Indigenous Governance Database
News and Opinion
Political Autonomy and Sustainable Economy
A unique attribute of Indian political ways was noted early on by colonial observers. Indians, Indigenous Peoples more generally, were engaged in everyday political action as full participating community members. Every person had the right to be heard. Decisions were made through discussion and…
Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act Signed into Law by Obama
On Friday, September 26, 2014, President Barack Obama signed H.R.3043, the "Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2014," into law. The law puts tribes on the same level as states and the federal government when it comes to taxation of general welfare programs. Specifically, H.R. 3043 excludes…
ON Congress passes five-year banishment bill targeting convicted drug dealers
Dangerous drug dealers convicted in the Osage Nation tribal court system are now subject to a mandatory minimum five-year banishment from the Nation’s jurisdiction. The Fourth ON Congress passed a bill (ONCA 15-31 sponsored by Congressman RJ Walker) on April 20 with a 7-4 vote putting the five to…
Round Valley First Forest Carbon Offset Project on Native Trust Land for California
The discussions of climate change and carbon footprints are important subjects within Indian country, and on February 24 the Round Valley Indian Tribes became a part of history as far as carbon emissions goes. Round Valley and New Forests on Tuesday announced the regulatory approval of the first…
People Belong to the Land; Land Doesn't Belong to the People
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) does not recognize the right of indigenous nations to own land outside the laws and rules of national governments. According to international historical doctrines of discovery, Indigenous Peoples, non-Christian nations,…
Challenges and Solutions to Keeping the Lakota Language Alive
“There is more to an immersion school than simply bringing in elders and having them teach the children,” said Sunshine Carlow, education manager of Lakȟól'iyapi Wahóȟpi, the Lakota Nest Immersion School on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota...
Indigenous Youth Help USFWS Restore Fish Passage on Cochiti Pueblo
Ask a group of teenagers their idea of fun and you might get answers like hanging out with friends, dodging opponents during a game of laser tag or playing their favorite video games. But for a group of Native American youth from several of New Mexico’s pueblos, fun meant working outside on a warm…
Cross swearing-in marks a first for California courts
A groundbreaking cross swearing-in ceremony last week forged a new partnership between the Shingle Springs Tribal Court and the Superior Court El Dorado County. In a Jan. 5 event at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville, Judge Suzanne N. Kingsbury, presiding judge of the Superior Court of El Dorado County…
Osage Nation to receive $7.4 million in Cobell Land Buy-Back program
The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations has come to the Osage and the federal government is proposing $7.4 million to buy back fractionated land interest from individual tribal members. According to tribal development and land acquisition director Bruce Cass, who is working with Osage attorney…
Revitalizing a Traditional Seed to Revitalize Osage Culture
Vann Bighorse, director of the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, is keenly aware that Osage traditions are getting closer to slipping away–permanently. A current project to preserve Osage culture and revive a millennia old tradition is now three years in the making. The Cultural…
The Complex Relationships Between Nations States and Indigenous Nations
Contemporary indigenous nations are captured by a host nation state. The way in which the nation state legally, politically, and culturally defines and acts toward indigenous nations greatly affects the opportunities indigenous nations have for securing political autonomy, territory, and cultural…
Minnesota Tribes Collaborate to Save State's Disappearing Moose Population
Tribal rights to natural resources in the Great Lakes states have been the subject of much attention. In 1999, the United States Supreme Court affirmed lower court rulings in favor of the Ojibwe of Minnesota and Wisconsin, which retained treaty rights in Minnesota’s 1837 Treaty ceded territory (…
Navajo Hotel Owners Open a Retreat in Monument Valley
t’s all about the mystical view. That is, the view of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, on the northern outskirts of the Navajo Nation. For the past several years, visitors have had an opportunity to wake up to the soothing rays of the sun overlooking towering chestnut-colored rock formations at…
Oglala Sioux Tribe to issue IDs at tournament
For the first time in its history the Oglala Sioux Tribe will bring its enrollment office to the public. During this year’s Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City the tribe will have a booth set up to issue tribal IDs to enrolled members who may not have the opportunity to travel to Pine Ridge to…
As old ways faded on reservations, tribal power shifted
Long before the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act transformed tribal government, before nepotism and retaliation became plagues upon reservation life, there were nacas. Headsmen, the Lakota and Dakota called them. Men designated from their tiospayes, or extended families, to represent their clans when…
U.S. Land Rights for Indians?
There is an argument within federal-Indian law literature that suggests Indians could have more effectively protected land under U.S. law if they owned land in fee simple rather than under trust. There is better protection for private property under the U.S. Constitution than can be had from…
Eastern Band of Cherokee Replenishes Iconic White-Tailed Deer on Its Lands
The Eastern Band of Cherokee, deprived for centuries of the white-tailed deer that symbolizes their culture, are in the process of getting their icon back. Though deer are considered almost a pest in many parts, devouring gardens and proliferating, the Cherokee themselves, who have cherished the…
Red Lake Constitution Reform Initiative Community Engagement Meeting held in Redby
The second of six scheduled Red Lake Constitution Reform Initiative Community Engagement Meetings was held at the Redby Community Center on March 24, 2014 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The first meeting was held at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on March 22, 2014 with about 60 people in…
Red Lake Constitutional Reform Informational Meetings Held
The meeting at Bemidji was one leg of the second round of informational meetings conducted by the Red Lake Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) in order to seek input and feedback from the membership regarding Constitutional Reform. Meetings are held in Duluth and the Twin Cites in addition to the…
Yurok Tribe to release condors in California
Yurok tribal tradition holds the California condor as sacred, with ancient stories saying the giant birds fly closest to the sun and are the best messengers to carry prayers. Now, after five years of research, the far northern California-based tribe has received permission to release captive-bred…