The following was written by CARTaGENE:
BALSAC is a genealogical database located at l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. It allows rapid contruction of genealogies in Quebec by retracing ancestors all the way back to the 17th century.
Genealogies produced by BALSAC will help researchers find family links between participants, identify shared ancestors and find out where they originate from, etc. This information are useful to understand the demographic and historic factors that have shaped the Quebec genetic heritage and the evolution of genes or certain diseases and their distribution throughout the Quebec population.
In CARTaGENE, the BALSAC option is an option offered to the participants. Information documents regarding BALSAC and a genealogical questionnaire are provided to participants in CARTaGENE, when they meet the nurse and the interviewer. The participants themselves send their filled out consent form and genealogical questionnaire by mail to the BALSAC team. Participants will not receive their genealogy from CARTaGENE or BALSAC.
Personal information is protected by the BALSAC option. BALSAC can only be used for scientific research. Before obtaining access to data in BALSAC researchers have to demonstrate that their project corresponds to high ethical standards. Once the researcher demonstrates that his/her research project is up to ethical standards and that he/she agrees to conform to the Règlement sur la protection des renseignements personnels et l’éthique de la recherche concernant le fichier BALSAC, the BALSAC option will then reconstruct the requested genealogies.
For more information about the genealogical option, look at: http://www.cartagene.qc.ca/index.php?option=com_easyfaq&Itemid=54&lang=english.
