The First Nations Principles of OCAP^®

OCAP^® was established in 1998 during a meeting of the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the First Nations and Inuit Regional Longitudinal Health Survey, a precursor to the First Nations Regional Health Survey (FNRHS, or RHS). Originally, OCAP^® began as “OCA” with the members of the NSC affixing a “P” soon after to acknowledge the importance of First Nations’ people possessing their own data.

The original “OCA” acronym has been attributed to NSC member Cathryn George, who was representing the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians at the time. The Committee members later collectively added a “P” to symbolize the importance of First Nations’ people possessing their own data.

There is no law or concept in Western society that recognizes community rights and interests in their information, which is in large part why OCAP^® was created. OCAP^® ensures that First Nations own their information and respects the fact that they are stewards of their information, much in the same way that they are stewards over their own lands. It also reflects First Nation commitments to use and share information in a way that maximizes the benefit to a community, while minimizing harm.

As the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) pointed out, First Nations people have historically had a problematic relationship with researchers, academics, and other data collectors:

“In the past, Aboriginal people have not been consulted about what information should be collected, who should gather that information, who should maintain it, and who should have access to it. The information gathered may or may not have been relevant to the questions, priorities and concerns of Aboriginal peoples. Because data gathering has frequently been imposed by outside authorities, it has met with resistance in many quarters.”

First Nations have often complained that they have been the focus of too much research (i.e. “Researched to Death”), that research projects are too often conducted by non-First Nations people, that research results are not returned to communities, and that the research does not benefit First Nations people or communities.

Prominent examples of this can be found in the Barrow Alcohol Study of alcoholism in Alaska in the 1970s, the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation “Bad Blood” research of the 1980s, and the diabetes study of the Havasupai Tribe in Arizona during the 1990s. This is another motivation for the creation of the First Nations principles of OCAP^®.

The ideas inherent in OCAP^® are not new, in fact they represent themes and concepts that have been advocated for and promoted by First Nations people for years.

That’s why over the past two decades the principles of OCAP^® have been successfully applied in dozens of First Nations communities across Canada, as communities and individuals have increasingly asserted jurisdiction over their own data. First Nations communities have passed their own privacy laws, established research review committees, entered data-sharing agreements, and setting standards to ensure OCAP^® compliance.

It’s important to note that although there is a good degree of consensus surrounding OCAP^®, each First Nations community or region may have a unique interpretation of the OCAP^® principles. This is because OCAP^® is not a doctrine or a prescription: it respects the right of First Nations communities in making its decisions regarding why, how, and by whom information is collected, used, or shared.

In 2011, FNIGC’s Board of Directors approved a multi-year plan designed to protect and ensure the integrity of OCAP^® after it was discovered that researchers, academics, and others were misrepresenting and distorting its original intent. The first step in this four-year plan began when FNIGC filed trademark applications for the OCAP^® and PCAP^® (the French equivalent of OCAP^®) logos with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Once CIPO granted the logos registered trademark status in August 2014, FNIGC filed trademark applications for the “OCAP” and “PCAP” acronyms themselves. These were approved in August 2015.

OCAP^® is an expression of First Nations jurisdiction over information about their communities and its community members. As such OCAP^® operates as a set of specifically First Nations—not Indigenous—principles.

OCAP^® respects that rights of First Nations communities to own, control, access, and possess information about their peoples is fundamentally tied to self-determination and to the preservation and development of their culture.

This is why anyone interested in conducting research with a First Nation should acquaint themselves with OCAP^® before they begin. A good place to start would be The Fundamentals of OCAP^® course, an online course developed by FNIGC in conjunction with Algonquin College Corporate Training that provides a comprehensive overview of the history of OCAP^® and its applications in research and information governance today.

If you wish to use the OCAP^®/PCAP^® name or logo in your publication you must include a citation that states “OCAP^® is a registered trademark of the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC)” and include a reference to our website (https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/) so that the definition of OCAP^® can be fully understood by the reader.

You can start by browsing FNIGC’s website, which in addition to this dedicated OCAP^® section includes links to videos which help explain the history and importance of the First Nations principles of OCAP^® (“Understanding the First Nations Principles of OCAP^®: Our Road Map to Information Governance”).

We also suggest you read two papers FNIGC commissioned on OCAP^® which track the development and implementation of OCAP^® in detail: Ownership, Control, Access and Possession: The Path to First Nations Information Governance and Barriers and Levers for the Implementation of OCAP^®. You may also find FNIGC’s recent paper on First Nations Data Sovereignty in Canada useful. All are available in our Online Library.

For those looking for a more in-depth understanding of OCAP^® suggests The Fundamentals of OCAP^® course, an online course developed in conjunction with Algonquin College Corporate Training that provides a comprehensive overview of the history of OCAP^® and its applications in research and information governance today.