Information Governance Centre

The initiative to develop a BC First Nations Information Governance Centre is currently in its first phase. Phase one will be a pilot of the initiative, whereby the partners are working with seven First Nations in BC toward the following expected outcomes:

  • An “interim” warehouse at UBC for the storage of the participating seven Nations' data, information and records
  • A plan for the first set of First Nations' data assets for the interim data warehouse
  • Governance and management processes, based on OCAP™ principles, for First Nations' data assets
  • Best practices and protocols for managing and stewarding Indigenous research data at UBC, including
    • Ethical engagement guidelines,
    • Cultural data sovereignty training
    • Plan for knowledge and capacity transfer

Phase two is expected to establish mechanisms and protocols to locate, repatriate and share data sets that are of interest to BC First Nations, as well as a governance model for the regional organization for data collection, storage, sharing, usage and reporting standards for First Nations in BC.

Overarching project goals are to ensure data sovereignty and governance, based on the OCAP™ principles that respect Indigenous, control access and possession of data. Further, it is expected that outcomes of the project will promote self-governance and self-determination for First Nations by protecting their needs, rights and jurisdiction over their information and research data.

Funding for this initiative is provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). IRSI's project partners are the BC First Nations Data Governance Initiative and UBC Advanced Research Computing.