Skip to main content

COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1521494

Advancing Indigenous data governance through a shared understanding within and beyond Paulatuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Provisionally accepted
Allison K Drake Allison K Drake 1*Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee 2Karen M Dunmall Karen M Dunmall 1
  • 1 Freshwater Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Winnipeg, Canada
  • 2 Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee, Paulatuk, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In the Canadian Arctic, locally-relevant Indigenous data governance frameworks are necessary in light of a paucity of guiding practices and policies for environmental researchers working in partnership with communities. To centre data governance decision-making in a community and to support Indigenous self-determination as affirmed in federal commitments, Fisheries and Oceans Canada researchers and the Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee (Paulatuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region) co-developed a data governance Statement of Shared Understanding for Traditional Knowledge Documentation specific to an interview project. We detail the steps and dialogue that characterized the creation of this statement over several months, so that others may build from these efforts when appropriate. Second, we highlight five emergent considerations that may strengthen future data governance efforts and inform policy, including: community and project context, the changing digital landscape, individual and collective knowledge protections, planned project outputs, and confidentiality and anonymity nuances. We offer these insights to advance evolving Indigenous data governance conversations, initiatives, and policies in institutional and community spaces.

    Keywords: Indigenous data governance, Inuvialuit, co-development, Shared understanding, policy, Paulatuk, Canada

    Received: 11 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Drake, Hunters and Trappers Committee and Dunmall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Allison K Drake, Freshwater Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Winnipeg, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.