Supplement to Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact Assessment related to the Survey Series on First Nations People, Métis and Inuit

Date: May 2024

Program manager: Director, Centre for Social Data Integration and Development
Director General, Social Data Insights, Integration, and Innovation

Reference to Personal Information Bank (PIB):

Personal information collected through the Survey Series on First Nations People, Métis and Inuit is described in Statistics Canada's "Special Surveys" Class of Personal Information. The Personal Information Bank refers to information collected through Statistics Canada's ad hoc surveys, which are not part of the regular survey taking activities of the Agency. They cover a variety of socio-economic topics including health, housing, labour market, education and literacy, as well as demographic data.

"Special Surveys" Class of Personal Information (Bank number: StatCan PPU 016) is published on the Statistics Canada website under the latest Information about Programs and Information Holdings chapter.

Description of statistical activity:

Under the authority of the Statistics ActFootnote1 , Statistics Canada will be conducting the new voluntary Survey Series on First Nations People, Métis and Inuit (SSFNPMI) as of 2024.

The SSFNPMI is a new panel seriesFootnote2 consisting of three to five surveys, that aims to fill data gaps identified by Indigenous and federal government partners. There are full and partial data gaps for Indigenous peoples on various indicators that fall under social topics such as health care access and experiences, discrimination in a health care setting, impacts of rising prices on food and housing, well-being, emergency preparedness and access to drinking water. Some questions included in the survey may be deemed sensitive, including questions on racism and discrimination in a health care setting, mental health, life satisfaction, food security questions and income. For example, one of the indicators in which there is a data gap is unmet mental health care needs, a quality of life indicator.

The survey series was also developed based on an analysis of indicators that align with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action IR4-8-2015-eng.pdf, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice Final Report | MMIWG, as well as the Canadian Indicator Framework for Sustainable Development Goals The Canadian Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Quality of Life Framework Quality of Life Hub.

The sample units for the survey series are respondents who participated in the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS)Footnote3 . Respondents were asked at the end of the IPS questionnaire to provide their email address or phone number if they agreed to be contacted for participation in future surveys such as panel surveys.

To reduce respondent burden and enhance the analytical value of the data, microdata linkage is performed on the data from the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) with information collected in IPS being linked to microdata for each wave in the survey series. Planned variables to be linked are demographic variables such as sex, gender, sexual orientation, education, and age. These variables will be linked to the Survey Series on First Nations People, Métis and Inuit as it is important to understand barriers to health care access and discrimination for these demographic groups. Statistics Canada's microdata linkage and related statistical activities are assessed in Statistics Canada's Generic Privacy Impact AssessmentFootnote4. All data linkage activities are subject to established governanceFootnote5 and are assessed against Statistics Canada's principles of necessity and proportionalityFootnote6. All approved linkages are published on Statistics Canada's websiteFootnote7.

There is no planned sharing of the microdata for the SSFNPMI. Only non-confidential aggregate statistics and analyses conforming to the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act will be released outside of Statistics Canada. Availability and access to the program data will focus on using existing Statistics Canada access mechanisms such as the Federal Research Data Centre (FDRC), research data centre network (RDC)Footnote8, Real Time Remote Access (RTRA) and Virtual Data Lab (VDL). The data will also be available in aggregated formats via Statistics Canada's website. All data are vetted using standard StatCan data disclosure and confidentiality rules prior to release.

Reason for supplement:

While the Generic Privacy Impact AssessmentFootnote9 (PIA addresses most of the privacy and security risks related to statistical activities conducted by Statistics Canada, this supplement was developed to address the collection and use of sensitive information, combined with sociodemographic and other information collected from the Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS). The sensitive data includes topics such as health care discrimination and access to health care services, trust in institutions, impacts of rising prices, and income. 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 collection and use of personal information for the Survey Series on First Nations Peoples, Métis and Inuit can be justified against Statistics Canada's Necessity and Proportionality Framework:

In addition, the SSFNPMI is designed to allow for distinctions-based analysis of Indigenous Peoples at the national level, which means that the data can be disseminated by First Nations people, Métis, and Inuit distinctly. While other surveys at Statistics Canada may include Indigenous populations in their sample, the results do not always allow distinctions-based analysis at the national level by Indigenous Identity. It is advised, in general, and where possible, to release statistics by First Nations people, Métis and Inuit separately instead of by pan-Indigenous. First Nations, Métis and Inuit are distinct populations with distinct socio-economic and demographic characteristics that are very different from each other. For this reason, using a rapid instrument such as web-panels that target all three groups to that aim to fill specific data gaps is an important tool for helping improve the well-being of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

  1. Necessity: Indigenous peoples are under-represented in a number of national key surveys. The data will serve to provide insights and fill data gaps in the areas of health care access, discrimination in a health care setting, well-being, the impact of rising prices, emergency preparedness and access to drinking water for First Nations Peoples living off reserve, Métis and Inuit. The data gaps were identified by a review of existing Indigenous data, a literature review of Indigenous data gaps in the past 15 years, and based on feedback and discussion with Indigenous and federal partners.

    Ongoing engagement with Indigenous communities, governments, and organizations with Statistics Canada is crucial to ensuring the relevance and necessity of the agency's data collection activities. The SSFNPMI will collect information on sensitive, but important issues for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Some of the data collected will help fill partial or full data gaps on important high level indicators that are used by government for planning and budgeting for all Canadians. It is important that First Nations people, Métis and Inuit are represented in the data. This information will help shed light on inequities and promote fairness and inclusion that will help inform policy and program decisions pertaining to First Nations people, Métis and Inuit.

