A: Once your project is confirmed as fee for service by Statistics Canada and CRDCN, you will receive an email from CRDCN with the fee for your project and a link to a billing information form. After you complete the billing information form, the contact you name on the billing information form will receive an invoice from CRDCN via McMaster University. Once the invoice is paid and the proof of payment has been submitted, Statistics Canada will proceed with the contract processing for access to the RDC.

A: Projects are billed annually, 30 days before the start date anniversary. If you do not pay your annual fee, your RDC access will be suspended.

A: All existing projects will shift from purchasing hours to annual billing between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. You will have received an email from Statistics Canada communicating your options, depending on your contract end date and remaining hours. Please refer to this email for your project’s unique circumstances. Set up fees for existing projects transitioning to annual billing are waived.

A: Yes, you can request that your project status be changed to “dormant” Please note that the entire project is placed on dormancy and will be inaccessible to all researchers on the project for a minimum of six months. Please reach out to your local RDC Analyst for more information.

A: Only submit your billing information form if you are ready to pay your invoice and start your contract within 30 days. If you are planning to delay your contract start date, please reply to the CRDCN email with your preferred billing timeline. CRDCN will send you a reminder as your start date approaches. If your expected delay your contract start beyond 30 days, you may consider resubmitting your project proposal to the MAP when you are ready to begin your work.

A: Notify CRDCN that information in the Fee For Service questionnaire is not accurate. Login to the MAP, and upload a new Fee for Service questionnaire with updated information.

A:

As the vRDC is rolled out, the amount we pay for software and the way these costs are calculated continues to evolve. Accordingly, StatCan has implemented a “viewer” status that researchers filling a supervisory or consultative role can use. A viewer will not have access to login to the vRDC, but can sit with another project member in the RDC or authorized workspace to discuss and review intermediate results. New projects will be subject to a 3-user limit, but can have as many viewers as necessary. 

If your project requires more than three users, please provide a brief explanation of the rationale behind the additional users to your academic director for signature while requesting your affiliation verification. The signed rationale sheet should be appended to your proposal template.

If you have an active project with three or more users and need to add additional users you must similarly obtain a signed rationale document for the additional users that must be appended to the microdata research contract amendment form adding the additional researchers to the project. Please note that this justification is only required to add users to a project that will go over the 3-user limit. Adding users to projects where the total number of users will remain 3 or fewer OR adding viewers to any project does not require a signed rationale document.