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The Institut celebrates its 10th anniversary

Statistics on the Québec of yesterday and today for the Québec of tomorrow

Creation

The Institut de la statistique du Québec was established on April 1, 1999 with the coming into force of the final sections of the Act respecting the Institut de la statistique du Québec (R.S.Q., c. I-13.011), which was passed in June 1998.

Formed by the merger of the Bureau de la statistique du Québec, the Institut de recherche et d'information sur la rémunération, Santé Québec and the personnel of the Ministère du Travail assigned to the total compensation survey (the Enquête sur la rémunération globale), the Institut benefits from the wealth of experience and competence inherited from these four entities.

The Institut

The Institut is made up of nearly 350 dedicated women and men who work diligently in its Québec City and Montréal offices to meet the needs for statistical knowledge and thus contribute to the growth of Québec.

The Institut plays a strategic role within the Québec government. In support of the governance function, it supplies information for the tracking of indicators used by government departments and agencies and contributes to the monitoring of public policies. In addition, in support of the research function, it makes numerous publications and data banks available to researchers who also wish to contribute to the advancement of Québec society. Finally, the Institut disseminates reliable and relevant data on Québec, thus providing the general public with the knowledge it needs to make informed decisions.

In its constant effort to meet its clients’ needs and concerns, the Institut has created several advisory committees. Through these committees, it is able to intensify its efforts to anticipate Québec’s requirements for statistical knowledge, develop various partnerships and reinforce its relationships with the university and research communities.

Basic principles

The Institut subscribes to the fundamental principles of official statistics adopted by the Economic Commission for Europe, an agency of the United Nations. These principles justify the importance it places on impartiality, professionalism, confidentiality, neutrality and transparency in its actions and decisions.

Moreover, the Institut has always accorded the utmost importance to the protection of confidential information and the security of the information it holds, in both paper and electronic form. The confidentiality requirements of its incorporating legislation are a guarantee for decision-makers and the general public.

Soon after its creation in 1999, the Institut set up a committee for the protection of personal information and other confidential information (the Comité sur la protection des renseignements personnels et des autres renseignements confidentiels (replaced by the Comité de la confidentialité et de la qualité in April 2008) to provide an appropriate management framework for the accomplishment of its mandates. In addition, the Institut makes it a duty to incorporate the best practices of international statistics organizations into its ways of doing things.

Statistical coordinator role

Since its creation, the Institut has been the coordinator between Statistics Canada and the Québec government. In that capacity, it is Québec’s official representative on the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Consultative Council on Statistical Policy, it participates in various federal-provincial-territorial sector committees on statistics and it is a member of the Vital Statistics Council of Canada.

It is the voice of Québec in all dealings with Statistics Canada. It informs that agency of the statistical needs of the Québec government and informs Québec government departments and agencies of developments regarding Statistics Canada’s programs.

As Québec’s coordinator of statistics, the Institut fosters the active participation of government departments and agencies in the creation of a high-quality official statistical information base. Thus, it leads the collective effort to adequately inform the various players in Québec society, thus preparing them to discuss the issues and challenges facing Québec today and in the future.

Main fields of statistical activity

The main fields of statistical activity covered by the Institut are the economy, health, society, demography, culture, communications, labour, compensation and sustainable development. Its work is supported by an infrastructure at the leading edge of recent developments in survey methodology, collection techniques and information and dissemination techniques.

Over the past 10 years, the Institut has continuously fostered the development of knowledge on Québec. To that end, each year it expands its production of statistics and takes an interest in emerging fields. In addition, it has produced numerous studies resulting from surveys conducted at clients’ request and a number of scientific and technical articles have been published in various bulletins and periodicals in Québec and abroad.

Customer service

The Institut’s information and documentation centre (Centre d’information et de documentation or CID) provides an information service on Québec statistics to all members of the public by phone, on the premises, by mail or e-mail, or through the Institut’s Web site.

