Indigenous Governance Database
News and Opinion
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 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…
Billy Frank Jr.: A World Treasure (1931- 2014)
“I was the go-to-jail guy.” That’s how Billy Frank, Jr., (Nisqually) often described his role during the treaty fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest of the 1960s and ‘70s. Beginning as a teenager of 14, he went to jail more than 50 times and was arrested more than three times that. His…
South Dakota, tribe finalize plan to serve parole
South Dakota and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal officials finalized an agreement on a pilot program for tribal members to serve parole at home on the reservation. Sisseton-Wahpeton Chairman Robert Shepherd and Department of Corrections Secretary Denny Kaemingk signed the intergovernmental agreement…
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…
Cast-off State Parks Thrive Under Tribal Control, But Not Without Some Struggle
Rick Geisler, manager of Wah-Sha-She Park in Osage County, stands on the shore of Hula Lake. When budget cuts led the Oklahoma tourism department to find new homes for seven state parks in 2011, two of them went to Native American tribes. Both are open and doing well, but each has faced its own…
Washington joins Nisqually Tribe to develop new 1,300-acre state park in Mount Rainier foothills
Washington will develop a new 1,300-acre state park in the Mount Rainier foothills, about a 2.5-hour drive north of Portland/Vancouver. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the Nisqually Indian Tribe on Tuesday signed a partnership agreement for the collaborative development of…
In Alaska village, banishment helps keep peace
Without a jail or even armed law enforcement, the isolated Alaska village where two state troopers were shot and killed is turning to a traditional form of justice: banishment. The Tanana Village Council, the Athabascan Indian tribal authority in the village of 250, is taking steps to expel two men…
Citizen Potawatomi Nation reverses decline through strong leaders, entrepreneurship
The big idea: In recent years, some tribes have reaped huge profits from their gambling operations. Most American Indians, however, are still mired in poverty, unemployment, addictions, ill health and hopelessness. Is there a way to create a better future in Indian Country? The Citizen Potawatomi…
Ho-Chunk, Inc. CEO Receives Award from U.S. Department of Commerce Agency
Lance Morgan launched the Ho-Chunk, Inc. in 1994 as the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Now the president and CEO is receiving the Advocate of the Year Award by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) at the end of this…
Forest County Potawatomi Renewables Program Nets EPA Top 30 Nod
They squelched a mine, established air-quality monitoring and built a solar plant. Where does a tribe go from there? For the Forest County Potawatomi Community it meant going deeper. The tribe has translated traditional values into a program that uses cutting-edge technologies and sophisticated…
Harvard Project Names Three Honoring Nations Leaders
Sharing outstanding programs in tribal self-governance and helping to expand the capacities of Tribal leaders through learning from each others’ successes is the mission of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development’s Honoring Nations program. Recently the Honoring Nations program…
Tribe looking to increase enrollment
Under the direction of the appointed members of the Tribal Enrollment Committee – Peridot District Representatives Lula T. Dillon and Aurelia Rogers, Gilson Wash District Representatives Geraldine Kitcheyan and Henrietta Henry, Seven Mile Wash District Representatives Marthalene Polk and Lois R.…
How Do We Re-Member?
On July 2, the tribal council of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde held a special meeting to allow their citizens an opportunity to testify for or against a proposed emergency enrollment ordinance whereby the Council sought to delegate its constitutional authority to involuntarily…
Three-Time Felon Now A 'Champion Of Change'
With a troubled past of his own, Cherokee Nation citizen Daryl Legg can relate to the struggle convicted felons face once released from prison. Legg, 43, of Sallisaw, is the Cherokee Nation’s director of vocational programs, which includes a year-old re-entry program for ex-offenders called “Coming…
Tribal Per Capitas and Self-Termination
For many Indian families, tribal per capita payments help meet their most basic needs. They buy food, pay heating bills, make car payments, and open savings accounts. As a Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians leader explains, per capita monies have given historically impoverished Indian…
Tulalips wield new power against domestic violence
The Tulalip Tribes are now one of just three Native American tribes in the country to take advantage of a federal program designed to better combat domestic violence on tribal lands. In an agreement signed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office Friday during a regular meeting of the Tribes’ board of…
'We are getting stronger'
An economic, political and cultural renaissance is underway throughout Indian Country in the United States. It’s been going on for nearly a quarter-century. Whereas in the 1980s, economic growth on Indian reservations lagged far behind the rate of the U.S. economy, through the booming 1990s and the…
Dismembering Natives: The Violence Done by Citizenship Fights
Outside Indian Country most don't realize that over the past 10 years, several thousand people have had their tribal citizenship status terminated. Most were not dismembered for wrongdoing or adopted by other Native nations. They were simply identified by their elected officials as allegedly no…
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…