Overview:
The Pew Research Center reported its findings from interviews conducted with those who shaped a historic data sharing agreement between Tulalip Tribes and Washington State.
A historic data-sharing agreement between the Tulalip Tribes and Washington state has advanced data sovereignty and created a roadmap for successful agreements between other tribes and states, according to findings by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Pew Research Center.
In 2025, the Tulalip Tribes and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) signed a first-of-its-kind agreement giving the tribe access to various state public health databases. The agreement was developed in collaboration with the Governor’s Indian Health Commission and the American Indian Health Commission.
In a press release announcing the agreement, Tulalip Chairwoman Teri Gobin said it’s a major step forward from tribes historically being excluded from public health data.
“For years paternalism towards Indigenous people has locked tribes out of information gathered from us and about us,” Gobin said. “Transparency and informed consent are vital to collaboration. Tribes have an inherent right to own data about us and determine how the data is collected, shared, and used. This formal agreement is a wonderful first step towards a respectful relationship that will benefit both public health agencies and the well-being of tribal communities.”
According to the press release, the data-sharing agreement was designed to enable tribes to lead outbreak investigation efforts and develop health priorities while identifying systemic failings that drive poor health outcomes among citizens.
Last week, Pew published its findings from interviews with the Tulalip Tribes, Washington State health officials, and third parties involved in facilitating the agreement to determine what went into its success.
The report pointed to the consequences of excluding tribes from data, which manifested during the COVID-19 pandemic when tribes lacked information on hospitalizations, deaths, and contact tracing. Native people across the United States, and in Washington State, saw the highest rates of death from the novel virus.
Interviewees reported to Pew that tribal voices need to not just be included in discussions around data sharing agreements, but to lead negotiations. An interviewee reported to Pew that Department of Health staff involved in shaping the agreements must understand sovereignty and be willing to shape policies and agreements based on the tribe’s stated needs. One DOH employee who worked on the agreement is a tribal citizen and brought an understanding of sovereignty and means of bridging trust where it has long been broken between the state and the tribe.
The American Indian Health Commission worked with the Department of Health to create a foundation of understanding of tribal jurisdiction and Indian law about public health data — which is often overlooked or misunderstood — Pew said interviewees reported. The AIHC found that tribes were treated differently by the Department of Health than local health departments, under the false notion that tribes’ access should be limited to tribal citizens rather than everyone living within the tribe’s jurisdiction.
Interviewees reported that the collective understanding was crucial to establishing policy that moves forward from historical wrongs that have underpinned inequities and suffering in Native communities.
The report noted that the terms of the data-sharing agreement require Department of Health staff to undergo data sovereignty training led by an internal tribal data team, which could potentially shape future department policies.
