Setting new precedents for Indigenous data sovereignty and self-determination
Full ownership, access, and control to secure and manage your data — built as the foundation of SIKU first and foremost for individual land users.
Your Knowledge, on Your Terms
Indigenous data sovereignty is the right of Indigenous Peoples, communities, and individuals to own, control, access, and manage data about themselves, their lands, and their knowledge. On SIKU we go above and beyond by design, framed first for individual land users and for Indigenous Knowledge systems.
Built in from the start
The database, privacy settings, and tools were designed around sovereignty — not bolted on later.
You own your data
The Arctic Eider Society develops and runs SIKU but never owns or shares user data.
For self-determination
Tools that support Indigenous-led research, monitoring, and knowledge transfer at every level.
For Indigenous knowledge
Structured for decolonial maps and Indigenous language classification systems.
Your Data, Your Control
Sovereignty starts with people first, projects second. Your data belongs only to you — and you choose to keep it fully private, or to share it with projects.
You own your data
No one can use it without your permission. Being able to see a post does not mean anyone can use or share it.
Flexible post privacy
Keep posts private, share with a vetted project group, or make them visible to other SIKU users for knowledge transfer and learning. Control location visibility per post, and change it any time.
Kept safe in Canada
All data is stored only in Canada and backed up on-site to prevent data loss and ensure secure redundancy.
Always exportable
Download your own data at any time, in formats you can actually use — on the web, in 3rd party apps, and back onto your phone.
SIKU is not an open-data platform
While many other platforms are extractive, on SIKU you always own your data and no one can use it without permission. Some users choose to share posts to help transfer knowledge — but that does not grant anyone permission to use it in other contexts. See our Terms of Use.
Informed Stewardship
When you choose to contribute to a project, you decide what to share — post by post. Here’s how project stewardship can work.
Informed project stewardship
Choose whether to share your posts with a project at all — and do it on a post-by-post basis when you agree to join.
Two layers of informed consent
Joining a project (through a project-specific agreement), then confirming each post you will share to it via a non-exclusive license. This means you always retain the rights for all your posts, even ones shared to projects.
Responsible research
Projects must respect Indigenous governance — licensing, consultation, ethics, and community approval and support letters as may be required on a case by case basis for each region or Nation.
Who can use what
Only you and the projects you’ve stewarded to can use your data for research. Others may see public posts to stay safe and learn — but can’t export, filter, or manipulate them.
Bring sovereignty-first tools to your community
SIKU is a free tool for Indigenous communities to run their own projects. We also provide free support and onboarding.
Sovereignty that Lasts Across Generations
True sovereignty isn’t just owning data today — it’s making sure the knowledge collected now still works, and respects your privacy and stewardship far into the future.
The biggest threat to your data probably isn’t a distant foreign attack on a small community dataset — it’s data being lost, or becoming unusable, as technology changes. Sovereignty means keeping your data protected and secure, with well-documented permissions ready to work with the tools of the future.
Well-documented permissions
Recording not just the data, but who may use it and how — so it stays usable for the benefit of future generations.
Interoperable over time
Data collected today should still work with tomorrow’s tools, rather than getting trapped in obsolete formats.
Knowledge Transfer
It is important that your stories and knowledge can be passed to your children and grandchildren — to hear, learn, and decide if and how that knowledge can be used to support the challenges of the day.
Book a free consultation
Technology is changing rapidly and increasing in complexity, and informed decision-making and risk management are sometimes significant capacity gaps for small Indigenous organizations.
SIKU not only helps provide free tools and services to address digital infrastructure gaps for Indigenous organizations, but can also provide free consultation on how best to invest limited time and resources — including decisions about physical servers, mobile apps, software development, and interoperability for the future.
Expanding Data Sovereignty Tools for Future Generations
From elders to youth, and forward in time
Stewardship for projects is generally well defined, by informed consent and licensing requirements. On SIKU, our focus on individuals opens additional pathways for stewardship — such as from an individual to their descendants, to future projects, or to community organizations. We are actively developing this expanded framework and seeking engagement with diverse Indigenous organizations and leadership to ensure permissions and consent are well documented for the projects of the future. Reach out to book a consultation with our team to share your vision of the future of data stewardship.
Proposed intergenerational stewardship framework on SIKU
Stewardship for projects is generally well defined by informed consent and licensing requirements. However, SIKU’s focus on individuals opens additional pathways for stewardship — such as from an individual to their descendants, to future projects, or to community organizations. We are actively consulting on this expanded framework and seeking engagement with diverse Indigenous organizations and leadership to ensure permissions and consent are well documented for the projects of the future. Reach out to book a consultation with our team and share your vision of the future of data stewardship.
We want your input!
Set up a consultation with our team on Indigenous Data Sovereignty today.
