Demographic & Diversity Data Survey

The Demographic & Diversity Data Survey will help the institution understand the composition of our faculty, staff and students so we can ensure the correct supports are in place. The survey is not mandatory, however, each person that completes the survey contributes data that will help make SFU a better place to learn, research, teach and work. 

Collecting self-identified data about our SFU community helps meet our regulatory needs and institutional commitments, support equitable and accountable programs and service delivery and measure progress towards our institutional priorities.

Specifically, SFU is required to collect workforce data as per the following:

• Pay Transparency Act
• SFUFA Collective Agreement
• GP 19: SFU Employment Equity Policy

As well, data is necessary to monitor the progress on recommendations of the SFUFA Salary Equity Committee 2016 Report and the Calls to Action outlined within the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council Walk This Path With Us report, the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion, as well as to meet the expectations of the Canada Research Chairs Program and the NSERC Dimensions program charter and principles. Our demographic and diversity data also supports accreditation processes and reports.

This survey will help SFU to better understand the composition of our faculty, staff and student groups, alongside listed data from MyInfo (faculty and staff) and goSFU (students).

By collecting this demographic data, we hope to establish SFU's baseline diversity profile for:

• Employees
• Faculties and academic departments
• Business units and non-academic departments
• Bargaining units
• SFU students
  • Overall
  • By faculty and departments
  • By undergraduate or graduate
  • By domestic or international
  • By age group

This will also open the possibility in future surveys to compare trends.

Additional questions this survey hopes to answer include:

Faculty and Staff

• Is there demographic diversity among SFU faculty and staff by age?
• Is SFU an equitable employer for diverse demographic groups?
• Are salary and benefit structures similar or different across diversity groups?
• Are employee promotions patterns and salary progression similar or different across diversity groups?

Students

• Do certain demographic groups need more student supports?
• Do certain demographic groups need more academic supports for successful graduation?

We plan to collect demographic information regularly to ensure our data is up-to-date, accurate and reflects the current faculty, staff, and student population at SFU.

SFU faculty, staff, and students who joined the university before September 16, 2024 are invited to complete the survey. Our current demographic data compliance and reporting needs are primarily for these SFU constituent groups. 

Any faculty, staff or students who joined the SFU community on or after September 16, 2024 will be eligible to complete the survey in the coming months. The exact date for distribution is to be determined. 

The survey is not mandatory. However, each person that completes the survey contributes data that will help make SFU a better place to learn, research, teach and work. Once you start the survey, all questions must be answered for the survey to be marked complete but you have the option to opt out of responding to individual questions. 

The survey will include core human rights/equity demographic questions from the most recent Canadian census, a supplemental section with additional SFU demographic questions and a third section with inclusion experience questions. Respondents have the right to opt out of answering any question at any time.

The survey will collect the following demographic information:

• Sex at birth
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Activities of daily living (regarding difficulties one may have completing certain activities due to vision, hearing, mobility, learning, mental conditions)
• Long-term and short-term disability
• Disability related barriers
• Place of birth
• Ancestral ethnic/cultural origins
• Indigeneity
• Global Indigenous Persons and Host nation membership
• Race
• Religious affiliations
• Primary campus affiliation
• Parents’/Guardians’ educational attainment (first-generation student status)
• Refugee status
• Caregiver status
• First language
• Open-ended question for those who would like to disclose other data for self-identification
• SFU inclusion experiences

The data gathered from the survey will fulfill various compliance requirements, help SFU meet its institutional commitments, support equitable and accountable programs and service delivery and measure progress towards our institutional priorities.

SFU recognizes that self-identification and sharing of personal data is a serious decision, in particular for individuals and communities who have experienced harms related to the misuse of data. To support our community, many of the questions provide the option not to answer by selecting “Prefer not to answer”. Even if you choose “prefer not to answer” to select questions, that is valuable data that helps us understand our community. You can also choose to not answer any question at any time.

Survey respondents are allowed to change their responses to the survey until they submit the survey. After they submit the survey, individuals will not be able to change personal information.

A cross-institutional Diversity Data Taskforce began working on the Diversity Data Initiative in September 2022. The taskforce included representatives of offices across SFU responsible for programs that require SFU demographic and diversity data and subject matter experts in data collection and management. Key groups were also consulted for various input throughout and will continue to be consulted up to the launch of the survey. 

