as well as increasing collaboration with partners, such as chambers of commerce and/or community associations in order to enhance the ability of Canadians to understand the range of products and services that they can already access on Statistics Canada's website, through data service centers around the country, or by contacting its call centres. This engagement also makes it possible for the agency to create a feedback loop with Canadians, which will in turn allow Statistics Canada to identify ways to improve products and services to them.
The agency carries out a wide range of outreach activities with federal government departments, the private sector and academic institutions. Statistics Canada engages with an agency-wide and government-wide community of practitioners to share and facilitate the integration of leading-edge methods and modelling expertise, and foster and expand the agency's capacity for data science and analytics.
In today's digital reality, the need for more targeted, timely and detailed data to support evidence-based policy making continues to grow. The agency is focused on becoming digitally vigilant by capitalizing on new and existing technologies and leveraging data management expertise. The next generation of Application Programming Interface work is underway at Statistics Canada, along with virtual data labs to facilitate data access.
The agency will make it easier for Canadians to find the information needed with a simplified online search experience, by creating topic based portals (e.g., gender and energy) that provide a single point of entry to all data on a particular topic and by migrating to a more modern search engine (Fusion 4.1). We are also improving our communications formats, reaching more Canadians with an increased focus on visualizations and infographics. The website will continue to be used to build awareness of our products and expertise along with increasing trust and improving the agency's recognition across Canada. To ensure that statistical information is available and accessed, the agency provides information on its website in various formats, including data tables, infographics, interactive maps and other data visualization tools. In 2020–21, Statistics Canada plans to offer close to 39,000 data products on its website, as well as 7,450 data tables through the Open Government Portal.
Statistics Canada continues to be a leader in data stewardship, ensuring that high-quality, easily accessible information is delivered to Canadians. The agency will work alongside several government partners so that, collectively, mandates are carried out and stronger outcomes are achieved for Canadians. The agency will develop a common approach to the Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service. Statistics Canada will also increase its transparency while building social acceptance among Canadians.
Statistics Canada will also develop and implement a data science strategy. Progress is already being made in building a quality assurance framework for machine learning applications, including the assessment of algorithms and models, and production monitoring and maintenance. A strategic focus of this work is the advancement of human resource data science initiatives under the people and culture pillar of the government's Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service, which reiterates the importance of establishing an enterprise-level recruitment strategy for data scientists with key skillsets. To support and further this work, a data science community will be initiated at the Government of Canada Data Conference in 2020.
One of the agency's objectives is to entrench the use of the scientific method as the framework for identifying and implementing data science solutions to real business problems within the Agency and across the Government of Canada. To achieve this, the agency will build a data science ecosystem to share knowledge, methods and tools in order to better serve Canadians. The agency will continue to pioneer new and more efficient ways of working, while promoting transparency, trust and quality.
Furthermore, Statistics Canada is developing a new necessity and proportionality framework to better support data collection for producing official statistics that accurately measure Canadian society, the economy and the environment while protecting the privacy of Canadians. Statistics Canada has about 350 active surveys on virtually all aspects of Canadian life. Programs like the Consumer Price Index and the survey of household spending. For such programs to deliver the information Canadians need, data must be collected by Statistics Canada to support essential information needs, such as providing data for indexing old age pensions. This is the principle of necessity. Once necessity has been established, agency methodologists develop data collection strategies for each statistical program while making sure that the appropriate amount of information is gathered for the specified need and to ensure privacy. This is the principle of proportionality.
Statistics Canada is strengthening its governance structure to better respond to an evolving data landscape. The agency will formalize the key executive responsibilities of the Chief Data Officer to complement the Chief Information Officer's role. This will involve carrying out the agency's information management (IM) vision and improving its digital infrastructure. This will modernize the way Statistics Canada manages the information it collects, compiles, analyzes and publishes. The application of the IM vision and principles will also strengthen the agency's approach to protect information in the context of a digital society, and will help foster modernization and the development of new programs and organizations, such as the Canadian Centre for Energy Information
The establishment of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council by the Government of Canada is one of many initiatives that will support Statistics Canada's modernization to provide Canadians with high-quality, timely data and insights in an increasingly digital society. The Council will reinforce the independence and relevance of the national statistical system, and will focus on the overall quality of Canada's statistical system. The Council will continue to assist Statistics Canada with achieving its primary goal of ensuring Canadians and governments continue to have access to a trusted source of statistics and data to meet their information needs while preserving privacy and confidentiality of the data.
