emailCapital Region Community Indicators Network
The Community Indicators Network includes organizations publicly reporting indicator work in the capital region. As an active member in the Community Indicators Network, CRD Regional Planning has agreed to host this web page as a medium for disseminating information on local Community Indicators in the form of a downloadable PDF document.
The Purpose of the Network is to:
- Provide an improved level of access to Community Indicators to a variety of user groups and to the general public.
- Encourage the exchange of information about community indicators among members of the Community Indicators Network.
- Provide improved access to these metadata* via a website.
- Organize metadata information on major community indicators across the capital region in accordance with a template approved by the Community Indicators Network.
* Metadata refers to detailed information which describes the indicator.
The Community Indicators have been grouped into six broad classifications:
- Cultural
- Demographic
- Economic
- Health
- Social
- Sustainable Environment
Understanding the Indicators
Community Indicators are developed to provide accurate statistical measures on demographic, social, economic, health and sustainable environment issues for relatively small local geographic areas. These types of indicators can be helpful in setting policy priorities and in benchmarking or monitoring performance. As such they can become valuable tools for policy makers, researchers and the general public.
The user should note that the indicators have been grouped, somewhat arbitrarily, into their respective classifications. For example, “Poverty” is listed under the heading “Economic”, but could just as easily have been listed under the heading “Social”. When using this list to determine whether a particular indicator, appropriate for your requirements, is included in the inventory the user should review the list under several related classifications.
Each indicator in the PDF document has its own page and can be found by either linking from the Table of Contents or from the Bookmarks tab.
Metadata (i.e. information about information) are provided for each indicator. Included in the metadata fields are:
- Indicator Classification
- Indicator Name
- Description
- Usage
- Methodology
- Limitations
- Geographic Area covered
- Available Benchmark Geographies
- Primary and Secondary Data Source(s)
- First Release Date
- Update Frequency
- Indicator Published in
- Indicator available on Website
- Agency contact name, position title, phone number and email address
There are no actual statistical indicator data provided in this document. Instead, the user can decide from reviewing the description for each indicator whether it might meet their needs and then access the actual indicator data through publications, on the web, or by contacting the agency contact.
It should also be noted that this is not an exhaustive inventory of all possible Community Indicators available in the capital region. The list will grow and change over time as new indicators are added; particular indicators are replaced by better ones; and new organizations join the Community Indicators Network. Development work is presently being undertaken to create a searchable web-based database for the indicators. The responsibility for any errors or omissions on any of the individual Community Indicator metadata pages rests with the originating organization.
Contributing Organizations:
Several organizations have joined the network to contribute their Community Indicators. The current participating organizations include:
CRD Regional Planning
Regional Planning contributes to the development of a sustainable region by providing quality information, research, growth management and transportation modelling. The Information Services Section tracks growth trends and collects population, demographic, housing, employment and construction information. It also maintains an extensive collection of fact sheets, profiles and publications. Included among the publications are:
- RGS State of the Region Report (2008)
- Quarterly Building Permit Report
- Regional Planning
City of Victoria
The City of Victoria is in early stages (2008) of using performance indicators to measure various projects. The first complete set of indicators designed for the Dockside Green sustainable community was created for fulfilling the City's commitment to measure the impact of this project on the city and residents. Performance indicators being developed for the implementation of the Corporate Strategic Plan will be available on the city website in the near future.
District of Saanich
Community Council
The Community Council provides leadership that brings the community together to create a sustainable quality of life for everyone in BC’s Capital Region by conducting and supporting collaborative initiatives; conducting community-based research; communicating reliable information.
Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA)
Through a network of hospitals, clinics, centres, health units, and residential facilities, the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) provides health care to over 752,000 people on Vancouver Island, on the islands of the Georgia Strait, and in the mainland communities north of Powell River and south of Rivers Inlet. The Public and Population Health Observatory operates within the Vancouver Island Health Authority for the purposes of monitoring public and population health trends, undertaking a comprehensive program of communicable disease surveillance and supporting community health assessments
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