The taskforce includes representatives from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, Privacy Management Program, Information Technology, Human Rights Office, Equity Office, Institutional Strategic Awards/VP Research, Faculty Relations, Human Resources/Labour Relations, Student Services, Office of Aboriginal Peoples, Simon Fraser Student Society, Graduate Student Society, University Communications and SFUFA Equity Committee. The SFUFA Equity Committee/Expert in microdata and ethnic diversity in Canada was also engaged to review and validate the draft survey.

The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. There are three sections in the survey: 

• Section 1 – 2021 Canadian Census Demographic Questions
• Section 2 – SFU-Specific Demographic Questions
• Section 3 – SFU Inclusion Experience Questions

The second and third sections of the survey reflects SFU-preferred demographic questions and language. These SFU-defined questions address additional demographic questions not captured on the national census, but that are important to help us improve the SFU experience. 

As a result of the ongoing consultations, inclusion experience questions have now also been included in the survey. Those questions include a subset based on the previous Diversity Meter and a few additional questions on inclusion experience.

The use of Census Canada questions serves two purposes. 

First, the use of Census Canada questions will allow for comparison with the Census to measure how well we represent the general Canadian population. 

Secondly, this data allows SFU to benchmark ourselves against relevant census data reports (e.g. post-secondary, education, training and learning statistics).

After many months of consultation with community groups and individuals, the decision has been made to use the wording in the Canadian Census to ensure we can validate and compare SFU’s data accurately. This portion of the SFU Demographic and Diversity Data Survey will be updated periodically to reflect regular updates to the Canadian Census. 

To support the community, SFU has provided the option not to answer any question to ensure you have the right to opt out of answering any question at any time. 

Each person eligible to respond to the survey will receive a unique survey link attached to their personal faculty, staff or student SFU ID, which is pulled from goSFU and/or MyINFO. The collection of this information is necessary for analytics, and the disclosure of personal information from goSFU and/or myINFO is in accordance with the purpose for which it was originally collected.

SFU’s data governance and privacy standards will apply to all reports generated from the survey. Dashboards will report anonymized and aggregated data only. Report/data requests will be reviewed based on data governance standards at Institutional Research and Planning and any reports generated will be completely deidentified with all personal identifiers such as names, ID numbers removed.

For SFU students, responses to the survey will be linked to other information such as faculty/program and indicators of student success collected in goSFU to enable more detailed analyses. For SFU employees, survey responses will be linked to information such as union affiliation, faculty/department, and continuing/temporary status in myInfo. Open-ended comments will be summarized and reported in aggregate form. However, note that any comments you provide may be presented verbatim in reports, with identifiers like names removed.

Data collected in this survey is related directly to and needed by Simon Fraser University (SFU) to assess the demographic background and belonging/inclusion experiences of SFU students and employees and is required for various applications including: 

• developing, improving, and evaluating equity, diversity, and inclusion-related programs, policies, and practices that support all members of the SFU community 
• identifying, monitoring, and evaluating gaps, barriers, and trends for the purpose of establishing objective, data-driven insights and goals on student, faculty and staff experience 
• for the purposes of accreditation and tracking student outcomes/success 
• conducting a workforce analysis that will inform planning and reports 
• establishing a university profile to inform appropriate activities such as rankings, funding requirements, and other reporting that require information on the diversity of SFU staff and faculty. 

This survey is conducted under the authority of the University Act (RSBC 1996, c.468) and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) (RSBC 1996, c.165).

Survey information is only accessed by certain staff within the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) and will not be disclosed to third parties. IRP is the office responsible for reporting official university data to faculty, staff, students, provincial and federal governments, external institutions and agencies, and the general public.

Information disclosed to other SFU departments and program areas or to external parties will not be at the individual level, it will only be at an aggregate level. 

As per Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP) principles, all aggregate data on Indigenous persons will be made available to SFU’s Indigenous Executive Lead and the Office for Aboriginal Peoples. 

A summary of the data in aggregate form will be made available to the University and the public through an online dashboard. 

SFU takes the role of stewarding equity data seriously and understands that people and communities have experienced systemic discriminations and harm as a result of misuse of personal data. 

SFU’s data security measures led by the Privacy Office and Office of Institutional Research and Planning will ensure data gathered through the Demographic & Diversity Data Survey are protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosures. 

The University has documented processes in place to respond to any privacy breaches and complaints. A privacy breach occurs when personal information is accessed, collected, used, disclosed or disposed of in ways that do not comply with the provisions of FIPPA. For more information see the SFU webpage on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. 

The survey data will be retained for a minimum of one year from closing of the survey, up to eight years (e.g. where reporting encompasses undergraduate and graduate program years to completion rates).