The demand for organizational standards is increasing across all sectors of the Canadian economy, and Statistics Canada is working hard to deliver fundamental statistical standards to improve overall data quality, comparability, consistency and efficiency, as well as improve data access modes for Canadians. Increased formal partnerships and collaborative arrangements, such as the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative with broad geographic and sectorial representation, co-led by the Chief Statistician, will identify standards as a means to help support the innovation ecosystem and ensure Canadian companies remain competitive globally.
Delivering the 2021 Census
Through its Census Program, Statistics Canada provides information on the Canadian population and on the country's demographic and economic characteristics. This information is the foundation for public and private decision making, research, and analysis in areas of interest to Canadians. Census results are also used to develop, monitor and fine-tune major government programs and policies. The Census of Population is the primary building block for establishing population estimates that govern the annual allocation of health and social transfers and equalization payments to provinces and territories and for determining the number of electoral districts to ensure fair representation. The census is also crucial to the integrity of the national statistics system, as it is currently the only official data source that provides high-quality population and dwelling counts at low levels of geography, as well as consistent and comparable information on various populations of interest for small geographic areas. This information is essential for meeting various legislative and program requirements.
The 2021 Census of Population will—for the most part—employ the methods, processes and systems used successfully in the 2016 Census. As in past censuses, extensive consultations have been undertaken to help the government decide on the content of the 2021 Census to ensure it remains relevant and meets new information requirements associated with emerging social, environmental and economic issues, while maintaining its overall quality, accessibility and efficiency. Furthermore, the agency is very active in the census community internationally: various consultation activities are being conducted with key countries on specific questionnaire content and on new census approaches and methodologies.
The findings from an operational test (conducted in 2019), which will confirm the approach and planned infrastructure for the 2021 Census cycle, are being used to prepare recommendations for the content of the 2021 Census of Population and will be presented to the government in early 2020. The agency is also working closely with Shared Services Canada to meet information technology (IT) infrastructure service requirements for census systems and set up four regional census centres (RCCs). The RCCs will open in April 2020, followed by the opening of a number of regional field offices in September. The Data Operations Centre, where census returns are processed, will also be operational in summer 2020. The enumeration of northern communities will start in February 2021.
Statistics Canada is continuing to make progress on a long-term research project that involves exploring alternative methodologies for certain aspects of the Census Program while maintaining the quality and relevance of its outputs and preserving the trust of Canadians.
As has been done since 1956, the 2021 Census of Population and 2021 Census of Agriculture will be conducted jointly to streamline procedures and ensure accurate coverage. The Census of Agriculture is the only data source that provides a comprehensive and integrated profile of the physical, economic, social and environmental aspects of Canada's agriculture industry for small geographic areas. Users in the private sector see the Census of Agriculture as an important window on the agricultural industry. Agribusiness evaluates market potential, and makes production and investment decisions based on census data; farm boards and organizations use Census of Agriculture data as a foundation for their discussions with governments and trade organizations. Governments and farm organizations use census data to evaluate the impact of natural disasters on agriculture (such as fires, floods, droughts and storms) and react quickly. Academics base much of their economic analysis of agriculture on data from the Census of Agriculture.
Support for government priorities
Statistics Canada will continue to publish and disseminate its core set of statistics and work to support the government's priorities. As Canada's national statistical office, Statistics Canada is legislated to provide statistics for the entire country and each of the provinces and territories. The federal government has made a strong public commitment to evidence-based decision making, which has made the work of the agency increasingly important.
