Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS)

Detailed information for 2022

The purpose of the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) is to provide data on the social and economic conditions of First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit, aged one year and older, in Canada.

Data release - August 14, 2024

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) is a national survey on the social and economic conditions of First Nations people living off-reserve, Métis and Inuit, aged one year and older. The 2022 IPS represents the sixth cycle of the survey and focuses on families and children.

The IPS was formerly called the Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS). For the 2022 cycle, the name has been updated to the Indigenous Peoples Survey. "Indigenous" is a collective term used to encompass a variety of original peoples of North America and their descendants. The term "Indigenous" is increasingly replacing the term "Aboriginal", in response to calls from within Indigenous communities. Following consultations with Indigenous communities and organizations, Statistics Canada has adopted the term "Indigenous" to refer to First Nations people, Métis and Inuit.

The 2022 IPS collected unique and detailed data related to education, employment, health and access to services among First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit which are not available from any other source. For more information, see the section on Quality Evaluation.

The IPS provides key statistics to inform policy and programming activities aimed at improving the well-being of Indigenous Peoples. It is a valuable source of information for a variety of stakeholders, including Indigenous organizations, communities, service providers, researchers, governments, and the general public.

The survey is carried out by Statistics Canada with funding provided by three federal departments: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Subjects

• Child care
• Children and youth
• Education, literacy and skills
• Families, households and housing
• Health and well-being
• Indigenous peoples
• Labour
• Languages and cultures
• Lifestyle and social conditions
• Living arrangements of individuals
• Population characteristics
• Victims and victimization

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population of the 2022 IPS is composed of the Indigenous identity population of Canada, aged one year and older as of April 27, 2022, living in private dwellings excluding people living on Indian reserves and Indian settlements and in certain First Nations communities in Yukon and the Northwest Territories (NWT).

The concept of "Indigenous identity" refers to those persons who self-reported being at least one of the following:

• an Indigenous person, that is, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit);
• a Status Indian, that is, a Registered or Treaty Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada; and/or
• a member of a First Nation or Indian band.

The IPS sample was selected from respondents who reported an Indigenous identity or ancestry on the 2021 Census questionnaire. Specifically, the sample was selected from responses to questions 23, 24, 26 and 27 on the long-form census questionnaire, either the 2A-L questionnaire or the 2A-R questionnaire. Although not part of the 2022 IPS target population, some individuals with Indigenous ancestry who did not report Indigenous identity were still sampled, since past survey experience indicates that nearly one-third of these individuals will report an Indigenous identity on the IPS. Therefore, unlike the target population, the sampled population (or survey population) was composed of both the identity population and the Indigenous ancestry-only population.

For the 2022 IPS, a supplemental survey called the Indigenous Peoples Survey-Nunavut Inuit Supplement (IPS-NIS), targeted at Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement, was added, as it was for the 2017 APS. This included a large supplementary sample of Inuit aged 15 and over in Nunavut, as well as an additional set of questions designed to learn more about the availability, interest and level of preparedness of Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement for government employment. For more information about the 2022 IPS-NIS, you can consult https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5270.

Instrument design

Although the 2022 IPS was designed to be thematic, it is based on previous cycles of the IPS which were developed in collaboration with national Indigenous organizations. Following the release of data from the 2017 APS, a content review was conducted to ensure the future relevance of existing IPS questions to key stakeholders and to identify any potential data gaps. The review brought together expertise from a diverse group of researchers and subject matter experts, both from within and outside of Statistics Canada. New survey questions were developed and added to the 2022 IPS questionnaire in order to place greater emphasis on the themes of families and children.

The 2022 IPS was the first cycle to introduce the use of Respondent Electronic Questionnaire (rEQ), where respondents receive a Secure Access Code in order to log in and complete the survey online. The survey also continued the use of computer-assisted interview (CAI) methods used in previous iterations: Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) and Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI). Additionally, Canada still had various restrictions in place related to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore Statistics Canada implemented CAPI Lite Plus collection (CLP, where interviewers visit selected individuals in person to schedule an appointment with them to later complete the questionnaire via CATI), and Knock, Talk, Call (KTC, similar to CLP but a CATI interview is scheduled immediately). Finally, a pilot collection method was conducted for approximately a month in Iqaluit, where selected individuals were invited to complete their questionnaire via rEQ or CAPI at a municipal building.

