Likhsilyu Clan Data Sovereignty Pilot Project

We are reclaiming data sovereignty of our own Nation that is currently only held within federal jurisdictions. Historically, federal governments have used data of Indigenous People to create legislation that keeps us at disadvantages socially, economically and politically.  This project would provide a solution to reclaim capturing Likhsilyu clan data, decide how it shall be used within Witsuwit'en governance models and aid as we put into practice our inherent rights to self determination.

We estimate there are 2,400 Likhsilyu clan members in the world spanning many geographic areas due to colonization. Some live in Wet’suwet’en communities on our yintah (territory) in northwestern British Columbia while others live in urban areas. Despite being spread throughout the country, Likhsilyu clan members seek to connect back to our traditional territory. The lack of a reliable database inhibits our ability to be effective in answering even the basic demographic questions without having to undertake the arduous task of engaging the federal government. This project would allow us to capture data relevant to the Likhsilyu. Its’ uses can benefit language and culture revitalization, child welfare, Elder care, and identifying economic development skill sets.

We come from a potlatch culture. The Witsuwit'en word for feast is “Dinï ni'as” meaning “people coming together.” Throughout our history and into modern times, the feast hall is where our five clans come together on important occasions to pass on hereditary rights, including rights to territories, as well as to mark births, deaths and the rites of passage in between. Headdresses and button blankets adorned by our hereditary chiefs are part of the living memory of Witsuwit'en culture, laws and histories of our people. Our feasts contain a flurry of cultural activity that may appear to outsiders as quaint traditions. But really, these are ancient and complex data management practices. Every button on a button blanket is a data point. Where a clan member is seated in the feast hall is a data point. 

This project has the potential to assist in the knowledge sharing, of where a Likhsilyu belongs in the feast hall and how we adapt in these times that we are geographically widespread. The desired outcome is to utilize our collective power to build capacity as we strengthen our Likhsilyu people. It is well known that attempts to disconnect us from our culture were done intentionally. Canada made Indigenous potlatch ceremonies illegal from 1885 to 1951 as part of a barrage of legislative weapons meant to eradicate our governance systems and disconnect us from our territories so they could be stolen by the colonial state. These impacts are still felt today. Several hereditary chief names are vacant, suspended in the chasm between lost generations of residential school survivors, 60’s scoop child welfare survivors and intergenerational survivors spending our lives reclaiming pieces of ourselves that were taken from us long before we were born. 

While a relational database will not heal all these harms of colonization, it can be a sturdy foundation that future generations will build upon.

A clan relational database that connects the dots between our family lineages, chief names, regalia, songs, stories, territories and seating within the feast hall, reconnecting us digitally to each other and to who we truly are as Likhsilyu, as Witsuwit'en. The database will be stored locally on a sovereign server built for high performance computing operations. Hybrid IT services will combine on-premise hardware deployment and associated private cloud-based solutions, ensuring that the high standards of Indigenous data sovereignty are met for Likhsilyu contributing personal data to the database. 

In Canada, the principles of OCAP® assert that Indigenous peoples have the right to the ownership, control, access and possession of data collected about us. The OCAP® principles were developed by the First Nations Information Governance Centre in consultation with Indigenous nations and data sovereignty experts. Elsewhere, the ‘CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance’ (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics) was developed by the International Indigenous Data Sovereignty Interest Group, complementing the ‘FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship’ (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). 

As stewards of Indigenous data we will ‘Be FAIR and CARE.’ We are ChinookX Technologies, an Indigenous-owned company currently engaging with several First Nations across B.C. and Canada interested in the deployment of data centre technologies in their communities. Our vision is to develop a decentralized network of data centres and servers on unceded territories, leveraging Indigenous rights and title for enhanced data sovereignty regulations to offer a unique data sovereignty solution for the global market. 

Data sovereignty is not just an issue of Indigenous self-determination. Technology hyper-scalers are harvesting the personal data of internet users everywhere, re-selling to the highest bidder. Platforms that have become essential to participation and success in today’s digital and global economy are exploiting our digital activity for massive profits. There are data security concerns for any data stored in the United States where it’s subject to the USA Patriot Act, permitting American law enforcement officials access to the personal records of any person, without their knowledge or consent. 