As a means of ensuring Statistics Canada is in a position to deliver its priorities for statistical products on Canada's housing and living costs, environment and climate change, and opioids and substance abuse crisis, the agency is focusing on the development of a Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) platform which is targeted toward internal and external data scientists, researchers, academics, and policy analysts. DAaaS components will serve as reusable building blocks for business solutions that will enable users to collaborate, access/discover, analyze and visualize key data and microdata using state of the art methods and tools – thus accelerating the timely delivery of these solutions in an efficient and secure manner. In alignment to agile project management and user-centred design practices, features will be iteratively prioritized, designed, developed and tested with the user community and will be released incrementally to leverage ongoing advancements in the analytics domain.
Statistics Canada is developing new products that pull together a wide range of data to shed light on the growing concern over affordability and living costs. Information from a wide range of economic and social data sources, and from traditional surveys to new measures of household sentiment, are being collected and analysed to better understand the vulnerabilities and anxieties facing Canadians. Statistics Canada, in collaboration with Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC), is also looking at a new measure of housing affordability that asks if families have enough income left over, after paying their shelter costs, to afford the basics of food, clothing, transportation and other necessities.
In 2020–21, Statistics Canada will continue to build on its work in developing residential price indexes by data from alternative sources, such as the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), to expand the geographical coverage of these indexes. Furthermore, a number of affordability indicators will be published through the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, which was funded by Budget 2017. These data will be made available through the housing hub—a one-stop shop for housing information that was first released in August 2019.
In 2020–21, Statistics Canada will continue to build on its work in developing residential price indexes by data from alternative sources, such as the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), to expand the geographical coverage of these indexes. Furthermore, a number of affordability indicators will be published through the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, which was funded by Budget 2017. These data will be made available through the housing hub—a one-stop shop for housing information that was first released in August 2019.
Finally, to better understand poverty among various groups and communities within Canada, Statistics Canada will continue to update the Poverty Hub regularly as new data becomes available. This will include the breaking down of data wherever possible by geographic and socio-demographic characteristics, including gender.
The agency is establishing a research program to examine the impacts of climate change mitigation and adaptation in transforming businesses and labour markets across Canada. Statistics Canada is also researching how regional and sectoral economies transition to a low carbon economy and support clean growth, and how workers and Canadians are adapting to the trends. Furthermore, Statistics Canada is currently working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to develop statistics and indicators related to the national Zero-Plastic Waste Strategy and the government's interest in moving toward a circular economy. Statistics Canada will also be releasing new information on the extent and the condition of Canada's ecosystems in the context of climate change and habitat degradation. This work is a first step toward treating ecosystems as key societal assets. The Clean Technology Statistical Framework will continue to expand, including improved data on the use of clean technologies in Canada. In addition, Statistics Canada, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, is developing new approaches to provide trustworthy energy information through the recently created Canadian Centre for Energy Information (CCEI). This purpose of this new program is to provide integrated, independent and reliable energy information to inform decision making related to investments, programs and policies by governments and industry.
Through its new Centre for Social Data Insights and Innovation, Statistics Canada has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing the need for data on substance abuse, specifically on the current opioid crisis and the increasing impacts of crystal methamphetamine use. Statistics Canada will continue to expand its data integration projects into various communities across Canada to help provide meaningful insight and advance the development of evidence-based policy and program interventions for Canadians who are at the greatest risk of substance abuse. Furthermore, Statistics Canada's contribution, which involves expanding public health surveillance, conducting special studies, and redesigning the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database, will improve the availability of and access to public health data. Statistics Canada has called on all coroners and medical examiners to build partnerships and provide a conduit for reliable, timely, comprehensive and comparable information on the circumstances of sudden unexpected deaths in Canada.
Statistics Canada will optimize its governance structure as part of the National Justice Statistics Initiative so that it is better aligned with the key information needs of federal, provincial and territorial policy makers. Through this collaboration, Statistics Canada will update its police-reported crime indicators to address key data gaps on firearms and hate crimes. The agency will also continue to lead data integration work to better understand both offenders and victims who have repeat contact with the justice system. This will make it possible to identify vulnerable and at-risk populations, and study repeat interactions with the justice system as an indicator of recidivism. Furthermore, Statistics Canada will publish key analytical reports on gender-based violence among at risk populations.
