Ecolens Privacy and Confidentiality

About:
Ecolens is a simple app and website where residents can share, read, and view content, including photos, images, stories and other personal accounts on climate change and health impacts in British Columbia. Ecolens is an initiative of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), a program of the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Privacy and Confidentiality:
We collect your personal information under the authority of sections 26(c) and (e) of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The information you provide will only be used for the purposes outlined below.
As part of the submission process, you will be asked to provide the location (e.g. city, town, region) of your content, and an opportunity to provide optional demographic information (e.g. your age and gender) about yourself. Your email address is requested for contact purposes. Providing us with your demographic information and email address is entirely voluntary and not required to participate in this project.

To Ensure Privacy is Protected:
Interested participants (BC Residents) will upload photos, stories, and other personal accounts to the Ecolens mobile and/or web applications. Once you have consented, you can provide optional demographic information and your location, you will then upload your photo and short story. All information you submit will be available to the Ecolens team at BCCDC.

• We may adjust the location of the content you provide;
• Faces of other persons in the content may be blurred;
• Demographic information is safely stored within the secure computer network of BCCDC;
• Your email will be stored separately from any demographic information you provide;
• We recommend that you limit personal or sensitive details about yourself that you are not comfortable sharing publicly.

How information you provide us may be used and shared:
If you chose to provide the optional demographic information, this information will be used internally to analyze the data and investigate trends among different demographic groups. This will support responsive climate change and health planning in BC.

• Content (images, stories, video) is made publicly accessible through our website and app
• Demographic information is used for analysis purposes only and may be shared in aggregated form with other B.C. public health partners
• Your email address will be used to share future health and climate opportunities, and, if opted in, to reach out for a more in-depth interview by the Climate Disaster Project at the University of Victoria
• We may share content and analytical results in aggregated form with other B.C. health partners

Risks and Benefits:
Taking part in the Ecolens project will give B.C. residents an opportunity to provide place-based data that reflects the local realties and lived experiences of climate change. We do not think there is anything about the Ecolens project that could harm you or be bad for you.

Contact EcoLens:
If you have questions about how your content or data is used or wish to withdraw your consent please contact ecolens@bccdc.ca