When restrictions were lifted, in person follow-up via CAPI was used for all Inuit Nunangat regions, except for Nunatsiavut so as to avoid overlap with the Qanuippitaa? : National Inuit Health Survey.

Qualitative testing of the IPS survey questionnaire was carried out by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Centre (QDRC) with the help of First Nations people, Métis, and Inuit across Canada. Adjustments were made to question wording and flows based on those results. Question wording adheres as closely as possibly to questions established by the Harmonized Content Committee at Statistics Canada. This increases opportunities to compare responses between Statistics Canada surveys.

Sampling

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

Survey frame:
The IPS sample was selected from the 2021 Census of Population long-form respondents who reported an Indigenous identity or ancestry (see the section Target population). These census respondents make up the IPS frame.

Sampling design and stratification:
An important part of stratification uses the survey's domains of estimation, which are groups of units for which estimates are targeted. These domains of estimation corresponded to geographical regions for which estimates with an "acceptable" level of precision for a particular Indigenous group (i.e. First Nations, Métis or Inuit) and particular age group were targeted. More precisely, the domains of estimation were created by cross-tabulating the following variables:

Geography
- Inuit Regions
- Outside Inuit Regions
-- Province or territory
-- Consolidated Atlantic Provinces

Age group
- From 1 to 5 years old
- From 6 to 14 years old
- From 18 to 24 years old
- 25 to 54 years old
- 55 years and older

Indigenous group
- Inuit in Inuit Regions
- Inuit outside Inuit regions (rest of Canada)
- Combined Indigenous groups (excluding Inuit) for Atlantic Canada (excluding Nunatsiavut), Quebec (excluding Nunavik), Yukon and the NWT (outside Inuvialuit)
- For Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia
-- First Nation with off-reserve status
-- Status First Nation living off reserve
-- Metis

Although the estimates were not specifically targeted for those aged 15 to 17 years, they were included in the sample.

In total, 120 target domains of estimation and 78 supplementary domains of estimation were created, for a total of 198 domains of estimation. Supplementary domains of estimation included domains where there was no plan to produce estimates but where a particular group should still be represented in the sample. Examples of supplementary domains of estimation included the non Inuit population living in Inuit regions and the population aged 15 to 17 years.

Stratification will produce more accurate estimates if the characteristic of interest is homogeneous within strata and heterogeneous across strata. In addition, it is desirable that the estimation weights associated with survey respondents be as close as possible within the strata.

Within each domain of estimation, two variables were used to create the 2022 IPS strata:
- the region associated with the census form type (2A-L or 2A-R) and
- the type of Indigenous identification on the 2021 Census (Indigenous identity or Indigenous ancestry only).

The IPS design can be considered a two-phase design in which the first phase corresponds to the selection of the 2021 Census long-form sample and the second phase corresponds to the selection of the IPS sample.

Allocation method:
A method for optimal allocation between the substrata of a particular domain was used, taking into account different types of sample size loss, such as expected non-response and the probability of each unit belonging to the target population.

Sample size:
The final sample of the 2022 IPS contained a total of 73,984 units including an oversample of female Veterans and Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement.

For more details on the sampling design, the domains of estimation, the stratification and the allocation, please consult the Concepts and Methods Guide for the Indigenous Peoples Survey and Indigenous Peoples Survey - Nunavut Inuit Supplement, 2022, which is available at the Related Products on the Integrated Metadatabase (IMDB) webpage: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3250

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2022-05-11 to 2022-11-30 and from 2023-01-16 to 2023-03-31

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys.

Before the start of collection, introductory letters (containing a Secure Access Code (SAC)) and a handout (outlining the purpose of the survey as well as emphasizing the importance of participating) were mailed to respondents.

Responses to survey questions were captured in the electronic questionnaire (EQ) either directly by the respondent (rEQ) or by an interviewer using an interviewer electronic questionnaire (iEQ). For the second collection period from January 16 to March 31, 2023, Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) were the primary mode of collection in Inuit Nunangat, except for Nunatsiavut so as to avoid overlap with the Qanuippitaa? : National Inuit Health Survey.

