Connecting Past to Present: Enacting Indigenous Data Governance Principles in Westbank First Nation’s Archaeology and Digital Heritage

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a collaboration between the Westbank First Nation Archaeology Office and UBC Okanagan that aims to create digital maps to enable engagement with syilx digital heritage and build capacity in digital tools and technologies. We examine what data governance frameworks mean for digital heritage and how they articulate with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the First Nations Information Governance Centre’s OCAP® principles. We propose digital tools such as open-source and mobile-ready storymaps to showcase digital heritage that is appropriate for public sharing, practices that can promote and enhance community decision-making, and create training opportunities in digital methods in Westbank First Nation. Opening a conversation around digital tools is one way that archaeologists can begin to enact Indigenous data governance as a step towards dismantling colonial structures and practice in archaeology and digital heritage.