Frequently Asked Questions

What is the BC Activity Reporter?

The BC Activity Reporter (BCAR) is British Columbia’s central source of sport and recreation participation data available online at www.bcactivityreporter.com. Registered users with BCAR can create custom online reports profiling activity levels in a variety of geographic areas across British Columbia. These reports are designed to provide a deeper understanding of sport and recreation trends, integrate key Census and demographic information, and lead to better program planning and decision-making.

Why was the BC Activity Reporter developed?

Sport and recreation participation data is currently collected and managed by several organizations and departments. The Province’s Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport (formerly called the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts) wanted to centralize participation data across B.C. in one website and more importantly, to use this data for more precise, quantitative reporting in a way that hasn’t been done before. Advances in GIS and other technology have now made it possible to collect this information in a cost-effective and meaningful way as well as produce neighbourhood and province-wide reports to enhance and improve program planning and delivery.

Why is the BC Activity Reporter important?

Available free of charge to provincial sport organizations and community recreation departments, the new BC Activity Reporter offers province-wide participation data to help improve service delivery in communities. Using custom reports, sport and recreation leaders can use the BC Activity to deliver more relevant programs and to track the results of their decisions.

What type of data is available through the BC Activity Reporter?

Data available through the BC Activity Reporter includes:

• Annual membership numbers from Provincial Sport Organizations
• Number of registered participants for selected recreation categories
• Demographic data from the 2006 Census and, soon to be added, demographic forecasts from BC Statistics
• Sport and recreation facility locations
• Key geographical boundaries

How is sport and recreation data being collected?

Sport BC currently manages information on organized sport membership from provincial sport organizations. 2010 Legacies Now works in partnership with Sport BC to review and validate all membership statistics from more than 50 provincial sport organizations. Age, gender and location for registered individuals are collected on an annual basis and uploaded into BCAR. Note: names of participants or members will NOT be collected to ensure privacy is protected.

Recreation data is collected through municipal parks and recreation departments that supply headless data containing the age, gender and location of participants registered in selected activities. Information is collected semi-annually and activity categories include, among others, aquatics, skating, sport, outdoor recreation, dance and fitness.

Before any information is uploaded into BCAR and made available through reports, 2010 Legacies Now consults with all data contributors. All data is validated by a systems administrator at 2010 Legacies Now to ensure accuracy.

What other data is available in the BC Activity Reporter?

Regional demographics using Census Canada statistics and forecasts from Statistics BC will be available to help sport and recreation organizations understand the market potential for sport programs they plan to deliver. Demographic information will include age, income and ethnicity, among others.

What measures are taken to ensure protection of personal privacy?

To ensure individuals can not be identified through the membership and registration data only date of birth, gender, postal code and sport/recreation involvement is collected. Reports only provide compiled numbers for a given demographic within an area and records that contain all four pieces of information on an individual are not accessible.

If an organization will not provide date of birth as a precaution to prevent identity theft, how is the membership and registration data collected?

When birth date is not supplied, organizations may indicate which predefined age grouping a participants belongs to.

What input did the sport or recreation sectors provide in developing the BC Activity Reporter?

2010 Legacies Now is working with an advisory group made up of representative from across the sport and recreation sectors to ensure all reports produced are valid, reliable, and portray to the greatest accuracy possible a snapshot of sport and recreation in B.C.

Who will have access to data and reports?

Sport and recreation organizations who contribute data to BCAR will have access to its information and online reporting tools. Periodically, limited and high-level information on sport trends may be published in media releases or public reports.

If an individual is active in multiple sports and/or recreation activities in the community then are they double counted in the BC Activity Reporter?

Yes, BCAR is not currently able to track individuals and therefore information on individual sport and recreation participation behavior is limited. BCAR is designed to measure levels of sport and recreation participation or membership which is occurring in communities and across the province.

Who is funding the BC Activity Reporter?

Funding from the Province of British Columbia, through the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, has allowed 2010 Legacies Now to develop BCAR and introduce future enhancements, as required.