Population Data BC (PopData) holds population-wide, individual-level data to develop linkages among these data, and to support access to these data for approved research purposes.
PopData is authorized to receive, store, manage, manipulate and further disclose data through Information Sharing Agreements with data providers, as outlined in PopData’s Privacy Impact Assessment. PopData serves as a facilitating and coordinating third party for the creation of this resource for the research community.
Access to data for research purposes is permitted under the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), and is approved by the data provider responsible for the data. Each application is assessed on its own merits against standard criteria. Many data providers follow a Research Data Access Framework that was jointly developed some years ago.
More generally, these principles of data access may be described using the internationally recognized Five SAFEs model.