In addition, the Institut’s Web site offers free access to a wealth of statistical tables in all fields covered by its mission, as well as downloads of nearly all its publications.

Through its research data access centre (Centre d’accès aux données de recherche or  CADRISQ), the Institut also promotes research and training in the field of social statistics in Québec. This centre provides members of the university and research communities with access to various statistical data banks held by the Institut.

An agreement was reached in 2005-2006 with the Université de Montréal and the Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics (QICSS) to promote more extensive use of the Institut’s data by the vast network of researchers constituted by the QICSS.

The same year, an agreement was also reached with Statistics Canada designating the Institut as the coordinator of requests for access to its research microdata from Québec government employees.

Finally, on the technological level, the Institut has carried out work aimed at allowing secure remote use of data for research purposes.

Highlights of the past 10 years

  • June 2000: creation of the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec, a partnership originally comprising four government departments and agencies, and subsequently expanded to include two others. The Observatoire is in constant contact with cultural milieux and also relies on the recommendations of eight advisory committees to establish its work programs.
  • October 2000: business plan for 2000-2004 (Plan d’affaires 2000-2004).
  • April 2002: (first) strategic plan for 2002-2005 (Plan stratégique 2002-2005).
  • April 2003: first annual dissemination calendar, the Calendrier annuel de diffusion des informations statistiques sur les différents aspects de la société québécoise, which informs customers of the dates of publication of statistical information and confirms  the Institut’s neutrality, credibility and integrity with regard to the delivery of its products and services.
  • June 2003: establishment of the project office (Bureau de projets).
  • November 2003: official launch of the Databank of Official Statistics on Québec (BDSO), a unique Web inventory of integrated and comparable statistical information, produced with the collaboration of 25 Québec government departments and agencies. This bank gives users access, free of charge, to statistical information that was previously available only by contacting each of the departments and agencies individually. A reference document entitled Gestion et codification des territoires aux fins de la BDSO, presenting the international coding of countries, continents and regions as well as the coding of the major regions, provinces or states of certain countries, was added in December 2004.
  • January 2004: establishment of the Observatoire économétrique to provide Québec with an important instrument for economic data modelling.
  • 2004-2005: first production of much-anticipated regional data, i.e. the gross domestic product at basic prices for Québec’s 17 administrative regions.
  • 2005-2006:
    • (second) strategic plan for 2005-2008 (Plan stratégique 2005-2008) (extended to 2009);

    • implementation of a secure mechanism for Web-based exchange of information;

    • use of digitalization and optical character recognition for entering data in the Register of Vital Events.
  • November 2005: establishment of the first Integrated Quality Management Framework, comprising a general orientation document and a general quality management policy.
  • December 2005: the Institut begins its involvement in a longitudinal survey. A partnership is established until 2012 with two government departments and the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon, to carry out the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD).
  • April 2006: amendment of the Act respecting the Institut de la statistique du Québec to add a new mandate on sustainable development, i.e. to assist in the  development and monitoring of the Québec government’s sustainable development strategy.
  • May 2006: the Québec government endorsed the findings and recommendations of the working group on the review of government agencies with regard to the Institut. This group concluded that “The services offered by the Institut are essential to enable the government to make strategic decisions and, in that context, there is no reason to question the Institut’s raison d’être.”
  • Year 2007: 40th anniversary of the Institut’s input-output model, an essential tool for users wishing to produce studies measuring the impacts of investment and spending projects, particularly with regard to the jobs generated and the expected tax revenues.
  • November 2007: launch of a project to create an environment for the promotion of health and welfare, the Environnement pour la promotion de la santé et du bien-être (EPSEBE) which provides researchers with secure remote access to microdata files. As the co-manager of this project with researchers from the Université Laval, the Institut makes operational the legal, ethical, administrative and technical conditions for obtaining data for research purposes and ensures the management of access for researchers.
  • April 2008: creation of a management committee, the Comité de direction générale and four strategic committees dealing with business development, projects, confidentiality and quality, and human resources  (Comité du développement des affaires, Comité des projets, Comité de la confidentialité et de la qualité and Comité des ressources humaines).
  • April 2008: creation of a one-stop access to data for researchers.
  • Autumn 2008: first survey to measure the satisfaction of government departments and agencies with regard to the Institut’s services.
  • March 2009: (first) sustainable development action plan, entitled Plan d’action de développement durable 2008-2013.
  • In the coming months:
    • production of the (third) strategic plan for 2009-2014 (Plan stratégique 2009-2014);

    • dissemination of the guide to good survey practices (Guide des bonnes pratiques dans les enquêtes).

