Date: July 2022
Program manager: Director, Investment Science and Technology Division (ISTD)
Director General, Economy-wide Statistics
Reference to Personal Information Bank (PIB)
In accordance with the Privacy Act, Statistics Canada is submitting a new institutional personal information bank (PIB) to describe any personal information about businesses' primary decision makers collected voluntarily at the end of mandatory business surveys for the purposes of the Statistics Act, such as the Survey of Advanced Technology (SAT) and the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy (SIBS). The following PIB is proposed for review and registration.
Sociodemographic Information on Business Primary Decision Makers
Description: This bank describes personal information that relates to business' primary decision makers collected voluntarily at the end of mandatory business surveys. Personal information may include gender, sexual and gender diversity, Indigenous Peoples, visible minority, persons with a disability, citizenship and immigration status, education and age group.
Class of Individuals: Primary decision makers of businesses that participate in business surveys.
Purpose: The personal information is used to produce statistical data that help shed light on various gaps in the economy for a variety of minority groups, and serves to inform evidence-based decisions on funding and support for specific groups of businesses. Personal information is collected pursuant to the Statistics Act (Sections 3, 7, 8).
Consistent Uses: When collected from the primary decision maker directly and with their informed consent, this sociodemographic personal information may be shared with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data, and as permitted under the provisions of Sections 11 or 12 of the Statistics Act.
Retention and Disposal Standards: Information is retained until it is no longer required for statistical purposes and then it is destroyed.
RDA Number: 2007/001
Related Record Number: To be assigned by Statistics Canada
TBS Registration: To be assigned by TBS
Bank Number: StatCan PPU 166
Description of statistical activity
The Survey of Advanced Technology (SAT) and the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy (SIBS)are mandatory business surveys conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act. The data collected on the surveys covers the adoption, use, development and barriers to adoption of various advanced technologies as well as business innovation and strategy. Due to the need for more disaggregated data in terms of what types of companies are falling behind and require support in technology adoption and innovation, a section was added to the 2022 reference year surveys on the characteristics of the primary decision-maker of the business, which is voluntary for the respondent to answer.
These two survey questionnaires should be completed by the primary decision-maker or the person most familiar with advanced technologies or innovation. This person could be the entrepreneur, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), senior manager, Chief Information Officer (CIO), operations manager or anyone else in an equivalent position in the enterprise. Depending on the company size, the primary decision-maker could be the majority owner, chairman of the board of directors, or general manager of this business. The respondent will be asked to confirm if they are the primary decision maker. In some cases, the primary decision-maker may not be the respondent of the survey; therefore, the respondent is answering these questions to the best of their knowledge.
- Gender (Male, female, another gender)
- Sexual and gender diversity (e.g. Identifies as LGBTQ2+)
- Indigenous Identity (First Nations, Métis, Inuk (Inuit))
- Visible Minority
- Persons with a disability
- New Canadian
- Highest level of education (only for SAT)
- Age group (10-year bracket) (only for SAT)
All of these questions in this section are voluntary and have the option of "Don't know" as a response. In addition, these voluntary questions will not be shared as microdata with any organizations outside of Statistics Canada.
The questions have been adapted in collaboration with the Harmonized Content team at Statistics Canada to meet the needs of our business survey. Harmonized content modules contain standard concepts, definitions, classification and wording for multiple collection modes. These questions will shed light on the gaps in the adoption and use of advanced technologies as well as gaps in business innovation for a variety of minority groups. This would allow government departments to make evidence-based decisions on funding and support for specific groups of businesses.
Reason for supplement
While the Generic Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) addresses most of the privacy and security risks related to statistical activities conducted by Statistics Canada, this supplement is required because these are business surveys that will collect personal information about the primary decision-maker of the business, such as gender, sexual and gender diversity, ethnicity, age group and level of education of an individual indirectly from the respondent business survey contact. As is the case with all PIAs, Statistics Canada's privacy framework ensures that elements of privacy protection and privacy controls are documented and applied.
Necessity and Proportionality
The Survey of Advanced Technology and the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy will collect information on the characteristics of the business's primary decision-maker, such as gender, sexual and gender diversity, ethnicity, age group and level of education. This personal information is provided by a respondent who may or may not be the primary decision-maker. A question will be asked to confirm if the business respondent is the primary decision maker at the end of the personal information section. The collection of the characteristics of the business's primary decision-maker can be justified against Statistics Canada's Necessity and Proportionality Framework:
1. Necessity
In the 2021 Federal budget, Statistics Canada received funding to produce disaggregated data to identify how minority groups fare compared to their non-minority counterparts. Stakeholders, such as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), have further expressed a need to understand whether businesses owned by minority groups or whose primary decision maker is part of a minority group perform differently than their non-minority counterparts.
