Supplement to Statistics Canada’s Generic Privacy Impact Assessment related to the 5th wave of the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Social Cohesion and Experiences of Discrimination (SSPC-SCED)

Date: March 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 People and their Communities 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 is conducting Wave 5 of the voluntary Survey Series on People and their CommunitiesFootnote2 – Social Cohesion and Experiences of Discrimination (SSPC-SCED). This iteration of the survey will be collecting new content about the respondents’ future outlook in Canada, feelings towards others and experiences of discrimination with a focus on immigrants’ and racialized peoples’ experiences, in addition to information about self-perceived general and mental health and financial well-being. This sensitive content, in conjunction with the longitudinal nature and linkages with responses in the previous waves and the Census, warrants the development of this supplement to the Generic PIA in order to assess, describe and mitigate any potential associated privacy risks.

Reason for supplement:

As with the Supplement to the Generic PIA for the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Participation and Experiences in Community Sports (Wave 4), 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 was developed to address the collection and use of sensitive new content in Wave 5 of this survey series that includes information about respondents’ feelings towards others and their experiences with unfair treatment, racism and discrimination, combined with sociodemographic and other information collected from prior survey series waves. 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 Wave 5 of the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Social Cohesion and Experiences of Discrimination (SSPC-SCED) can be justified against Statistics Canada’s Necessity and Proportionality FrameworkFootnote 3:

  1. Necessity:

    The fifth wave of the SSPC addresses issues such as self-perceived general and mental health, financial well-being, satisfaction with time use and satisfaction with the local environment, which contribute to several key indicators on the well-being of people in Canada in Canada’s Quality of Life Indicator Framework and will enable the federal government to identify future policy priorities and build on previous actions to improve evidence-based decision-making.

    The fifth wave also includes several questions related to social cohesion and other similar concepts (e.g., social inclusion and social connectedness) that indicate the relative strength or weaknesses of the bonds between societal members with emphasis on inter-group or between-group interconnectedness. The between-group aspect of social cohesion is the focus of the Conference of European Statisticians’ (CES) Task Team on Social Cohesion. Cohesion represents the act or state of sticking together tightly, highlighting the bond or the distance between two units. In social terms, the distance between groups may be defined in various ways, such as trust of out-of-group members (members of different sociodemographic/economic groups than the individual), feelings toward out-of-group members, and opinions and values relative to out-of-group members. The groups between which social distance is estimated can be identified and defined in various ways:

    1. Social and demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity, language, religion and sexual orientation.
    2. Political or opinion-based lines, such as opinions/positions on issues such as climate change, abortion or vaccination, as well as traditional measures such as political affiliation and ideology.
    3. Economic terms, such as economic grievances or marginalization articulated in terms of the differentiation and opposition of ‘the people’ to institutions, elites, or ‘the establishment’.

    The questions build on the In-Depth Review of Social Cohesion prepared for the CES and endorsed at its plenary meeting in June 2023. Measures of interpersonal and between-group ties will complement efforts to disaggregate population groups under the Disaggregated Data Action Plan (DDAP) to fill the knowledge gap on the distance between groups. Interpersonal and between-group ties will be central to better understanding social cleavages as they relate to discrimination as part of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy to strengthen impact measurement and performance reporting.

    Finally, the fifth wave will aid in the development of a conceptual framework on racism and discrimination by Statistics Canada’s Centre for Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Statistics in support of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and the DDAP. This conceptual framework will assist in operationalizing the measurement of racism and discrimination and identifying relevant indicators and new questions to include in future Statistics Canada social surveys. Questions will examine interpersonal or individual racism including subtler forms of racism which have been absent from existing Statistics Canada data holdings and surveys.

  2. Effectiveness - Working assumptions:

    The questionnaire content in Wave 5 was developed in collaboration with subject matter experts from Statistics Canada’s Centre for Social Data Insights and Innovation, Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics and Diversity and Sociocultural Statistics division. Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Centre (QDRC) provided input and feedback for the survey questionnaire after conducting a series of qualitative testing interviews with individuals who are representative of the sample. Overall, QDRC participants reacted positively, and the topics covered in the survey were of general interest. There were no major issues observed and there were no concerns about the proposed topics being too personal or sensitive.