In addition, Statistics Canada will continue to engage with the Canadians policing, public safety and a broader range of stakeholders such as health, social services and education partners to develop a Community Safety and Well-being (CSWB) data platform. Developing programs and services to help minimize risk, prevent vulnerability and reduce harm in order to increase community safety and well-being involves many partners. Having trusted information that provides key insights into the factors underlying community safety is a fundamental piece of this multi-partner landscape and a key role of Statistics Canada. Further, the agency will provide new and rich indicators for analyses of populations incarcerated or under community supervision.
The Government of Canada is committed to a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples, based on the recognition of rights, respect, collaboration and partnership. In addition, many Indigenous organizations and communities are requesting access to and ownership of relevant data to develop policies, deliver services, tell their own stories and sustain their own statistical capacity. Statistics Canada is committed to working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations and governments to explore data development and building capacity. Negotiations are on-going to develop new data sources through sharing of administrative data with the end goal of producing custom data products for these organizations and governments. Statistics Canada supports National Indigenous Organizations by sharing resources to build capacity and to facilitate access to data from the Census and the Aboriginal Peoples Survey. Statistics Canada will continue to increase outreach and work with Indigenous communities and organizations across the country to identify data needs.
Furthermore, Statistics Canada, in its engagement efforts, aims to meet the challenges posed by the complex and evolving political and legal contexts of Indigenous statistics. Meaningful engagement better positions Statistics Canada to carry out its mission of providing high-quality statistical information by facilitating its relationships with Indigenous peoples. This requires Statistics Canada to continue to build and maintain relationships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments, communities and organizations.
Statistics Canada will continue to work with National Indigenous Organizations, as well as Indigenous communities and organizations providing statistical capacity building grounded in the needs of Indigenous peoples. The agency has completed an engagement on capacity needs with over 120 organizations and communities and conducted multiple training pilot projects. Based on the engagement and pilot projects a three-year training plan has been developed and implementation of the plan has begun. Three courses will be developed, tested and delivered to Indigenous communities and organizations by March 2020. Further courses will be developed, tested and delivered by March 2021.
Statistics Canada will also establish an Indigenous Advisory Committee to help inform work undertaken by the agency that involves Indigenous statistics. Membership will be identified, a draft terms of reference will be determined, and the first meeting will take place by the end of the 2020/2021 fiscal year.
Statistics Canada works in close partnership with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to undertake the Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS). Content development for the 2022 IPS will begin in partnership with ISC and ESDC in January of 2020. The Nunavut Inuit Supplement (NIS) and Nunavut Government Survey (NGES) will also be further developed in 2020 through consultation with the Nunavut Inuit Labour Force Analysis technical working group which includes members from the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), Pilimmaksaivik, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Statistics Canada.
Digital technology is revolutionizing the way Canadians live, work, and access information, products and services. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and Internet of things has changed the types of jobs and skills required in the workplace today. The adoption of these digital technologies in business and society in general has the potential to positively impact the well-being of Canadians, giving them a greater choice of goods and services and increasing their ability to communicate with one another and their digital devices regardless of their physical location. However, mental and physical well-being can be negatively impacted by the same technology through online victimization, disinformation, and addiction.
Statistics Canada will explore ways to address data gaps related to employment and income earned by Canadians from online platforms, household e-commerce spending, and the purchase of digital products and services. As well, Statistics Canada will examine how digital technology is used in the production process and in cross-border transactions.
Canadian labour markets have experienced shifts for a number of reasons, including demographic change, technological advancements, globalization and climate change. Statistics Canada will continue to assess the changing future of work to take a holistic view of how these diverse and intersecting trends will reshape Canada's labour market. This includes tailoring data to support local-level planning and decision making; producing data on skills supply and demand to enable businesses, workers and students to adapt to changes in the skills required for work; and increasing the granularity and horizontality of data to ensure that policies take into account the intersection between economic, social and demographic issues.
