What are the laws on confidentiality?
The Statistics Act (opens in a new window) specifically requires that information about individuals be protected and kept strictly confidential. The federal Privacy Act (opens in a new window) also protects personal information held by Statistics Canada.
Statistics Canada has strict rules to safeguard all its data holdings, and these rules meet or exceed the requirements of the Statistics Act and the Privacy Act.
All Statistics Canada employees take an oath under the Statistics Act to protect your information. The oath is valid even after their employment has ended and is accompanied by penalties that include fines and imprisonment.
How is confidentiality ensured when my census questionnaire is completed online?
Statistics Canada takes great precautions to protect your information and employs technologies and practices to ensure that its strict security and confidentiality requirements are met.
Access to a dwelling's online questionnaire is restricted by a unique 16-digit secure access code.
Encryption technologies ensure that the transmission of information passing between respondents' computers or mobile devices and the agency's web server meets the required standards of security.
Census data are processed and stored on a high-security network. Firewalls, intrusion detection systems and access control procedures limit access to computer systems and databases.
For more information, please refer to Statistics Canada's Trust Centre (opens in a new window).
How does Statistics Canada ensure the confidentiality and security of information collected?
Statistics Canada places the highest priority on protecting your privacy as well as maintaining the confidentiality and security of completed questionnaires. Your answers are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act (opens in a new window) and are kept strictly confidential.
To learn more about the confidentiality of your questionnaire, visit Protecting your privacy.
Who sees completed questionnaires?
Completed questionnaires are seen only by Statistics Canada employees who need to access them as part of their duties.
All census employees must go through a screening process and be granted security clearance before they are hired. Mandatory background checks are required, including a credit check and a name-based criminal record check completed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
All census employees must take an oath of secrecy under the Statistics Act (opens in a new window) to never reveal to unauthorized persons any information collected in confidence by Statistics Canada. This oath remains in effect for life—even after employment has ended.
Are there any privacy concerns with the use of cloud technology?
Information stored on Statistics Canada's cloud infrastructure platform is secure.
The Government of Canada cloud infrastructure platform and the private network between them have all been assessed and authorized by the Government of Canada to transmit, store and process personal identifiable information.
Strict authentication and authorization controls restrict access to the private network. Statistics Canada keeps track of who accesses applications and services and logs their activity for future audits and reporting.
Does Statistics Canada sell individual census data?
No. The Statistics Act (opens in a new window) prohibits the use of census data for non-statistical purposes and requires that the collected information be kept strictly confidential. Statistics Canada is bound by law to protect the identity of individuals in all published data.
Statistics Canada will never release names, addresses or email addresses, and they will never be given or sold to any individual or organization or put on any mailing lists.
The public has access to historical records. Isn't this a breach of confidentiality?
In accordance with the Statistics Act (opens in a new window), census information is released to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) after 92 years. Once released to LAC, census information is no longer confidential under the Statistics Act and is available to the public. Researchers, historians and genealogists require this information to conduct research and help us better understand our past and, therefore, better build our future.