  3. Proportionality:

    Questions were developed with subject matter experts to fill specific data gaps and support policy and program development. While the sensitivity of these questions on experiences of unfair treatment, racism, and discrimination may cause distress for some respondents, the results from this survey are expected to provide data to help address issues related to the subtler, overlooked form of racism, “minor racism” or “everyday racism” that is not captured in other Statistics Canada social surveys. This will aid in the development of the conceptual framework on racism and discrimination at Statistics Canada and potentially lead to policy that results in a reduction in the occurrence and prevalence of racism and discrimination in Canada.

  4. Alternatives:

    The same considerations for alternatives examined in the Supplement to the Generic PIA for the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Participation and Experiences in Community Sports (Wave 4) apply to SSPC-SCED.

    Specifically, alternative sources for the data to be collected are not available in any other Statistics Canada surveys or administrative data holdings. Alternative designs to a panel survey were considered for collecting this information, including a traditional survey, however, the response burden a traditional survey would place on this population would have likely compromised the ability to achieve response rates required to produce reliable statistics. Ultimately, a panel survey was deemed the optimal collection method to produce all the required disaggregated data for analysis without overburdening respondents.

    Additionally, although the General Social Survey (GSS)Footnote 4 program collects similar information, it does not address the analytical needs of SSPC-SCED. Moreover, the GSS does not oversample for a sufficient level of disaggregation needed to identify disparities between racialized and non-racialized groups and immigrants and non-immigrants on these topics.

Mitigation factors:

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, including measures outlined in the Supplement to Statistics Canada’s Generic PIA for the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Participation and Experiences in Community Sports (Wave 4):

Resources

Some questions contained in the SSPC-SCED are considered sensitive as they relate to an individual's experience or witnessing of unfair treatment, racism, or discrimination. Relevant resources will be provided to respondents in the information for survey participants and interviewers will be instructed to provide the resources should a respondent experience any distress. Additionally, respondents will be provided with the possibility to skip questions.

Consent

Individuals selected for the SSPC-SCED will be informed in the invitation email and in the electronic questionnaire or during the telephone interview that their participation is voluntary before being asked any questions.

Confidentiality

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 government departments or agencies. 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.

Data linkage

The linkage of SSPC-SCED data with other sources of information will be used in statistical studies to evaluate data quality and the impact of non-response, to improve and assist with data editing and imputation, and for direct replacement of data in presence of partial non-response when the quality is deemed appropriate. The linkage files will be used only within Statistics Canada for methodological research, development and processing.

Security measures for linkage keys and administrative files respect the policies, directives and guidelines for information technology security at Statistics Canada. When linkage is required, it is done using anonymized statistical identifiers ("linkage keys") and, as a result, no linked file contains personal identifiers such as name, phone number and address (excluding postal code). These anonymized statistical identifiers are used to link to other sources of information for statistical purposes only. The personal identifiers obtained are removed from the rest of the information and securely stored with restricted access with an approved operational requirement to access them, and whose access is removed when no longer required.

Transparency

Prior to the survey, respondents will be informed that the survey is voluntary, and of the survey purpose, allowing them to decide whether they wish to participate. This information will be provided in the invitation email, the electronic questionnaire, by interviewers, as well as on the SSPC-SCED website.

Additionally, although no concerns were raised by participants in focus groups during the testing of the questionnaire, respondents will be provided with a warning about the sensitive nature of the experiences of discrimination questions, the ability to skip any questions, as well as with information on relevant resourcesFootnote 5. Additionally, interviewers are trained to provide relevant resources to respondents who show signs of distress, and to offer to skip sensitive questions.

Conclusion:

This assessment concludes that with the existing Statistics Canada safeguards including those listed in the Supplement to the Generic PIA for the Survey Series on People and their Communities – Participation and Experiences in Community Sports (Wave 4), any remaining risks are such that Statistics Canada is prepared to continue to accept and manage the risk.

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