Pollution Justice Project

For decades our lands and bodies have been treated as sacrifice zones, attempting to dispossess Akwesasne via industrial degradation and toxicant carcerality. Environmental and health injustice in Akwesasne was heightened with the construction of the Massena’s Moses-Saunders Power Dam (1958). Not only was the dam’s construction in violation of treaties made with the Haudenosaunee, but the dam’s cheap hydroelectricity has attracted factory and industrial shipping development that disproportionately impacts Akwesasnoron. Impacts such as- death and sicknesses due to pollutant-induced chronic diseases and illnesses, infringements on our right to food sovereignty and shoreline health degradation. 

Akwesasonal have been promised clean-up, remediation and accountability- but those promises have failed to be fully fulfilled. In applying to MIT Solve, we seek to take the power of redress into our own hands. The Akwesasne Data Accountability Initiative (ADAI) wants to cultivate interventions that engage in shifting power dynamics of Akwesasonal (humans and non-humans alike) facing the injustices caused by extractive industries and settler-colonial institutions.

Colonial practices of counting Native bodies have been part of assimilationist and genocidal policies for centuries- woven into our politics, indigenous family histories, survivance and surveillance. For centuries, Indigenous bodies were made into statistics, but rarely seen as the statistician. In Akwesasne, our people and lands have been a site for data extraction for centuries. Through this project, the ADAI is engaging in an ontological and dogmatic shift of information and data relations. 

Our leadership and community members have taken on several initiatives to protect our people from environmental and health violence, but the fight continues. The waters, the lands and our bodies have a right to rest, restore and rebalance themselves. In our work, we propose a series of technological approaches to shoreline protection and restoration in Akwesasne that seeks to promote data-informed accountability to industries perpetuating harm and re-ignite Indigenous connection to the land. Technological interventions include but are not limited to: holistic and comprehensive health testing, building accessible sensors for data aggregation, pollutant and erosion information repositories, and generating place-based water and soil quality protocols and standards that go beyond “safe” threshold requirements. Most importantly, ADAI seeks to story this data, making it understandable and actionable in the hands of community members- whether it be making informed decisions about their health or creating community-based environmental policies.

In the generation of our interventions, we recognize and contend with the history of data extractivism, data capitalism, data invisibilization and misinformation. ADAI seeks to invoke practices of data reclamation, data sovereignty and data transparency. Our solution recognizes the importance of technological interventions that are holistic and comprehensive; respecting individual privacy rights while providing accessible data that promotes community engagement with informed decision-making and building information repositories that are safe-guarded by community trusted servers. 

We hope our interventions speak directly to Land Back efforts to reaffirm, reestablish and transfer power to Haudenosaunee nations (the Onkwehowe) as caretakers and stewards of their original soils, waters, air and the beings that inhabit them under the Kaianerehko:wa (wampums 42 and wampum 44). 

There is not one person in Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation that is not impacted by the legacy of industrial harm.  As of 2023, individuals and groups in Akwesasne are underserved when it comes to gaining easy access to data about our local environment, the high numbers of rare health issues and general health concerns.  The lack of easy-access hinders our community’s ability to make informed decisions about our health and the environment we live, work and play in.  This also limits our community’s ability to advocate for our environment and the health policies that impact all of us.  

ADAI’s solution addresses the issue by providing Akwesasne with accessible data about the local environment and health concerns.  Developing and maintaining accessible data aggregation sensors empowers us to collect and store data about pollutants, erosion levels and many other environmental factors.  The collected data can be analyzed and made accessible to the Akwesasne community with centralized databases or repositories. asily accessible data can empower Akwesasne to advocate for policies that impact us and hold entities accountable for environmental practices.

 ADAI’s holistic and comprehensive health testing approach can provide Akwesasne with accurate, current health assessments including testing for various known local environmental contaminants- providing people with the much needed autonomy over important medical decisions.  Our solutions can also promote more community engagement, foster trust between community members and data collectors while supporting sustainable environmental & health practices. 

Our solution serves the Akwesasne community.  Akwesasne has the borders of New York  USA, Ontario & Quebec Canada over us.  Our community includes Kanien’kéhake, Mohawk, St. Regis Indians, Mohawks of Akwesasne, Onkwehonwe, Iroquois of St. Regis Indians and many more people with a total population of about 15000 people.

