Cultural safety: The criticality of Indigenous Knowledges and data
Marissa Hill
(Metis), Knowledge Management and Translation Associate, Indigenous Innovation
Sara Wolfe
(Anishnawbe), Indigenous Innovation Initiative Director
W
ho would have ever thought that “data governance� would become a trendy topic or a corporate priority? Some of us may remember the days when it was, at best, considered a necessary evil. Heightened by the use of analytics throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the accuracy, timeliness, relevance, quality, privacy, trustworthiness and contextualization of data has become increasingly important. This is a welcome shift for many data practitioners.
Still today, relatively little is being explored regarding cultural safety and the important relationship between data and the people who share this information with us. This is critically important as it relates to First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples in Canada who not only have unique Worldviews about what data is and how it should be governed, but for whom a key social determinant of health and well-being is the ability to self-define and self-govern these activities. In 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted to advance the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples globally, including as it relates to knowledge and data sovereignty. This document outlines key Principles that collectively define the basic standards for the dignity and well-being of Indigenous Peoples. Although Canada is a signatory, until these Principles are fully implemented domestically there will remain a lack of formal protection against various data collection challenges. In Canada, most data are collected from First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples to support government planning and decision making, for instance through the federal census or health surveys, or to comply with funding agreements from federal and provincial governments. Furthermore, large amounts of data have been and continue to be collected by non-Indigenous researchers who have limited to no relationship with or understanding of the communities they are researching. Increasingly, data are being collected by First Nation, Inuit and Metis communities themselves, to support their own planning and decision making. However, there is relatively little acknowledgement about or respect for the expertise they carry when it comes to self-determined and self-governed data collection.
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