What is First Nations Data Sovereignty?

By Leona Star, MDP student

The ability of First Nations people to practice their ceremonies, speak their languages, sing their sacred songs, and connect to the lands, waters, and all beings is a direct act of sovereignty that sustains the well-being of their Nations; these practices have been passed on throughout the generations that recognize and uphold the Nations' sovereignty and self-determination. Nations have always acted upon their inherent responsibilities to teach and educate children through the transfer and protection of their cultural and traditional knowledge, which is rooted in their languages, ceremonies, and protocols, in relation to the lands, waters, and all living beings.

Data Sovereignty is not new to First Nations people, as Nations, we have always asserted sovereignty over our information, our data, and stories were carefully held and protected until the transfer of the information and data (i.e.. Songs, ceremonies, teachings, etc.) was ready to be received and cared for in the same way it was given, ensuring the integrity and values continued to be upheld. Walter and Carroll (2020) define Indigenous Data Sovereignty as, “affirm[ing] the rights of Indigenous Peoples to control the collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination and reuse of Indigenous data”. First Nations governance and oversight of data are prerequisites for asserting Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS). The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) article 31further supports IDS as, “Indigenous peoples’ right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as their right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over these” (United Nations, 2007). 

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN)

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan. The Federation is committed to honouring the spirit and intent of the Treaties, as well as the promotion, protection and implementation of the Treaty promises that were made more than a century ago.

FSIN is one of 10 regions across Canada working in partnership with the First Nations Information Governance to create stand-alone First Nations Data Centers as a pathway to assert First Nations Data Sovereignty, supporting the needs of the families and Nations they serve.

The FSIN Data Sovereignty team will be hosting online webinars on the following topics:

·        What is First Nations Data Sovereignty?

·        How are First Nations protecting data and information across Canada?

·        What is OCAP, and how have Nations implemented OCAP?

·        What is Free, Prior and Informed Consent and why is it important?

·        What is a First Nations Data Center?

·        What is an Information Sharing Agreement, and how can it support First Nations Data Sovereignty?

For more information, please contact martin.paul@fsin.com or murall.bird@fsin.com

Leona Star and Martin Paul

Developing a Comprehensive Health and Well-being Survey

By Bunmi Afolabi and Amber Balan

Hello!

I'm Bunmi Afolabi, and I’m Amber Balan. We are 2nd year MDP students. We completed our second field placement with the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN) Health Centre, which involved developing and designing a comprehensive Health and Well-being Survey questionnaire that captures relevant information about the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation community members.

Our placement community is Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, the largest Dakota Nation in Canada and the only self-governing First Nation with recognized jurisdiction by Canada and Manitoba. On July 1st, 2014, SVDN was no longer a signatory to the Treaty [1]. This means the Indian Act ceased to apply to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Lands and persons found on those lands.

We collaborated with the Health Centre staff team to design a survey questionnaire that includes questions relating to housing, nutrition, cultural safety, healthcare access, mental health, etc. This survey hopes to capture community-level information about the characteristics of the various demographics in SVDN and how the social determinants of health impact the quality of their lives and well-being.  To inform the design of the survey questionnaire, we conducted literature review to identify surveys carried out by other First Nations, Inuit, or Métis communities and Indigenous organizations. This has resulted in producing a draft survey with over 30 subsections. Each question has been reviewed and refined to ensure the language is simple, clear, concise, accurate, culturally appropriate, and relevant. 

This project is vital because the data obtained from the survey can be used to identify strengths and gaps while demonstrating the importance of developing and implementing programs and services that support every aspect of a community member's health and well-being. This will also support the community towards their goal of collecting, storing, and being stewards of their own data.