Supplement to Statistics Canada’s Generic Privacy Impact Assessment regarding the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS)

Date: October 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 of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) is described in Statistics Canada’s “Special Surveys” Personal Information Bank. The Personal Information Bank refers to information collected through Statistics Canada’s ad hoc surveys, which are conducted on behalf of other government departments, under the authority of the Statistics Act. "Special surveys" covers a variety of socio-economic topics including health, housing, labour market, education and literacy, as well as demographic data.

The “Special Surveys” Personal Information Bank (Bank number: StatCan PPU 016) is published on the Statistics Canada website under the Information about Programs and Information Holdings chapter.

Description of statistical activity:

Under the authority of the Statistics ActFootnote1, Statistics Canada will be conducting the 2024 cycle of the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS), a voluntary survey conducted approximately once every five years, on behalf of Women and Gender Equality (WaGE), in support of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. This cycle of the SSPPS combines three previous surveys that collected information about personal experiences with unwanted behaviours and violence in various settings. Most questions were drawn from these three surveys: the 2018 SSPPS, the 2019 Survey on Individual Safety in the Postsecondary Student Population (SISPSP)Footnote2, and the 2020 Survey of Sexual Misconduct at Work (SSMW)Footnote3, with some additional questions to help clarify the context in which a behaviour was experienced (i.e., work, school, online, or another public space).

The SSPPS includes questions about inappropriate sexual behaviours observed and experienced in the workplace, at school, online, and in other public places, and the impact of those behaviours on the respondent. It also asks questions about experiences of violent victimization, intimate partner violence and other lifetime experiences such as homelessness, and follow-up questions about the impact of those experiences, including use of drugs or alcohol to cope with the experiences. The survey also includes questions on the age, province of residence, postal code, sex at birth, gender identity, population group and Indigenous identity, immigration and citizenship status, marital status, religion, and disability of the respondent. Additionally, information about personal and household income will be linked from the T1 Family File using Statistics Canada’s Social Data Linkage Environment (SDLE)Footnote4. With this information, the survey is expected to provide insights on the prevalence and nature of harassment, discrimination, and violent victimization in Canadian homes, work-related settings, schools, public spaces, and online, and explore differences in these experiences based on age, sex and gender, sexual orientation, and other socio-demographic factors listed above, which will inform policies, laws, programs, and support services aimed at preventing and addressing victimization.

This data will be collected from individuals aged 15 years and older who live in the 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada, excluding people living on reserves and full-time residents of institutions (i.e., six months or more).

The final master file with no personally identifying information will be made available in Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centres (RDCs)Footnote5 where researchers can be granted access upon approval of their request to access the dataset for specified statistical research. Only fully anonymized and non-confidential aggregate results without direct identifiers, that are processed to mitigate against the possibility of re-identification of individuals, can be released from RDCs. There is no planned sharing of the SSPPS data.

Reason for supplement:

While the Generic Privacy Impact AssessmentFootnote6 (PIA) addresses most of the privacy and security risks related to statistical activities conducted by Statistics Canada, including the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces, this supplement was developed due to the nature of the survey content which can be deemed particularly sensitive, and that it includes individuals aged 15 years and older. It describes additional measures implemented to support respondents during collection, and protections surrounding access to the information. This supplement also presents an analysis of the necessity and proportionality of this new collection of personal information. 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 SSPPS can be justified against Statistics Canada’s Necessity and Proportionality Framework:

  1. Necessity: The 2024 Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) will support the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based ViolenceFootnote7, a plan which was informed by results of the 2018 SSPPS. The 2018 SSPPS was the first survey of its kind conducted in Canada and provided valuable insight into experiences of violence among various sectors of the population. A second cycle of the SSPPS is required to measure changes in the prevalence and severity of gender-based violence over time, and obtain better intersectional data on young Canadians, non-binary, gender diverse and transgender populations, and Indigenous populations in Canada. This next cycle of the SSPPS will also fill major data gaps regarding changes to self-reported rates of gender-based violence in Canada after the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The content and scope of the 2024 SSPPS were defined following discussions with a range of stakeholders and subject matter experts including academics, researchers, service providers, provincial and territorial governments, and Women and Gender Equality (WaGE) Canada. The content of the survey was deemed necessary for understanding, preventing, and addressing experiences of inappropriate sexual behaviours. This includes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender, and sexual victimization at home, at work, at school, in public spaces, and online. Research suggests the risk of experiencing sexual harassment and victimization varies based on a number of factors such as age, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors listed above. The target population for this survey includes those aged 15 or older living in Canada, with specific oversamplesFootnote8 of young people, gender minorities and Indigenous people living off reserve to ensure enough data is collected to produce meaningful and publishable statistics that protect the confidentiality of respondents.

    WaGE has identified data collection and research on experiences of gender-based violence against youth as one of the main pillars of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. It is essential that youth aged 15-17 are included in the target population for the SSPPS, as it has been well-established in past research that younger people experience violent victimization at consistently higher rates than older adultsFootnote9. For example, results of the 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety indicate that those aged 15 to 24 experienced significantly more violent victimization (176 incidents per 1,000 population) compared to those aged 35 or older (135 per 1,000)Footnote10. Results from the last cycle of the SSPPS have demonstrated that dating violence is particularly prevalent among those aged 15-17, with 45% of respondents in this age group indicating experiences of violence in their dating relationships in the year preceding collectionFootnote11. Sexual violence was highest among those aged 15 to 17 (60 victims per 100,000) compared to those aged 18 to 24 (43 per 100,000) and those over 25 years of age (9 per 100,000). The rate of violence among teens aged 15 to 17 has fluctuated over time, but the most recent data available indicate the rate of violence in this group increased by 33% from 2015 to 2022. Results from both the GSS and SSPPS have consistently shown that violent victimization (especially intimate partner violence and sexual assault) is drastically under-reported to police. As the main survey vehicle at Statistics Canada that measures intimate partner violence, it is important that the SSPPS continues to collect this information from its target population, including minors. Further, the 2024 SSPPS will collect data specifically on instances of sexual assault and harassment that happened in a school or work environment; gauging the prevalence of these types of victimization among students and youth in the workforce is important to inform policy and can be achieved through the SSPPS.

    A sample size of 145,000 in the provinces and 5,000 in the territories has been assessed as methodologically necessary to produce quality statistics that represent potentially rare events in various sectors of the population. Changes have been made to increase the sample size of the SSPPS, with specific oversamples of young people, gender minorities and Indigenous people (living off reserve). These changes were made to the sampling strategy to address the limitations of previous surveys, where small samples prevented the disaggregation of results by geography and other socio-demographic factors of interest (e.g., gender minorities; First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples). Decades of research and data collection have found that Indigenous people, particularly Indigenous women and girls, are disproportionately victims of violent crime. Thus, one of the central pillars of the National Action Plan signals the importance of preventing and addressing gender-based violence against Indigenous women and girls, and aligns the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan. Multiple government departments come to Statistics Canada for this valuable data on Indigenous victimization. Collecting this data also aligns with Statistics Canada’s Disaggregated Data Action Plan (DDAP), as the inclusion of an oversample of Indigenous people increases the likelihood of being able to disaggregate data by Indigenous identity (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) and gender, furthering the understanding of risk factors related to victimization, Indigenous identity, and gender, among other factors. Given the importance of producing quality data on victimization, particularly for Indigenous people, it is crucial that Statistics Canada includes Indigenous identity in the collection of these data through the SSPPS.

    Results from the 2018 cycle of the SSPPS were mentioned in the 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index report, which found that no country has thus far achieved the promise of gender equality described in the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG Gender Index report mentioned that results of the 2018 SSPPS demonstrated the higher rates of physical and sexual assault experienced by Indigenous women in Canada, compared to non-Indigenous women. The report notes the challenges surrounding collection of information on gender-based violence, and points to the SSPPS as an important example of the efforts made by Canada to improve data collection on violent victimization among Indigenous people and women. It is evident that the results of the SSPPS are important not just to Canadians, but throughout the international community.