We as Likhsilyu can assert a sovereign data jurisdiction to provide solutions to meet this market demand, providing the standards of Indigenous data sovereignty to help others. It begins with our clan coming back together and working to reignite our traditional decision-making processes, revitalized by high performance computing technologies and sovereign cloud solutions to connect us digitally across far geographical distances. 

In 1997, our Witsuwit'en hereditary chiefs celebrated a historic victory for all Indigenous peoples when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Delgamuukw-Gisdayway decision that our Indigenous title had never been extinguished by the Crown. The verdict validated Indigenous laws and oral cultures in the eyes of the colonial courts. The data from this court case is secure but inaccessible to most of our members. The words of our ancestors affirmed our inherent right to self-government. Asserting data sovereignty is one foundational layer to fulfilling their vision for the Witsuwit'en yet to be born.

THE LIKHSILYU CLAN

The Likhsilyu (Small Frog) clan is one of five that make up the Witsuwit'en Nation. Our clans are further composed of house groups, with each house represented by a head hereditary chief. That chief also has sub chiefs and other advisors. There are 13 house groups in total. As house members we have a collective right to and responsibility over our ancestral territories. While the scope of this data sovereignty pilot project is limited to the Likhsilyu and the three house groups within our clan, there is hope that our initiative inspires the other four clans to pursue taking back ownership and control of their data in the broader pursuit of the rebuilding and reunification of the Witsuwit'en Nation. 

The Likhsilyu Clan Data Sovereignty Pilot will create jobs and training for clan members and revenue opportunities for the clan at large. This project will also support the ongoing clan governance work that has been carried out over the past several years by a core group of dedicated house members. In 2022 this group completed a training program developed by the Centre for First Nations Governance called “The Five Pillars of Effective Governance” facilitated by Indigenous governance expert Satsan (Herb George), a Witsuwit'en hereditary chief and founder of the centre. The five pillars are:

The PEOPLE

The LAND

LAWS & JURISDICTION

GOVERNING SYSTEMS

RESOURCES

The need for data sovereignty weaves through all five of these pillars, but it starts with the first pillar which is our people. With the support of MIT Solve, Likhsilyu clan members will be hired and trained to manage and grow the database, engaging with and spreading the word to members far and wide. Elders will be compensated for contributing cultural knowledge. The potential of creating incentives for clan membership participation through digital tokens that can be traded or converted to cash will be explored. Revenue generated from data storage and processing will feed back into the project as we work towards the sustainability of Likhsilyu data sovereignty efforts beyond the life of this grant. 

As a Likhsilyu clan member himself, ChinookX Co-Founder and CEO Trevor Jang led engagement with the clan in order to gain the input and ultimately the support of clan chiefs, elders and matriarchs to submit this proposal to MIT Solve. This has involved two zoom meetings with the clan at large. The first meeting involved Trevor describing the opportunity both in terms of the Indigenous Communities Fellowship specifically as well as data sovereignty generally. Trevor had his ideas about what this project should be. But as an urban clan member who has not been active in the feast hall for some time, he listened and learned from clan elders and members who are experiencing the challenges of asserting clan governance firsthand. 

Following this first meeting, Trevor prepared a two-page project brief for review. He solicited feedback from the clan on the second zoom meeting to ensure he heard and conveyed their needs correctly and earned consensus to proceed with the full application. Before, after and in between these two open clan meetings Trevor also met one-on-one with clan chiefs and matriarchs to ensure ChinookX was engaging the clan in a good way. Another clan member, Lisa deWitt, was then identified by chiefs and elders as a strong candidate to serve as Clan Lead for this project. Trevor and Lisa then worked closely together to complete the full submission. 

This was grassroots clan governance and consensus-building in action, setting the tone for how the project implementation needs to advance in a respectful and culturally-grounded manner. 

CHINOOKX TECHNOLOGIES

We are an Indigenous-owned company deploying data centre and supplementary technologies in First Nations communities, aiming to bring social and economic benefits to Indigenous nations and peoples. In 2017 we began engaging with Indigenous leaders and technical experts in a Blockchain@UBC research project with support from the Human Data Commons Foundation exploring how Indigenous consensus protocols could be programmed onto blockchain technology. As we followed this initial curiosity, the ChinookX we are today began to take shape. 

Five years later we are poised to combine the most advanced high-performance computing technologies available with the many economic benefits of partnering with First Nations in Canada. We build respectful and culturally-grounded relationships with communities, bridging the gap between local Indigenous data sovereignty needs and the supercharged IT infrastructure built by our technical partners for high performance cloud and edge computing. We are offering the best of both worlds to clients around the world. 

