“Working to bring Indigeneity to an online platform requires involved contemplation and deep consideration of how best to engage …”

—Cited from Decolonizing the Digital: How to Bring Indigeneity to Online Spaces | Intercontinental Cry

Indigenous Traditional Knowledges

We start by understanding that Indigenous Traditional Knowledges have existed for hundreds of years before colonization and are different for each Indigenous community.

Indigenous Rights

“Indigenous Peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.”

—Cited from Indigenous Knowledge and the Question of Copyright (ictinc.ca)

Remember this guiding principle:

Nothing about us, without us.

How do we uphold this statement?

Follow protocols

Follow protocols when working with Indigenous Peoples. Protocols are a representation of a culture’s deeply held ethical system. They are a set of guidelines that dictate how to interact with Indigenous Peoples in a way that respects their traditional ways of being.

Protocols recognize the diversity and complexity of the many different Indigenous cultures in B.C. and Canada. Ways of dealing with issues and cultural material may differ from community to community. There are also many different protocols across urban, rural, and remote communities.

Build trust and relationships

Building a good relationship with Indigenous Peoples and Nations takes time and commitment. This is the foundation from which you must work. Start with understanding that the relationship is first and foremost and is how trust can start to grow.

Start from a place of transparency, integrity, humbleness, patience, and flexibility. These are the values upon which trust can be built.

Understand the culture, heritage, and belonging

“We belong to the ‘property’; it doesn’t belong to us. We (my people—Onkwehonwe) belong to our land, our medicines, our communities, our philosophies, and our way of life. All these elements endure over time; we come and go.”

—Sheree Bonaparte (Mohawk/Akwesasne)

The community decides

“It has to come from the community themselves—what do they want to be published or come out and be considered in the public domain and what should be kept secret or within the community. Usually the communities have protocol already.… But the community said that those are sacred knowledge that should not come out. So we did not publish it. Yes the community has a system for determining what is good and not good for them. This is sacred. There is ritual involved here. Outsiders should not know. We all know it is possible to steal so those knowledge stays in the community.”

—Cited from The Arts of Indigenous online dissent [PDF]

Guiding questions to ask yourself

• Is there a collective benefit?
• Who has authority and control?
• Did you follow the ethics?
• Did you act responsibly?
• What kinds of Knowledges are being shared?
• Is there any protocol that needs to be adhered to?
• Is there consent from the community to share information?
• Is this primary or secondary information?

Principles when collecting Indigenous Traditional Knowledges

When collecting Indigenous Traditional Knowledges, focus on the principles described below.

Relationships

Establish meaningful relationships with language speakers, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and those responsible for Knowledges and data governance.

Consent

Ensure free, prior, informed, and ongoing consent is received from all required people, using processes that are in local languages and that provide time for people to consider the risks and benefits of sharing their Knowledges or data.

Collection

Collect relevant information that mutually benefits the Indigenous Peoples’ community.

Use approaches that are rooted in local values, principles, natural and common laws, and protocols, and that protect privacy.

Knowledge Keepers

Have Knowledge Keepers participate in or lead this work, including developing and implementing the methods or tools that will be used to create or collect Indigenous Traditional Knowledges and data.

Communication

Have open lines of communication and share this information with the community quickly and in a way that is most accessible and useful.

Honoraria

Provide respectful honoraria and/or financial support—for example for travel, food, or childcare—to respect and honour this exchange, local expertise, and the time and effort required to follow local protocols.

Flexibility

Be flexible to differences in how this information is interpreted by empowering Knowledge Keepers to resolve these differences while being mindful that resolution is not always required and that various interpretations can be shared. When creating or collecting Indigenous Traditional Knowledges or data, we will:

Honour requests to stop or change what is being collected and how, when, or why.

Engagement

Engage in additional written or verbal agreements or commitments as needed.

Outline protocols to be followed.

Engage inclusively and diversely, including women, men, Two Spirit, queer, trans, and gender-diverse youth, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and lived experience leaders.

Awareness

It is important to know that just because someone belongs to a First Nation does not give them the right to share their Indigenous Traditional Knowledges.

Many nations have sharing protocols based on:

• Ownership and Inheritance—community, clan, families
• The earned right to share the knowledge
• Age
• Gender identity
• Geography
• Season
• Techniques—art, harvesting