Indigenous Sovereignty

Indigenous Leaders Pledge To Oppose New Enbridge Developments

December 6, 2021 Darren Thompson, Native News Online. Resist! Enbridge, Indigenous Sovereignty, Pipelines, Texas

On November 5, the Canadian oil company Enbridge announced that it plans to increase capacity on its pipeline system that connects a crude-oil storage hub in Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast, now that the Line 3 pipeline linking Alberta and Wisconsin is complete. The Carrizo Comecrudo and other Indigenous groups in the area, along with the Indigenous Environmental Network, have pledged to protect Indigenous sacred sites and oppose future pipeline developments. Increasing capacity may include building a new pipeline linking the Houston area to the Port of Corpus Christi, more than 200 miles away. In October, Enbridge acquired the Ingleside Energy Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, the largest crude-exporting hub in the U.S.

Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs Evict Government Liaison Nathan Cullen

November 28, 2021 Brent Patterson, PBI Canada. Resist! Canada, Coastal GasLink Pipeline, Indigenous Sovereignty, Wet’suwet’en

The Gitxsan have posted on Instagram: “Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs evict MLA Nathan Cullen from Gitxsan Lax’yip [territory].” Their post continues: “The NDP has failed to uphold good relations with our peoples, and due to the violence inflicted on Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Wilp [house group] members, the NDP is no longer welcome on our territories.” “Someone needs to be accountable for the violent actions inflicted upon our peoples and territories by the RCMP and Coastal GasLink.” It concludes: “We do not believe these are simply renegade police actions following the rulings of a mere Provincial Court. We know that the feds and the province are guilty of trying to exterminate our way of life.” Cullen was a federal NDP Member of Parliament from June 2004 to October 2019.

52nd National Day Of Mourning To Be Observed In Plymouth

November 24, 2021 UAINE, Popular Resistance. Resist! Indigenous Sovereignty, National Day of Mourning, Thanksgiving, Wet’suwet’en

According to UAINE youth coordinator Kisha James, who is Aquinnah Wampanoag and Oglala Lakota and the granddaughter of Wamsutta Frank James, the founder of National Day of Mourning, “We Native people have no reason to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims. We want to educate people so that they understand the stories we all learned in school about the first Thanksgiving are nothing but lies. Wampanoag and other Indigenous people have certainly not lived happily ever after since the arrival of the Pilgrims. To us, Thanksgiving is a Day of Mourning, because we remember the millions of our ancestors who were murdered by uninvited European colonists such as the Pilgrims. Today, we and many Indigenous people around the country say, ‘No Thanks, No Giving.’"

Activist Interview: The Life Force, And The ‘Pipe Filled With Poison’

November 23, 2021 Patricia Lane, National Observer. Resist! Canada, Indigenous Sovereignty, Pipelines, Youth Activism

Shay Lynn Sampson is determined she won’t be telling her children what salmon used to taste like or what it was like to live close to their land. She is one of the Indigenous people preventing Coastal GasLink (CGL) from running a pipeline under Wedzin Kwa (Morice River), the pristine water source for the Wet’suwet’en and their close downstream allies, the Gitxsan. Twenty-two-year-old Sampson spoke to me on November 8 from behind a blockade inside a “Tiny House,'' purposely built with many other structures to shelter the people putting their bodies on the line to stop the project. Sampson is also the youth engagement coordinator for Indigenous Climate Action. This young Gitxsan woman is helping to ensure the Coastal GasLink pipeline never gets built.

Indigenous Leaders Speak Out Against Western Media And NGOs

October 28, 2021 Rick Sterling, Popular Resistance. Resist! Conflict Beef, Indigenous Sovereignty, Nicaragua, USAID

Nicaragua has an election to choose their president and national assembly on November 7. According to polls, the Sandinista Front (FSLN) currently in government is expected to win the presidency and a majority of seats in the assembly. At the same time, the Sandinista government is intensely disliked by Washington and there has been a steady stream of negative news and accusations. One theme of accusations concerns the indigenous peoples. In October 2020, PBS Newshour broadcast an episode claiming the US is importing “conflict beef” from the indigenous regions of Nicaragua. This story relied on an Oakland Institute report which alleges rampant violence against indigenous communities and a complicit Nicaraguan government.

Empty Words And Colonialism, Or Treaty Rights And Self Determination?

October 14, 2021 Charmaine White Face, Red Abya Yala. Educate! Colonialism, Indigenous Peoples Day, Indigenous Sovereignty, Joe Biden

On Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, United States President Joe Biden issued a first-ever Proclamation for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The first two sentences state: “Since time immemorial, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians have built vibrant and diverse cultures – safeguarding land, language, spirit, knowledge, and tradition across the generations. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, our Nation celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, recognizes their inherent sovereignty, and commits to honoring the Federal Government’s trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations.” Right off the bat, that second sentence is an insult to our Nations. We never did call ourselves “tribes”. That is a moniker put on us by the United States in the first place. It was an easy way to NOT recognize us as the NATIONS we are. It was also easier to force us to live under THEIR form of government, a Tribal Council form of government.

Nations Petition Supreme Court To Protect Indian Child Welfare Act

September 28, 2021 Nancy Marie Spears, Indian Country Today. Resist! Indian Child Welfare Act, Indigenous culture, Indigenous Sovereignty, Supreme Court

Cetan Sa Winyan, director of the American Indian Movement’s Indian Territory Oklahoma chapter, said all tribes -- not just the four already petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court -- should stand together against potential changes to the Indian Child Welfare Act in a case the court has been asked to review. “They closed the boarding schools and opened up CPS (Child Protective Services), but it’s the same thing -- they’re still coming in and taking our children,” Winyan said. The ICWA was enacted in 1978 to help keep Indigenous children in Indigenous homes. In ICWA cases, the first preference for placement is that the child go to an extended family member, even if the relative is non-Native. Second preference is someone within the child’s tribe; third preference is another tribe.

Council Of The Haida Nation, Feds, And Province Sign Historic Agreement

August 14, 2021 K-J Millar, The Northern View. Create! Canada, Governance, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty

A historic new agreement, between the Council of the Haida Nation and both federal and provincial governments, has been signed as a framework agreement setting the stage to reconciliation negotiations, a combined media announcement stated, on Aug 13. The agreement, signed by the Haida Nation, the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, as well as Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, recognizes the Haida Nation’s inherent Title and Rights with respect to the geographic area. The GayG̱ahlda agreement which means “Changing Tide”, also includes the intrinsic right of the Haida to self-govern. “GayG̱ahlda represents an important opportunity to begin the process of Tll Yahda ‘making things right’ between the Crown governments and the Haida Nation,” Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Haida Nation, said.

Ottawa Implements Historic Fisheries Agreement With First Nations

August 8, 2021 Rochelle Baker, National Observer. Create! Canada, Fishing, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty

Years of negotiation to develop a collaborative fisheries governance model between Canada and eight First Nations along the West Coast came to fruition this week. Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan and Coastal First Nations (CFN) president K̓áwáziɫ Marilyn Slett, along with other CFN member nations, celebrated the signing and next steps for implementation of the Fisheries Resources Reconciliation Agreement (FRRA) on Friday. The first of its kind in B.C., the agreement between Canada and First Nations on the north and central coast and Haida Gwaii — whose territories make up 40 per cent of the province’s coastal waters — provides the nations an enhanced role in fisheries governance in their regions.

Oklahoma Natives Shut Down Governor Stitt’s Anti-Sovereignty Forum

July 16, 2021 Last Real Indians. Resist! Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Sovereignty, Legal System, Oklahoma

On Tuesday, July 13th, Indigenous peoples from many nations shut down Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s anti-Indigenous “victim impact” forum, which had no tribal representation and was intended to incite fear among the public in Stitt’s continued effort to subvert and overturn the 2020 McGirt Supreme Court decision. Jordan Harmon, Mvskoke/Creek citizen and tribal attorney described it as “a room literally packed with Natives from all different tribes in unified anger and with a very clear and direct message.” That message? Tribal nations and communities will not back down when it comes to tribal sovereignty and our lands. In a press release issued by Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Principal Chief David W. Hill explained

Objection To Geoengineering Spurs Debate About Social Justice In Science

July 8, 2021 Haley Dunleavey, Inside Climate News. Educate! climate crisis, Climate Justice, Geoengineering, Indigenous Sovereignty

It was February in northern Sweden and the sun was returning after a dark winter. In the coming months the tundra would reawaken with lichens and shrubs for reindeer to forage in the permafrost encrusted Scandinavian mountain range. But the changing season also brought some unwelcome news to the Indigenous Sámi people, who live across northern Scandinavia, Finland and eastern Russia. The members of the Saami Council were informed that researchers at Harvard planned to test a developing technology for climate mitigation, known as solar geoengineering, in Sápmi, their homeland. “When we learned what the idea of solar geoengineering is, we reacted quite instinctively,” said Åsa Larsson Blind, the Saami Council vice president, at a virtual panel about the risks of solar geoengineering, organized by the Center for International Environmental Law and other groups.

Pueblo Of Zuni Blasts Administration’s Position Against Apaches

July 2, 2021 Pueblo of Zuni, Popular Resistance. Educate! Biden administration, Indigenous Sovereignty, Mining, Oak Flat

The Pueblo of Zuni would be remiss in this context to remain silent on the recent legal position taken by the Biden-Harris Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding Chi'chil Bildagoteel (i.e., Oak Flat) and the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona. The Administration's stated position is unfortunate and extremely troubling, as it is in fact little more than a continuation of a policy of containment and erasure of Native peoples that directly contradicts in substance, content, and spirit the Administration's own E.O. 13985. This position is a reinforcement and reproduction of racist legal legacies of Native dispossession in the United States that gives preference to and promotes resource extraction and environmental destruction to the detriment of the capacities Native people indelibly require for any advancement or support of equity.

US Supreme Court Rejects Case On Native American Sovereignty

June 15, 2021 Charmaine White Face, Popular Resistance. Educate! Health Care, Indigenous Sovereignty, South Dakota, US Supreme Court

Rapid City, South Dakota - In a devastating blow to the Self-Determination of all Native American Indian Tribes in the United States, the Supreme Court denied the Petition in the case, Gilbert v. Weahke. In doing so, the Justices also violated Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, the Indian Self-Determination Act, the Lanham Act, the Transfer Act, and the Abstention Doctrine. The case began when a federal agency, the Indian Health Service (IHS), gave an Indian Self-Determination Act multi-million dollar contract to a South Dakota non-profit corporation to manage the Sioux San IHS Hospital in Rapid City, SD. As the South Dakota non-profit corporation was not a Tribal Organization under the jurisdiction of any tribe and without federal recognition, this was a violation of Public Law 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA).

Seneca Nation Statement On Discovery Of Indigenous Children’s Remains

June 2, 2021 Seneca Nation of Indians, Indian County Today. Educate! American genocide, Canada, Indigenous Sovereignty, Residential Schools

Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels issued the following statement regarding the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, Canada. The school, which operated between 1890 and 1969, was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school, which hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were forced to attend. Thousands of children are known to have died at these schools in the United States and Canada, and it is believed that the deaths of hundreds – if not thousands – were never documented. “Senecas are grieving along with the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in the wake of this recent discovery - another gruesome reminder of the treatment and terror that generations of Indigenous people suffered at the hands of foreign settlers on our own lands.

The Self Determination Of Native Americans Hinges On This Supreme Court Case

May 24, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Indian Health Service, Indigenous Sovereignty, Privatization, South Dakota

A case brought before the United States Supreme Court by three Native American women, who have been representing themselves, may decide the future of the 1975 Indian Self Determination Act. Clearing the FOG speaks with Charmaine White Face, a petitioner in the case, about her fight to stop the privatization of an Indian Health Service facility, Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City South Dakota, that serves 325 tribes in the area. She describes how the privatization is harming the health of the people who use this historic hospital. To her knowledge, this is the first effort to privatize an Indian Health Service hospital. If the privatization is allowed to continue, which has been done without the consent of the people who are impacted, it will set a dangerous precedent for all tribes and allow any federal agency to take a similar illegal action.

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