Introduction

Launched in September 2005, Service Canada represents a fundamental transformation in federal operations. It is intended to emerge as the focal point for service delivery in Canada, making it increasingly convenient for citizens to obtain the assistance they need via a one- stop service delivery network.

• Service Canada is working alongside other federal departments, levels of governments, and community service providers to integrate the delivery of services across programs, departments and jurisdictions. Its focus is not only to improve the consistency, flexibility and accessibility of services, but also to increase the capacity to introduce new programs and services, as well as the coordination and rationalization of investment in service delivery infrastructure.

• The requirements, expectations and priorities of Canadians will form the foundation for the design and delivery of services. Over time, reactions to Service Canada will be used to inform the policy and program development process. Service Canada therefore provides a clear point of accountability for service in the federal government that will enhance the ability to serve citizens and meet their needs.

• Given that the organization is relatively new, it is not surprising that awareness of Service Canada has not reached its full potential. Before any significant marketing is undertaken, however, it is necessary to establish a baseline measurement for awareness.

• EKOS was commissioned to establish a starting point from which future measures of awareness could be compared and tracked in the future.

Objectives

• The broad objectives of a baseline awareness and market segmentation study were to support Service Canada and the Marketing and Communication Branch’s mandate.

• More specifically, the objectives of the research would include:

  • establishing the awareness and perception of Service Canada and knowledge of major channels for service delivery (1-800 O’Canada, Service Canada.gc.ca);
  • developing measurable metrics for communication objectives;
  • establishing benchmarks against which to measure the effectiveness of communications activities;
  • analyzing market segment data for policy, communications and marketing purposes;
  • determining the most effective channels of communications; and
  • serving as a performance measure to track trends over time.

Methodology

• The Service Canada Awareness Baseline Study consisted of telephone interviews with a representative sample of 2,503 Canadians (16 years and over), conducted between April 26 and May 10, 2006. This sample was stratified to ensure adequate representation across the 10 provinces, including rural, urban, provincial and territorial populations in Canada, as well as by gender and age cohorts.

• A national sample of this size provides results accurate to within plus or minus 2.0 percentage points, in 19 out of 20 samples.

• A more detailed description of the methodology used to conduct this study and a copy of the questionnaire are provided as appendices to this report.

Layout of the Report

• The report primarily shows the overall findings from the Canada-wide results. In places, however, the report also shows the detailed findings across various sub-groups (e.g., key differences along demographic and regional lines). The inclusion of the detailed subgroups has been in areas where the differences are either most noteworthy or illustrative of the differences. For example, the charts on pages 38 and 39 were added in relation to only two of the seven measures of imagery for illustrative reasons rather than for all seven measures. The differences across sub-groups which are statistically significantly different from the overall average are noted by an asterisk beside the number.

• The report incorporates a number of findings from two other studies that were conducted on behalf of organizations that evolved into Service Canada.

• The first study was undertaken in 2003 on behalf of HRSDC was a Branding Study.

  • The findings were based on a telephone survey with a national random sample of 1,505 Canadians.
  • The survey was conducted between November 10th and 17th, 2003.
  • The results were weighted by age, gender and region. The margin of error was +/- 2.5 % points, 19 times out of 20

• The second study undertaken in 2005 on behalf of HRSDC was Service Delivery, Basic Identity Information and the Social Insurance Number.

  • The findings were based on a telephone survey with a national random sample of 1,100 Canadians:
  • The survey was conducted between January 17th and January 24th, 2005.
  • The results were weighted by age, gender and region. The margin of error was +/- 3.0 % points, 19 times out of 20.

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