The Bell Chair in Canadian Parliamentary Democracy Presents:
"Digital sovereignties, Miyo We’citowin: MMIWG & Walking With Our Sisters"
Dr. Kiera Ladner
Professor & Canada Research Chair in Miyo We’citowin, Indigenous Governance & Digital Sovereignties
Department of Political Studies, University of Manitoba

Data sovereignty reflects the demand for control and ownership over data and research by its own communities. It is fast becoming the dominant discourse in Indigenous research, yet the literature on data sovereignty is largely limited to health research. Despite this, data sovereignty is theorized and analyzed as if all forms of data and/or the relationship between Indigenous communities and data were universal. In the social sciences, concepts such as digital sovereignty and miyo we’citowin enable a more expansive understanding wherein data can be collected and used to advance and honour Indigenous vision, sovereignty and nationhood when paired with innovation in knowledge mobilization (digital archiving) and a relational understanding of research. It is against this theoretical backdrop that I will discuss my work (with Dr. Shawna Ferris) on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls and through Walking With Our Sisters (the collective action dialogue and commemoration that honours the lives of MMIWG).

Kiera Ladner is the Canada Research Chair in Miyo We’citowin, Indigenous Governance & Digital Sovereignties and a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba and is the founder of Mamawipawin. Her research intersects political science, law and Indigenous studies. Current research projects include: the Walking With Our Sisters Digital Bundle Project, the Digital Archives and Marginalized Communities project (DAMC); the Comparative Constitutional Law and Indigenous Politics project (Australia and New Zealand); treaty constitutionalism; rematriation of Indigenous governance and an Indigenous leadership initiative. Most recently she coedited Surviving Canada: Indigenous People Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal, with Myra Tait (ARP May 2017).