Distinctions

The Institut has received various distinctions over the past years, including the following:

  • The electronic version of Québec statistique was named the “second-best reference publication for the general public” in the CD-ROM category at the 9th MIMs d’Or gala in 2003.

  • The BDSO was chosen as one of the three finalists in the “On-line government services” category in the OCTAS 2004 competition held by the Fédération de l’informatique du Québec.

  • L’Environnement pour la promotion de la santé et du bien-être (EPSEBE) was chosen as a finalist in two categories in the OCTAS 2008, prizes awarded by the Fédération de l’informatique du Québec.

The Institut’s national and international presence

In a few short years, the Institut has distinguished itself and established its reputation among statistical organizations both nationally and internationally. Of particular note:

  • The Institut participates in the steering committee and the scientific advisory council of the Observatoire franco-québécois de la santé et de la solidarité, created in 2002 in Paris to enrich and disseminate the reflections of France and Québec on health and social matters. This observatory is made up of nine government departments and agencies, six from Québec and six from France.

  • Statistical cooperation agreements have been established between the Institut and several other countries, including Tunisia, France and Belgium. The Institut has also initiated cooperation opportunities with several other countries and political entities, such as Russia, China and Catalonia.

  • The Institut has always encouraged its specialists to present the results of their work in the areas of methodology, demography, cultural, social or health statistics, survey techniques, geomatics, information technologies, etc. at national and international forums. These presentations have been made mainly in Canada, the United States, Australia, Germay, Spain, Tunisia, Great Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. Many of the Institut’s specialists have also participated in numerous committees, conferences, symposia and workshops held in Québec and Canada and abroad.

  • The following countries have used the Institut as a model in various fields: Belgium (the Observatoire des politiques culturelles of the Ministère de la Communauté française), Sweden (through the Bank of Sweden Foundation) and France (the Centre Quetelet-CNRS and the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques).
  • Organization of conferences:
    • October 2002: organization of the International Symposium on Culture Statistics in Montréal, in conjunction with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

    • May 2005: Québec hosted the Colloque francophone sur les sondages 2005. This conference, the official meeting of the Société Française de Statistique, was organized by the Institut and the Université Laval, in conjunction with several partners. This fourth edition was the first to be held outside Europe.

    • May 2005: in the context of its activities with the Observatoire franco-québécois de la santé et de la solidarité, the Institut participated in the organization of the Forum franco-québécois sur la santé, held in Québec.

    • August 2008: the Institut was the national host of the 15th  international conference of the Association internationale des démographes de langue française (AIDELF) under the theme “Demography and cultures.” This conference, which was held in the context of Québec City’s 400th anniversary celebrations, was also sponsored by France’s Institut national d’études démographiques, Hydro-Québec and several other Canadian and European organizations.

The future of the Institut

Equipped with the expertise and competence acquired by the members of its team over the years, the Institut has contributed and will continue to contribute to the advancement of Québec. Aware of its role and in keeping with its mission, it will see to the coordination of the efforts required to produce, analyze and disseminate objective, high-quality, official statistical information, as this information enriches our knowledge, clarifies debates and supports the decision making of the various players in Québec society.

In the coming months, the Institut will produce its Plan stratégique 2009‑2014 (2009-2014 strategic plan), which will guide its actions in future years. One thing is certain, however. We will produce statistics on the Québec of yesterday and today for the Québec of tomorrow.