Indigenous Governance Database
Environment and Natural Resources
The 2013 Narrm Oration: Taiaiake Alfred
The 2013 Narrm Oration, "Being and becoming Indigenous: Resurgence against contemporary colonialism", was delivered by Professor Taiaiake Alfred on 28 November. Professor Alfred is the founding Director of the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada…
Inuit Observations on Climate Change
This video documents the impacts of climate change from an Inuvialuit perspective. On Banks Island in Canada's High Arctic, the residents of Sachs Harbour have witnessed dramatic changes to their landscape and their way of life. Exotic insects, fish and birds have arrived; the sea ice is thnner and…
Saving River Cane - Cherokee
It’s an ancient plant that many tribes once relied on for survival. Now it’s survival is threatened. Watch what the Cherokee Nation is doing to keep river cane alive in Northeastern Oklahoma.
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and its Application to Canadian Aboriginal Business
This lecture is part of a course Stephen Cornell is teaching in Simon Fraser University's Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program. A panel of three joined Dr. Cornell in a discussion about the building of First Nation economies and the role citizen entrepreneurship can play in…
American Indians Confront "Savage Anxieties"
As part of the $585 billion defense bill for 2015, Congress passed a measure that would give lands sacred to American Indians in Arizona to a foreign company. The deal gives the Australian-English mining firm Rio Tinto 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in exchange for several other parcels…
Capturing Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Torres Strait
Protecting and preserving cultural and ecological knowledge for the future is essential. The Torres Strait Regional Authority has recently developed and piloted a traditional knowledge database working with members of the Boigu Prescribed Body Corporate and the Malu Ki'ai Rangers. The database…
Manoomin: Food That Grows on the Water
This story follows Fred Ackley Jr. from the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake as he harvests and processes manoomin, or wild rice. The ancestors of his community migrated to Madeleine Island from eastern Canada long ago, then more recently to the Rice Lake area. Their 12 square mile…
The Cutting Edge: Climate and the People of the Caribou
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. (Wisdom) is producing a new series of Native American climate documentaries along with our fourth series of Wisdom of the Elders Radio Program. These oral history, cultural arts and climate science series feature the rich voices of more than 40 exemplary Native elders,…
Why Treaties Matter: Video Gallery
This video gallery serves as a companion piece to "Why Treaties Matter - Self Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations," a travelling exhibit on treaties between Dakota and Ojibwe people and the U.S. It features testimonies from Native nation leaders and citizens about many of the exhibit's main…
Saving the Ocean: River of Kings, Part 1
An unusual coalition of tribal leaders, private partners and government agencies is working to restore Washington's Nisqually River from its source in the glaciers of Mount Rainier to the estuary that empties into Puget Sound. Led by the Nisqually tribe, the restoration aims to fill the river once…
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, a 21st century sovereign nation
For ten thousand years, a Nation of people lived and prospered on the lands now known as the Olympic Peninsula in the State of Washington. These strong people of the S'Klallam Tribes had a system of governance, engaged in commerce, managed natural and human resources, and exercised power over their…
Why Treaties Matter (video)
This 15-minute video, produced by the National Museum of the American Indian, serves as a companion piece to "Why Treaties Matter - Self Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations," a travelling exhibit on treaties between Dakota and Ojibwe people and the U.S. The film introduces the…
Saving the Ocean: River of Kings, Part 2
An unusual coalition of tribal leaders, private partners and government agencies is working to restore Washington's Nisqually River from its source in the glaciers of Mount Rainier to the estuary that empties into Puget Sound. Led by the Nisqually tribe, the restoration aims to fill the river once…
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-…
Gregory Cajete: Rebuilding Sustainable Indigenous Communities: Applying Native Science
Dr. Gregory Cajete spoke as part of the "Alternative Forms of Knowledge Construction in Mathematics and Science" lecture series in Portland, Oregon which is co-sponsored by Portland State University and Portland Community College. The series features guest speakers who examine forms of mathematical…
The Ways: Lake Superior Whitefish: Carrying on a Family Tradition
The Petersons are part of a long tradition of commercial fishing among Lake Superior tribes. Avid fishermen for subsistence prior to European settlement, the Lake Superior Chippewa quickly found Gichigami’s (Ojibwe word for Lake Superior) fish to be a valued trade item once explorers penetrated to…
Wilma Mankiller: Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People
Recorded on October 2, 2008 at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and internationally known Native rights activist talks about “Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People.†Mankiller talks of the diversity and uniqueness of the over…
Ngurra-kurlu: A way of working with Warlpiri people
Ngurra-kurlu is a representation of the five key elements of Warlpiri culture: Land (also called Country), Law, Language, Ceremony, and Skin (also called Kinship). It is a concept that highlights the primary relationships between these elements, while also creating an awareness of their deeper…
Mescalero Apache Tribe: Innovative approaches to climate change adaptation
There is no disagreement that the climate in the Sacramento Mountains has been getting warmer and dryer in recent years. Indeed, the temperature and drought regimes of late have been described as extreme by state meteorologists. The winter season, the period of time between the first freeze and the…
Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool
There are many assets related to Native food systems. Increased consumption of healthy and traditional foods may lead to better health among community members, preserving one of the most important assets in any community, its people. Of course, healthy, productive people are a cornerstone of any…