Respondents could choose to complete the questionnaire in English or French. The full 2022 IPS questionnaire was available on Statistics Canada's website in Inuktitut (South Baffin syllabics), Inuinnaqtun, and Labrador Inuktitut, which respondents could use as a reference. Before collection started, as well as during, efforts were made by Statistics Canada's Western Regional Office to hire interviewers fluent in Inuktitut. When in person follow-up was implemented, local guides were hired whenever possible. Local guides played a crucial role in the success of the in person follow-up collection in Inuit Nunangat, as they were able to explain the importance of the survey to respondents in the local dialect.

The time required to complete the survey varied from person to person. In some cases, the 2022 IPS interview took up to an hour or more to finish, but on average the survey took about 47 minutes to complete.

Due to the 2022 survey having children as part of the target population, many proxy interviews were conducted. For children aged 1 to 14, interviews were conducted by proxy with a parent, guardian, or the person most knowledgeable about the child.

The questionnaire for individuals aged 15 and older was designed to be answered by the selected respondent. Proxy interviews were acceptable in some circumstances, such as when the selected respondent was not able to answer due to mental or physical health, due to a language barrier, or because the selected respondent was absent from home for the duration of the survey. Anyone over the age of 18 can act as a proxy for the selected respondent and answer the survey for them.

For individuals between the ages of 15 and 17, interviews were conducted directly with the youth, except when the parent or guardian denied permission. In these cases, the data was collected through proxy from the parent or guardian.

Approximately 74,000 people were selected to participate in the survey. Of those, approximately 38,330 respondents completed the 2022 IPS for a response rate of 52.3%. Excluding the 8,388 non-Indigenous respondents, the total number of Indigenous respondents included in the 2022 IPS database was 29,942.

The 2022 IPS sample was drawn from respondents who reported either Indigenous identity or Indigenous ancestry in the 2021 Census of Population long-form. IPS respondents were told that Statistics Canada planned to combine their IPS responses and census responses. Accordingly, the final edited Indigenous Peoples Survey master microdata file was linked with the 2021 Census of Population Dissemination Database. In the end, more than 250 census variables (not including geographic) were added to the final IPS file for 2022.

The specific benefits of an IPS-Census record linkage are reduced response burden for the target population of the IPS, the derivation of survey weights which are crucial to providing valid estimates, and the creation of a comprehensive microdata file which can be used by data analysts to extend their learning and to inform policy and program development for Indigenous peoples in Canada.

All products containing linked data are disseminated in accordance with Statistics Canada's policies, guidelines and standards. Only aggregate statistical estimates that conform to the confidentially provisions of the Statistics Act are released.

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

Error detection

In many cases when a particular response appeared to be inconsistent with previous answers or outside of expected values, the interviewer or respondent was prompted, through message screens on the computer, to confirm answers and, if needed, to modify the information directly at the time of interview. This editing, however, was conducted only with errors that were fairly simple and straightforward to detect and fix. These edits were applied at the micro level.

The collected data were then subjected to further editing processes in order to correct errors that required more complex edit rules. Customized edits consisted of validity checks within and across variables to identify gaps, inconsistencies, and other problems in the data, and corrections were performed based on logical edit rules. Editing at this stage was also applied at the micro level, using SAS (Statistical Analysis System).

Imputation

For the 2022 IPS, a series of important imputations was conducted in relation to Indigenous identity classifications.

For those with missing data for question ID_Q05 on Indigenous self-identification and Indigenous identity group would still have been asked questions ID_Q15 and ID_Q20 described above. However, due to the IPS respondent definition, these respondents would have had to identify as either a Status Indian in ID_Q15 or a member of a First Nation or Indian band in ID_Q20 in order to be considered an IPS respondent. If these respondents had self-identified as Indigenous persons on the census, then their Indigenous identity group(s) for question ID_Q05 were imputed from their identity group(s) on the census. Those who did not self-identify as Indigenous persons on the census were imputed as not having Indigenous identity in ID_Q05. These persons are still considered to be IPS respondents due to their affirmative response(s) in ID_Q15 and/or ID_Q20 and the IPS respondent definition, and in the derived variable for Indigenous identity they are grouped as "Indigenous responses not included elsewhere".

