Indigenous Governance Database
Governance
Health, Innovation and the Promise of VAWA 2013 in Indian Country
Yesterday morning, we made our way north from Seattle, past gorgeous waterways, and lush greenery to visit with the Tulalip Tribes of western Washington, where we were greeted by Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon, Vice Chairwoman Deb Parker, and Chief Judge Theresa Pouley. We saw first-hand, a tribal…
Gerald Sherman, ILCC Native American Financing Pioneer, Receives Prestigious 'Visionary Leader Award'
Gerald Sherman (Oglala Lakota), a pioneer in developing financial products for disadvantaged and underserved Native communities, received the prestigious ‘Visionary Leader Award for Outstanding Achievement’ at the 10th Annual Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Convening…
How Does Tribal Leadership Compare to Parliamentary Leadership?
Many traditional American Indian governments have significant organizational similarities with contemporary parliamentary governments around the world. A key similarity is that leadership serves only as long as there is supporting political consensus or confidence that the leader or leadership…
Indigenous Nations Have the Right to Choose: Renewal or Contract
When making significant change Indigenous nations make choices about whether to build on traditions or to adopt new forms of government, economy, culture or community. Many changes are external and often forced upon contemporary Indigenous Peoples. Adapting to competitive markets, or new…
Extinct No More: Hia-Ced O'odham Officially Join Tohono O'odham Nation
After 33 years of hard work to right the past, the Hia-Ced O’odham, once thought to be extinct, can finally say they belong as part of the Tohono O’odham Nation. On June 12, the Hia-Ced O’odham District officials were sworn-in and the Hia-Ced District was officially recognized as the 12th district…
No Tribes Left Behind: A Smarter Plan for Economic Development
Many Americans have never been to a Native American reservation. They’re often geographically isolated and underdeveloped, perpetually left off the various lists of tourism destinations. With sparse and scattered populations, tribal governments have faced many obstacles in exploring economic…
Key to Indian Development: Self-Government
Beginning late in the last century, the economies of Indian nations in the United States began recording a remarkable turnaround. Since the early 1990s, per capita income on Native American reservations has grown three times faster than have incomes in the nation as a whole. American Indians are…
How Tribal Leaders Are Creating Jobs
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) has provided a vital spark to infrastructure and economic development projects across Indian country. Momentum has been building over the past several years but because of recent federal agency actions, and now tax-related Congressional bickering, it is in danger…
How to Protect Tribal Lands From Our Deadliest Enemies
In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a severe below to Indian sovereignty when it decided Nevada v. Hicks, suggesting to states and counties that when their cops are investigating off-reservation crimes, they need not obtain tribal court warrants to conduct searches or arrests on tribal land. The…
Potawatomi $20 Million Feedstock-to-Energy Conversion Plant Becomes Reality
Meeting the dual goal of environmental stewardship and sustainability, the Forest County Potawatomi Community has opened its newly constructed $20 million Renewable Energy Facility, which will convert area food waste into enough electricity to power 1,500 homes. It was the fruition of a project…
Will the Supreme Court Use Bay Mills Case to Blow Up Tribal Sovereignty?
As regular visitors to this site and other Indian country media outlets no doubt have seen in recent weeks, Native nation leaders, tribal attorneys, and federal Indian law practitioners alike are gravely concerned about a case currently pending before the Supreme Court: State of Michigan v. Bay…
Where Tribal Justice Works
In 2011, a man in northeastern Oregon beat his girlfriend with a gun, using it like a club to strike her in front of their children. Both were members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The federal government, which has jurisdiction over major crimes in Indian Country,…
Investing in Fish, Preserving Red Cliff Culture
Small fingerlings roiled the water in the translucent plastic tubs placed before ready volunteers in the Red Cliff tribal fish hatchery at Wisconsin’s northern edge. The agitated three- to six-inch coaster brook trout–known as fry–made the water appear to be boiling. A mild anesthetic was added and…
Hopi Revises Criminal Code, Regains Sovereignty
Crime rates in Indian Country are more than twice the national average. But for decades antiquated criminal codes have limited what tribal courts could do. For example, crimes like child abuse and sexual assault didn’t exist on the books. And, tribal judges couldn’t sentence a defendant to more…
Harbor Springs restaurant becomes first to embrace Odawa tribal language
Aanii Biindigen. Miigwech baamaapii. Hello, come in. Thank you, until later. Those traditional greetings in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, were lettered on the front door Tuesday at Out to Lunch, a breakfast and lunch restaurant on State Street in…
Northern Ute Tribal Enrollment May Rise, Pending Election Could Lower Blood Quantum
A tribal nation with what could be North America’s strictest enrollment criteria may soon decide on more flexible rules that might, if adopted, increase the tribe’s current 3,000-plus membership. A pending election could lower the 5/8 Ute Indian blood degree requirement for membership in the Ute…
Two Possible Paths Forward for Native Disenrollees and the Federal Government?
Disenrollment, a seemingly innocuous term when used outside Indian country, has become a loaded word that rivals, if it does not surpass, “termination” as a concept that invokes fear and trembling in those natives who suffer its consequences. While the federal policy of termination in the 1950s was…
Tribes across the country are re-examining their constitutions
Erma Vizenor is not exactly a revolutionary. But like America’s founders, she’s on a mission to ratify a new constitution in her homeland – the White Earth tribal nation. Most Americans don’t realize that tribes have their own constitutions, which set down rules for everything from tribal…
New Leadership for Tubatulabal Tribe; Recognition, Economic Development Among Top Priorities
The new year had barely dawned and Tubatulabal Tribe Chairman Robert Gomez was hard at work on the priorities he and the council had established for the year. It’s a heavy load: Federal recognition. Economic development. Professional development for tribal leadership. Community outreach. Continued…
Speaking a culture: How efforts to revitalize a language can have a ripple effect
Carla Osawamick stands in front of a class of students with a wide range of life experiences, from one still in high school to a great-grandmother. The students all have one thing in common: they are dedicated to learning and speaking Anishinaabemowin, the language spoken by many Native Americans…