A new provincial data plan is helping government make sure it has the right data at the right time to understand complex issues and make good decisions to deliver modern services to people in B.C.

The plan has five pillars:

• to advance equity;
• support reconciliation;
• increase evidence-based decision-making;
• deliver modern services people need; and
• strengthen data competency and governance.

“Data is an important tool that helps government programs and services become more inclusive and reflective of a more diverse British Columbia,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Citizens’ Services. “Data is more than just numbers in a computer. It is a person’s interaction with front-line workers, it is the evidence upon which inclusive programs are built and it is the information that communities use to plan for population growth.”

The Provincial Data Plan also supports the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act commitments to uphold the rights, interests, needs and privacy of Indigenous Peoples through the co-development of new approaches to Indigenous data governance.

Other groups are supported by the plan, such as researchers, small businesses and non-profit organizations. To make informed decisions, they will be able to find and access data easier through a new BC Data Catalogue.

The plan encourages more equitable service delivery. For example, the Gender and Sex Data Standard guides when and how to collect gender and sex information, clarifies the difference between gender and sex, and provides definitions that recognize a range of gender identities.

The plan was developed through the Ministry of Citizens’ Services, with comprehensive consultation in 2021, to gather input from ministries and the broader public sector about B.C.’s data.

Learn More:

Provincial Data Plan: https://gov.bc.ca/dataplan

Declaration Act Action Plan:
https://declaration.gov.bc.ca/declaration-act/declaration-act-action-plan/

BC Data Catalogue: https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/

Indigenous languages in government records, systems, and services:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/including-indigenous-languages-in-government-records-systems-services

Gender and Sex Data Standard:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/gender-sex-data-standard