CIELO has been at the forefront of creating new forms of visibility through data for Indigenous migrant communities. CIELO’s survey efforts, which began in 2020, are key toward bridging the information gap and bringing these communities into the mainstream conversation. With our knowledge of community-based research, we are well-positioned to bring a unique perspective on creating visibility of underserved communities. Our deep understanding of the Indigenous migrant community can create rich conversations and collaborations. Through our mapping of Indigenous communities, we have been able to advocate for resources at a city level by creating access to COVID-19 vaccination, PPE material, solidarity funds, and Indigenous interpretation services throughout the nation.
Our work is grounded in addressing the root causes of the marginalization of Indigenous migrant people, the cause being racism deeply rooted in colonization. This same racism aims to eradicate us from data, leading to our statistical genocide and continuing systematic violence. So, when a population is eradicated from the data and invisible, it eradicates their humanity and, in turn, their human rights. Therefore, creating interactive data and statistics will be a tool for us at a national level to create visibility of the linguistic needs of Indigenous migrant people.