Statistics Canada has played an active role in analyzing the economic, social and health outcomes and contributions of immigrants. The agency will continue to examine these important metrics, throughout the continuum of settlement, integration and inclusion. Statistics Canada's immigration and diversity analysis is also being done in the complex context of the economy's digital transformation and is looking into skill use, innovation and entrepreneurship among immigrants.
Gender-based analysis plus
As a national statistical office, Statistics Canada plays a key role nationally and internationally in supporting gender-based analysis plus (GBA+)—not only in providing data, but also in understanding data gaps and leading data development. Statistics Canada is exercising leadership in supporting federal departments in their commitment to GBA+ through data development and capacity building.
To assist other government departments in building capacity for GBA+, the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics (CGDIS) is involved in the development of the GBA+ premium course for the Canadian School of Public Service and is a very active and regular participant in the panel discussions that take place after each course. In addition, the Centre provides training to federal partners and data users on how to access Statistics Canada data and how to use GBA+ as they develop programs and policies. The Centre will continue to collaborate with other government departments to determine priorities and to support them in the development of their data strategies.
The Centre will be building capacity within Statistics Canada to promote and train Statistics Canada analysts on how to include GBA+ in all stages of data acquisition, survey development, and analysis, ensuring that GBA+ will continue to be an integral part of how Statistics Canada produces and disseminates information.
One of the early initiatives of CGDIS was the development of the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics hub,whichmakes it easier for users to find and analyze a wealth of statistical information related to the evaluation of programs, policies and initiatives from a gender, diversity and inclusion perspective.Over the next year, the hub will be enhanced to provide more information to Canadians on the themes of diversity and inclusion. This will include broader information on intersectionality, such as disability, LGBTQ, Indigenous status (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) and other ethnocultural characteristics, in addition to sex and gender. In partnership with Women and Gender Equality Canada, the Centre will disseminate: the outstanding Gender Results Framework Indicators, current studies using GBA+ as an analytical lens, and enhanced information about national and international GBA+ initiatives. Through the use of data visualization tools, efforts will continue to make the information on the hub easier to access, consult and understand.
The CGDIS will also continue to build and enhance statistical knowledge and literacy and develop government-wide standards for collecting, communicating and disseminating data on gender, sex and other intersecting identities. One such initiative is the development of a new standard on sexual orientation. The standard will be informed by experts in the field from other government departments, academia, community groups and other Canadians. With statistical standards in place for measuring the LGBTQ population, it will make it easier for other government departments to assess the impact of policy and programs on this population and also identify and address data gaps.
United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Statistics Canada is an active and important member of the Inter-agency and Expert Group that has led to the improvement of global indicators. Statistics Canada is working on a unique initiative to produce and publish more disaggregated data for vulnerable groups and increase the availability of data at the city and sub-city levels. In winter 2020, Statistics Canada will publish 17 data visualizations—one for each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)—to highlight Canadian results and the progress made toward each of the SDGs. The data visualizations will also include community spotlights that were developed in collaboration with civil society organizations to highlight their contributions to the SDGs.
Experimentation
Statistics Canada has formally adopted the use of the scientific method as a foundation to its research and development activities. As new needs surface and programs are further developed, it will act as a guiding approach. The agency is devising ways to become faster, more efficient and more responsive to client needs. These efforts are focused on decreasing response burden and increasing the granularity of our data. The following are a few examples.
As part of the Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service, Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) have agreed to conduct a pilot test on the sharing of non-confidential civic addresses. Residential dwelling address data were made available twice in 2019–20 on an experimental basis under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. Statistics Canada and ESDC will engage with other government partners to explore the creation of a national address register based on a national address standard. Sharing validated and standardized addresses could significantly reduce the duplication of work across government programs that rely on timely postal delivery to accurate addresses or that must assign addresses to proper geographic areas.
