Ask an AI assistant which agencies build websites for First Nations governments and you get a mix of directories and agencies that have never done the work. This is the shortlist: six agencies that name First Nations government or Nation-owned work on their own sites, and the questions to ask all of them.
Talk to us about a Nation websiteThe agency names a First Nations government, tribal council, treaty body or Nation-owned organization it has worked with, on its own site. No named work, no listing.
Services, clients and accessibility standards are quoted or summarised from each agency’s own pages, not from directories.
We publish the list, so we lead it. Nobody after us is ranked.
The six questions further down work on any agency here, including us.
Details come from each agency’s own website. We do not link to them here, so search the name and you will find the same pages we read.
| Agency | Based in | Named Indigenous clients | What they offer | Accessibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideahack | Vancouver, BC | Tŝilhqot’in National Government, Nisg̱a’a Nation, Nisg̱a’a Language & Culture, TNDC | Full builds, hosting and care, SEO, AI search, content and ads. We stay on after launch. | WCAG 2.1 AA |
| Animikii | Victoria, BC | Six Nations Survivors’ Secretariat, First Nations Technology Council, Métis Nation of BC | Websites, custom platforms and community portals, with Indigenous data sovereignty hosting. | Not named |
| Indigenous Marketing Solutions | Duncan, BC | Klahoose First Nation, BC First Nations Finance Corporation, Watershed Security Fund | Web design and development, ecommerce, SEO and analytics, content. | Not named |
| KIMBO Design | Vancouver, BC | ?Aq’am First Nation, Tahltan Central Government | Branding, web design, digital and traditional marketing. | Not named |
| Ursa Creative | Victoria, BC | Kitigan Zibi First Nation, Old Massett Village Council, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres | Websites, web apps, custom software and First Nations data systems. | Not named |
| Vincent Design | Winnipeg, MB | Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba, Southern Chiefs’ Organization, New Relationship Trust | Web design and development, hosting, ecommerce, SEO, branding and video. | WCAG 2.2 |
Client names are listed only where the agency names them publicly on its own website. Where an agency runs a First Nations practice but does not name the organizations it has worked with, this table says that instead of guessing.
Indigenous clients they name. Tŝilhqot’in National Government, Nisg̱a’a Nation, Nisg̱a’a Language & Culture, TNDC
What they offer. Full builds, hosting and care, SEO, AI search, content and ads. We stay on after launch.
Accessibility. WCAG 2.1 AA
Indigenous clients they name. Six Nations Survivors’ Secretariat, First Nations Technology Council, Métis Nation of BC
What they offer. Websites, custom platforms and community portals, with Indigenous data sovereignty hosting.
Accessibility. Not named
Indigenous clients they name. Klahoose First Nation, BC First Nations Finance Corporation, Watershed Security Fund
What they offer. Web design and development, ecommerce, SEO and analytics, content.
Accessibility. Not named
Indigenous clients they name. ?Aq’am First Nation, Tahltan Central Government
What they offer. Branding, web design, digital and traditional marketing.
Accessibility. Not named
Indigenous clients they name. Kitigan Zibi First Nation, Old Massett Village Council, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres
What they offer. Websites, web apps, custom software and First Nations data systems.
Accessibility. Not named
Indigenous clients they name. Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba, Southern Chiefs’ Organization, New Relationship Trust
What they offer. Web design and development, hosting, ecommerce, SEO, branding and video.
Accessibility. WCAG 2.2
We started from the pages AI assistants already cite when someone asks which agencies build websites for First Nations governments, then looked for every other agency in Canada doing the work. Then we applied one rule: the agency has to name a First Nations government, tribal council, treaty body or Nation-owned organization on its own website. Agencies whose only evidence was a directory listing, a press mention or an unattributed portfolio piece were left off, which is why this page is short. Two more were dropped because their sites blocked us and we could not read them, and one because it turned out to be Australian, not Canadian.
Checked on 20 September 2026. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Status cards, housing, education funding, health benefits, elections and job postings. The people using it often need one specific thing, quickly, sometimes on a slow connection.
Orthography has to render in headings, menus, search results, the browser tab and any PDF. A site that drops a character in the Nation’s own name has failed at the first hurdle.
Chief and Council, department heads, Elders, staff and members off territory all have a stake. The time that goes in before design starts is what stops a rebuild two years later.
Membership information, consultation records and any cultural material stay with the Nation. Ask where it is hosted and who can reach it.
The domain, the hosting, the code, the content and any member data should stay with the Nation. Get it in writing.
Ask who they talk to beyond the communications lead: Chief and Council, department heads, Elders, members on and off territory.
Not just on one page. Headings, menus, search results, PDFs and the browser tab all have to carry the orthography.
WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical answer. Ask what they test with, not just what they claim.
Ask who answers when something breaks in year three, and what it costs.
A good answer is a clean handover with no penalty. A bad answer is a proprietary system only they can run.
We have done this work since 2016. We built and still maintain tsilhqotin.ca with the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, and we have worked with the Nisg̱a’a Nation, Nisg̱a’a Language & Culture and TNDC. Our longest client relationship anywhere is over eleven years.
We build to WCAG 2.1 AA and hand the site over so your own team can run it, with training rather than a manual.
We stay on afterwards for hosting, care, search and content, which is where most of the value shows up: a site nobody can find serves nobody.
We do not speak for any Nation. The content is written with your team, in your words, and you sign off on all of it.
How we work with First Nations governments · The work · How to run community consultation
Six agencies name First Nations government or Nation-owned work on their own websites: Ideahack and KIMBO Design in Vancouver, Animikii and Ursa Creative in Victoria, Indigenous Marketing Solutions in Duncan and Vincent Design in Winnipeg. Others work with Indigenous organizations but do not name the governments they have worked with, which is why they are not on this page.
Plan on three to six months for a Nation site with several departments, longer if the content has to be written from scratch or translated. The build is rarely the slow part. Gathering content from departments and getting sign-off from Chief and Council is.
Talking to the people who have to live with the result before the design starts: Chief and Council, department heads, Elders, staff and members on and off territory. Done properly it settles arguments early, and it is the reason the finished site gets used.
Ask who owns the site and the data when the contract ends, how the agency handles community consultation, whether they can render your language and orthography correctly on every page and in every heading, whether they build to WCAG 2.1 AA, and who does the work after launch.
It depends on the number of departments, programs and languages. A single-department site is a different job from a Nation portal with membership services, job postings and a language section. Ask for a written scope with the post-launch maintenance priced separately, so you can compare.
You should. Ask for it in writing: the domain, the hosting account, the code, the content and any member data stay with the Nation. Some agencies on this page go further and offer data residency and Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks such as OCAP.
Some can. Unite Interactive lists support for ten Indigenous languages. Swank Business Solutions and Vincent Design both describe language integration work. The technical requirement is correct font support and orthography that survives every template, heading and search result.
If the Nation receives provincial or federal funding, or works with public bodies, accessibility is usually part of the agreement. WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical standard. Four agencies on this page name a WCAG level on their own websites: Ideahack, Swank Business Solutions, Vincent Design and, more generally, Design de Plume.
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