  2. Effectiveness - Working assumptions: The SSFNPMI will meet the identified objective and need to increase the visibility of Indigenous peoples in Canada's national Statistics. The panel surveys are the most efficient method of identifying this difficult to reach population that builds on data from the IPS and Census. Since the sample for the panel series is respondents from the IPS who agreed to participate in future surveys, the length of each questionnaire is shorter than a traditional survey. Each survey in the panel series is limited to 20 questions since the same set of respondents is surveyed every few months over a course of approximately a year on diverse topics. Furthermore, results for the entire panel series are available within approximately a year, as compared to two to three years for a typical survey, which allows for timely access to results for First Nations, Métis and the Inuit population.

    Each of the surveys in the series have been built to allow for dissemination nationally by Indigenous identity, that is by First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit.

    The variables that will be collected have been identified as data gaps for First Nations people, Métis and Inuit through an analysis of existing data, a literature review on Indigenous data gaps in the past 15 years, and through extensive engagement with Indigenous and federal partners.

  3. Proportionality: The population for this survey consists of 6200 respondents to the Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) who provided their consent to be contacted to participate in future surveys. This sample is assessed as being suitable to meet the survey objective of producing new indicators for which there is little data available for Indigenous people.

    The Centre for Indigenous Statistics and Partnerships (CISP) within Statistics Canada has established an engagement strategy to ensure that the survey content covers important themes that were discussed with federal and Indigenous partners while being culturally sensitive and relevant. National Indigenous partners continue to be engaged in the content development of the surveys in the series (SSFNPMI), and content that raised concerns was revised accordingly.

    As is the practice for all new survey content, the SSFNPMI was tested with First Nations, Métis and Inuit to ensure the questions are relevant, clear, sensitive and appropriate. While it is recognized that some of the questions are sensitive, participants expressed that they were important in bringing awareness to important emerging issues.

    Similar to other panel surveys, many of the sociodemographic personal information elements required for analysis such as age, gender, sexual orientation and education do not need to be collected in the SSFNPMI, as they are available through the planned microdata linkages to the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS). Respondents will therefore not need to transmit the same personal information multiple times to Statistics Canada, thus limiting the scope of information collected to only new required information. The personal information such as age, gender, sexual orientation and education will be added to the SSFNPMI microdata file because it is important to understand barriers to health care access and discrimination for these demographic groups.

  4. Alternatives: Alternative sources for the topics to be collected in the SSFNPMI are not available in other Statistics Canada surveys or administrative data holdings that are specific to First Nations people, Métis and Inuit. Alternative designs to a panel survey such as a traditional survey were considered, but panel surveys offer the best method for new data collection activities for the following reasons:

    1. The sample for this survey series are respondents of the 2022 IPS who have agreed to be contacted again for future surveys, therefore response burden is minimal.
    2. The time it takes from collection to dissemination for all surveys in this series is approximately one year, whereas traditional surveys could take up to 3 years from collection to release, providing almost real-time results.
    3. An analysis of data gaps and a review of existing Statistics Canada data holdings was completed specifically to ensure that data being collected by the SSFNPMI will meet targeted, important data gaps for First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit.

    In addition, the SSFNPMI is designed to allow for distinctions-based analysis of Indigenous Peoples at the national level, which means that the data can be disseminated by First Nations people, Métis, and Inuit distinctly. While other surveys at Statistics Canada may include Indigenous populations in their sample, the results do not always allow distinctions-based analysis at the national level by Indigenous Identity. It is advised, in general, and where possible, to release statistics by First Nations people, Métis and Inuit separately instead of by pan-Indigenous. First Nations, Métis and Inuit are distinct populations with distinct socio-economic and demographic characteristics that are very different from each other. For this reason, using a rapid instrument such as web-panels that target all three groups to that aim to fill specific data gaps is an important tool for helping improve the well-being of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Mitigation factors:

Some questions contained in the SSFNPMI are considered sensitive as they relate to racism and discrimination in a health care setting and the workplace, mental health, life satisfaction, impacts of rising housing and food costs, and income.

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, as well as with some additional measures. These include the following that are of particular importance in the context of this survey:

  • To mitigate the risk of potential sensitivities, respondents will be provided access to a list of mental health resources within the electronic questionnaire as well as on the Information for Survey participants web page. .
  • Respondents will be given the option to skip a question if they do not feel comfortable providing a response.
  • Interviewers will be trained on and have access to information on mental health supports to provide to respondents who show signs of distress triggered by sensitive questions and to provide the option to skip sensitive questions.
  • As for all surveys, respondents will be informed in the invitation email, within the questionnaire and on Statistics Canada's website of the nature of the survey and that participation is voluntary. Respondents will also be reminded in the invitation email that they participated in the IPS and agreed to participate in future surveys. The survey will be made available in the four official languages of Nunavut (Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French), as required by the Nunavut Agreement.
  • Variables that directly identify respondents will be separated from the data files in the first stage of data processing and placed in a secure location with controlled access. Variables that might indirectly identify respondents are examined and modified as necessary in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of respondents. Individual responses will be grouped with those of others when reporting results. Individual responses and results for very small groups will never be published or shared with any outside government department or other organization. Careful analysis of the data and appropriate additional disclosure controls will be performed prior to the publication and sharing of data (in RDCs, etc.) to ensure that marginalized and vulnerable communities are not disproportionally impacted.

Conclusion:

This assessment concludes that, with the existing Statistics Canada safeguards including those listed above, any remaining risks are such that Statistics Canada is prepared to accept and manage the risk.

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 Social, Health and Labour Statistics.

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.

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