The University of Ottawa and Vanderbilt University are working together to advance Indigenous-led knowledge preservation and research through a new international agreement. The University of Ottawa (uOttawa) signed a new memorandum of understanding with Vanderbilt University, marking the beginning of a strategic partnership centered on Indigenous digital archives and the Ottawa Mobile History Lab. The agreement reflects the institutions’ shared commitment to advancing respectful, community-engaged research and supporting the preservation of Indigenous knowledge through collaborative and digitally enabled approaches. The collaboration brings together two institutions with complementary strengths in research, digital scholarship, and international collaboration. Signed by the University of Ottawa’s Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs, Dr. Jacques Beauvais and Vanderbilt University Librarian, Jon Shaw, the partnership is benefitting from the support and collaboration of uOttawa’s Faculty of Education and International Office, Global Affairs Canada, and the CEO of Fulbright Canada, Dr. Michael K. Hawes.
A commitment to Indigenous-led knowledge preservation
At the heart of the partnership is a commitment to Indigenous-led knowledge preservation. The collaboration will support work on Indigenous digital archives and the Ottawa Mobile History Lab in ways that recognize the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty, community-led archival practices, ethical stewardship, and reciprocal knowledge exchange. By emphasizing care, respect, and long-term relationship building, the collaboration aims to contribute to archival and research practices that are accountable to the communities whose histories and knowledge systems are involved.
“Partnerships like these are proof that scientific diplomacy is key to building bridges and facilitating mutual understanding between nations,” said Jacques Beauvais. The Ottawa Mobile History Lab provides a particularly promising platform for this work. Mobile research models can help extend archival practice beyond campus settings and into communities, enabling more flexible, accessible, and field-based approaches to oral history, documentation, and collaborative knowledge creation. This can strengthen relationships with community partners while also helping to ensure that research methods are responsive to local realities and priorities.
“This new partnership on Indigenous digital archives, specifically supporting the Ottawa Mobile History Lab, marks an important step forward in how we approach historical research and preservation,” said Professor Nicholas Ng-A-Fook, lead of the project at uOttawa’s Faculty of Education. “For our research team, this collaboration will significantly deepen the intergenerational legacies at the University of Ottawa project. In partnership with survivors, we have been visiting different archives to document and critically examine the university’s historical entanglements with the residential school system. It also affirms our commitments toward redressing and relational renewal with Algonquin communities while working within (First Nations) OCAP principles to ensure community ownership, control, access, and possession of knowledge.”
Anita Jean Tenasco, a member of the First Nations community and Advisor to the Dean of uOttawa’s Faculty of Education on Indigenous Affairs, believes the new initiative will provide a vital link between generations. “Digital archives that are focused on preserving and sharing Indigenous histories, cultures, traditions and languages (as supported by the respective First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities) are crucial to the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next in this day and age,” Tenasco said. “uOttawa's partnership with Vanderbilt University presents an interesting opportunity for the Anishinàbe Algonquin Nation (the Host Nation of Ottawa).”
Responsible knowledge preservation
Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries bring recognized expertise in digital preservation and large-scale knowledge stewardship to the partnership. The Heard Libraries are home to the Slave Societies Digital Archive, the world’s largest collection of records documenting the history of Africans and their descendants across the Atlantic World; the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, the world’s most complete archive of television broadcast news; and the Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab for Libraries and Applied Digital Preservation, powered by AWS, a unique initiative that provides student learning experiences focused on using artificial intelligence and cloud technologies to develop new approaches in digital preservation. Located within the libraries’ Digital Lab, the Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab is the first of AWS’s cloud innovation programs to be housed in an academic library and focused on archival preservation.
"This exciting collaboration between Vanderbilt and uOttawa will be beneficial for generations to come. It will outlive us,” said Jon Shaw, University Librarian at Vanderbilt University. “Not only will it preserve Indigenous people’s languages and histories, but it also will provide an opportunity for students involved in data collection to spend meaningful time with First Nation communities.”
For uOttawa, the partnership reflects a broader commitment to building international collaborations that are rooted in mutual respect and aligned with Indigenous priorities. It demonstrates the value of bringing together academic expertise, technological innovation, and community-engaged approaches in support of responsible knowledge preservation.
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