Inside the world of Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada has no written statement on its mission beyond what is said in the opening of the Statistics Act. Yet, a common understanding of the Agency's values is remarkably pervasive among its staff. The Agency's values are the guiding principles behind the work of all employees and the decisions of the Chief Statistician. Indeed, Dr. Fellegi, the current Chief Statistician, said it very clearly when he took office in September 1985:

Statistics Act states that our mandate is:

• to collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistical information relating to the commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic and general activities and condition of the people;
• to collaborate with departments of government in the collection, compilation and publication of statistical information, including statistics derived from the activities of those departments;
• to take the Census of Population of Canada and the Census of Agriculture of Canada as provided in this Act;
• to promote the avoidance of duplication in the information collected by departments of government; and
• generally, to promote and develop integrated social and economic statistics pertaining to the whole of Canada and to each of the provinces thereof and to coordinate plans for the integration of those statistics.

Ensuring objectivity

In this sense, Statistics Canada makes a fundamental contribution to the functioning of Canada's democratic system. The government and its political opposition can argue about their conflicting views on policy while agreeing on the underlying basic information. And the electorate can judge the performance of a government on the basis of its 'score card', a good portion of which is based on information compiled by Statistics Canada.

In collecting information from thousands of Canadian individuals and organizations, Statistics Canada has always put the highest priority on protecting the confidentiality of individual respondents' answers. Indeed, with few exceptions, it is mandatory to respond to surveys collected under the Statistics Act. For its part, Statistics Canada is also obliged by law to ensure that individual answers are fully confidential. No other government agency, not even the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is allowed access to individually identifiable responses.

Professionalism and reliability

Statistics Canada prides itself on the objectivity of the information it produces. But for its information to be considered authoritative, it must be reliable and its users must be persuaded that it was compiled in a thoroughly professional fashion. Statistics Canada has gone a long way in promoting reliability and professionalism. Many organizations across the world have given Statistics Canada the ranking of one of the top statistical agencies in the world.

Focusing on analysis

As Statistics Canada accentuated its analysis in the mid-1970s, the importance of this activity in disseminating data has grown. Analysis also plays a role in ensuring the relevance of the Agency's programs and priorities and improving its communications with users. In the words of Canada's Chief Statistician, Dr. Fellegi:

Reducing the response burden

Statistics Canada has always been conscious of the burden its surveys impose on respondents, particularly small businesses.

In a special initiative begun in 1978, as part of a government wide activity, the Agency reduced the number of business questionnaires by 15% from 738 to 628, and shortened or simplified 50 other questionnaires. Overall, the number of forms mailed to Canadian businesses was slashed by 38%, from 4.5 million to 2.8 million.

Today, Statistics Canada takes pride in the fact that overall business response burden has decreased by an incredible 67% since 1978 and that burden on small business has decreased by 71%.