RightsCon Toronto 2018

The Global Indigenous Ambassador Program was designed in ICANN At-Large first as regional and pilot program within NARALO. After about one year bringing voices from North America to the community, the program expanded to being global. All RALOS, the Regional Association of At-Large Organizations, which are associations of internet end-users interested in participating in ICANN, began to outreach to indigenous communities all over the world. For ICANN 57 in November 2016, we had two ambassadors both from Native American tribes in the US. For ICANN 60 in October 2017, we had three ambassadors, two from Native American Tribes in the US and one from an Indigenous community in Bolivia. Our Mentor was from Brazil but had done much work for the indigenous communities in her country. For ICANN 61 in Puerto Rico in March 2018, we had two women from Indigenous communities in Colombia and Canada and one mentor from one of the Native American Tribes in the US. In this session, we will discuss how indigenous communities in North America have been helping develop policy in organizations like FCC and others. What was the vision of the creators of this program? What do First Nations of Canada see as priorities in internet policy and questions for a conversation with Rightscon attendees?

A permanent channel open for all Global Indigenous Ambassadors to collaborate with other activists regarding internet rights would be made available, linked to a renewal of ICANN Community Wiki page which holds information about the programme.