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

Statistics

Marginal note:No discrimination

• 9 (1) The Governor in Council, the Minister and the Chief Statistician shall not, in the execution of the powers conferred by this Act, discriminate between individuals or companies to the prejudice of those individuals or companies.

• Marginal note:Use of sampling methods

  (2) Despite any other provision of this Act, the Chief Statistician may authorize the use of sampling methods for the collection of statistics.

Marginal note:Arrangements with provincial governments

• 10 (1) The Minister may enter into any arrangement with the government of a province providing for any matter necessary or convenient for the purpose of carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and in particular for all or any of the following matters:

  • (a) the execution by provincial officers of any power or duty conferred or imposed on any officer pursuant to this Act;

  • (b) the collection by any provincial department or provincial officer of any statistical or other information required for the purpose of this Act; and

  • (c) the supplying of statistical information by any provincial department or provincial officer to the Chief Statistician.

• Marginal note:Provincial officers

  (2) All provincial officers executing any power or duty conferred or imposed on any officer pursuant to this Act, in pursuance of any arrangement entered into under this section, shall, for the purposes of the execution of that power or duty, be deemed to be employed under this Act.

Marginal note:Agreements with provincial governments

• 11 (1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council and subject to this section, enter into an agreement with the government of a province for the exchange with, or transmission to, a statistical agency of the province of

  • (a) replies to any specific statistical inquiries;

  • (b) replies to any specific classes of information collected under this Act; and

  • (c) any tabulations and analyses based on replies referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).

• Marginal note:Type of statistical agency

  (2) An agreement with a province for the purposes of this section shall apply only in respect of a statistical agency of the province

  • (a) that has statutory authority to collect the information that is intended to be exchanged or transmitted pursuant to the agreement from a respondent who is subject to statutory penalties for refusing or neglecting to furnish information to the agency or for falsifying information furnished by him to the agency;

  • (b) that is prohibited by law from disclosing any information of a kind that Statistics Canada, its officers and employees would be prohibited from disclosing under section 17, if the information were furnished to Statistics Canada; and

  • (c) whose officers and employees are subject to statutory penalties for the disclosing of any information of the kind described in paragraph (b), subject to exceptions authorized by law that are substantially the same as those provided under section 17.

• Marginal note:Non-application of agreement

  (3) Except in respect of information described in subsection 17(2), no agreement entered into under this section applies to any reply made to or information collected by Statistics Canada or an agency of the government of a province before the date that the agreement was entered into or is to have effect, whichever is the later date.

• Marginal note:Informing respondent

  (4) Where any information in respect of which an agreement under this section applies is collected by Statistics Canada from a respondent, Statistics Canada shall, when collecting information, advise the respondent of the names of any statistical agencies in respect of which the Minister has an agreement under this section and to which the information received from the respondent may be communicated under that agreement.

Marginal note:Sharing of information

• 12 (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.

Marginal note:Access to records

13 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.

Marginal note:Evidence of appointment

14 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.

Marginal note:Presumption

15 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.

Marginal note:Remuneration

• 16 (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.

Secrecy

Marginal note:Prohibition against divulging information

• 17 (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)

Marginal note:Privileged information — inadmissibility as evidence

• 18 (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).