The First Peoples Innovation Centre was created in 2012 to support and stimulate social and technological innovation among First Peoples. Among its programs, FPIC has created a digital creation and manufacturing space and program called the “Onaki FabLab”. The main goal of this FabLab is to expose young Indigenous peoples to the digital age and technological knowledge of the 21st century.

FPIC adapted the FabLab (Fabrication Laboratory) model developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a culturally appropriate response to Indigenous youth and enable them to take charge of their own professional future. Indigenous FabLabs recreate social bonds. Integrating the great traditional values of the First Peoples, the indigenous FabLabs place the practical and the experimental approach at the heart of learning.