Scope and inclusion
A record may be included when a public institution, capability, use, acquisition, finding, policy, contract, or oversight action is supported by a source that can be inspected. Inclusion is not a verdict. It records what the evidence establishes and what it does not.
- Records identify the institution, capability, jurisdiction, time period and evidence status.
- Active, planned, historical, discontinued and disputed states remain distinct.
- No person is labelled as responsible merely because their name appears in a source.
- Absence from the Observatory never means a system does not exist.
Evidence classes
Primary record
Law, judgment, formal finding, official policy, privacy assessment, procurement record, institutional report, contract, or released original document.
Official account
Attributable institutional statement or testimony that establishes a fact but lacks the underlying record needed for full verification.
Corroborated report
Independent reporting or research supported by multiple attributable sources. Material claims remain attributed.
Research lead
Unverified or single-source information retained privately for research. Grade D material is not published as an Observatory finding.
Publication floor: a public Observatory record requires at least one Grade A source. Grade B or C material may add context but cannot substitute for primary evidence.
Claim and finding status
- Documented
- A cited source establishes the fact described.
- Claimed
- An institution or vendor states something that IPSSA has not independently verified.
- Found
- A court, regulator, oversight body, tribunal, or other identified decision-maker reached a formal conclusion.
- Disputed
- A material party contests the fact, interpretation, authority, or finding.
- Reversed or superseded
- A later decision or record changed the earlier position; both remain connected.
- Unknown
- The available public record does not establish the answer.
Source handling and provenance
Every material field should lead back to a source. IPSSA records the publisher, title, date, URL, source type, retrieval date, and which fields the source supports. Where permitted and necessary for durability, a preserved copy and integrity hash may be held outside the public document root.
- Primary documents are preferred over summaries.
- Quotations remain short and contextual; records use plain-language paraphrase.
- Broken links are repaired without silently changing the record's evidentiary basis.
- Personal information is minimized when it is not necessary to explain institutional conduct.
- Confidential material is not published merely because IPSSA receives it.
Corrections and challenges
- Receipt
The research desk assigns a reference and records the challenged field, reason, submitter contact and supporting material.
- Triage
Safety, privacy, legal urgency and the possibility of material public harm determine priority. A clearly dangerous error may be temporarily annotated while review proceeds.
- Review
The cited evidence, new material and relevant decision-maker are checked. The subject institution may be contacted where fairness requires it.
- Decision
IPSSA corrects, clarifies, annotates, withdraws, or declines the request with a recorded reason.
- Publication
Material changes update the record version and revision note. The original evidence trail is preserved; silent substantive edits are not permitted.
Contributions and right of reply
Anyone may identify a missing record or provide a primary document. Submission does not guarantee publication. IPSSA evaluates relevance, authenticity, provenance, privacy, legal risk and whether the evidence can support a precisely framed public claim.
An institution or vendor named in a record may submit a correction, clarification, current policy, contract amendment, technical description, or statement for attribution. A right of reply does not include control over IPSSA's conclusions.
Independence, conflicts and funding
- Funders, partners, contributors and subjects do not determine findings.
- A material financial, institutional, familial, political, professional or advocacy conflict is disclosed or the contributor is recused.
- Shared records with PoliceData.ca or Accountability do not merge editorial responsibility.
- Sponsorship cannot purchase inclusion, exclusion, favourable status or advance access to unpublished findings.
- Funding disclosures identify the source, amount, year, purpose, restrictions and affected project when funding exists.
Revision history
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-08-20 | Initial public standard for the Observatory's first release. |
Questions about this standard can be sent to [email protected].