.indigenous

WHAT IS IT?

Every web address ends in a suffix — .com, .ca, .org. Those endings are called top-level domains, and they’re run by organizations and companies. In the history of the Internet, none of them have yet been run by Indigenous peoples.

.indigenous is our application to ICANN, the organization that manages internet names worldwide, to run our own top-level domain — a corner of the internet run by and for Indigenous people and communities. If it is approved, Indigenous peoples would hold and govern a piece of the Internet’s foundation itself — for the first time.

WHO’S BEHIND IT?

This project comes from the Pelly Banks (Nahonni Dena) Government — a distinct Kaska Dena community at the confluence of the Pelly and Ross Rivers in the Yukon, Canada. The application was made submitted by 17161573 Canada Inc., an Indigenous-owned company created to hold and operate .indigenous on the community’s behalf. This application has been sponsored and led by an unrecognized, sovereign community without federal funding.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PELLY BANKS DENA

https://www.aptnnews.ca/ourstories/pellybanks/

WHY WE APPLIED

Self-determination online. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms our right to control the developments that affect us. .indigenous brings that principle to the internet: decisions about who registers, how the space is run, and where the benefits flow — made by Indigenous peoples, for Indigenous peoples.

Our names, our space. Indigenous Nations, governments, organizations, and businesses would have a home on the internet that is unmistakably ours — where a community’s presence doesn’t sit inside someone else’s domain, on someone else’s terms.

Wealth built for community, not extracted from it. The registry is designed as a community enterprise: benefits are meant to flow back to Indigenous communities and support the things we care about — language, culture, education, and future generations — rather than leaving with outside shareholders.

One namespace, many Nations. Connected by a shared digital home, .indigenous is an online nexus for Indigenous communities worldwide. By us, for us — all of us.

HOW WOULD IT WORK?

• Indigenous Nations, governments, organizations, and businesses can register domains. Individual registrations open later, once the space is established.
• An Indigenous community advisory body helps steer the registry and keeps it accountable to the people it serves.

CURRENT STATUS

.indigenous is entering into evaluations alongside a massive field of international brands, tech hubs, and global bodies — but our string stands unique.

THE PATH AHEAD

• November 17, 2026 — ICANN’s String Confirmation Day that locks in applicant strings, prior to evaluation
• November 17, 2026 – March 16, 2026 — Community Input and Objections Period opens

WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED

• 1 of 1,615 published applications in the 2026 global gTLD round (plus one still under administrative review)
• 1 of 16 community-based applications worldwide — 0.99% of all applications
• 1 of 1 community-based applications from Canada — the sole one in the entire country
• 1 of 33 active Canadian string applications — and the only one filed by and for Indigenous peoples
• 1 of 56 entities approved worldwide for the Applicant Support Program
  • 1 of 24 approved in the non-profit/charity or equivalent category
  • 1 of 14 approved in all of North America
• 1. — we are the sole applicant for .indigenous

THE ROAD WE’VE TRAVELED

• July 2025 — Incorporated the applicant entity (17161573 Canada Inc.) under Pelly Banks direction, expressly to hold and operate .indigenous
• December 2025 — Applied for ICANN’s Applicant Support Program
• August 2026 — Approved for ICANN’s Applicant Support Program — This reduced the $227,000 USD application fee by 75%
• August 12, 2026 — Application submitted to ICANN
• August 14, 2026 — Application fee wire transferred to ICANN
• October 7, 2026 — Reveal Day: our application became public and was not contended (no one else applied for the same string)

WALK WITH US

• Endorse. Indigenous Nations and organizations can email a letter of support to: [email protected] or support us by participating through ICANN’s public comment portal.
• Share your vision. How would your community use .indigenous? Tell us — it shapes how the registry is built.
• Spread the word. Follow, share, and talk about it — after Reveal Day, our application is public.

This is a first. If it succeeds, it will be the first time in the history of the internet that a top-level domain is owned and run by Indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities that have been written out of the Internet’s story get to write the next chapter ourselves.