Getting unstuck

IRIS has no passwords. Enter your email address and a six-digit single-use code is sent to it; the code is valid for ten minutes. A wrong or expired code is refused with a message, and you can ask for a new one after a minute. If nothing arrives, check the address you typed and your junk folder; the sender is IRIS. If IRIS says a code was sent a moment ago, you may already have it — choose I have that code.

One sign-in serves everyone. It grants nothing by itself: a Chief’s seat comes from a reviewed claim, Council and member seats from a Chief’s invitation, and an organization seat from a verified registration or a teammate’s invitation. If you are signed in as the wrong account, invitation pages offer Use another account.

The directory lists every Nation IRIS recognizes by its registered name; type the name at the top of the page, or use the map and the ledger below it. A Nation’s page says whether its seat is claimed. If your Nation is missing, named wrongly or placed wrongly, tell the operator (section 9) — the record can be corrected, and nothing about a claim depends on the map.

Find your Nation in the gazetteer, open its page and choose claim. The form saves a private draft as you type, so you may pause and return. Filing is explicit: nothing is submitted until you press File the claim. A reviewer then confirms your standing by phone or email with the band office, usually within two business days, and the decision is emailed and recorded on your home page. If a claim is returned for more evidence, Correct this claim reopens it with everything you wrote and the reviewer’s note.

Council seats are granted by invitation from the Nation’s Chief — never by claiming one yourself. The Chief issues the invitation from the Nation’s Council page; IRIS emails you a link. Open it, sign in with the address the invitation was sent to, and accept. If you sign in with a different address, no seat is granted until the Chief confirms it was you; your home page shows that request and its outcome.

No invitation yet? Ask your Chief. During a leadership transition, when a Nation has no active Chief, its active Council members can issue invitations instead.

Community members are invited the same way and, once recognised, take part in the activities their Nation opens from the Nation’s public page. There is no seat for a member to claim, and no form here grants membership — only the Nation’s leadership does.

Invitations are open for thirty days from issue. An expired link says so; the Chief — or, for an organization, an administrator — can issue a replacement from the same page, and the old link stays closed. A link you already accepted opens your workspace, not a second acceptance; if your seat has since ended, the link says that instead, and a fresh invitation would be needed.

IRIS asks new Chiefs and Council members to confirm the name it should display on the roster, the dashboard and invitations. A name derived from an email address (for example a shared office mailbox) can be corrected from the first-use guidance on your workspace. The name you display is separate from the name you sign a declaration with, and it never changes who holds a seat.

A company, a ministry or department, an agency or a municipality registers once, from Register your organization. Required: the organization’s name and a sentence or two on your standing to register it; everything else is optional. Register the accountable unit that can name an administrator — a department or agency rather than a whole government, a subsidiary rather than a group. The IRIS team verifies your standing by hand, usually within two business days, against a work address on your organization’s domain, a public directory or leadership page, or a listed number; the decision is emailed and recorded on your home page, and a returned registration can be corrected without retyping.

Teammates are invited from the workspace at one of four seats — Organization Admin, Project Lead, Contributor, Viewer — and each invitation shows what the seat can and cannot do before it is accepted. Seats are organization-wide; none decides anything for a Nation. Name a second administrator early.

A project needs only a name to be saved as a private draft. Sending it for review is a deliberate choice; the form shows what IRIS will receive. The IRIS team reviews a project once: approved, or returned with a note you can act on and resubmit — the earlier decision stays on record. No fixed review window is published yet for projects; your project page says how long it has waited and who acts next.

After approval you enable an available module, add the documents it may answer from, and invite the Nations the project affects. Each invitation is a request to that Nation’s Chief. A Nation that has not claimed its seat cannot answer; from its public page you may ask IRIS to reach it, which records a request to the operator and sends nothing to the Nation itself. An unanswered invitation stays unanswered.

IRIS is operated by Chi Mino Ozhitoowin LP.

724 A City Rd, Fort William First Nation, ON P7J 1K4
(807) 577-8033 · cmo-fn.ca

Questions about a claim, a registration or a project under review, an invitation, the directory, or your information can go to the address or number above. A dedicated support mailbox is not yet published; this page will name one when it is designated. A wait that has run past the stated expectation is a fair reason to call.