ChinookX has four founders, two Indigenous innovators and two passionate allies. The common thread? We’ve all dedicated our careers to Indigenous empowerment, with several decades of combined experience working in the areas of Indigenous economic development, environmental stewardship, implementing self-government, communications and community engagement. 

LIKHSILYU CLAN

Lisa deWit, CGA, CPA, CIA,HBCom, Clan Lead: 

Lisa has been identified by clan chiefs and elders as a strong candidate to lead clan participation for this project. She is currently completing a Certificate in Data Management with a data visualization speciality. Lisa also holds an honors degree in Commerce from the University of Victoria, and is a CPA, CGA Chartered Professional Accountant with specialties as a CIA, Certified Internal Audit and in the ACFE, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.  Her skillset as an advisor on Indigenous issues to non indigenous complex entities is an asset. 

House representatives: 

• Hagwilnegh (Ron Mitchell), Hereditary Chief of C'inegh Lhay Yikh (House of Many Eyes)

• Kilisët (Violet Gellenbeck), Matriarch of Kwin Begh Yikh (House Beside the Fire) and Elder for Wet’suwet’en Language Authority

• Daron George, speaker for Ut'akhgit (Cecil Alfred), Hereditary Chief for Tsee K’al K’e yex (House on a Flat Rock)

NUVOLACORE TECHNOLOGIES

NuvolaCore is our technical partner in the deployment of data centre technologies in First Nations communities and associated IT services. NuvolaCore operates in conjunction with sister companies Synetic Inc. and Cloud4All providing complementary technology solutions for a wide audience in Canada and other countries. This consortium has also registered the newly launched Data Sovereignty Association of Canada. They carry decades of experience deploying data centre and supplementary technologies around the world, including in rural and remote nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The team at NuvolaCore will build and deploy the Likhsilyu sovereign server and assist with establishing the database.

The MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship is ultimately seeking solutions that build upon traditional knowledge and technology to meet the social, environmental, and economic goals of Indigenous communities. When successful, the Likhsilyu Clan Data Sovereignty Pilot will bring immense social and cultural value to Likhsilyu clan members and hopefully the Wet’suwet’en Nation at large while laying the foundation for a sustainable business venture that brings jobs, training and revenue to the clan. Our project team will lean heavily upon Likhsilyu chiefs and elders, facilitating the transfer of their traditional knowledge into the database to be made accessible to the broader clan members.

In an overview of the Indigenous Communities Fellowship, MIT Solve references the fact that Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada had vibrant ceremonies, economies and technologies that supported the flourishing of their peoples long before the arrival of European colonizers. This immense Indigenous wealth was shared across Turtle Island through extensive trade routes promoting the exchange of goods, knowledge, and technology. In the Pacific Northwest, these ancient networks of diverse Indigenous nations resulted in a common trade language known as Chinook Wawa, or jargon, the initial inspiration for our name ChinookX Technologies. 

Simply put, we feel in our hearts that coming across this fellowship is Creator’s Path. Some of our team members are Indigenous to these lands now known as British Columbia and Canada. Some of us are settlers. But we all call these territories home. We all want to see a more sustainable and equitable economy. We all want a clean and prosperous future for future generations. That’s the future ChinookX is striving to be a part of, and the future we feel that MIT Solve is likewise trying to manifest through the Indigenous Communities Fellowship. We would be humbled to be selected for this opportunity to leave a lasting social, cultural and economic impact for the Likhsilyu Clan.

Trevor is Witsuwit'en from the Likhsilyu (Small Frog) Clan and C'inegh Lhay Yikh (House of Many Eyes). He's an Indigenous innovator, award-winning journalist and a communications strategist specializing in cross-cultural engagement between Indigenous communities and the technology sector. He's managed communications strategies for his band the Witset First Nation as well as the First Nations Technology Council, where he co-authored the first Indigenous-led labour market report to explore Indigenous representation in the BC tech sector. He also co-authored an eBook published by Indigenous software development company Animikii titled #DataBack: Asserting and Supporting Indigenous Data Sovereignty.

Our solution is Laksilyu clan driven, bringing the technology tools to the clan to support our requirements to build capacity towards exercising our inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples. We are bringing social, cultural and economic benefits to the clan on a project that will be passed on and built upon by future generations of Laksilyu members.