Estimation

The initial weight of a unit in a given IPS stratum corresponds to the product of two components: the inverse of the stratum sampling fraction and the Census weight of the unit in question. The stratum sampling fraction is calculated as the number of people selected for the IPS in each stratum divided by the total number of available Census long-form respondents for that stratum. The weights were then adjusted for non-response.

Two adjustments were made for two types of non-response: non-contact and non-response with contact (mainly refusals). First, a logistic regression model was constructed for each adjustment to predict the probabilities of being contacted or of responding when contacted on the basis of Census variables and collection variables known as "paradata" (number of contact attempts, for example). Second, respondents and non-respondents with similar predicted response probabilities were assigned to adjustment classes using cluster analysis. Third, the inverse of the weighted response rate in a class was used as the adjustment factor for that class, and the weights of the responding units within the class were adjusted accordingly.

Next, two post-stratification adjustments were made. The first post-stratification ensured that the sample did not under represent or over represent certain combinations of Indigenous groups, regions and age groups of the Census. The second post-stratification ensured that the Indigenous identity population estimated from the IPS screening questions corresponded to the population defined from the Census screening questions within each post-stratum defined by the cross-tabulation of region, Indigenous identity group and age group.

The Sigma-gap method was then used to detect and reduce excessively large weights within each post-stratum. After the weights were sorted in descending order, the excessively large weights were reduced to the value of the first non-outlier weight. The mass of the reduced weights was then redistributed proportionally within the post-strata.

Lastly, respondents from the IPS - Nunavut Inuit Supplement (IPS-NIS) sample that completed the IPS questionnaire but were identified as out-of-scope for the Nunavut Inuit Supplement because they were not enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement were added to the IPS sample with a weight of one. The IPS sample units in Nunavut that were not enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement were then reweighted within the second post-stratification adjustment groups in order to maintain the previously achieved control totals. For more information, see https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5270.

For the 2022 IPS, the bootstrap method was used to calculate the variance. For the sole purpose of calculating the variance, the 2021 Census was seen to have two phases: the initial sample of approximately 1 in 4 dwellings as the first phase and census respondents as the second phase. Although the final response rate was quite high for the 2021 Census (97.4% for the long form), this second phase ensures that the variance calculation takes into account the non-response that occurred. The two phases of the Census were later combined into a single phase. The IPS sampling was treated as a second phase, and then the general bootstrap method for two-phase sampling developed for the 2006 APS was used (see Langlet, É., Beaumont, J.-F., and Lavallée, P. 2008. "Bootstrap Methods for Two-Phase Sampling Applicable to Postcensal Surveys". Paper submitted to Statistics Canada's Advisory Committee on Statistical Methods, May 2008, Ottawa).

For the IPS, 1000 sets of bootstrap weights were generated using this method. The method can lead to negative bootstrap weights. To overcome this problem, a transformation was done on the bootstrap weights that reduced their variability. Therefore, the variance calculated on these transformed bootstrap weights has to be multiplied by a factor that is a function of a certain parameter, called phi. The value of the parameter corresponds to the smallest integer that makes all bootstrap weights positive. For the IPS, this parameter has a value of 4. The variances calculated on the transformed bootstrap weights have to be multiplied by four squared, that is 16. In addition, the coefficients of variation (CV) obtained (square root of the variance divided by the estimate itself) have to be multiplied by 4.

Quality evaluation

Differences between the IPS and other data sources:
Due to a number of differences in methodology between the 2022 IPS, previous cycles and other Statistics Canada surveys, comparisons of data between sources should be done with caution.

The 2022 IPS and the 2021 Census:
The census and the IPS are both rich sources of information on Indigenous peoples that complement each other. The IPS takes concepts that are touched on in the census and asks questions that dig deeper in order to provide more detailed information. For instance, the census provides information on the topic of education (which includes high school completion or equivalent, completion of registered apprenticeship or other trades certificate, completion of college or CEGEP, university certificate, diploma or degree completion, major field of study completed, and province, territory or country of completion; from questions 33 to 37). Adding information from the IPS provides an opportunity to learn more about secondary (high) school education as well as primary school education, for example, whether those aged 5 to 18 attended an early childhood development or preschool program, whether they have ever attended school on reserve, or whether they were taught an Indigenous language at school.

