Next steps

This report has been reviewed by and has benefited from the comments of a number of internal and external bodies. It was first reviewed internally by the 2016 Census Strategy Senior Management Advisory Panel, consisting of four directors general, by the 2016 Census Strategy Steering Committee, consisting of four assistant chief statisticians, and by the Chief Statistician. The report was then reviewed in early June 2011 by an Expert Panel Review Committee and by a subcommittee of the National Statistics Council, both of which were formed to provide independent advice on the outputs of the 2016 Census Strategy Project.

The next step will be a detailed assessment by Statistics Canada of the options that it will retain for the 2016 Census and of the potential approaches for 2021 and beyond, using an assessment framework developed by Statistics Canada specifically for this purpose (Trépanier 2011). The framework is based on Statistics Canada's Corporate Management Framework (Statistics Canada 2011b), which in turn builds on and adds to Statistics Canada's Quality Assurance Framework (Statistics Canada 2002). The assessment framework describes each of the dimensions and sub-dimensions to be assessed (e.g., relevance, accuracy, response burden, costs, risks), and for each dimension and sub-dimension it describes the assessment criteria and the sources of data to be used. As more information about the accuracy and costs of the NHS data becomes available, the lessons learned from the 2011 approach will also be incorporated into the assessment of options for 2016. This detailed assessment is due to be completed by December 2011.

As part of the assessment of specific methodology options, it is recommended that work begin on the other considerations for the 2016 approach, in particular sample design considerations, the possibility of closer integration of mandatory and voluntary content, and the potential for increasing the use of administrative data in the census process. The extent to which this work can advance will likely depend on how quickly the 2011 Census and NHS can be evaluated and the lessons learned incorporated into the assessment of options for 2016, the level of resources (methodology in particular) that can be dedicated to the work, and the timeliness of the results of a related 2016 Census initiative examining how the 2016 Census should be integrated into Statistics Canada's Corporate Business Architecture.^{Footnote 1} At that stage, Statistics Canada would have to determine the suite of testing that is required before any option is implemented and, as a result, whether it would be feasible to implement that option successfully by 2016.

In addition, Statistics Canada should begin to assess the potential approaches for the 2021 Census and beyond in further detail and to flesh out a possible program of research and development. The direction for this research and development program will depend to a large extent on the suggestions and recommendations of the various external advisory bodies.

The results of this work, together with the findings of other subprojects, in particular the review of constitutional and statutory requirements and the development of the census content determination framework, are to result in the main 2016 Census Strategy Project report, to be available in 2012. This report will present an analysis of the options for 2016 and describe possible directions for the future.