Our goal for the next year is to grow out of our startup phase and into the operation of our first data centre and/or network of single sovereign servers in 3-5 Indigenous communities. We are in active discussions with a handful of potential anchor data centre customers to ensure profitability and a proof of concept. We are currently accessing the technical needs of these customers to build a viable business plan to bring to Indigenous lending and financing institutions. We are also applying for various grants such as MIT Solve. 

Our five year goal is to be operating 3-5 full-scale Indigenous innovation districts (see theory of change section below) and a network of 10-15 sovereign servers with approximately 25 staff associated with the innovation districts. This will require a significant capital investment for construction and operations, likely coming from public funds. We will continue to work closely with our First Nations and industry partners on a collaborative investment strategy that leverages the funding and financing options available to Indigenous nations pursuing equity in major projects.

As we grow out of startup and into operation of our first data centre and/ or network of sovereign servers, we will work with our community partners to determine what specific impact goals should be for their nation members. This will generally involve employment, skills training and own-source revenue generated as well as environmental benefits achieved such as greenhouse gas emissions reductions from the recycling of data centre heat waste.

CLEAN ENERGY-DATA PROCESSING/ INDIGENOUS INNOVATION DISTRICTS

For the past five years ChinookX has been engaging with Indigenous leaders, technical experts, academics and government ministries on our “Clean Energy-Data Processing” (CEDP) proprietary model of sustainable Indigenous economic development. The CEDP model combines Indigenous-owned clean energy production, distribution and retailing with data centres and battery banks located on Indigenous reserve lands. The data centres purchase the power, generate revenue and operate smart grids throughout the Indigenous territory, enabling First Nations to establish their own energy utility. 

The largest input cost for data processing is energy. The Clean Energy-Data Processing model was originally developed in response to the cancelling of B.C. Hydro’s Standing Offer Program, a surprising decision that left many unsuspecting Indigenous communities with stranded energy assets. The province has a clean energy surplus managed by a monopolized Crown corporation bound by outdated regulations. ChinookX has developed a partnership with B.C. Hydro’s Grid Modernization team to pilot Indigenous-led regional smart grids in the province utilizing our CEDP model. This model is being explored in communities where a larger scale data centre is economically feasible.

The Clean Energy-Data Processing model underpins our vision for the development of Indigenous innovation districts (IIDs), geographical hubs of technology and social innovation in Indigenous communities supporting local jobs, training and self-determination. Leveraging the economic incentives of operating on-reserve, IIDs attract clean tech and manufacturing enterprises to the site. This business consortium contributes significant value to Indigenous economies while being environmentally and socially responsible. These businesses may be fully or partially owned by the host First Nation, creating additional own-source revenue. 

Not every nation will be a fit for a Tier 1 data centre or large innovation district. Data centres require an abundance of power and reliable high speed internet, two common challenges for rural and remote Indigenous communities. However, every nation can benefit from at least one sovereign server meeting local Indigenous data sovereignty needs. This single sovereign server is our intended starting place for the Laksilyu Clan with the narrow scope of developing a relational database to support jobs, training and clan governance work. Should the other four Wet’suwet’en clans express interest following the success of this pilot, that could lead to discussions around a larger data centre and innovation district proposal. 

Data centres are the “brains” of the internet. Their role is to process, store, and communicate the information-based services we rely upon every day, whether it be streaming video, email, social media, online collaboration or scientific computing. Data centres are the essential infrastructure of the future. In the era of Big Data information processing is the driver of the economy as oil once was through industrialization. The global data centre market is expected to grow from an estimated $220.0 billion in 2021 to $343.6 billion by 2030.

Market growth is driven by the exponential increase in the volume of data being created around the world. Approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced per day globally, creating the massive need for data storage and processing space. Humanity’s total data creation jumped 314% from 2015 - 2022 and is expected to 10x by 2025 from 2017 levels. Canadian investment in data has grown over 400% over the past 15 years, as businesses realize the vast potential of using data to uncover key insights about their customers and operations.