The IPS also cover comprehensive topics or themes that are not covered by the census. For example, the IPS provides detailed information on the health of Indigenous peoples.

While both the 2021 Census and the 2022 IPS cover the "Indigenous identity population" in their sampling designs, the 2022 IPS did not cover the "ancestry-only population" (Census respondents who reported Indigenous ancestry only were included in the IPS sample because they had a non-negligible probability of reporting Indigenous identity in the IPS. These respondents were retained in the IPS dataset only if they had reported an Indigenous identity in this survey.)

The population counts from the 2022 IPS for certain subpopulations may differ from those obtained from the census, even though the census population universe is restricted to that of the IPS. Calibration ensured that the number of individuals with Indigenous identity was the same in the Census and the IPS, but only for certain combinations of Indigenous group, region and age group.

In addition, for the same individual, the Indigenous identity reported and the fact of being registered under the Nunavut Agreement may, in some cases, differ between the IPS and the census. There are many reasons why responses to these surveys may differ such as:

- Method of collection and effect of proxy reporting
- Different questionnaires
- Different contexts
- Effect of time

2022 IPS and 2017 APS:
The target population for the 2017 APS included individuals aged 15 years and older only, while the 2022 IPS population also included children aged 1 to 14. Estimates are expected to be comparable between 2017 APS and 2022 IPS for individuals 15 years of age and older in the IPS target population.

Methodologically, the biggest change between the 2017 APS and 2022 IPS concerns the quality indicators. Prior to 2022, the coefficient of variation (CV) was used to report on the quality of estimates in terms of their sampling error. For the 2022 IPS, the 95% confidence interval (CI) is used for this purpose instead.

Readers can refer to the Indigenous Peoples Survey and Indigenous Peoples Survey - Nunavut Inuit Supplement User Guide for related information on the use of CIs to report on the accuracy of survey estimates and quality-related dissemination rules.

2022 IPS and IPS-Nunavut Inuit Supplement (IPS-NIS):
There are many methodological differences between the 2022 IPS and the 2022 IPS-NIS. To begin, the populations covered by each survey are not the same. The 2022 IPS-NIS only includes data for Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement (NA) while the 2022 IPS includes data for all Inuit (and all other Indigenous identity groups).

Moreover, the domains of interest and sampling strata were not the same for the two surveys. The 2022 IPS sample was selected based on domains of interest defined using geography (Inuit regions, province/territory, Atlantic provinces grouped), Indigenous group and age group. In comparison, the IPS-NIS sample was selected based on domains of interest defined by Nunavut community and education group. In fact, the IPS-NIS was designed to produce community-level estimates in Nunavut whereas the 2022 IPS was designed to produce estimates only at the Nunavut level.

The domains of interest of each survey also impacted the weighting strategy. For the 2022 IPS, the post-stratification produced weights so that population counts by geography, Indigenous group and age group matched 2021 Census totals. For the IPS-NIS, the post-stratification was done for each education group within each Nunavut community. The difference in the weighting strategies can create differences between the estimates produced for the two surveys.

More information about the IPS-NIS can be found here: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5270

2022 IPS and Canadian Survey on Disability:
The official source for disability-specific data in Canada, such as prevalence and counts of people with disabilities, is the Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD). However, when it comes to prevalence and counts of people with disabilities among Indigenous people, the official source is the IPS.

Several surveys in addition to the CSD use the Disability Screening Questions (DSQ) module to identify people with disabilities, making it possible to compare their survey characteristics with those of people without disabilities.

Given that each of these other surveys has its own target population, reference period, collection mode, content, question order, structure, non-response rate and methodology, estimates of the prevalence of disability and the number of people with a disability based on responses to the DSQ module of these surveys should not be released. In fact, the DSQ module should be used by these other surveys only to produce estimates of the proportions of people with disabilities who display certain characteristics for comparison with the corresponding proportions among people without disabilities.

