OCAP, a framework of principles developed by and for First Nations, is a tool to support strong information governance on the path to First Nations data sovereignty.
OCAP stands for Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession. The description provided by the First Nations Data Centre is:
Ownership refers to the relationship of First Nations to their cultural knowledge, data, and information. This principle states that a community or group owns information collectively in the same way that an individual owns his or her personal information.
Control affirms that First Nations, their communities, and representative bodies are within their rights to seek control over all aspects of research and information management processes that impact them. First Nations control of research can include all stages of a particular research project-from start to finish. The principle extends to the control of resources and review processes, the planning process, management of the information and so on.
Access refers to the fact that First Nations must have access to information and data about themselves and their communities regardless of where it is held. The principle of access also refers to the right of First Nations’ communities and organizations to manage and make decisions regarding access to their collective information. This may be achieved, in practice, through standardized, formal protocols.
Possession While ownership identifies the relationship between a people and their information in principle, possession or stewardship is more concrete: it refers to the physical control of data. Possession is the mechanism by which ownership can be asserted and protected.
Asserting OCAP allows Indigenous groups to exercise data sovereignty, while respecting OCAP shows a commitment to reconciliation, and is an important step in upholding protocols, treaties, and agreements.
The First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) is an independent, apolitical, and technical non-profit organization operating with a special mandate from the Assembly of First Nations’ Chiefs-in-Assembly.
FNIGC is also home to the First Nations principles of OCAP®, and FNIGC's wide range of work also includes research, training, capacity building, and knowledge translation, as well as data gathering initiatives on- reserve and in Northern First Nations communities. FNIGC's First Nations Data Centre provides access to published, unpublished, and record-level data from their respected national survey work, including the First Nations Regional Health Survey (FNRHS, or RHS) and the First Nations Regional Early Childhood, Education and Employment Survey (FNREEES, or REEES).
Based on the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre, communities can benefit from OCAP in the following ways: