National Security Information Sharing
and Transparency Public Opinion Research
Summary
Prepared for Public Safety and Emergency
Preparedness Canada
Supplier: EKOS RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
INC.
Contract Number: 0D160-212976/001/CY
Contract Value: $105,231.79
Award Date: December 4, 2020
Delivery Date: March 29, 2021
Registration Number: POR 072-20
For
more information on this report, please contact:
ps.communications-communications.sp@canada.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français
National Security Information Sharing and
Transparency Public Opinion Research – Summary
Prepared for Public Safety and
Emergency Preparedness Canada
Supplier name: EKOS RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC.
Date:
March 12, 2021
This public opinion research report
presents the results of an online survey conducted by EKOS Research Associates
Inc. on behalf of Public Safety and
Emergency Preparedness Canada. The research study was conducted with
2,000 Canadians 18 or older between January 19 and February 2, 2021.
Cette publication est aussi
disponible en français sous le titre : Recherche
sur l'opinion publique sur l’échange d’informations sur la sécurité nationale
et la transparence.
This publication may be reproduced
for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be obtained
from Public Services and Procurement Canada. For more information on this
report, please contact Public Services and Procurement Canada at: tpsgc.questions-questions.pwgsc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
or at:
Communications Branch
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Portage III Tower A
16A1-11 Laurier Street
Gatineau QC
K1A 0S5
Catalogue
Number:
PS4-277/2021E-PDF
International
Standard Book Number (ISBN):
978-0-660-37878-7
Related
publications (registration number: POR 072-20):
Catalogue Number PS4-277/2021F-PDF
ISBN 978-0-660-37879-4
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right
of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government
Services, 2021
Since its creation in 2003, Public
Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PS) has provided leadership and
ensured coordination across federal departments and agencies on national
security information sharing and transparency efforts. These efforts serve PS’
mandate to keep Canadians secure from threats such as crime and terrorism, and
help fulfill its mission to build a safer and more resilient Canada for all. To achieve these
goals, PS and its portfolio partners require the trust and confidence of Canadians.
In recent years, the Government of
Canada (“Government”) has implemented several reform initiatives, including the
National Security Act (former Bill C-59), which established stronger
accountability and transparency mechanisms while providing Canada’s security
and intelligence agencies with additional tools to keep pace with developments
in the ever-evolving threat environment. PS continues to seek public opinion
and input to further its mandate and mission and develop strategies to enhance
trust in ongoing national security communications and transparency efforts.
The primary objective of the survey
is to better understand Canadians’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes
surrounding the Government’s national security information sharing and
transparency frameworks. Specific research objectives include:
·
to better understand the general
public’s level of knowledge and awareness of the Government’s national security
institutions and their activities, including domestic interagency cooperation
to enhance national security;
·
to better understand Canadians’
awareness of national security issues, including the process and timing of
sharing relevant information on national security with the public;
·
to determine what type of information
Canadians want, or feel they need to know about national security, including
their expectations of what should be shared publicly, and any perceived
information gaps;
·
to assess Canadians’ satisfaction
with the Government’s level of transparency surrounding national security
activities, policies, communications and public engagement efforts;
·
to assess the level of trust
Canadians place in the Government’s ability to adequately respond to threats
and incidents and to ensure national security, while protecting Canadians’
fundamental rights and freedoms; and,
·
to inform activities that could be
used to communicate with the Canadian public on the above-noted issues.
This research may also help to inform
the design and implementation of future public awareness and outreach
activities that seek to: improve transparency in areas of national security
that matter most to Canadians; increase public trust in the Government’s
sharing of information on national security; and enhance public confidence in
the Government’s ability to maintain the safety and security of Canadians while
protecting citizens privacy rights. It also serves as a baseline against which
to measure future progress following the implementation of awareness and
outreach activities.
Survey
The primary survey
features a sample of 2,000 Canadians, 18 years of age and older. The survey
sample was randomly selected from a probability-based panel. The Probit
panel, which is assembled using a random digit dial (RDD) process for sampling
from a blended land-line cell-phone frame, provides full coverage of Canadians
with telephone access. The distribution of the panel is meant to mirror the
actual population in Canada
(as defined by Statistics Canada). As such, our more than 100,000 member panel
can be considered representative of the general public in Canada (meaning that the incidence
of a given target population within our panel very closely resembles the public
at large) and margins of error can be applied. Twenty percent of surveys were
collected by trained, bilingual interviewers, while the rest were collected
through online survey self-administration.
