Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory to install state-of-the-art data centre

By Rick Garrick

WIIKWEMKOONG UNCEDED TERRITORY — Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory is installing a state-of-the-art data centre in the Wiikwemkoong Administration Building to empower the community by taking control of its own digital infrastructure and information systems. The data centre, which arrived in the community on May 23, is a secure facility that is designed to house servers and computing systems.

“This data centre represents more than just technology — it is a symbol of our sovereignty, our strength, and our vision for the future,” says Wiikwemkoong Ogimaa Tim Ominika. “By investing in our own digital infrastructure, we are reclaiming the way our stories, knowledge, and data are protected and shared. It also opens doors for our youth to see themselves in the world of science, technology, and innovation. Wiikwemkoong is proud to lead by example in building a future where Anishinaabe voices are not only heard but powered by our own systems. This demonstrates our commitment to a Proud, Progressive, and Prosperous Wiikwemkoong.”

Ogimaa Ominika says the data centre project was “long years” in the making, noting that the community had conversations about digital independence; how they could better protect their data, improve their infrastructure, and prepare for a future where technology plays a central role in everything they were doing; evolving with the technology of the times; and how they were looking at data sovereignty.

“When those initial thoughts and communications started coming to leadership at that time, we said, ‘OK, how would this look?’ and then we started looking at the importance of how data sovereignty represents the OCAP principles, the ownership, control, access, possession,” Ogimaa Ominika says. “When we looked at visioning this, our data would be located here in Wiikwemkoong. We (did not) have control of how this data is used and who has access to that information when we allowed other vendors to control our data storage.”

Ogimaa Ominika says they also looked at economic development, employment opportunities, and future generations to ensure that the community’s heritage thrives through the generations to come. The investment in the data centre also highlights the growing importance of Anishinaabe voices in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

“When we move in this direction, it’s really showing our youth, wow, the sky is the limit of our education and where we could go and what’s available out there and how we could ensure that we are protecting our data sovereignty and housing it here in our own First Nation community,” Ogimaa Ominika says. “And again, it’s empowerment, too, it’s showing our youth that leadership is supporting these types of initiatives to ensure that we are paving the road for a better future for our youth to come.”

Ogimaa Ominika says the data centre is fully backed up, so the information stored on it would never get lost.

“Which is the reason why we looked at having our own,” Ogimaa Ominika says. “So now, understanding that we have the capability of having our own computer services for data storage, protecting our databases, our networking, our software, it is all fully backed up so the information would never get lost by having our own secure system here in the community.”

Ogimaa Ominika says the community’s data had been housed in about seven different places.

“Looking at how much it costs to secure our data elsewhere, we looked at, OK, why don’t we invest into our own (data centre)?” Ogimaa Ominika says. “Our community is large enough to do it and operational-wise, the amount we are covering costs to do so, we could just keep it internally here, and we (could) basically create more employment for our membership. And understanding the OCAP principles, yes, everything is stored right here because we don’t know who is using our data, who is using our research information that we may be collecting and storing into this (other) data system that is not controlled and operated by our community.”

Shelley Trudeau, e’minzhaandang (CEO) at Wiikwemkoong, says the data centre is an example of the collaborative efforts of many people in Wiikwemkoong.

“By working together, we’re not only securing our digital future, but we are also creating real economic growth and meaningful employment opportunities for our community in emerging and relevant sectors,” Trudeau says.

Michael McCormick, chief technology officer at Wiikwemkoong, says the data centre project began with conversations about digital independence and how they could better protect their community’s data, improve their infrastructure, and prepare for a future where technology plays a central role in everything they do.

“We recognized early on that relying on outside systems left us vulnerable, not just in terms of security, but also in terms of ownership and access,” McCormick says. “This data centre is the result of careful planning, collaboration, and a shared vision of digital sovereignty. It’s a major milestone, but also just the beginning of what’s possible for Wiikwemkoong.”