Requests to Contact B.C. Residents

The Data Stewardship Committee adjudicates requests from researchers to contact B.C. residents before approval by the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

To Make a Request to Contact

Step 1: Complete the Data Access Request and Request to Contact form

Population Data BC will assist researchers in completing the Data Access Request to accompany the Request to Contact. As part of this, the research team must also complete the Request to Contact form (HLTH 5424) and supply Population Data BC with the supporting documents described in the form.

Population Data BC will submit the researcher’s Data Access Request, Request to Contact form, and supporting documents to the Data Stewardship Secretariat, who will prepare the materials for review by the Data Stewardship Committee.

Step 2: Review by the Data Stewardship Committee

The Data Stewardship Committee must review and approve Requests to Contact as the data steward responsible for research requests from the Client Registry System. This is because the Client Registry System is a Health Information Bank and is within the scope of the Data Stewardship Committee’s role as described in §14 of the E-Health Act

Population Data BC will inform the researcher of the decision reached by the Data Stewardship Committee, but the approval of the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner is required before the Request to Contact is considered fully approved.

Once approved by the Data Stewardship Committee, the Data Stewardship Committee Secretariat will forward the Request to Contact and supporting documents to the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner.

Step 3: Review by the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner

The Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner will adjudicate the Request to Contact pursuant to §35 (2) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner will notify the Data Stewardship Committee Secretariat and the researcher of the outcome of their adjudication, which will also be relayed to Population Data BC.

Step 4: Data Preparation and Provisioning

Depending upon the nature of the data requested, the Ministry of Health or Population Data BC will coordinate the data extraction. If the data are extracted by the Ministry of Health, staff will contact the researcher to establish how the data will be accessed.