xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – April 22, 2026) Tsen’awt Labs, an Indigenous-led AI startup founded by Ethan Clark, today announced the launch of Tsen’awt, a unified AI workspace with embedded data storage, management, and governance—built for First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Indigenous organizations.
Designed for First Nations, Indigenous Peoples Organizations, and First Nations Economic Development Corporations, Tsen’awt supports secure, management of information across departments—ensuring data remains protected, governed, and aligned with Nation-defined protocols such as OCAP®, FAIR, and CARE. The platform is built with ecologically responsible infrastructure at its core, supporting deployment models that mitigate risks to land, water, and knowledge systems
“Our Peoples, organizations and Nations are increasingly crossing paths with AI in both everyday life as well as in the workplace. While we see headlines about water and energy use, data extraction, cultural bias and misappropriation, and hallucinogenic outputs, we are rightfully skeptical or totally adverse.” said Ethan Clark, Founder of Tsen’awt Labs. “In my view, if we are being asked to trust technology companies with our data, those technologies must be accountable to our Nations, transparency should be embedded in the business model, and trust must be foundational to the architecture of the technology itself. That is why I founded Tsen’awt—not only to provide First Nations with the best AI-native data storage, management and governance tools, but to ensure we can create our own tools on our own terms, without compromising our values or putting our lands, waters, and knowledge systems at risk.”
Tsen’awt is an AI-native data platform that brings together storage, governance, collaboration, and AI into a single operational environment. Rather than relying on fragmented tools, organizations can store, organize, collect, analyze, share, and govern their information within one system.
The platform is designed to feel familiar to users of modern data management tools while offering a fundamentally different model of control. Everyday work—drafting, reporting, intake, analysis, and collaboration—takes place within a governed environment where permissions, classifications, retention policies, auditability, and AI access are embedded directly into system behavior.
Key features include:
- Integrated AI workspace for writing, analyzing, summarizing and more
- Secure file storage and records lifecycle management
Structured data collection and intake tools
- Role-based governance, permissions, and audit trails
- A unified platform designed for Indigenous operational and governance needs
- Local language models for context-specific data—larger models for broader context
The platform supports First Nations administrators, leadership, data managers, researchers, policy analysts, program managers, and such in carrying out data governance—managing metadata, approvals, classifications, lifecycle decisions, and defining clear boundaries for how AI can access and interact with their information systems. With built-in guidance, approved prompts, and onboarding support, Tsen’awt enables organizations to adopt AI responsibly while reducing dependence on external vendors
Tsen'awt's platform runs on physical sovereign infrastructure — Green Edge Computing Corp's EdgePods, compact, low-power, modular edge data centree, built in Canada, deployed directly within First Nations communities, connected to a network of First Nations-owned regional micro data centres governed by First Nations. Rather than relying on commercial cloud providers whose servers sit in distant facilities under foreign jurisdiction, this infrastructure model places compute and storage where it belongs — on First Nations land, under community control, with data that never leaves the Nations' territory without explicit, Nation-defined authorization.
Key features include:
- 75% less energy than conventional data centre infrastructure, no special power, cooling, or purpose-built facilities required
- No water consumption and fully deployable in remote, rural, harsh, and off-grid environments
- Secure local data processing with audited physical access control and tamper-proof identity management
- Compact, lightweight, and pre-configured for rapid plug-and-play deployment across communities of any size or geography
Together, GECCO's EdgePod and regional micro data centre network form the Sovereign Cloud — the physical foundation on which Tsen'awt's platform operates. For First Nations, Métis, and Inuit organizations, this means the governed AI workspace, secure file storage, structured data collection, and community intelligence tools within Tsen'awt run entirely within infrastructure their Nation controls — reducing dependence on external vendors and ensuring that digital self-determination is not just a policy position, but an operational reality.
Tsen’awt is partnering with First Nations, First Nations Economic Development Corporations, and Indigenous Peoples Organizations across Canada for early access, collaborative research, process mapping and capacity building.Tsen’awt is beginning with an inaugural partnership with Green Edge Computing Corp (GECCO), the producer of the EdgePod, to support the deployment of low-impact, energy-efficient edge data infrastructure that enables Nations to host and manage their own AI systems locally—advancing data sovereignty while minimizing environmental impact and reliance on centralized cloud providers.
Building on this partnership, Tsen’awt is working with GECCO and various First Nations to run a pilot project, field-testing GECCO’s EdgePod with Tsen’awt’s products and services, combined creating a sovereign cloud-based AI-native data storage, management, and governance solution.
Tsen’awt Labs Inc.
media@tsenawt.io
tsenawt.io
© 2026 Tsen’awt Labs Inc.
