Data Liberation Initiative

The Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) is a partnership between post-secondary institutions and Statistics Canada with the goal of improving access to data resources. This user-centric program builds statistical capacity and leadership through microdata access training and support for an ever-expanding research data collection.

This membership-based service offers access to students and faculty to Statistics Canada's Public Use Microdata Files (PUMFs) and Masterfile’s' "0" frequency codebooks. Unlimited access to all microdata and documentation is available through Statistics Canada's Electronic File Transfer (EFT) service and an Internet Protocol (IP) restricted online database with an easy-to-use discoverability tool. Select files are also available free of charge from the Statistics Canada website. Various secondary data providers repackage the select Statistics Canada data on their own research data repositories including Abacus, ODESI and CHASS.

The membership is available to Canadian academic institutions.

Information and resources

Data

Projects and datasets

User community

Participating institutions and contacts

Governance

Committees and documentation

Training and events

Training sessions, user guides, webinars, events

Fees

Costs related to the program

Application process and guidelines

Application process and guidelines

About the access

About the program: what it is, history, benefits

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Contact Information

If you have questions or comments