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Statistics Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. S-19)

Full Document:  

Act current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2017-12-12. Previous Versions

Statistics (continued)

Marginal note:Sharing of information

  •  (1) The Minister may enter into an agreement with any department or municipal or other corporation for the sharing of information collected from a respondent by either Statistics Canada or the department or corporation on behalf of both of them and for the subsequent tabulation or publication based on that information.

  • Marginal note:Agreement

    (2) An agreement under subsection (1) shall provide that

    • (a) the respondent be informed by notice that the information is being collected on behalf of Statistics Canada and the department or corporation, as the case may be; and

    • (b) where the respondent gives notice in writing to the Chief Statistician that the respondent objects to the sharing of the information by Statistics Canada, the information not be shared with the department or corporation unless the department or corporation is authorized by law to require the respondent to provide that information.

  • Marginal note:What information may be shared

    (3) Information shared pursuant to this section may, subject to subsection (2), include replies to original inquiries and supplementary information provided by a respondent to Statistics Canada or the department or corporation.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 12
  • 1992, c. 1, s. 130

Marginal note:Access to records

 A person having the custody or charge of any documents or records that are maintained in any department or in any municipal office, corporation, business or organization, from which information sought in respect of the objects of this Act can be obtained or that would aid in the completion or correction of that information, shall grant access thereto for those purposes to a person authorized by the Chief Statistician to obtain that information or aid in the completion or correction of that information.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 13
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 6(F)

Marginal note:Evidence of appointment

 Any letter purporting to be signed by the Chief Statistician or any person who may be authorized to do so by the Chief Statistician that gives notice of an appointment or removal of, or that sets out any instructions to, a person employed in the execution of any duty under this Act is evidence of the appointment, removal or instructions and that the letter was signed and addressed as it purports to be.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 14
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 7

Marginal note:Presumption

 Any request for information purporting to be authorized for the taking of a census or the collection of statistics or other information and presented as such by a person employed in the execution of any duty under this Act is presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have been made by the proper authority.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 15
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 7

Marginal note:Remuneration

  •  (1) The Minister shall, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, cause to be prepared one or more tables setting forth the rates of remuneration or allowances for commissioners, enumerators and other persons employed under this Act, which may be a fixed sum, a rate per diem or a scale of fees, together with allowances for expenses.

  • Marginal note:Condition of payment

    (2) Full remuneration or allowance shall not be paid to any person referred to in subsection (1) for any service performed in connection with this Act until the service required of the person has been faithfully and entirely performed.

  • 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 15

Secrecy

Marginal note:Prohibition against divulging information

  •  (1) Except for the purpose of communicating information in accordance with any conditions of an agreement made under section 11 or 12 and except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act but subject to this section,

    • (a) no person, other than a person employed or deemed to be employed under this Act, and sworn under section 6, shall be permitted to examine any return or identifying information obtained for the purposes of this Act; and

    • (b) no person who has been sworn under section 6 shall disclose or knowingly cause to be disclosed, by any means, any information obtained under this Act in a manner that it is possible from the disclosure to relate the information obtained to any identifiable individual person, business or organization.

  • Marginal note:Exception to prohibition

    (2) The Chief Statistician may, by order, authorize the following information to be disclosed:

    • (a) information collected by persons, organizations or departments for their own purposes and communicated to Statistics Canada before or after May 1, 1971, but that information when communicated to Statistics Canada shall be subject to the same secrecy requirements to which it was subject when collected and may only be disclosed by Statistics Canada in the manner and to the extent agreed on by the collector thereof and the Chief Statistician;

    • (b) information relating to a person or organization in respect of which disclosure is consented to in writing by the person or organization concerned;

    • (c) information relating to a business in respect of which disclosure is consented to in writing by the owner for the time being of the business;

    • (d) information available to the public under any statutory or other law;

    • (e) information relating to any hospital, mental institution, library, educational institution, welfare institution or other similar non-commercial institution except particulars arranged in such a manner that it is possible to relate the particulars to any individual patient, inmate or other person in the care of any such institution;

    • (f) information in the form of an index or list of individual establishments, firms or businesses, showing any, some or all of the following in relation to them:

      • (i) their names and addresses,

      • (ii) the telephone numbers at which they may be reached in relation to statistical matters,

      • (iii) the official language in which they prefer to be addressed in relation to statistical matters,

      • (iv) the products they produce, manufacture, process, transport, store, purchase or sell, or the services they provide, in the course of their business, or

      • (v) whether they are within specific ranges of numbers of employees or persons engaged by them or constituting their work force; and

    • (g) information relating to any carrier or public utility.

  • Marginal note:Definitions

    (3) In this section,

    carrier

    carrier means any person or association of persons that owns, operates or manages an undertaking that carries or moves persons or commodities by any form of land, sea or air transport; (transporteur)

    public utility

    public utility means any person or association of persons that owns, operates or manages an undertaking

    • (a) for the supply of petroleum or petroleum products by pipeline,

    • (b) for the supply, transmission or distribution of gas, electricity, steam or water,

    • (c) for the collection and disposal of garbage or sewage or for the control of pollution,

    • (d) for the transmission, emission, reception or conveyance of information by any telecommunication system, or

    • (e) for the provision of postal services. (entreprise d’utilité publique)

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 17
  • 1992, c. 1, s. 131
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 8

Marginal note:Privileged information — inadmissibility as evidence

  •  (1) Except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act, any return and any identifying information provided to Statistics Canada under this Act and any copy of a return in the possession of a respondent is privileged and shall not be used as evidence in any proceedings.