The ADAI engages the Akwesasne community by involving our people in the process of data collection and data distribution. We recognize the importance of community engagement and participation in promoting transparency and trust between community members and data collectors. We have been engaging our community with meetings, workshops and consultations. 

ADAI team members have been providing and participating in community meetings where everyone shares their feedback about data collection, data use, data privacy in regards to our community’s health and environment issues.  Additionally, they have been holding meetings with Akwesasne community leaders and various relevant industry experts (tech, health, medical, agriculture, education) to promote and support collaboration and collective decision-making.

By engaging the Akwesasne community, this initiative is promoting community ownership of the data collection and sharing process.  This initiative and solution is tailored to our community’s unique needs and priorities, ensures community members are empowered to make informed decisions about their health & the environment we all live, work and play in.  

Our engagement process also fosters trust, transparency and collaboration between community members, data collectors and data distributors: leading to more effective and impactful data accountability practices for the benefit of the Akwesasne community. 

Across the United States, Native reservations are disproportionately impacted with the negative effects of industrial toxic waste. According to Indian Country Today, of a total of 1,322 Superfund sites as of June 5, 2014, nearly 25 percent of them are in Indian country. We hope our solution in its long term growth serves as a framework for other reservations and communities impacted by socio-environmental injustice. 

Marina Johnson-Zafiris is Kanien'kehá:ka, Wolf Clan with family in Akwesasne. She is second year PhD Student at Cornell University in Information Science, with a minor in American Indian and Indigenous studies. Her research interests focus on computational community science for socio-environmental justice and critical data/information studies across Haudenosaunee Territory. Prior to Cornell, she received her undergraduate degree in Data Science at the University of Houston-Downtown and conducted research at Berkeley National Lab. Using these technical skills and education, she seeks to be a conduit to redistribute resources and shift power back to Native communities. LinkedIn:  

Dana Leigh Thompson is Kanien'kehá:ka, Bear Clan based in Akwesasne. She brings experience relating Akwesane Data Accountability Intitiative & solution in her 43 years of experience as an environmental activist and subject matter expert providing information and grass-roots support regarding the ongoing environmental genocide that has been harming all the people in Akwesasne.  Resume:  

MoniGarr is Onkwehonwe based in Akwesasne. They bring 30+ years of tech industry experience and 53+ years of experience living and working in Akwesasne. They have extensive experience with the many issues and practices impacting the environment and health of all beings in Akwesasne.  They have led teams of 250+ tech industry experts to build, deliver and maintain technology solutions that millions of people around the world use for 30+ years.  https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/monigarr 

Our team also collaborates with relevant subject matter experts that are working in complementary industries in Akwesasne and globally.  Our subject matter experts include Dr. David Carpenter (PCB expert), Dr. Ojistoh Horn (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation primary care physician), Wanda Johsnon (St. Regis Tribal Health Navigator) and several others.  

Our team is grounded in and has experience in Legal/Regulatory Matters, Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact and Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design). Thorough critique and feedback of our claims, interventions and produced materials is much needed- especially to ensure it’s understandable and translational to people outside of our community as well. 

In addition, we hope MIT Solve platform can provide opportunities to connect with partners with public relations branding expertise, an area none of our team members have particular expertise in. We want to promote transparency and community engagement in the collection and sharing of Akwesasne’s environmental and health data.  To do so we have to effectively communicate our message to a wide audience while earning trust between our community, data collectors and data distributors. This is where public relations and branding expertise can help us.  

Collaborating with public relations experts can help us develop a strong brand identity with communication strategy that promotes our solution while highlighting its benefits.  MIT Solve can connect us with experts that have experience in public relations, branding, marketing to help us effectively communicate our solution’s message to a wider audience. Public Relations experts can help us develop a detailed communication strategy to include our traditional and digital media outreach, social media campaigns and other promotional activities.  They can help us create relevant content that engages our community while building relationships with media outlets to help us get our message out.  

Dana Leigh Thompson is Kanien'kehá:ka, Bear Clan based in Akwesasne. She brings experience relating Akwesane Data Accountability Intitiative & solution in her 43 years of experience as an environmental activist and subject matter expert providing information and grass-roots support regarding the ongoing environmental genocide that has been harming all the people in Akwesasne.