Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Home Learn Indigenous Data Sovereignty

In one sentence

The right of Indigenous Peoples to govern data about their communities, lands, and knowledge.

What it means

Indigenous data sovereignty recognizes that data about Indigenous Peoples is connected to self-determination. Decisions about how that data is collected, used, and shared belong with the Peoples it concerns, not only with the organizations that hold it.

Indigenous data governance is the practical side of this: the structures and agreements that put that authority into practice.

Two widely referenced frameworks

OCAP®

The First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession, established by the First Nations Information Governance Centre.

CARE Principles

Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics, published by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance.

Why it matters

AI and digital systems depend on data. If Indigenous data is gathered or reused without appropriate authority, organizations can repeat historic harms and undermine trust, even when they follow general privacy rules.

A simple example

Illustrative scenarioA health organization plans to train a model on records that include Indigenous patients. Before using the data, it asks who has authority over that information and how the relevant First Nations, Inuit, or Métis governing bodies should be involved.

A common misunderstanding

What people often thinkRemoving names means the issue is resolved.

What is closer to the truthDe-identifying data addresses individual privacy. Sovereignty concerns collective rights, which still apply to data about a community.