Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS)

Detailed information for 2024/2025

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Every 5 years

Record number:

5256

This survey collects information on personal experiences with unwanted behaviours and violence at home, in the workplace, at school, in public spaces and online.

Data release - Scheduled for 2026

Description

This survey collects information on personal experiences with unwanted behaviours and violence at home, in the workplace, at school, in public spaces and online.

Data collected through this survey will allow researchers, policymakers, victim service providers and other organizations to measure the effectiveness of existing support services, improve these services, and develop new programs and strategies to prevent and address victimization.

Data from previous cycles of this survey have helped to produce the most comprehensive portrait of experiences of gender-based violence in Canada to date.

Reference period: Lifetime and past 12 months preceding interview date

Collection period: October 2024 to June 2025

Subjects

Crime and justice
Society and community
Victims and victimization

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population for the 2024/2025 Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces is all non-institutionalized persons 15 years of age or older, not living on an Indigenous reserve, living in the 10 provinces or 3 territories of Canada.

Instrument design

This cycle of the SSPPS combines questions from three previous Statistics Canada surveys: the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) 2018, the Survey of Sexual Misconduct at work (SSMW) 2020, and the Survey on Individual Safety in the Postsecondary Student Population (SISPSP) 2019. The questionnaire was designed based on research and consultations with key partners and data users. Qualitative testing, conducted by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Center (QDRC), was carried out with respondents from a variety of Canadian geographical locations. Questions which worked well and others that needed clarification or redesign were identified. QDRC staff compiled a detailed report of the results along with their recommendations. All comments and feedback from qualitative testing were carefully considered and the questionnaire was revised accordingly.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The sample in the provinces consists of a random sample of units selected from the 2021 Census of Population (short-form questionnaire) along with the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB).

The sample in the territories was drawn from an area frame of dwellings which had been or were still in the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Sampling Unit:
The survey in the provinces is a targeted respondent survey. The sampling unit is the person.
The survey in the territories is a dwelling-based survey. The sampling unit is the dwelling.

Stratification method:
For the survey in the provinces, strata were defined to achieve sufficient sample sizes in each domain of estimation and optimize sample allocation. The frame for the SSPPS was stratified by province and certain characteristics of the population like age, Indigenous identity and gender identity.

Sampling and sub-sampling:
Within each stratum of the survey in the provinces, a sample was drawn using systematic sampling, after sorting the frame by dwelling identifier, to reduce the possibility of sampling more than one person per household.

The total sample size for the SSPPS in the provinces is 145,000 individuals.

For the survey in the territories, a single eligible member of each sampled household is randomly selected to complete the questionnaire. The total sample size for the SSPPS in the territories is 5,000 dwellings.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2024-10-25 to 2025-06-26

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected using either a respondent self-completed questionnaire or using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Contact is first made by mail for households for which an address is available. Other households are contacted via telephone only. Proxy reporting is not allowed. The respondents are provided the choice of responding in English or French.

Income data from survey respondents are extracted from administrative files. Questions relating to income typically have low response rates and the income reported by respondents are usually rough estimates. Instead of asking respondents to provide their income, this information is obtained through a linkage to income tax records, using key variables such as respondent's name, surname, house address, postal code, telephone number, date of birth and sex. This method has proven to provide better quality data, and decreases both the length of the questionnaire and costs.

Respondents are notified of the planned linkage before and during the survey. Respondents who object to the linkage of their data are excluded from the linkage.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .