Thank you for that question.
We are looking at IP, and I was talking about the Indigenous Institutes sector. We heard earlier in the meeting about universities and colleges, and those would be an indigenous representation of that, which we currently have. We have nine of them in Ontario. How do we encourage research to happen at those indigenous institutions that are based on reserve or within a community?
We understand from the government reports that there's no universally accepted definition of “indigenous knowledge and cultural expression”, which presents both an opportunity and a challenge, but generally we know that the terms refer to traditional knowledge and ways of being.
From the youth we engaged with and from the young professionals we talked to, we heard a strong desire to further understand the intersectionalities between the knowledge and the indigenous data sovereignty principles and data management and classification, particularly in the video and digital media. What that means is this: How are the frameworks that we currently have set up going to support, for example, the collective interests of an IP of a sovereign nation that operates within the jurisdiction of Canada? How does that go out to the world while respecting the UN's position and our commitment on indigenous data sovereignty? I think there's a lot more study needed.
It's complex and it's not going to be the same everywhere, because different nations have different approaches, but what we do know is that collection of data and turning it into IP, or using it, is a very sensitive subject and topic for our community.
As somebody who has a grandparent who went to residential schools, I know that is why we're so careful about our data and about how our knowledge is being used. I think we have to think of a process or a co-creation process through the community in order to understand the value of this topic and how it can really help the indigenous community prosper economically.
We have lots of great indigenous innovators, and they're contributing a lot today. Let's bring them forward.