Webinars
Showcasing innovative ideas, tools, and insights into the world of social good for service providers, decision-makers, academics, and the general public.
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The difference between data residency and data jurisdiction, and why both matter for Canadian social service providers
How the U.S. CLOUD Act applies to organizations using software from U.S.-incorporated vendors, even when data is hosted in Canada
What Canadian data sovereignty means in practice for the social sector
How OCAP® principles connect to technology procurement decisions, and what meaningful alignment looks like
Questions your organization can ask vendors to clarify jurisdiction, governance, and Indigenous data governance commitments
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This session is designed for executive directors, IT leads, program managers, and board members at Canadian social sector organizations, particularly those serving Indigenous communities or holding sensitive client information. The goal is to support informed, deliberate technology governance.
Where Does Your Data Live? And Who Controls It? What the Canadian Social Sector Needs to Know About Data Sovereignty
April 16, 2026 10:00 AM MST
Canadian social sector organizations are making significant technology investments, including case management platforms, cloud-based records systems, and service coordination tools. Many have taken deliberate steps to ensure their data is stored in Canada. That is an important decision. It is also an incomplete one.
Where data is stored and under whose legal authority it is held are different questions. Legislation like the U.S. CLOUD Act means that a vendor's country of incorporation, not the physical location of its servers, can determine which courts have the authority to compel access to the information your organization holds on behalf of clients.
For organizations working with vulnerable populations, the distinction carries real weight. For Indigenous-led organizations and programs serving First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, the conversation extends further, into questions of data sovereignty, community-level governance, and the First Nations principles of OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession).