However, the IPS are the one and only exception to this rule. The target population of the IPS is Métis and Inuit, as well as First Nations people living off reserve in Canada. As with the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS), the DSQ module was used in the 2022 IPS to identify people with disabilities. Since the IPS have a much larger sample of Indigenous people with disabilities than the CSD, and the IPS sample is considered more representative of the Indigenous population, the IPS is the official source of data on disability rates for Indigenous people.

To ensure the comparability of disability rates from the IPS with those from the CSD, the methodology used in the CSD was also applied in the IPS: any person in the IPS sample who did not report any long-term difficulty or condition on the activities of daily living question in the 2021 Census of Population was considered to have no disability, regardless of their responses to the DSQ module in the IPS. For more information on the CSD methodology, refer to the Canadian Survey on Disability, 2022: Concepts and Methods Guide: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2023004-eng.htm.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

Two types of errors occur in surveys: sampling errors and non-sampling errors.

Sampling Errors:
Sampling errors are defined as errors resulting from the estimation of a population characteristic based on the measurement of a part of the population rather than the whole population. For probability sampling surveys, there are methods for estimating sampling errors. These methods derive directly from the sampling design and estimation method used in the survey.

The measure most often used to quantify sampling error is the sampling variance. The sampling variance indicates the extent to which the estimate of a characteristic differs from one sample to the next, given several possible samples of the same size and design. The standard error of an estimate is the square root of the sampling variance. This measure is easier to interpret, because it gives an indication of sampling error using the same scale as the estimate, whereas variance is based on squared differences.

The measure of sampling error used for the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) is the 95% CI instead of the coefficient of variation (CV) that was used for the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey. These two measures of sampling error are described below.

The CV of an estimate is a relative measure of sampling error. It is defined as the estimate of the standard error divided by the estimate itself, usually expressed as a percentage (e.g., 10% instead of 0.1). It is very useful for measuring and comparing the sampling error of quantitative variables with large positive values. However, its use is not recommended for estimates such as proportions and estimates of variations or differences, or for variables that can take on negative values.

A CI provides upper and lower bounds around a point estimate and indicates the degree of confidence with which the CI covers the true population value. A 95% CI of an estimate means that if the survey were repeated several times, the CI would cover the true population value 95% of the time (or 19 times out of 20). Statistics Canada's best practice is to report the sampling error of an estimate using its 95% CI.

Non-sampling Errors:
Non-sampling errors arise primarily from the following sources: non-response errors, coverage errors, measurement errors and processing errors. The response rate for the IPS was 52.3%. Total non-response will produce a bias if non-respondents have different characteristics from respondents and if non-response is not corrected properly. Non-response adjustments, combined with a relatively high response rate, helped reduce this risk of bias substantially. Non-response to specific questions is often due to difficulty understanding the questions. Thorough quality reviews and questionnaire testing were carried out before the survey, which reduced the extent of partial non-response. Cases in which there was a large proportion of missing responses to key questions were treated as a special form of total non-response.

Coverage errors occur when there are differences between the target population and the sampled population (or survey population). In particular, under-coverage can be problematic. Because the IPS sample was selected from those who had participated in the 2021 Census, individuals who did not participate in the census could not be sampled for the IPS. If this group of individuals is significantly different than the ones who participated in the census with respect to the characteristics measured in the IPS, a bias could be introduced. This bias is assumed to be relatively small given the very high response rate obtained in the census (97.4% response rate for the long form questionnaire).

Measurement errors occur when an answer provided differs from the actual value. These errors may be due to respondents, the interviewer, the questionnaire, the collection method, or the data processing system. Extensive efforts were made to develop questions for the 2022 IPS that would be understandable, relevant, and culturally appropriate.

Processing errors may occur at various stages, including during the programming of the electronic questionnaire, when the interviewer or respondents enters responses, when coding, and when editing data. Quality control procedures were applied at each stage of the 2022 IPS data processing to reduce this type of error. Data collection was conducted using an electronic questionnaire, either administered by an interviewer or self-reported by the respondent. A number of edits were built into the system to alert the respondent or interviewer to inconsistencies or unusual values, allowing for the correction of inconsistencies or errors immediately. For more information about the Non-sampling Errors, please refer to the Concepts and Methods Guide for the Indigenous Peoples Survey and Indigenous Peoples Survey - Nunavut Inuit Supplement, 2022: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3250.