  • Marginal note:Privileged information — person sworn

    (2) A person sworn under section 6 shall not, by an order of any court, tribunal or other body, be required in any proceedings to give oral testimony with respect to information obtained in the course of administering this Act or to produce any return or identifying information obtained.

  • Marginal note:Application of section

    (3) This section applies in respect of any information that Statistics Canada is prohibited by this Act from disclosing or that may only be disclosed pursuant to an authorization under subsection 17(2).

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 18
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 9

Marginal note:Census — disclosure after 92 years

  •  (1) The information contained in the returns of each census of population taken between 1910 and 2005, as well as the information contained in the returns and the identifying information obtained in each census of population taken in or after 2021, is no longer subject to sections 17 and 18 ninety-two years after the census is taken.

  • Marginal note:Census and survey — disclosure with consent

    (2) The information contained in the returns of each census of population taken in 2006, 2011 and 2016 and the 2011 National Household Survey is no longer subject to sections 17 and 18 ninety-two years after the census or survey is taken, but only if the person to whom the information relates consents, at the time of the census or survey, to the release of the information ninety-two years later.

  • Marginal note:Library and Archives of Canada

    (3) When sections 17 and 18 cease to apply to information referred to in subsection (1) or (2), the information shall be placed under the care and control of the Library and Archives of Canada.

  • 2005, c. 31, s. 1
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 10

Population Census and Agriculture Census

Marginal note:Population census

  •  (1) A census of population of Canada shall be taken by Statistics Canada in the month of June in the year 1971, and every fifth year thereafter in a month to be fixed by the Governor in Council.

  • Marginal note:Counts of electoral divisions

    (2) The census of population shall be taken in such a manner as to ensure that counts of the population are provided for each federal electoral district of Canada, as constituted at the time of each census of population.

  • Marginal note:Decennial census

    (3) A reference in any Act of Parliament, in any order, rule or regulation or in any contract or other document made thereunder to a decennial census of population shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed to refer to the census of population taken by Statistics Canada in the year 1971 or in any tenth year thereafter.

  • 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 18

Marginal note:Agriculture census

 A census of agriculture of Canada shall be taken by Statistics Canada

  • (a) in the year 1971 and in every tenth year thereafter; and

  • (b) in the year 1976 and in every tenth year thereafter, unless the Governor in Council otherwise directs in respect of any such year.

  • 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 19

Marginal note:Census questions

  •  (1) The Governor in Council shall, by order, prescribe the questions to be asked in any census taken by Statistics Canada under section 19 or 20.

  • Marginal note:Publication

    (2) Every order made under subsection (1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette not later than thirty days after it is made.

  • 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 20

General Statistics

Marginal note:General statistics

 Without limiting the duties of Statistics Canada under section 3 or affecting any of its powers or duties in respect of any specific statistics that may otherwise be authorized or required under this Act, the Chief Statistician shall collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistics in relation to all or any of the following matters in Canada:

  • (a) population;

  • (b) agriculture;

  • (c) health and welfare;

  • (d) law enforcement, the administration of justice and corrections;

  • (e) government and business finance;

  • (f) immigration and emigration;

  • (g) education;

  • (h) labour and employment;

  • (i) commerce with other countries;

  • (j) prices and the cost of living;

  • (k) forestry, fishing and trapping;

  • (l) mines, quarries and wells;

  • (m) manufacturing;

  • (n) construction;

  • (o) transportation, storage and communication;

  • (p) electric power, gas and water utilities;

  • (q) wholesale and retail trade;

  • (r) finance, insurance and real estate;

  • (s) public administration;

  • (t) community, business and personal services; and

  • (u) any other matters prescribed by the Minister or by the Governor in Council.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 22
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 11

Marginal note:Coding system for goods

  •  (1) The Chief Statistician shall establish a coding system for goods imported into and exported from Canada to enable the Chief Statistician to collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistics in relation to those goods.

  • Marginal note:Publication in Canada Gazette

    (2) The Coding System shall be published in Part I of the Canada Gazette.

  • 1988, c. 65, s. 146
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 12(F)

Marginal note:Request for information by any method

  •  (1) The requests for information prescribed under section 7 may be made by any method authorized by the Chief Statistician.

  • Marginal note:Duty to provide information

    (2) A person to whom a mandatory request for information is made shall provide the information to Statistics Canada, properly certified as accurate, not later than the time prescribed by the Chief Statistician and indicated to the person or not later than the extended time that may be allowed in the discretion of the Chief Statistician.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 23
  • 2017, c. 31, s. 13

Marginal note:Returns under Income Tax Act

 For the purposes of this Act and subject to section 17,

  • (a) the Chief Statistician or any person authorized by the Chief Statistician to do so may inspect and have access to any returns, certificates, statements, documents or other records obtained on behalf of the Minister of National Revenue for the purposes of the Income Tax Act or Part IX of the Excise Tax Act, and

  • (b) the Minister of National Revenue shall cause the returns, certificates, statements, documents, or other records to be made available to the Chief Statistician or person authorized by the Chief Statistician to inspect the records,

in such manner and at such times as the Governor in Council may prescribe on the recommendation of the Minister and the Minister of National Revenue.

  • R.S., 1985, c. S-19, s. 24
  • 1990, c. 45, s. 54
 

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