Northern Voices Beneath the Data is an Indigenous-led initiative supporting the development of a regional Indigenous Data Sovereignty Strategy for Public Health Sudbury & Districts. Through engagement with First Nations and Indigenous partners across the region, including community members, organizations, service providers, and regional voices, the project seeks to strengthen Indigenous Data Governance, support self-determination, and guide respectful approaches to the collection, use, sharing, protection, interpretation, storage, and return of Indigenous-related public health data.
Public health information can shape how needs are understood, how services are planned, how resources are directed, and how community wellness priorities are recognized. For Indigenous people, families, communities, and organizations, this means that data must be handled in ways that reflect Indigenous rights, local priorities, lived realities, relationships, and governance expectations.
The Northern Voices project creates space to listen, learn, and identify what respectful Indigenous Data Governance can look like across the region served by Public Health Sudbury & Districts. This work is not only about improving public health systems. It is also about supporting Indigenous partners and communities to have a stronger voice in how information connected to them is understood, protected, governed, and used for meaningful benefit.
A central goal of Northern Voices Beneath the Data is to meaningfully engage all 13 First Nations served by Public Health Sudbury & Districts, while also creating space for Indigenous organizations, service providers, community members, and regional partners to share perspectives on Indigenous Data Governance across the region.
Share your thoughts or learn more about the project by contacting us today!
On June 30, 2026, we gathered on the beautiful Laurentian University campus in N’Swakamok for a feast and ceremony to nourish the spirit of the Northern Voices project and begin the work in a good way.
We spent time together, shared food, learned from the Elder, and began building the relationships that will carry this work forward. The gathering created space for community members, Indigenous partners, the project team, and representatives from Public Health Sudbury & Districts to connect and begin talking about Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance.
These early conversations helped us reflect on the responsibilities that come with collecting, holding, using, and sharing Indigenous data, and on the importance of ensuring that Indigenous Peoples have a meaningful role in decisions about information that relates to them.
This was the beginning of a longer relationship-building process. What we heard and experienced together will help guide future gatherings, conversations, and the development of the Indigenous Data Sovereignty Strategy.
ISAGE | Indigenous Consultancy
Previously Robyn Rowe Consulting. Contact us to inquire at admin@isage.ca
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