Indigenous Data Sovereignty Challenges Big Tech's Extractive Model

Indigenous nations are pushing to dismantle what Animikii founder Jeff Ward describes as a "digital colonialism model of big tech," as BetaKit first reported, where Indigenous data is often forced into "colonial buckets" designed without their input.

Speaking with BetaKit, Ward, a software developer from Manitoba’s Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation, explained that the #DataBack movement seeks to return control and possession of data to the communities. Ward notes that for these communities, data represents living stories, culture, and language rather than mere "zeroes-and-ones."

To facilitate this, Animikii has developed Niiwin, a platform that allows Indigenous organizations to build bespoke, complex data structures via a no-code interface. This allows communities to avoid the biases found in off-the-shelf software and maintain governance over who accesses specific information. To further ensure sovereignty, Animikii offers a hosted solution in a non-US-owned data centre located in Quebec.

Ward highlighted the urgency of this work in the age of AI, warning that large language models (LLMs) often scrape Indigenous data to benefit major corporations. He expressed concern that these models may inaccurately represent languages like Ojibway, which can damage cultural revitalization efforts, and cautioned against a future where Indigenous culture is used to train models that are then "sold back to us as a product."

This movement reflects the OCAP principles—ownership, control, access, and possession—which were established by the First Nation’s Information Governance Centre. According to Ward, achieving this sovereignty allows communities to author their own stories and reclaim information extracted in the past.