  2. Effectiveness: Research shows that only a small proportion of all inappropriate sexual behaviours and sexual assaults are ever reported to police and are thus excluded from official crime reportsFootnote12. Conducting surveys to collect this information directly from individuals is therefore currently the only way to produce estimates of both reported and unreported sexual harassment and violence. The information produced by the SSPPS will provide policy makers and analysts with statistical information to better understand Canadians’ experiences of personal safety and whether those experiences were reported to police, as asked in the SSPPS.

    The data produced by the SSPPS have been and will be used to inform a number of federal and international projects and strategies such as those mentioned above. Notably, data from previous cycles of this survey have effectively helped produce the most comprehensive portrait of experiences of gender-based violence in Canada to date.

    A large sample, with oversamples of young people, gender minorities and Indigenous people, is required to facilitate effective disaggregation of reported experiences by geographic locations, age, gender, sexual orientation, Indigenous identity, population group, and other socio-demographic factors that are associated with an elevated risk of violent victimization.

    In addition to questions that have been incorporated from the former SISPSP and SSMW, the SSPPS also includes content that has been used in other Statistics Canada surveys that effectively measure victimization in the general population (e.g., the General Social Survey on Canadians’ Safety (GSS Victimization)) and more targeted samples (e.g., the Survey on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces (SSMCAF). These surveys have effectively provided relevant and valuable insights and have been also used to study the prevalence of sexual harassment over time.

  3. Proportionality: A large sample, with oversamples of young people, gender minorities and Indigenous people, is required to facilitate disaggregation of factors that are associated with an elevated risk of violent victimization, which will allow policy makers to implement policies that directly benefit the populations from whom information is collected.  

    The survey findings will benefit the public by informing policies, laws, programs, and support services aimed at preventing and addressing victimization.

  4. Alternatives: Existing crime data from administrative sources are limited to officially reported events that meet the threshold for criminality. For this reason, official crime statistics are known to significantly underestimate the true rates of sexual victimization in the population. Thus, self-reported questionnaire data collected directly from respondents is needed to assess the true rate of violent victimization experienced by the general public in Canada. 

    Few sources have collected information on self-reported experiences of violent victimization in Canada and none have collected this information in several years; the most recent source that provided such data was the 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety, which asked questions regarding personal safety and criminal behaviours experienced. However, the GSS did not collect information about the context or settings in which these experiences occurred, and thus lack the detail that will be provided by the SSPPS. Furthermore, these results are five years old and can no longer be assumed to be an accurate representation of Canada in 2024. Additionally, the new GSS on Canadians’ Safety is not expected to be released until spring 2027. 

    While several other past Statistics Canada surveys have touched on the subjects found in the 2024 SSPPS, their results are also now several years old and must be updated to enable trend analysis and to ensure that policy makers and victim service providers are using the most up-to-date data to inform decision-making. 

    Finally, collecting data from administrative sources lacking sociodemographic information would prevent the ability to study and clearly understand the risk factors and population groups most affected, creating potentially unreliable information that could result in ineffective interventions.

Mitigation factors:

While the upcoming cycle of SSPPS includes sensitive content, 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 and additional measures taken for the SSPPS. Mitigating factors of particular importance in the context of this survey include:

Consultations and Testing
Statistics Canada engaged in stakeholder engagement and consultation activities, such as group discussions and written submissions from interest groups and previous survey-data users. Consulted partners and stakeholders included: federal, provincial and territorial governments; advocacy groups; Indigenous organizations; Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs); and academics.

Following consultations, two rounds of qualitative content testing were conducted. The first was to determine the feasibility of conducting the 2024 SSPPS, and to solicit feedback from respondents regarding their overall impressions and reactions to the questionnaire. The second round tested the impact of the changes and additions made to the survey after the first round of testing. Some questions were considered sensitive by respondents, though many also expressed that they were supportive of the survey asking these questions, as they deemed the information necessary and valuable.

