Confidentiality and privacy

Statistics Canada takes your confidentiality very seriously. Under the Statistics Act, all information provided to Statistics Canada will be kept confidential, and used only for statistical purposes. We do not release any information that could identify individuals or households without their consent.

Statistics Canada also cares about the privacy of its respondents. If a respondent knows the interviewer and is uneasy about giving personal information to that person, he or she can be interviewed by another Statistics Canada employee.

Your answers are confidential

The Statistics Act protects respondents' information. This information cannot be disclosed without the respondent's consent or as authorized by the Statistics Act.

The Statistics Act contains very strict confidentiality provisions that protect collected information from unauthorized access. Agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency, the RCMP and the courts do not have access to individual survey responses.

All Statistics Canada employees take an oath of secrecy and face severe penalties for any breach of confidentiality.

Access is strictly controlled

All Statistics Canada employees are responsible for ensuring the security of confidential information. Only employees who need to view confidential files as part of their duties are authorized to access them. A network of physical security systems and procedures protects confidential information against unauthorized access.

An important element of Statistics Canada's security system is the electronic protection of survey data stored in computer databases. Confidential data are stored and processed on an internal network that has no physical connection with external networks. This prevents any possible access by outside "hackers."

Confidentiality is ensured before data can be released

Statistics Canada takes special care to prevent published statistics from being used to derive information about a particular company. The Agency carefully screens final results before releasing them to ensure the confidentiality of published information.