Statistics Canada is experimenting with the creation of a Social Data Integration Platform (SDIP) which will align survey and data collection methods with the five pillars of (user-centric service delivery, leading-edge methods and data integration, statistical capacity building and leadership, sharing and collaboration, and modern workforce and flexible workplace). This is a new initiative that will lead to the development of new ways to collect and integrate social statistics. The platform will make it possible to integrated administrative data and data collected directly from Canadians. The first initiative for 2020-21 will be to develop a web panel and recruit participants.
The agency, in collaboration with CMHC, is piloting the use of geospatial information, coupled with AI-driven classification methods, to estimate the start of construction for all building types within specific geographic areas. If this pilot project is successful, Statistics Canada will start producing estimates of construction starts for all building types in every geographic region in Canada. This is a lower cost option than using an existing survey, and it will also fill important data gaps with respect to housing developments on reserves and in remote communities, non-residential construction projects (e.g., commercial, industrial and institutional) and other non-residential spending (e.g., infrastructure and mining).
Key risks
To meet Canadians' current and emerging data needs both efficiently and effectively, Statistics Canada continuously monitors its internal and external environment to develop risk mitigation strategies. Statistics Canada has identified a number of risks relating to our core responsibility and has established various strategies for the coming years within this plan. In response, the agency will continue to adapt and evolve its governing instruments and oversight frameworks, as well as proactively engage with Canadians using clear, transparent and proactive communication. It must also continue to invest in robust infrastructure—both technological and methodological—to ensure the reliability, timeliness, scalability and security of its statistics. The identified risks with their mitigation strategies are detailed below:
- Relevance: Growing external demands stemming from continually evolving factors may require changes to ensure the programs are relevant to users.
To mitigate this risk, Statistics Canada launched its modernization initiative in 2017, focusing on user-centric service delivery. The expected results of the initiative are: more timely and responsive statistics; raised awareness of Statistics Canada data, including seamless access to it; effective product and service delivery; reduced response burden; and increased statistical capacity. Statistics Canada is focused on being a leader in the stewardship of the country's data assets by ensuring alignment with key initiatives such as the Statistics Canada Data Strategy and the Government's Data Strategy Roadmap for the Public Service. Further, the agency will increase its statistical capacity by engaging with stakeholders, partners and the public to identify and fill emerging information gaps. - Transformation: The scope and complexity of the objectives associated with the significant transformations under the modernization initiatives may not be fully met and change the users' expectations.
To mitigate this risk, Statistics Canada will continue the progress towards a strong integrated governance structure to provide oversight for the various modernization activities and ensure that priorities, policies and practise are aligned. Specifically, Statistics Canada will explore more open data sources, develop quality indicators, prioritize the implementation of key digital building blocks to enable modernization, continue to identify and address skill gaps, as well as, foster and build relationships with key strategic partners. - Public Trust: The level of public acceptability, trust and confidence may impact the agency's ability to access data from alternative sources which may not effectively address the growing demands of users and Canadians;
To mitigate this risk, Statistics Canada will communicate extensively and increase transparency with Canadians to explain how Statistics Canada impacts their lives, and to raise awareness about the confidentiality and privacy protections in place in the agency. Further, Statistics Canada will ensure effective governance and oversight, engage key partners and stakeholders, test strategies and approaches, and equip managers through effective training and skills development; such as: providing training and awareness for Statistics Canada employees on matters related to the security of classified and designated information. Statistics Canada is working with experts from around the world to balance the needs for information with privacy protection by creating a new necessity and proportionality framework, while also continuing to advance the Trust Centre on the Statistics Canada website. - Accuracy and Integrity: The growing pressures to produce information more quickly, increasingly complex production environments, the expanding use of multiple sources of data and new techniques, and rising demands represent a challenge to maintain the accuracy and integrity of key statistical reports and programs.
