citizenship rights

Blood Quantum and Sovereignty

Producer
Native Governance Center
Year

"Blood Quantum and Sovereignty" is a beginner-level conversation focused on why blood quantum is controversial, as well as how it came to be used as an enrollment and citizenship criteria for Native nations. Produced and recorded by Native Governance Center on March 30, 2022.

Featuring: Wayne Ducheneaux II, Megan Hill, Dr. Elizabeth Rule, Dr. Jill Doerfler, Gabe Galanda

Resource Type
Citation

Native Governance Center. "Blood Quantum and Sovereignty." Mar 30, 2022. Video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldvC2bWRXu4, accessed March 8, 2023)

 

Iroquois women enjoyed equality long before 1492

Year

Normal perceptions regarding Women’s History Month revolve around the struggle for women’s political equality in the United States. Yet, many citizens in the U.S. would not suspect that within some American Indian culture, long before Columbus ventured across the Atlantic Ocean, native women enjoyed an equality only dreamed of by the women of European descent. One prominent American Indian tribe which genuinely manifested an attitude of respect and trust toward women existed within the “Iroquois League,” later known as the “Iroquois Confederation.”...

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Jamison, Dennis. "Iroquois women enjoyed equality long before 1492." Communities Digital News. March 4, 2014. Article. (http://www.commdiginews.com/history-and-holidays/iroquois-women-enjoyed-..., accessed March 10, 2014)

Preserving Indigenous Democracy

Year

When Europeans first came to the Americas they took note of the democratic processes they observed in most indigenous nations. Indigenous political relations were usually decentralized, consensus based, and inclusive. Indigenous democracies may not seem remarkable by contemporary standards, but when Europeans arrived their governments were not democratic. Most of Europe was characterized by centralized absolutist states dominated by class structures, where the majority of people did not participate in the political process. Wars of independence, starting with the United States in 1775 and then throughout Latin and South America during the early 1800s, enabled creation of democratic states after overthrowing European colonial governments. The new democratic American states engaged market economies, and retained class structure, albeit within a nation of individual citizens...

Resource Type
Citation

Champagne, Duane. "Preserving Indigenous Democracy." Indian Country Today Media Network. February 17, 2014. Article. (https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/preserving-...), accessed February 18, 2014)

Tribal Enrollment

Producer
The Newberry
Year

Tribes have the right to determine their own membership. These criteria for enrollment vary from tribe to tribe. In the Midwest, the criteria are based on descendancy, that is, descent from an individual on a particular roll, as well as, in some cases, blood quantum and/or residency of the applicant or his/her parents. Most tribes also have constitutional provisions for adoption of members. Individuals who are enrolled in a particular tribe have rights that include hunting, fishing, and gathering on tribal land (or in some cases off-reservation), as well as per capita payments if the tribe distributes income from court cases or businesses. Other benefits include preferential hiring for tribal jobs, entitlement to certain services, the right to vote and run for tribal office, use of tribal land, and preferential selection for tribal housing.

Citation

The Newberry. "Tribal Enrollment." Indians of the Midwest. McNickle Center at the Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois. Video. (http://publications.newberry.org/indiansofthemidwest/identities/legal-id..., accessed October 30, 2013)

Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform

Producer
White Earth Nation
Year

As part of its ongoing process of educating the White Earth people and others about White Earth's proposed new constitution, White Earth Nation's Constitutional Education Team produced several videos for White Earth citizens to view in order to gain a better understanding of the key governance changes that the new constitution seeks to make.

Native Nations
Citation

White Earth Nation. "Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform." White Earth Nation. White Earth, Minnesota. August 2013. Videos. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQS2l_EeUTrF9Gi9J9KUZcw/videos, accessed November 12, 2015)

A Guide to Community Engagement

Producer
British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Governance
Year

In this third part of the BCAFN Governance Toolkit: A Guide to Nation Building, we explore the complex and often controversial subject of governance reform in our communities and ways to approach community engagement. The Governance Toolkit is intended as a resource for First Nations leadership. It provides a conceptual framework for engaging the citizens of First Nations on governance and the challenges of decolonization and moving through the metaphorical "post-colonial door."

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Wilson-Raybould, Jody and Tim Raybould. "A Guide to Community Engagement." Part 3. British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Governance Toolkit: A Guide to Nation Building. West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 2011. Tools. (https://www.bcafn.ca/sites/default/files/docs/BCAFN-Governance-Toolkit-Part-3-A-Guide-to-Community-Engagement.pdf, accessed, April 3, 2023)

Constitutions Fact Sheet

Year

The National Centre for First Nations Governance developed this quick reference for Native nations who are discussing constitutions and constitutional reform. 

Resource Type
Citation

National Centre for First Nations Governance. "Constitutions Fact Sheet." National Centre for First Nations Governance. Ottawa, Ontario. Canada. 2013. Paper. (https://fngovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Constitutions_Fact_Sheet.pdf, accessed March 29, 2023)