[3] The agency is led by the Chief Statistician of Canada, currently André Loranger, who assumed the role on an interim basis on April 1, 2024.

Statistics Canada provides free access to numerous aggregate data tables on various subjects of relevance to Canadian life.

The use of Public Use Microdata Files (PUMFs) is governed by the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) License signed by the universities and Statistics Canada.

[18] The Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) is a network of quantitative social sciences which includes 27 facilities across Canada that provide "access to a vast array of social, economic, and health data, primarily gathered" by Statistics Canada and disseminate "research findings to the policy community and the Canadian public.

[23] It was a yearly compendium of statistical lore and information on the nation's social and economic past, people, events and facts.

[24] The Canada Year Book was originally edited by a volunteer from the Department of Finance and published by a private company, which offset costs with advertisement sales.

[26] The mandatory long census form was cancelled by the federal government in 2010 in favour of a voluntary household survey (NHS).

This release stated in part "The government will retain the mandatory short form that will collect basic demographic information.

To meet the need for additional information, and to respect the privacy wishes of Canadians, the government has introduced the voluntary National Household Survey".

[45][46] The government has maintained its position, most recently expressed by Lynn Meahan, press secretary to the industry minister, that the new census will result in "useable (sic) and useful data that can meet the needs of many users.

Many groups have made the claim that a voluntary system will not provide a quality of data consistent with what Statistics Canada is known for[37][42][45][46] while others feel that politically motivated changes to StatCan methodology taints the reputation of the whole organization in the international setting.

They also challenge the current system's ability to cope with rapid socio-demographic changes, though this would not be addressed without increasing the frequency of the survey.

[27] Edmonton's chief economist preferred the long form and argues that the National Housing Survey is only useful at the aggregate city level and leaves "a dearth of data on long-term changes at the neighbourhood level and within demographic groups... making it difficult to make decisions such as "where to build a library, where to build a fire hall" without specific demographic information.

[27] Because it was not mandatory there was a lower response rate and therefore increased risk of under-representation of some vulnerable segments of society, for example aboriginal peoples, newly arrived immigrants.

This makes it more difficult to "pinpoint trends such as income inequality, immigrant outcomes in the jobs market, labour shortages and demographic shifts.