Capturing Basin Data Helps Foster Better Understanding
By Bob Hall
Gaining deeper insight into a myriad of data indicators from across the Columbia Basin-Boundary Region is the focus of the latest report released by Selkirk Innovates.
The State of the Basin Snapshot Report 2022 is an approachable and illustrative 12-page document that provides an excellent summary of environmental, economic, cultural and social well-being across communities in the southeastern region of the province. An annual report compiled by the research team at Selkirk College’s hub for innovation, the document helps inform decision-making and satisfy curiosity.
“This is a great resource for residents and organizations across the Columbia Basin-Boundary Region,” says Jayme Jones, a faculty researcher at Selkirk Innovates who leads the project.
“By bringing these diverse regionally-specific data together, it provides easier access to relevant and credible information about the region. These data inform about the economy, natural environment, people and culture in the region. This research helps encourage understanding of trends over time and signals areas of achievement or areas of concern. These data also help motivate discussions, information sharing and collective action.”
Data used to compile the report comes from many different sources including federal, provincial and local governments, crown corporations, and non-profit initiatives. Some examples are Statistics Canada, BC Stats, BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs, BC Assessment and Living Wages for Families Campaign.
Some sources are open to the public, while other are custom data requests. Qualitative data included in the Snapshot Report arrives from the State of the Basin Subjective Well-Being poll to residents conducted in 2021.
The Selkirk Innovates team of four that put the report together includes a research intern, research assistant, faculty researcher and graphic designer. Data release times vary widely and usually have a long delay before being released. The 2022 Snapshot comes out in late-2023 because the team aims to capture as much 2022 data as possible.
From living wages in specific communities to median value of single-family residences and threatened ecosystems to high school completion rates, the report is an easy-to-read companion to understanding where we are and where we might be heading.
“Data in the 2022 Snapshot provides a lens into economic conditions as we continued to recover from the pandemic,” says Jones.
“For example, business and consumer bankruptcies were down from 2021 levels. The extent of wildfires in 2022 was lower than other recent years and this resulted in fewer days with smokey skies. For the first time, we reported the number of illicit drug deaths in the region, which was 52 deaths in 2022. The number of visitors to our region is slowly increasing after the low caused by pandemic travel restrictions.”
The Columbia Basin-Boundary Region encompasses the southeast corner of the province from Valemount in the north to the US border in the south, and as far west as Rock Creek and east to the Alberta border.
The ongoing State of the Basin work being undertaken by the team at Selkirk Innovates receives funding support from Columbia Basin Trust to make it a reality.
The public can find the State of the Basin Snapshot Report 2022 and those from the previous nine years online at: stateofthebasin.ca/sotb-snapshots.
