Glossary

Below is a complete list of terms and definitions used in the ISDSE project. We follow the conventions of referencing Indigenous Peoples/peoples here.

Colonization: the act of settling among and establishing control over Indigenous land and Peoples.

Data sharing agreement: formal contract between parties that outlines the terms, conditions, and purpose for sharing, using, and protecting data.

Data steward: the organization responsible for receiving and maintaining the Data and First Nation Data shared under the data sharing agreement.

Ethnicity: the shared cultural, linguistic or religious characteristics of a group of people having a common history, heritage or ancestry.

First Nations: one of three recognized Indigenous Peoples in Canada, which includes Status and non-Status Indians. There are over 630 First Nations communities in Canada, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS): the right of Indigenous Peoples to own and control how their data are collected, managed and used

Indigenous Peoples: a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. The Canadian Constitution recognizes 3 groups of Indigenous peoples: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. These are 3 distinct peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.

Marginalized communities: groups of people who are systematically excluded, disadvantaged, or discriminated against.

OCAP®: principles or ownership, control, access, possession established by the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) for First Nations to assert data sovereignty. See https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/.

Personal identifying information (PII): any data that can be used to identify a specific individual, either on its own or when combined with other information.

Race: a group of people who are arbitrarily categorized according to common physical characteristics, regardless of language, culture or nationality, as per Statistics Canada.