Indigenous Governance Database
intergovernmental cooperation
White Earth Nation caseloads grow as tribe taking over human services cases from surrounding counties
White Earth tribal officials are preparing to begin the final phase of transferring human services cases from surrounding counties to the White Earth Nation. The movement began three years ago when a state law authorized White Earth to take control of all human services programs for its members…
7 Tribal Programs That Protect Our Winged and Four-Legged Brothers
The news is full of sad stories about dying animals, species of all kinds being wiped out, and the random shooting of animals, among other depressing events. Amid all that it’s easy to forget that efforts aplenty are afoot to reverse the declines, save species, restore habitat and pull endangered…
Cass County Board, Leech Lake Tribal Council hold productive joint discussions, first in three-plus years
A wide-ranging conversation between Leech Lake Tribal Council and Cass County Board of Commissioners, held Friday at the new Leech Lake Government Center in Cass Lake, concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two governmental units. The MOU is designed to…
Red Cliff Chippewa Band Re-Dredges 55-Gallon Drums of Live World War 2 Ammo From Lake Superior
The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is having another go at the munitions barrels dumped into their waters by the Army Corps of Engineers during the Cold War years. Nearly 1,500 55-gallon drums were interred beneath the lake on orders of the U.S. Department of Defense from 1959 to 1962. In…
Tribes Recondition Steelhead to Bring Back Endangered Trout
The notion of “reconditioning steelhead” might sound outlandish, even a bit ominous, at least when applied to an animal. Reconditioning is what’s done to prepare discarded electronics for resale, and the word carries connotations of recycling. How does one recycle a fish? It turns out, though, to…
Dayton signs tribal consultation executive order
With the White Earth Nation flag and tribal and state representatives standing behind him, Gov. Mark Dayton signed an executive order Thursday directing state agencies to develop policies to guide them when working with tribal nations...
20 Pounds? Not Too Bad, for an Extinct Fish
For most fishermen, a 20-pound trout is a trophy, but for Paiute tribe members and fish biologists here the one Matt Ceccarelli caught was a victory. That Lahontan cutthroat trout he caught last year, a remnant of a strain that is possibly the largest native trout in North America, is the first…
Advancing the State-Tribal Consultation Mandate
This summer, in the face of an impending private land sale of Pe’Sla, a Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Indian sacred site in the Black Hills, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, S. James Anaya, directed that authorities in South Dakota “engage in a process of…
Open Mike: Feds, Yakamas make historic pact
Reporter Phil Ferolito joins Mike Faulk on Open Mike this week to discuss a recent pact between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Yakama Nation to notify tribal police before executing search and arrest warrants. The move could help widen the path for the Yakama Nation, a sovereign nation, to…
Legend Lake: A Talking Circle
The documentary video recounts the saga of Legend Lake, a beautiful 5,160 acre lake development, formed by joining 9 smaller lakes in the Menominee Indian Reservation (with the same boundaries as Menominee County) in northern Wisconsin whose shore land was subdivided and sold mostly to non-…
Ojibwe Treaty Rights
As years passed between the signing of treaties and today, American Indians living in Wisconsin re-discovered that they had the right to hunt and fish on the ceded territories, just as their ancestors did. Two brothers took it upon themselves to get arrested for exercising their rights in an…
The Future of the U.S./Tribal Nations Relationship
Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Co-Directot Joseph P. Kalt leads a moderated discussion with Native nation leaders about the state of the tribal-federal relationship. Held in 2007, the forum featured Jamestown S'Klallam Chairman Ron Allen, Mescalero Apache President Mark…
Best Practices Case Study (Inter-Governmental Relations): Squamish & Lil'wat First Nations
The Squamish First Nation and the Lil'wat First Nation are both located in southwestern B.C. and have an area of overlapping traditional territory that extends into the lands around the resort community of Whistler. Although they are two distinct First Nations with different cultures and social…
Best Practices Case Study (Results-Based Organizations): First Nations & Inuit Home & Community Care
For more than 15 years, the lack of home care services relevant for First Nations and Inuit communities has been identified as a significant health and social issue. In response to this need, a Joint Health Canada / Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND) / First Nations / Inuit working…