To mitigate this risk, Statistics Canada is applying quality management practices for data validation, including performing thorough analyses and systematic validation, developing subject-matter intelligence, implementing process-related improvements, and documenting cases and resulting corrective actions. Further, Statistics Canada is also engaging key stakeholders for validation purposes; testing processes adequately when introducing changes, adopting proper information management practices; and planning and monitoring the utilization of the IT infrastructure. - Strong Privacy Protection: The controls and safeguards in place to securely manage and protect a vast amount of confidential and sensitive information are essential to prevent material breaches and cybersecurity attacks.
In addition to a strong culture and value system, Statistics Canada has oversight, governance instruments and processes in place to mitigate this risk. The agency continues to be proactively vigilant in the following ways: proactively carrying out continuous reviews of procedures and processes with a view to ensuring that information remains fully protected; diligently applying stringent protection measures outlined in governing instruments, such as those defined in the Policy on Official Release; regularly assessing the IT security posture to ensure alignment with the Government of Canada's IT strategy and providing training and awareness for Statistics Canada employees (and relevant partners) on matters related to the security of classified and designated information.
| Departmental results | Departmental result indicators | Target | Date to achieve target | 2016–17 actual result | 2017–18 actual result | 2018–19 actual result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistical information is of high quality | Number of post-release corrections due to accuracy | 0 | March 31, 2021 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Number of international forums of which Statistics Canada is a member | 170-190 | March 31, 2021 | 165 | 168 | 184 | |
| Percentage of international standards with which Statistics Canada conforms | 90%Table note 1 | March 31, 2021 | 85% | 89% | 88% | |
| Statistical information is available and accessed | Number of visits to Statistics Canada website | 19,500,000Table note 2 | March 31, 2021 | 27,501,818 | 26,461,926 | 19,752,776Table note 3 |
| Percentage of website visitors that found what they were looking for | 77% | March 31, 2021 | 77% | 76% | 79% | |
| Number of interactions on social media | 325,000Table note 4 | March 31, 2021 | 2,318,835Table note 5 | 559,709 | 358,673Table note 6 | |
| Number of statistical products available on the website | 38,964 | March 31, 2021 | 31,312 | 33,642 | 35,920 | |
| Number of Statistics Canada data tables available on the Open Data Portal | 7,450 | March 31, 2021 | 6,200 | 7,162 | 6,944 | |
| Statistical information is relevant | Number of media citations on Statistics Canada data | 60,000Table note 7 | March 31, 2021 | 63,510 | 67,539 | 74,657Table note 8 |
| Number of journal citations | 23,000 | March 31, 2021 | 20,032 | 23,903 | 22,176 | |
| Percentage of users satisfied with statistical information | 80% | March 31, 2021 | Not availableTable note 9 | 79% | 80% | |
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Financial, human resources and performance information for the Statistics Canada's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.
| 2020–21 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) |
2020–21 planned spending | 2021–22 planned spending | 2022–23 planned spending |
|---|---|---|---|
| 661,506,812 | 661,506,812 | 833,218,102 | 560,266,271 |
| Note: Main Estimates, Planned spending and Full-time equivalents figures do not include Budget 2020 announcements. More information will be provided in the 2020–21 Supplementary Estimates and Departmental Results Report, as applicable. | |||
Financial, human resources and performance information for the Statistics Canada's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.
| 2020–21 planned full-time equivalents | 2021–22 planned full-time equivalents | 2022–23 planned full-time equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| 5,800 | 6,102 | 5,255 |
| Note: Main Estimates, Planned spending and Full-time equivalents figures do not include Budget 2020 announcements. More information will be provided in the 2020–21 Supplementary Estimates and Departmental Results Report, as applicable. | ||
The change in planned resources from 2020–21 to future years relates largely to the cyclical nature of the Censuses Program, for which activities peak in 2021-22 and will begin to wind down in 2022-23. Statistics Canada is expecting to maintain its capacity in future years for the delivery of ongoing statistical programs, with no significant shifts in resources. New initiatives from Budget 2019 are also reflected in all three years; Strengthening Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime and the New Anti-Racism Strategy.
Financial, human resources and performance information for Statistics Canada's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.