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Empowering data sovereignty

Services that reflect your community, because we don't provide services for you, we build capacity with you.

The Iceberg Framework: Supporting the Journey to Data Sovereignty 

True data sovereignty doesn't begin at the surface - it begins below, in the deep waters of relationship, reflection, and readiness. At Wabusk Data Solutions, we work alongside Nations through a multi-phase process we call the Iceberg Framework. It honours the unseen work beneath the surface that makes sovereign declarations possible. 

This is the relational layer. It's where we take time to listen, learn, and grow in relationship with your Nation. It includes:

  • Relationship Building: Time spent in introductions, and understanding our service model.
  • "Ready to Walk Together" Tool: This is a community-centered readiness and reflection tool designed to help Indigenous Nations and organizations take stock of where they are, name their priorities, and chart their own path forward in data sovereignty, governance, and partnerships. This process is grounded in your values, laws, and vision—and supported by respectful, relational guidance. This scan supports your Nation to:
        • Clarify your own data sovereignty principles and governance goals
        • Identify where external partnerships align - or don't - with your values
        • Lay a foundation for long-term, Nation-led governance
        • Access custom recommendations and capacity-building supports. This collaborative exploration ensures we are aligned and ready to move forward (if desired) in a way that is culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate.
  • Relational Learning: Optional opportunity for us to offer a community-level teaching on digital safety to recognize the sharing of knowledge when you offer us teachings on your community's history and traditions to build our shared understanding.

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As trust deepens and readiness becomes clear, we begin walking together on more visible paths of action. These are Nation-led, culturally-grounded services guided by what was identified and recommended in the "Ready to Walk Together" tool. It may include:

  • Developing a data governance framework rooted in your Nation's values, Natural Law, and language.
  • Supporting the creation of data stewardship roles.
  • Designing and implementing privacy programs and policy development
  • Training and mentorship to build community capacity in data sovereignty, privacy, and digital safety.
  • Technical support for secure data storage, cybersecurity, and system audits. 
  • Community engagements
  • Stakeholder advocacy; protocol agreement; data sharing agreements 
  • Support in law development 
  • Data repatriation support

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This is where your Nation can confidently stand in its sovereignty. After working through the full framework, you'll be supported to make the following clear, culturally grounded statements:

  • We have a Nation-led framework to assert our data sovereignty rooted in our Natural laws, values, and vision for future generations.
  • We control how our stories are collected, accessed, stored, interpreted, and shared - on our own terms. 
  • We have clear, living policies and protocols that reflect our sovereignty and jurisdiction to protect our stories with outside researchers, consultants, or governments.
  • We have leadership and a community who understand our data rights, privacy, ethics, and how to assert control over our stories - knowledge is held within our Nation. 
  • We have built internal capacity - our Nation has the tools, knowledge, and confidence to lead data-driven decisions that serve our people.
  • We are recognized as rights holders of our data and the decision-makers - partners respect our authority and work within our governance frameworks.

Additionally, you will be able to make 4 declarations determined by you during the "Ready to Walk Together" tool that emerge from your Nation's voice, strengthened by the journey we take together. 

READY TO WALK TOGETHER?

Start your journey below the surface. Let's build the path toward digital and data sovereignty together, with care, respect, and strength.

Let's Connect!