Research Guides: Indigenous Studies: Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Indigenous Data Sovereignty

What is Indigenous Data Sovereignty?

Indigenous Data Sovereignty is the ability for Indigenous peoples, communities and Nations to participate, steward and control data that is created with or about themselves. The term sovereignty refers to the fact that Indigenous Nations are sovereign in their governance and that extends to their data and Knowledges as well. It recognizes that Indigenous people are the ultimate authority in their data and Knowledges and aims to redefine Indigenous peoples' relationship to research from being participants or subjects to being meaningful partners and co-researchers.

What are Indigenous Data?

"In general, data are any quantitative or qualitative information about a specific topic that are collected through observation, surveys and reporting. For the purpose of this Protocol, Indigenous data is any information that is from or about any Indigenous person or their community, territory or nation, including but not limited to their languages, Knowledges, customs or traditions, intellectual property and ideas. Indigenous data are also relational and reciprocal, and need to reflect and be held by the community as a collective, and are equally as important to pass down through generations as a part of lifelong journeys of coming to be."

From Nindokiikayencikewin: to seek learning or Knowledges Indigenous Knowledges & Data Governance Protocol (pp. 10)

Toward data sovereignty: a national conversation about strengthening evaluation in Indigenous higher contexts in Australia

(Created by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, available under CC-BY 4.0)

Tri-Agency Funding and Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Beginning in 2019, the Tri-Agency (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada) worked with Indigenous researchers, community members and Knowledge Keepers to develop and enact an Indigenous Research Protocol. This resulted in the "Setting new directions to support Indigenous research and research training in Canada 2019 - 2022" Strategic Plan. This was done as part of the Research Data Management and all recommendations, including the Indigenous Research and Data Sovereignty Protocols must be implemented by all recipients of Tri-Agency funding by March 1, 2023.

For more information on services provided by UofT Libraries on Research Data Management, please visit the Research Data Management Home Page. You may also contact a librarian for questions and enquiries using this contact form.

Resources on Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Indigenous Innovation: Decolonizing Digital: Contextualizing Indigenous Data Sovereignty
"This post is part of our Decolonizing Digital series where we explore the historical factors behind Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Today, we will examine early Settler-Indigenous relationships to provide a context for many of the systemic issues Indigenous Peoples still face today."
First Nations data sovereignty in Canada
"Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, this paper provides an overview of First Nations perspectives on efforts within the Canadian context to identify First Nations individuals, communities, and Nations in official statistics and other data and ongoing First Nations assertion of data sovereignty."
University of Arizona: Native Nations Institute Page on Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance
"Concerned by the current state of the data available for tribal and community decision making--including census, health, social services, and environment--and by Native nation’s limited control over their data, NNI researchers and a network of colleagues and collaborators are addressing the need for tribes to drive their data agendas through practicing Indigenous data sovereignty and governing their information."
Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an agenda by Tahu Kukutai and John Taylor
Open Access book on Indigenous Data Sovereignty on JSTOR.
Nindokiikayencikewin: toseek learningorKnowledges Indigenous Knowledges & Data Governance Protocol
"This Protocol is based on a comprehensive literature review and the Knowledges and
teachings from the following Elders and Knowledge Keepers from across Canada."

ITK National Inuit Strategy on Research
"In this time of reconciliation, research governance bodies, policies, and practices must be transformed to respect Inuit self- determination in Inuit Nunangat research."
Open North Decolonizing Data: Indigenous Data Sovereignty Primer
"The issue of Indigenous Data Sovereignty is central to a robust definition of data sovereignty in con-texts with a colonial past and present. This is in part due to the fact that colonial countries have, by their very essence, multiple governments functioning within them; some recognized, others not. There is a need to have well-defined relationships with the Indigenous nations whose territories fall within their asserted boundaries. Canada is only just beginning to understand the nature of nation to nation relationships with the Indigenous Nations of Canada."

FOR UOFT USERS ONLY: Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy by Maggie Walter, Tahu Kukutai, Stephanie Russo Carroll, Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear
"This book examines how Indigenous Peoples around the world are demanding greater data sovereignty, and challenging the ways in which governments have historically used Indigenous data to develop policies and programs."
Indigenous Protocols [dot] art
The materials on this website were designed to provide practical guidelines for respectful engagement with Indigenous Peoples. It is part of an ongoing initiative to strengthen respect for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis visual art and artists, and legal and moral rights in the territory now known as Canada.

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