Population Data BC (PopData) facilitates access to data from PopData partners, including both federal and provincial sources, and through partnerships with the Government of British Columbia to support the delivery of the Data Innovation Program (DI Program) and Health Data Platform BC (HDPBC). A wide range of data, from both federal and provincial sources is available across these access streams.
It is important to note that data is shared differently by data providers and, as a result, there are slight variations in eligibility criteria, data access request processes, requirements in the project lifecycle and whether linkage of data sets across programs/providers is permitted. PopData, the BC Government and other data providers, have worked hard to harmonise processes for Researchers as much as is possible.
More detailed information on data access processes may be found in the Data access section of this website, but here a a few key things to bear in mind when looking at the data available listings.
Data available through PopData and HDPBC
- Data sets are linkable to each other, and to other externally-managed data sets (including Researcher-collected data), where approved by the data provider.
- PopData supports access to data sets from other data sources, for example a data set from a provider that is not currently a data partner, and with whom PopData would need to negotiate an information sharing agreement.
- Spatial data may also be used in conjunction with many data sets available through PopData.
Core vs. Non-Core Data
- Core Data: Some BC Ministry of Health data sets available through PopData and HDPBC are called ‘Core Data’. A Core Data set is a standardized ‘bundle’ of commonly requested variables. A Core Data set may not include ALL the variables available in the data set. For example, some Core Data variables, such as geography or organisational codes, are suppressed to meet privacy legislation requirements.
- Non-Core Data: Non-Core Data are variables that are NOT included in the standardized Core Data set. Non-Core Data is available for request as an addition to the Core Data set.
For the majority of DARs, requesting access to Core Data ONLY may make the data access approval process quicker and may expedite data provision. Data requests that include Non-Core Data will be subject to regular rather than expedited processes, both for application review and data provisioning.
Please note that the overall data access request is subject to meeting ALL of the Five SAFEs requirements. For more detail on the Five SAFEs, visit the Eligibility and the Five SAFES model page of our website.
Data available through the DI Program
- Case-level analysis of DI Program data is not allowed. Researchers will have access to individual-level data that is de-identified, but are not permitted to create analytic products or reports that focus on, or may identify, specific individuals or organizations.
- For academic projects, at this time, data sets may only be linked to other data sets within the DI Program.
- Single DI Program data sets are not available.
- Data sets are provided in their entirety - there is no need for checklists or cohort creation.
- For DI Program data listed in the BC Data Catalogue, the temporal range is for a whole data set, file temporal range is in the description.
Go to Data set listings
