Northern Voices Beneath the Data

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.