Our technical partners provide high performance cloud infrastructure solutions such as data centre servers as well as resilient private and hybrid cloud platforms for advanced computing. Their products are optimized for performance solutions with enhanced computation and storage capabilities, providing hyper resilient IT operations and data protection to fit all budgets. The Laksilyu sovereign server box will be configured to meet the Indigenous data sovereignty standards and principles of OCAP®, FAIR and CARE to ensure Laksilyu data will be easily accessible only to Laksilyu members. 

A relational database is a type of database that stores and provides access to data points that are related to one another. They make it easy to sort and find information, often utilized by organizations to help make smarter business decisions more efficiently. Relational databases are an intuitive, straightforward way of representing data in tables. Each row in the table is a record with a unique ID called the key. The columns of the table hold attributes of the data, and each record usually has a value for each attribute, making it easy to establish the relationships among data points. 

Developed in the 1970s by E.F. Codd from IBM, the relational database model allows any table to be related to another table using a common attribute. Instead of using hierarchical structures to organize data, Codd proposed a shift to using a data model where data is stored, accessed, and related in tables without reorganizing the tables that contain them. This model is well suited to visualize the Wet’suwet’en clan and house governance structures and integrated feast system, where clan members are seated in rows of chairs with the hereditary chiefs seated in the back row and their “next in line” seated directly in front of them. 

The clan relational database will demonstrate digitally what our feast hall demonstrates physically, which is our ancestral lineages and where we belong within Wet’suwet’en society. 

ChinookX is 53% Indigenous-owned. We have four co-founders; two Indigenous and two non-Indigenous. Our CEO is Indigenous as well as our business development director and chair of our board. As we grow we will continue to prioritize Indigenous candidates for all of our positions and projects, with a specific focus on the recruitment and training of Indigenous women. We are also engaging First Nations on equity opportunities for larger proposals centered around data centre facilities, clean energy smart grids, clean tech manufacturing and innovation districts via our Clean Energy-Data Processing model.

What ChinookX is striving to do has not been done before. We are an unorthodox company with a complex and evolving business model. We manage a consortium of community and industry partners to advance high tech projects that support Indigenous economic development and self-determination. Within this vision are several potential revenue streams that we are actively pursuing on behalf of ChinookX and our partners. 

These revenue opportunities are grouped into the following categories: 

IT HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT 

Our core service and most immediate revenue opportunity involves the deployment of data centre hardware and associated software solutions to meet the data sovereignty needs of First Nations while creating a unique sovereign data offering for the global market. Indigenous-owned data centres will offer high performance computation services and an enterprise co-location service.  The former provides clients with access to asynchronous computing services suitable for activities such as data storage, rendering and processing. Colocation is a service for enterprise customers to operate their own secure servers and other hardware necessary for daily operations in shared, monitored spaces while ensuring bandwidth, security, temperature regulation and disaster recovery needs are met.

COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING

As we’ve engaged with First Nations on the potential deployment of data centre and supplementary technologies, the need for additional business and technical capacity in Indigenous communities has become clear. This is something that our team is capable of providing with our collective experience and expertise in Indigenous economic development and the implementation of self-governance, while our consortium partners are more than capable of delivering technical capacity and training. We are beginning to work collaboratively with Nations to apply for funds from provincial and federal governments to support our long term development plans in the communities we serve. 

INDIGENOUS INNOVATION DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT

The development of innovation districts in Indigenous communities based on our Clean Energy-Data Processing model is our fundamental purpose and most promising source of revenue in the long term. As the developer of Indigenous innovation districts and manager of the business consortium building and operating within the innovation district, ChinookX will take an equity position in each of enterprises attracted to the site. We are bringing the necessary technical partners to the table in data centre deployment, clean energy smart grid integration and clean tech manufacturing to advance innovation districts with Indigenous communities. 

Our Clean Energy-Data Processing model advances the priorities of several provincial and federal government ministries and funding bodies particularly in the three areas of reconciliation, innovation and decarbonization. As we deepen our engagement with First Nations we are collaboratively applying for public funds to enable Indigenous equity in our projects as well as to finance construction and operations to get started. Once operational, the revenue potential of even just one 4 megawatt data centre and associated smart grid is in the tens of millions of dollars annually. 

ChinookX has raised over CND$200,000.00 in private investment so far on the promise of our concept and strength of our relationships with Indigenous communities, technical experts and relevant government ministries both at the provincial and federal levels. This initial investment has brought together our core team and partners to deepen our engagement efforts with First Nations, refine our ideas and to pursue additional funding opportunities such as the MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship.