Infrastructure
1. That an appropriate branch of the federal government be mandated to propose a national data management strategy; that this strategy should include designing a mechanism to bring together the key players in data collection and management to draft national policy on data management strategies; that there be an on-going review of national data management policy; that adequate fiscal and human resources be devoted to the collection, preservation, and accessibility of data.

2. That Treasury Board undertake a review of federal information policy in collaboration with the Canadian research community, both public and private, with respect to access, dissemination and preservation of data; that such a review specifically consider current legislation and policies that restrict access to information and data collected by government agencies, with a view to reaffirming the principle of open access at an affordable cost.

3. That the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada give preference to data collection proposals that prescribe 10 per cent of the proposed budget to long-term data management and preservation; that preference be given to proposals from researchers who have previously deposited their data in a data archive in order to make it available for secondary research by the Canadian research community.

Archiving
4. That National Archives of Canada review its mandate and commitment vis-à-vis the management and preservation of machine-readable data, with a view to developing and enforcing national standards for education and training and inter-archival cooperation, particularly for federal government departments in regards to the provisions of the National Archives Act.

5. That the National Archives of Canada take the lead in preparing a long-term strategy for the coordinated archiving of data in collaboration with existing academic data archives, data libraries and federal government data centres.

6. That all funding agencies, whether government, academic or private sector, require as a key item of data collection proposals a statement of intent vis-à-vis the management, archiving, and disposition of the data, in order to ensure that appropriate agencies have responsibility for stewardship of the data.

Documentation
7. That the national data management strategy include procedures and standards for quality data documentation both for identifying relevant data and optimizing documentation of individual data files.

8. That the national data management strategy promote Canadian participation in relevant international data activities, including the development and promotion of standards for data interchange and data documentation.

Access
9. That the national information policy support the principle of reciprocal international data exchange agreements, to ensure Canadian access to international data as well as international access to Canadian data for global change research.

Standards
10. That the national data management strategy endorse the use of appropriate international standards to the greatest possible extent, to facilitate the exchange of and access to data.