SIKU.org / Arctic Eider Society — Inuit-led digital infrastructure, NISR + FAIR + CARE operationalisation, 125,000+ posts (2024-2025)

Canada (Nunavut, Sanikiluaq)

SIKU / Arctic Eider Society

Inuit-led digital infrastructure in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut. 125,000+ posts, 100+ active projects, Indigenous data stored only in Canada. NISR + FAIR + CARE operationalised explicitly. The substantive operational Canadian Indigenous-led AI infrastructure with agrifood-relevant data architecture.

What SIKU is

SIKU.org (“sea ice” in Inuktitut) is the Indigenous Knowledge App developed by the Arctic Eider Society (AES), Sanikiluaq, Nunavut. Per the 2024-2025 SIKU Annual Report:

• 125,000+ posts in 2024-2025.
• 100+ active projects.
• Indigenous data stored only in Canada (private data sovereignty by design; not “open data” by default).
• User-owned data.
• Indigenous Environmental Terminology (IET) integration.
• Indigenous Place Names (IPNs) integration.
• ICE + WEATHER + Place Names + Indigenous Environmental Terminology tooling.
• ML/AI tooling for ice + weather monitoring.

The Arctic Eider Society is the same Inuit-led organisation based in Sanikiluaq that partnered with PolArctic / C-CORE on the Mariculture AI deployment.

Framework citation — substantively important

SIKU is the operational case where NISR + FAIR + CARE are all operationalised explicitly. Per Nowosad et al. 2025 (Arctic Science 11:1-10): “SIKU is continually working to respect Indigenous data sovereignty by exemplifying the NISR framework (ITK 2018a), as well as the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and CARE principles.”

This is the substantive Canadian operational case where the framework stack (NISR + FAIR + CARE) is implemented at scale. The SIKU model is replicable for agrifood (in principle) but no agrifood analog has been built.

Why SIKU matters for the field guide

Substantive observation: SIKU is the operational case for Indigenous-led AI infrastructure with framework governance. It satisfies all three frameworks simultaneously:

• NISR (ITK 2018) — Inuit access, ownership, and control over data and information.
• FAIR (Wilkinson et al. 2016) — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable.
• CARE (Carroll et al. 2020) — Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics.

The Canadian agrifood gap is real: No agrifood analog of SIKU exists. NCIAF does not have an operational digital infrastructure; FNDGS does not have a deployment layer; FNIGC does not have an agrifood-specific AI infrastructure.

The SIKU model is the template the Canadian agrifood Indigenous data sovereignty cell is missing.

Why this matters for talks

For archetype 05 (critical-lens Indigenous sovereignty): SIKU is the operational anchor for the framework-deployment operationalisation pattern. The talk-ready claim: “SIKU (Arctic Eider Society, Sanikiluaq Nunavut) is the operational case where NISR + FAIR + CARE are all operationalised explicitly — 125,000+ posts, 100+ active projects, Indigenous data stored only in Canada. The Canadian agrifood cell does not have an analog. SIKU is the template the field is missing.”

For archetype 06 (regional-cluster-comparison): SIKU anchors the Canadian Inuit-led AI cluster in the operational layer (not the framework layer) — distinct from the EU cooperative cluster model and the US land-grant-extension cluster model.

For archetype 02 (data-sovereignty Canadian): SIKU is data-sovereignty by design — user-owned, community-stewarded, Indigenous data stored only in Canada.

Substantive contested claims surfaced

• C-291: “Indigenous-led AI agrifood deployment in Canada does not exist.” Counter: SIKU + PolArctic + Salmon Vision + NEDA + Inuvik Tech + Indigenous Pathfinders in AI 2025 cohort.
• C-298 (new): “Indigenous-led AI infrastructure is not framework-compliant.” Counter: SIKU operationalises NISR + FAIR + CARE explicitly (Nowosad et al. 2025).
• C-299 (new): “Canadian Indigenous data sovereignty is framework-only, not deployment.” Counter: SIKU is the deployment-side evidence; it is operational at 125,000+ posts scale.

Substantive gaps surfaced

• G-338 (new): No Canadian agrifood-specific analog to SIKU. The Inuit-led digital infrastructure model has not been replicated for agrifood.
• G-339 (new): NCIAF does not have operational digital infrastructure or NISR/CARE-aligned deployment.

Freshness and source provenance

• last-verified: 2026-07
• sources:
  • about.siku.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2024-2025-SIKU-REPORT.pdf (2024-2025 SIKU Annual Report; primary source for operational scale)
  • cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/as-2023-0081 (Nowosad DSJ, Beattie M, Segal R, Wilson K. 2025. “Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Western science: examples of research that demonstrate sovereignty and self-determination in the face of complex impacts from climate change,” Arctic Science 11:1-10)