Consent 
All respondents will be informed of the sensitive nature of the survey before participating, through invitation and reminder letters, and the introductory screens of the Electronic Questionnaire, which include a description of the survey’s purpose and information about the confidentiality of responses. Respondents will also be informed that their participation is voluntary in both the invitation and reminder letters, as well as the questionnaire itself.

As with other Statistics Canada surveys, parental consent for minors aged 15 and older will not be requested for the SSPPS as respondents aged 15 and older can be reasonably expected to understand the nature of the survey to which they are consenting, the questions being asked, the use of their personal information, and the confidentiality of survey responses. As such, it is believed that minors aged 15 and older will have the necessary understanding to make an informed decision regarding their participation in this voluntary survey.

Access to personal information 
Under the Privacy Act, a parent or legal guardian can request access to information provided by a minor on behalf of the minor. However, in keeping with section 25 of the Privacy Act, requests received from a parent or legal guardian for access to survey responses provided by a minor, that could be reasonably expected to put the security or safety of the minor at risk if disclosed to the parent or legal guardian, will not be released in order to protect the minor. As such, only the respondents themselves, whether they are adults or minors, can request and obtain the information collected about themselves in the SSPPS.

Web Security
Like most Statistics Canada surveys, the SSPPS will use an Electronic Questionnaire (EQ) – either completed by the respondent alone or with the assistance of an interviewer – which is hosted on a secure, encrypted website. Due to the sensitive nature of the SSPPS, additional testing of the SSPPS EQ was conducted to identify any potential risks to respondents who may be in an abusive or controlling situation. The results of this testing demonstrated that the EQ is secure, and it is unlikely that anyone other than a respondent would be able to gain access to their responses. The EQ portal includes several security measures to protect a respondent’s personal and private information, including requiring a Secure Access Code (SAC) to enter the survey, password protection for those who want to stop and finish their questionnaire at another time, and a time-out period of 120 minutes after which responses are locked and a code or password is required to re-enter the survey. Once a survey has been submitted it is impossible for anyone to regain access to the survey answers.

In addition to the standard security measures in place for all Statistics Canada EQs, a “panic button” has been included in the most sensitive portion of the survey, the Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) block. Respondents will see instructions for the panic button before entering this block of questions, which explains that the button will be available in the top right corner of the screen. When activated by a respondent, the panic button will (a) immediately redirect out of this block to non-sensitive questions (demographics), and it will not be possible to return to the sensitive section; and (b) the IPV questions are removed from the browser history. This kind of panic button is commonly used on websites that provide information to victims of intimate partner violence and has been included in several other sensitive surveys conducted by Statistics Canada (e.g., the SSMW and the GSS on Canadians’ Safety mentioned above). The panic button was tested throughout development of the survey and was found to be a simple and easily understood tool in qualitative testing.

Support Services 
Since survey questions may evoke emotional reactions from the respondents, contact information for support services and resources for victims of violence will be made available to respondents at several points throughout the survey, both before and after blocks of sensitive questions. These support resources were taken from the Department of Justice’s Victim Services Directory. Further information about these services will be provided on the Statistics Canada SSPPS Informing Survey Participants (ISP) page. Survey phone interviewers and help desk staff will also have this information available to provide to respondents.

Interviewer Training
As questions in the SSPPS may evoke emotional reactions from some respondents, interviewers who will be conducting interviews with respondents will receive sensitivity and personal preparedness training, in addition to their standard training. All interviewers and supervisors who will be working on the SSPPS will be provided with training that will prepare them to ask difficult, personal questions in a sensitive manner, and to cope with the emotional impact of the stories they hear from respondents. The training will be conducted by a mental health professional with a background in supporting both first responders and victims of violent crime. The training service provider will also be available for ad hoc debriefing sessions, should additional support be required throughout the collection period. The need for these debriefing sessions will be determined in consultation with CPRD and Data Collection Managers working in the Regional Offices.

Conclusion:

This assessment concludes that, with the existing Statistics Canada safeguards, 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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