The collection of the characteristics of the business's primary decision maker would benefit Canadians as it would allow light to be shed on the gaps in the adoption and use of advanced technologies and in business innovation for a variety of businesses led by minority groups. This would allow government departments to make evidence-based decisions on funding and support for specific groups of businesses.
2. Effectiveness - Working assumptions
The characteristics of the business's primary decision-maker are collected with a sample of about 13,000 enterprises for SAT and 15,000 enterprises for SIBS. This is the first time this information will be collected for either surveys. The response to these personal information questions is voluntary. Prior to collection, a pre-contact process will be administrated to maximize the probability that the selected respondent for the survey is the primary decision-maker of the business. In some cases, the primary decision-maker may not be the respondent of the survey; therefore, the respondent is answering these questions to the best of their knowledge. The personal information that will be collected includes gender, sexual and gender diversity of the primary decision-maker, as well as if the primary decision-maker identifies as First Nations, Métis or Inuk, if they are a visible minority, have a disability or are a new Canadian. The majority of the questions are written in a Yes/No format. The highest level of education and the age group of the primary decision-maker is also included in this section. The respondent has the option to select the response "Don't know" for all questions.
The purpose of these questions is to disaggregate data related to Canadian businesses whose primary decision maker belongs to a minority group. It is important to note that there will be no statistics published relating to the count or proportion of business owners by these categories (e.g. number or Percentage of businesses whose primary decision-maker is indigenous). Rather, these variables will be used to stratify the data and produce estimates on technology adoption and business innovation by these categories.
3. Proportionality
The data collected will allow government departments to understand the gaps in the adoption and use of advanced technologies as well as gaps in business innovation for a variety of businesses led by minority groups. This would allow government departments to make evidence-based decisions on funding and support for specific groups of businesses which is a priority for the federal government.
With the growing need to understand how minority groups are faring in business, business surveys are looking to adopt these questions, as they are part of the standards developed by the Disaggregated Data Action Plan's Standards Working Group. The questions have been adapted in consultation with the Harmonized Content team at Statistics Canada.
In the section related to the characteristics of the primary decision-maker, the respondent is provided with the response category "Don't know" for all questions. The majority of the questions are written to gather a Yes or No response.
The survey does not ask for the personal identifiers of the business's primary decision-maker (e.g. Name, job title or position). Also, its sample size has been determined to be the smallest possible in order to achieve the objectives.
4. Alternatives
The Survey of Advanced Technology and the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy are mandatory business surveys using the Business Register as the frame. In the 2022 reference year, a new section is added to collect the characteristics of the primary decision-maker, which is voluntary. Alternatives mode of collection of the personal information includes:
- Direct collection from the business's primary decision maker through additional screening questions – however, this may limit the response rate and compromise the ability to produce statistics by these minority groups
- Linking these characteristics via other surveys or admin files – however, this process is long and complex. The only dataset that has these types of characteristics data is the Census and only a portion of Canadians were asked to respond to the long-form questionnaire where these questions were asked. Thus, the linkage rate will be fairly low.
Mitigation factors
Some questions contained in the Survey of Advanced Technology and the Survey of Innnovation and Business Strategy are considered sensitive as they include health data (disability), ethnic and racial origins and sexual orientation information. The primary decision-maker may not be the respondent of the survey, so the respondent is answering these questions to the best of their knowledge about the primary decision-maker's demographic characteristics. A question will be asked to confirm if the business respondent is the primary decision maker at the end of the personal information section. Thus, the section with these questions is made voluntary and the overall risk of harm to the survey respondents has been deemed manageable with existing Statistics Canada safeguards that are described in Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment. The respondent also has the option to select the response "Don't know" for all questions. In addition, these voluntary questions will not be shared as microdata with any organizations outside of Statistics Canada.
Conclusion
This assessment concludes that the overall risk of harm to the survey respondents has been deemed manageable with existing Statistics Canada safeguards that are described.
Formal approval
This Supplementary Privacy Impact Assessment has been reviewed and recommended for approval by Statistics Canada's Chief Privacy Officer, Director General for Modern Statistical Methods and Data Science, and Assistant Chief Statistician for the Enterprise Statistics Field.
The Chief Statistician of Canada has the authority for section 10 of the Privacy Act for Statistics Canada and is responsible for the Agency's operations, including the program area mentioned in this Supplementary Privacy Impact Assessment.
This Privacy Impact Assessment has been approved by the Chief Statistician of Canada.