Industry Committee on March 23rd, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you.

We're going to move to Mr. Baylis.

You have five minutes.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

My question is for you, Madam Desaulniers.

Finding a balance between the need to have solid data we can rely on and Canadians' right to privacy is always an issue.

Can you explain to us what Statistics Canada is doing to achieve that balance?

[Andrée Desaulniers, Senior Analyst, Information Management Division, Statistics Canada]

I assume you are talking about the census. Unless your question is about our data in general.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I am talking about data in general, but especially the census. There were some issues related to that.

[Andrée Desaulniers]

My role is to explain the legislation, so perhaps you have some questions about how the legislation works. I can explain the data from the past, if you like.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Yes. From what I understood, some changes were made.

[Andrée Desaulniers]

Okay.

Until 2001, data was made public without Canadians' consent.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

After how much time was the data made public?

[Andrée Desaulniers]

After between 72 years and 100 years, approximately. I can get the figures for you if you want.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

How was the number of years determined?

[Andrée Desaulniers]

The 72-year period predates Confederation. So we lack information on how the waiting period was determined at the time. Generally speaking, the number of years is set based on an individual's lifespan.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

So it had to do with an individual's lifespan.

[Voices]

Interesting. That's good.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

The individual must be dead.

[Andrée Desaulniers]

Yes, generally. That is why the period would not be 30 years.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Okay.

[Andrée Desaulniers]

The chief statistician explained it well. Over the years, with changes in legislation, determining what the legislator's intent was became complicated, especially in the early 1900s.

Once an enumerator promised to keep the information confidential, it meant that the entity as a whole was required to maintain confidentiality.

Many years later, we find ourselves trying to figure it out. We were not there at the time. So it was decided that a mechanism, under the Privacy Act, would allow data to be made available after 92 years, without people's consent. In any case, the data was collected a long time ago.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

In what piece of legislation does the 92-year period appear?

[Andrée Desaulniers]

It appears in the Privacy Act. Actually, it's in section 6 of the Privacy Regulations.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

The regulations indicate that we must wait 92 years.

[Andrée Desaulniers]

Exactly.

That covered data that had not yet been made available. For example, the data from 1891 was made available in 1983, when the legislation was passed.

Do you like numbers?

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

You lost me a bit.

Can you please repeat?

[Andrée Desaulniers]

Okay. When the Privacy Act was passed....

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Are you talking about the 1960 legislation?

[Andrée Desaulniers]

I'm talking about the act passed in 1983 whose regulations made it possible to make census data available after 92 years.

If you subtract 1891 from 1983, you get 92 years. We could make the data available when the act was passed, and that was done. As you know, the same figure is found in the Statistics Act.