AI Governance on OUR terms, not theirs.
Explore our range of services designed to help you move forward with confidence, wherever you're headed next.
Updated April 2025
Focusing on Sovereignty in the Digital Age.
Tribal Nations have the sovereign right to control how AI affects their communities, data, and future. AI is new, rapidly evolving, and often feels overwhelming, especially when the risks to tribal data and cultural knowledge are so high. This hub is designed to cut through the complexity and give you practical tools to protect your community while making informed decisions about AI governance.
We have categorized our materials and resources into 2 buckets to help you find what you are seeking faster.
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Learn: Build your understanding of AI fundamentals, data sovereignty, and governance frameworks.
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Protect: Strengthen your data protections with proven Indigenous frameworks and security practices. Access policy templates, implementation guides, and practical tools for building AI governance.
Who we are.
OCAP
UNDRIP
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a resolution that affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to self-determination, control over cultural heritage and knowledge, and authority over data about their communities. The resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007.
This hub was built by Cohorts 1 & 2 of the Emergence Fellowship. We are a collection of Tribal professionals, academics, and community members who understand what's at stake. We're not theorizing about AI governance - we're equipping tribal leaders with practical tools rooted in Indigenous data sovereignty principles."
FAIR
The FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) principles outline a strong framework for data governance and stewardship. Created in 2016, these principles specifically address data used for research purposes.
CARE
Developed in 2020, the CARE Principles stand for collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics. In action, these principles affirm the right to sovereignty in a way that places community values at the heart of this endeavor.
SEEDS
While the creation of various frameworks bolsters the move towards Indigenous data sovereignty, Indigenous researchers from the United States, New Zealand, and Canada noticed a gap in protections for Indigenous population health. SEEDS framework was created in 2018.
The First Nations Principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP) were one of the first data sovereignty frameworks to address Indigenous communities. Created in 1998 by the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC), OCAP established a way to govern information collection.