Implementing Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Insights from Legislative Reform in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT Achieving data sovereignty is a critical concern for Indigenous communities worldwide and should be considered essential for an information‐resilient society. Māori‐led initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand have successfully raised awareness of the issues concerned and led to considerable progress being made towards implementing Māori data sovereignty principles in the public sector. The process of updating the statute requiring the collection and use of official data and statistics has provided the opportunity to embed those principles in legislation. Analysis of the submissions made on the draft Data and Statistics Bill provides a unique window on very different perspectives with regard to Indigenous data sovereignty and how it should be realised. Findings show a range of views expressed by key stakeholders, provide insight that will be relevant for Indigenous data sovereignty initiatives in other countries, and raise awareness of issues that deserve attention from the information science community.