The 2014 FNIGC document Understanding the First Nations Principals of OCAP® outlines the four principles of OCAP as follows:
OWNERSHIP: 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: The principle of control affirms that First Nations, their communities and representative bodies are within their rights in seeking to 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: First Nations must have access to information and data about themselves and their communities, regardless of where it is currently held. The principle 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 a mechanism by which ownership can be asserted and protected.
Since each First Nation is unique, approaches to OCAP take very different forms across Canada. The principles therefore stress that each individual First Nation has the sole right to determine how research protocols are interpreted and enforced. It is the community itself that decides what OCAP means and how information about them is collected, managed, analyzed, and disseminated.
As First Nations continue to develop the capacity to manage research in their communities, they work with various partners. To ensure that OCAP principles are met, these partners are required to engage First Nations in each step of the research process. First Nations also retain ownership and control over the products generated through this work. Partners benefit since the knowledge generated is high quality and accurate, given that it is collected and interpreted in cooperation with the people involved.
In short, as a holistic approach to research, OCAP principles place community at their core.
The Regional Health Survey (RHS) is a longitudinal survey under First Nations control. Started in 1997, the national survey is coordinated at the regional level, and involves a partnership between the First Nations Information Governance Centre and Health Canada. It examines issues related to health and wellness, and generates data for communities and researchers. In the past, large numbers of First Nations people living on-reserve were excluded from major national health surveys, due to the difficulties of accessing remote communities and resistance among some people in participating in government research.
The lack of information meant that health authorities did not know such basic information as the number of First Nations people with diabetes. This was a barrier in creating effective programs and policies to improve the health of First Nations people. The RHS has corrected this information deficiency. Working with regional First Nations organizations and communities, it collects information about the physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, environmental, economic and social factors that determine health. Read about a new initiative from the First Nations Information Governance Centre that is related to this work – the First Nations Regional Early Childhood, Education and Employment Survey (FNREEES, or REEES for short).
Implementing OCAP
In addition to the ethical requirements made on Canadian academic researchers by the Tri-Council Policy statement, there are ethical considerations about working with Indigenous and marginalized communities that academics and leaders from those communities have studied and written about at great depth. Mentioned previously in this section was Linda Tuhiwai Smith and her essential book Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.
The following two collections of academic writing help provide an overview of some key concepts such as the relational paradigm, Indigenous Knowledge and the importance of land to both knowledge and identity of Indigenous peoples. They also contribute to understanding why it is so important to Indigenous communities that research is not conducted in ways that have caused harm in the past.
- Resurgence and reconciliation: Indigenous-settler relations and earth teachings, published in 2018, edited by Michael Asch, John Borrows and James Tully.
- Research as resistance: Revisiting critical, Indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches, published 2015, edited by Susan Strega and Leslie Brown.
The two resources noted above provide a theoretical foundation and insight into some of the issues from the perspective of Indigenous intellectual leaders. As a complement to this work, the principles of OCAP offer a practical framework for how Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers might discuss and reach agreement on various procedures. Some communities or Indigenous organizations may formally require researchers to abide by the principles of OCAP. To learn more, The Fundamentals of OCAP® online course from the FNIGC is administered by Algonquin College.
OCAP and the First Mile Approach
According to First Mile Connectivity Consortium co-founder Susan O’Donnell:
“OCAP applied to digital networks is also called the ‘First Mile’ approach, a counterstrategy to the traditional Last Mile colonial solution that government programs use to fund private telecommunications corporations to develop and deliver the digital services in marginalized communities” (O’Donnell, et al., 2017; McMahon et al., 2011).
There are three OCAP-related policies adopted by the First Mile Connectivity Consortium:
The First Nations Broadband Infrastructure and Operations Policy outlines a community-based broadband infrastructure and operations policy for nation-to-nation discussions, negotiations and cooperation between First Nations and government stakeholders. You can access it here: First Nations Innovation Broadband Policy
The First Nations Data Governance Policy outlines a community-based data governance policy for discussions, negotiations and cooperation between First Nations and stakeholders such as governments and universities. You can access it here: First Nations Data Governance Policy
The First Nations Innovation Publication Policy is a protocol for how the FNI research project approaches publications resulting from our research partnership. You can access it here: First Nations Innovation Publications Policy.