The survey was
collected online and by telephone between January 19 and February 2, 2021 in
both official languages. This followed testing to make sure public
understanding was clear and consistent. The survey length averaged 15 minutes
online and 20 minutes by telephone. The overall rate of participation was 26%
(25% online and 33% by telephone). Details on the rate of participation can be
found in Appendix A, and the full questionnaire is provided in Appendix B.
This randomly
recruited probability sample carries with it a margin of error of +/-2.2%. The
margin of error for most sub-groups is between 3.5% and 7.0%. Results are
weighted to population proportions for region, age, gender, and education.
Chi-square tests were used to compare subgroups to the remaining sample (e.g., Ontario vs. the rest of Canada;
65 years old and over vs. the rest of Canada; women vs. men). Because of
the random nature of the sampling, along with weighting along key dimension,
the results can be extrapolated to the broader population of Canadians 18 years
of age or older. Characteristics of the sample can be found in Appendix A.
Parallel Survey
A parallel survey was also conducted,
through an open-source link circulated by PS with existing stakeholders who in
turn shared within their networks. It relied on the same questionnaire as used
to collect the general public sample, with slight modifications regarding
sample characteristics collected and the additional comment box. The aim was to
gather the views of privacy specialists, academics and other national security
stakeholders. A total of 95 surveys were completed in this sample. Results of
this parallel survey are presented alongside the results for the general public
survey in relevant sections. There are too few cases, however, to segment
results into further sub-groups. It should be noted that results of the open
source link are illustrative in nature, and are only projectable to these 95
individuals, rather than to the broader population.
Interviews
Survey respondents were asked about
their willingness to participate in a follow-up interview, conducted by phone,
to further discuss their views about sharing and transparency related to
information sharing on national security. Interview participants were selected
based on survey responses, assigning potential participants into one of four
groups: negative perception/ attitudes about Government sharing of
information/transparency; positive perceptions/ attitudes; low self-rated knowledge
about national security issues and information sharing, or high knowledge in
this regard. This assignment was based on a count of all relevant questions
where ratings of 1 or 2 were counted as low knowledge/negative perception or
ratings of 4-5 were counted as high knowledge/ positive attitudes. Only
respondents with the highest possible count in one of these areas were assigned
to one of the four groups. Participants were then selected from these four
sub-samples, attempting to select participants from a variety of regions and
age segments, as well as fairly even proportion based on gender. All current or
previous employees of the Government, or anyone participating in an interview
or focus groups for Government public opinion research were excluded from
participating.
A total of 21 interviews were
conducted, each lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Participants were asked to describe
their concerns with national security and sharing of personal information;
whether they feel well informed on issues of national security; and whether
they feel the Government is transparent in explaining national security issues
to Canadians, as well as their confidence in the Government’s ability to
respond on national security issues. Interview participants were provided with
a $50 incentive for their time. The interview guide can be found in Appendix C.
Results of the interviews are
described in shaded text, along with anonymized, illustrative quotes. It should
be noted that the results of the interviews are meant to be qualitative and
directional in nature. These results should not be used to estimate a numeric
proportions or number of individuals in the population who hold a particular opinion as they are
not statistically projectable. That is, results should not be
assumed to be representative of the experiences of the wider population of
Canada. It is meant to simply add some illustrative experiences and
perspectives. For this reason, terms such as “a few”, “some”, “many” and “most”
are used to broadly indicate views, rather than using specific percentages.
Information Sharing
Knowledge of Canadian laws on
information sharing is relatively low, with 17% of Canadians rating themselves
as knowledgeable about laws that protect personal information and 9% perceiving
they are knowledgeable about Canadian laws for sharing information for national
security. Four in ten specialists rated themselves as knowledgeable about laws
protecting personal information and sharing of information.
Most Canadians have at least moderate
confidence in how Canada shares information on national security; however,
proportions that have confidence and those that lack confidence are fairly
equal for most attributes. One in three Canadians indicate they are confident
that the Government shares information responsibly in order to respond to
national security threats. A similar proportion are confident that Canada has
the tools it needs to share information in order to respond to national
security threats; has the ability to effectively respond to national security
threats; and that the Government protects the personal information it has in
its possession about individual Canadians. One in four are confident that
national security review and oversight bodies make the Government more
responsible in sharing information to respond to national security threats;
although more (one in three) are not confident in this.
Canadians also have a relatively low
level of trust in the Government sharing information with other organizations,
with just over one in three trusting the Government to lawfully share their
personal information for national security reasons within the Government. Only
about one in five trust the Government to lawfully share their personal
information with a foreign government or entity or a private or
non-governmental organization. Trust is higher among specialists. Among
interview participants, some suggested that as long as the Government is
transparent in the sharing of personal information, they will continue to trust
the Government’s sharing of information for national security purposes.
Although one in three Canadians agree
that the Government should have greater information sharing powers even if it
affects their privacy rights, close to half disagree. Agreement is higher among
specialists with half saying the Government should have greater powers. The
majority of interview participants do not have concerns with the Government
sharing personal information for national security purposes. For these
participants, it is reasonable to share personal information, as long as it is
done for ethical reasons with other trustworthy sources.
Transparency in National Security
Knowledge among Canadians regarding
national security is low. Over half of Canadians surveyed state they are not
knowledgeable about what Canada’s national security department and agencies do.
One in five Canadians perceive themselves to be knowledgeable about what
national security threats and issues are facing Canada and Canadians.
Transparency related to national
security is important to most Canadians surveyed. Four in five state it is
important to them how departments and agencies respect Canadian laws, use their
powers and are held accountable. Three in four say transparency is important
regarding how national security issues impact Canadians and what the Government
is doing to address those issues. Over nine in ten specialists in the parallel
survey rated these two areas as important.
Most Canadians feel it is important
that the Government provide information to Canadians about issues and threats
related to national security areas. At the top of the list is the importance of
providing information about pandemics and other health related security issues.
Almost as many believe it is important to provide information about cyber, data
and telecommunications security; food, water, environment/climate security
issues; or foreign interference in democratic processes or institutions. A
strong majority (over eight in ten) also rate it as important for the
Government to provide information on terrorism and ideologically or
religiously-motivated extremism; supply chain, resource shortages or infrastructure;
safeguarding innovation or intellectual property, or research and technology.
Border security, movement of people and goods was rated as important among just
under eight in ten Canadians. Interview participants were concerned about a
range of security issues, with some participants mentioning cybersecurity as
their greatest concern, in part “because everything is digital and everything
is online now”, along with concern about the vulnerability of their personal
information to cyberattacks.
When looking to know more about
national security or looking for specific information related to a national
security issue, two in three Canadians would most likely rely on Government
websites or reports. About half of Canadians agree that publicly available Government
information on national security is more trustworthy than information found
elsewhere. Interview participants likewise indicated they would trust the
information produced by the Government; however, some participants felt that
they were not well informed about national security measures and that it is
difficult to find information that can be trusted or that is not biased.
Further, these participants perceived that the Government does not actively
share information with Canadians about national security.
Two in three Canadians feel it is
important that Canada’s national security departments and agencies reach out to
various organizations, experts, groups or communities, external to government,
to obtain their views on national security policies, programs and issues. A
similar proportion believe it is important to proactively share information
with news media. Over half state it is important for Canada to create
opportunities for the Canadian public to share opinions on national security
policies, programs and issues, and half think it is important to create
interactive educational content online.
In the last three years, about one in
four Canadians have visited a Government website or read a Government public
report related to national security. Some interview participants felt that the
Government could do a better job of informing Canadians on national security
matters, including making more information available and producing accessible
and understandable information for the general public. Many participants
indicate that the Government should reach out to Canadians with information on
national security matters, what the government is doing, and where to find more
information.
Detailed findings are presented in
the sections that follow. Overall results are presented in the main portion of
the narrative and are typically supported by graphic or tabular presentation of
results. Bulleted text is also used to point out any statistically and
substantively significant differences between sub-groups of respondents. If
differences are not noted in the report, it can be assumed that they are either
not statistically significant
in their variation from the overall result or that the difference was deemed to
be substantively too small to be noteworthy. The programmed survey instrument
can be found in Appendix A. Details of the methodology and sample
characteristics can be found in Appendix B.
Results for the proportion of
respondents in the sample who either said “don’t know” or did not provide a
response may not be indicated in the graphic representation of the results in
all cases, particularly where they are not sizable (e.g., 10% or less). Results
may also not total to 100% due to rounding.
The contract value for the POR
project is $105,231.79 (including HST).
Supplier Name: EKOS Research
Associates
PWGSC Contract Number:
0D160-212976/001/CY
Contract Award Date: December 4, 2020
To
obtain more information on this study, please e-mail:
ps.communications-communications.sp@canada.ca
I hereby certify as Senior Officer of
EKOS Research Associates Inc. that the deliverables fully comply with the
Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the
Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning
and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not
include information on electoral voting intentions, political party
preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a
political party or its leaders.
Signed by: 
Susan
Galley (Vice President)