Category — Module 3

Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights

URL: http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0338-e.htm

This is an article prepared by Tonina Simeone of the Political and Social Affairs Division in 2004.  Presented both in HTML format and PDF, this article’s table of content includes topics such as the difference between Indigenous traditional knowledge and Western science, the need to protect traditional science, how to protect traditional knowledge, limitations of the intellectual property rights regime in protecting traditional knowledge, international initiatives to protect traditional knowledge and shares references.  This article, along with the available resources provides researchers with reliable information on the topic of intellectual property rights.   Furthermore, the article endnotes supply the reader with a wealth of quality sources such as:  references to articles of the Declaration, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, and potentially most interesting, the Inventory of Existing Online Database Containing Traditional Knowledge Documentation Data.  Unfortunately however, some of these links are not active, making it inconvenient for the researcher.

First Peoples Worldwide

URL:  http://www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org/

First People’s Worldwide’s mission is “promoting Indigenous economic determination and strengthening Indigenous communities through asset control and the dissemination of knowledge.”  This website, led by Indigenous peoples, reaches its mission by “equipping Indigenous Peoples with resources to challenge government, corporation and conservation policies”.  Although opportunities for involvement are made available (volunteering, donating, working), there is limited information available on the website. A Resources page leads one to many categories such as:  Resources by First Peoples, Resources about First Peoples, Regional Topics, Keepers of the Earth Topics, Corporate Engagement Topics and For Kids.  Each of these linked categories leads to a dozen of active links, be they news articles, scholarly articles, or photographs.  This website can a provide a good overview about a few topics and should be supplemented with other research.

URL: http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/

This website is an online Compedium which makes available hundreds of short articles, position papers and peer-reviewed articles about globalization and autonomy.  Presented as a glossary, and a bibliographical database, discussed topics are easily retrievable.  A simple search such as ‘Indigenous peoples’ or ‘Intellectual property rights’ yields dozens of results.   The information retrieved here is scholarly and covers topics such as Community and Identity, Culture, Democracy, Global Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Property Rights, Technology, Trade and Finance and World History.  Authors of the presented works are members of the SSHRCC Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Globalization and Autonomy.   This website offers indispensable information that may not be retrieved through other websites.