National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System (NASS)

National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System (NASS)

Description of Program 

The National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System (NASS) collects anonymized case-level data to examine and report Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) prevalence, characteristics and related outcomes. The NASS is delivered by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention Branch. NASS collects case-level information on children with ASD from participating provincial and territorial partners, from administrative records.

Why was a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) completed?

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) was conducted due to the sensitivity of personal information that is collected by the NASS as part of its functions.

The PIA examines the privacy-related risks of the NASS and proposes methods to lower these risks.

More Information

The PIA focused on analyzing and identifying privacy risk for the Public Health Agency of Canada’s collection, use, disclosure and retention and disposition of personal information in support of NASS’s current activities. This analysis included data exchanges with Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon Territory.

The PIA identified privacy risks pertaining to Accountability and Security of Information. In addition, they set out mitigation strategies to reduce these risks.