Accessing Statistics Canada Data

Statistics Canada Data products are valuable resources for research and teaching. Western provides access to a range of data files and products with differing levels of confidentiality and geography.

These files and products are used to teach data literacy, statistical methods, and to combine population, health, income, and economic data with researcher collected sources. In this workshop, participants learn about the range of products and access methods available to them at Western.

Specific access methods include the Statistics Canada public data site, the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) program, the Research Data Centre (RDC) program, and the Real Time Remote Access (RTRA) program.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify open data sources and data that has been made available as public
• Identify when public data meets researcher needs
• Recognize what confidential data is and when a researcher would need to investigate access
• Articulate when and how to apply for access to confidential (master) Statistics Canada Data