What does data sovereignty mean in Indigenous research under TCPS 2?

• A. Communities have control over data related to them, including access, governance, and dissemination.
• B. Researchers store data in a secure cloud only.
• C. Data sovereignty means data must be destroyed after study.
• D. Data ownership lies with funding agency.

Answer: (A)

Data sovereignty in Indigenous research means that data about Indigenous communities are owned and controlled by those communities themselves, including who can access it, how it is governed, and how it is shared or disseminated. Under TCPS 2, researchers must respect this governance by aligning with Indigenous data governance principles, ensuring the community has final say over the data throughout its lifecycle—from collection and storage to analysis and publication. This protects self-determination and sensitive information and requires practical steps like community oversight, data-sharing agreements, and decisions about who can access the data and for what purposes.

The other options miss the core point. Merely storing data in a secure cloud is a technical detail, not about who controls or decides how data are used. Destroying data after the study shifts the focus to retention rather than governance and ownership. Owning data by the funding agency contradicts the principle that communities should control data about them.