Data in the Data Innovation Program
Data available through the Data Innovation Program is always de-identified to protect privacy. This means identifiers such as names, driver’s licence numbers and personal health numbers are removed before the data can be used for population-level research. The data is only used for research projects in the public interest.
Government’s programs and services span all aspects of life in B.C., such as education, health care, public safety, social services, the economy and the environment. By safely integrating and de-identifying data from these programs and services, government analysts and academic researchers can gain new insights about population-level trends and complex issues, which can lead to better programs, policies and services for British Columbians.
Last updated: March 20, 2023
The Data Innovation Program currently has data available from the following sectors:
Demographic data
Datasets that provide information commonly used to create population demographics, such as births, deaths, geographic location, and sex.
Education data
Data sets about educational program participation and the performance of participants, such as k to 12 and adult education data including enrolments, assessments, examinations, credentials and the Student Learning Survey.
Health data
Datasets that contain information about physical and mental health, including Medical Services Plan (MSP), PharmaCare, PharmaNet, Vital Statistics, Mental Health Services, hospital discharge and ambulatory care.
Justice data
Data pertaining to involvement with adult corrections, such as community and custody.
Social data
Datasets for programs designed to give assistance to people outside of what the market provides. This includes programs that provide support for children and families, and funding offered to individuals through income assistance programs.
Transportation data
Datasets that provide insight into events associated with the movement of people and resources, such as road safety data.
Work and income data
Datasets related to participation in the workforce and income generation, such as participation records for labour market programs across the province including the courses offered, who took them, when, demographic information and income bands by postal code.
For a detailed listing of all the data files and accompanying metadata records available in the Data Innovation Program, please visit the BC Data Catalogue (page may take time to load).
The DIP Metadata Viewer is a helpful tool to explore the metadata for all datasets available through the Data Innovation Program.
To contact the Data Innovation Program team, please open a ticket here.
