Information Sovereignty in Canada

As an information professional working in Canada, a core ethical concern which I consider in my work is its potential impact on Indigenous Peoples. In the Canadian context, questions of who gets to collect data, how and where it is stored, and who determines access are not just logistical issues, but questions of sovereignty. Autonomy over information is crucial to Indigenous wellbeing and self-determination. In my time in the ÉSIS program, I was able to treat Indigenous data sovereignty as a topic of special focus. In the courses ISI6312 — Global Information & Communications Policy and ISI5307 — Research & Evaluation in Information Studies I was able to write on, and ultimately lead a seminar on, the subject and in doing so expand my knowledge base. A solid knowlege base on Indigenous issues allows one to contextualize Indigenous concerns and be able to make communications and formulate policies which respect them. 

There is currently no pan-Indigenous data sovereignty movement in Canada. Nonetheless, agreements have been made on a regional basis. These include agreements struck between the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and the Manitoba Center for Health Policy at the University of Alberta (Rowe et al., 2021). Agreements like this enshrine in law the ability of said Indigenous groups to control and access health data about them. Another point of special contention is how records from Residential Schools are stored, and what degree of control survivors and Indigenous communities have over them.

A template for a comprehensive strategy can be found in the government-funded First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC). Incorporated in 2010, the FNIGC developed the OCAP® model. OCAP® is a First Nations-specific model of information access. Instead of OCAP®, The Manitoba Métis Federation is in favour of the OCAS principles, where possession is replaced by stewardship. Stewardship, in this context, means that the information is gathered for the benefit of Métis, not just about them (First Nations, Metis and Inuit Health, 2021).

O wnership
C ontrol
A ccess
P ossession  ®

O wnership
C ontrol
A ccess
S tewardship

I nuit
Q aujimajatuqangit
(‘knowing’)

The Manitoba Inuit Association supports the collection of data with or about Inuit being done so through the framework of  Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) — a body of inherited knowledge and a culturally-specific way of understanding the natural world, including humans. The use of this framework, rather than relying entirely on Western epistemologies, combats disempowerment by outside researchers. In my work at the Inuit Circumpolar Council, considering the relationship of my library system to IQ and how design decisions would be understood from an Inuit perspective was crucial, as part of true access for Inuit is trying to structure information so that the user does not need to entirely abandon their own ways of thinking in order to intuit the structure.

With various factors to concern, and a number of stakeholders identified (Inuit, Métis, First Nations, federal government, provincial governments), a cross-sector commitment and path forward must be determined. This is not just a matter of efficiency, but of self-determination, welfare, and ensuring that information professionals in Canada are connecting information with those who need it most.

First Nations, Metis and Inuit Health. (2021). Framework for Research Engagement with First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Peoples. University of Manitoba, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

Rowe, R. K., Bull, J. R., & Walker, J. D. (2021). Indigenous self-determination and data governance in the Canadian policy context. In Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 81–98). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429273957-6

OCAP® is a registered trademark of the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/