The bill amends the Statistics Act to ensure that the release of information provided as part of a census-related survey requires the consent of the individual and to remove the imprisonment penalty for refusing to answer a question, for providing a false answer, or for refusing to grant access to records.
The bill does not concern a question that is outside federal jurisdiction and does not clearly violate the Constitution Acts. It does not concern a question that is substantially the same as one already voted on by the House of Commons and does not concern a question that is currently on the order paper or notice paper as an item of government business.