Statistics Act
| Statistics Act (1918) | |
|---|---|
| Parliament of Canada | |
| |
| Citation | R.S.C., 1952–53, c. 18 |
| Enacted by | House of Commons |
| Enacted by | Senate |
| Royal assent | May 24, 1918 |
| Legislative history | |
| Initiating chamber: House of Commons | |
| Bill citation | Bill No. 32 |
| Introduced by | George Eulas Foster, Minister of Trade and Commerce |
| First reading | April 4, 1918 |
| Second reading | April 16, 1918 |
| Third reading | April 17, 1918 |
| Revising chamber: Senate | |
| First reading | April 18, 1918 |
| Second reading | April 23, 1918 |
| Considered in committee | April 26, 1918 |
| Third reading | April 29, 1918 |
| Final stages | |
| Senate amendments considered by the House of Commons | May 10, 1918 |
| Status: Amended | |
The Statistics Act (French: Loi sur la statistique) is an Act of the Parliament of Canada passed in 1918 which created the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, now called Statistics Canada since 1971.
The Statistics Act gives Statistics Canada the authority to "collect, compile, analyze, abstract, and publish information on the economic, social and general conditions of the country and its citizens."
To balance Statistics Canada's extensive powers to collect information, the Act establishes the legal requirement for the agency to protect the confidentiality of respondents to Statistics Canada surveys. The legislation makes a formal commitment to respondents that the information they provide will never be released to anyone in a form that will identify them without their authorization.