Chief Statistician of Canada

The Chief Statistician of Canada is a deputy of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada - the Minister of Industry.

The Chief Statistician advises on matters pertaining to statistical programs of the department and agencies of the Government of Canada. The Chief Statistician supervises the administration of the Statistics Act and controls the operation and staff of Statistics Canada. The Chief Statistician must also report yearly on the activities of Statistics Canada to the responsible minister, the Minister of Industry.

The current Chief Statistician of Canada is Anil Arora effective Monday, September 19th 2016 after Wayne Smith resigned on September 16th, 2016 over concerns about the independence of Statistics Canada, particularly in relation to IT services being transferred to Shared Services Canada. He replaced Munir Sheikh who resigned on July 21, 2010.