BC Labels

The BC Labels are an initiative for Indigenous communities and local organizations. Developed through sustained partnership and testing within Indigenous communities across multiple countries, the Labels allow communities to express local and specific conditions for sharing and engaging in future research and relationships in ways that are consistent with already existing community rules, governance and protocols for using, sharing and circulating knowledge and data. Communities customize their BC Labels. To do this communities will need to use the Local Contexts Hub which allows community control over customization and delivery to institutions, data repositories and other organizations.

The BC Labels define community expectations about appropriate use of biocultural collections and data. The BC Labels focus on accurate provenance, transparency and integrity in research engagements with Indigenous communities. The BC Labels ensure Indigenous people are represented in the metadata and create opportunities for future researchers to connect and support appropriate benefit sharing. 

The BC Label text is intended to be customized by each community – giving the Labels specificity and context. The title of each BC Label can be translated into one or more languages and displayed in addition to the default Label title. The BC Label icons are not to be altered.  This is to ensure national and international recognition and integrity across content and collection management systems, online repositories, websites, and physical exhibits.

For more information on implementing and displaying the TK Labels, please contact the Local Contexts team.