Let’s Talk Data: An Update on Our Journey 

For many, the new year signals a time of refresh and renewal. The same is true for the College as our annual renewal process is just around the corner. This year the renewal period opens on February 3. 

For those who have been registrants for a number of years, you’ll know that as part of this process you have a chance to review and update the information we collect from you about your practice and who you are. 

You’ll know that one of the key reasons we collect this information is to support health workforce planning at both the provincial and national levels. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is a key partner in this space, and they’ve been making some changes to the level of detail we collect so they can better understand how healthcare professionals serve the system and where the system can respond to better support you and your patients. 

With this in mind, I wanted to return to the issue of collecting demographic data and build on some of my past blog posts – see The Role of Data Collection in our EDI Work and How We Protect Your Privacy – taking a moment to highlight a few minor changes while acknowledging we still have work to do. 

Looking Back 

Over the past few years, we’ve been adjusting the demographic questions we ask of you to align with CIHI’s approach. These questions have been primarily voluntary, allowing you to skip over them, and have explored demographic characteristics such as ethnicity and Indigeneity. 

While our aim has been to support the work needed to promote greater equity and equality for all people, we acknowledge that our approach to collecting the information hasn’t always felt safe and that our reporting hasn’t always been harm-free. 

For example, while we’ve been collecting gender information for many years, our approach to collection conflated the constructs of sex and gender and our reporting on the data we collected othered those who did not fall into the historical dichotomy of male and female that was used. 

We’ve been making some progress in this space but still have work to do. 

Change is on the Way 

We’re committed to making the necessary changes. To help us get there, we partnered with the Canadian Health Workforce Network out of the University of Ottawa. With their guidance, we’ve been updating the way we collect our data. You’ll see some of these changes reflected in this year’s annual renewal. 

For example, to move away from conflating the concepts of sex and gender, we have switched from the male-female dichotomy to the language of man and woman when asking for your gender. We also continue to include the option to identify as a different gender. 

We will also continue to evaluate the best way to present the demographic data that we collect to make sure it’s done in a safe way as we approach our next annual report. We acknowledge that we haven’t always gotten it right in the past and we want to do better going forward.  

While this is progress, we know there is still more discussion to be had as we seek to bring greater attention to the diversity of identities that exist. The options presented this year still embed historical norms that can be harmful, as they make different identities invisible, particularly as it relates to transgender identities. 

But future progress in this space requires more discussion with you to build the trust needed to collect this information. For example, collecting gender information is mandatory, but we’ve heard our processes and structures are not yet safe enough to require individuals to identify as transgender or to implicitly collect information about registrants’ Indigenous identity by including a Two-Spirit option within the gender question. 

Of course, this goes beyond data about gender. We have heard clearly from you before that you don’t yet trust us to collect more demographic information about you in general, and that is something that we are working to address. We have laid out the case for why this data is helpful for supporting equity, diversity and inclusion, but we can’t move ahead until we have your trust. 

These conversations will continue, and we will bring your attention to changes we’re making that demonstrate our commitment to collecting, storing and using your information in a responsible manner. 

Your Feedback Matters 

This conversation wouldn’t be possible without your continued engagement and feedback. I want to specifically thank those from equity deserving groups, or those who advocate on their behalf, for consistently drawing our attention to important and essential perspectives that need to be considered as our approach evolves. 

Let’s keep the conversation going. We would welcome your thoughts on what more we need to do to build trust in how we handle demographic information about you, and how we can use that information safely and responsibly to support equity and inclusion.  

If you have feedback on this blog or your experience in the annual renewal process, comment below or email me at registrar@collegept.org.