citizenship rights

Thumbnail

Blood Quantum and Sovereignty

"Blood Quantum and Sovereignty" is a beginner-level conversation focused on why blood quantum is controversial, as well as how it came to be used as an enrollment and citizenship criteria for Native nations. Produced and recorded by Native Governance Center on March 30, 2022. Featuring: Wayne…

Thumbnail

James R. Gray: Rebuilding Osage Governance from the Ground Up

In this informative intervew with NNI's Ian Record, James R. Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, details his nation's effort to design a new constitution and government from the ground up, and provides an overview of the thorough education and consultation process the nation developed…

Thumbnail

Taylor Keen: The Disenfranchisement of the Cherokee Freedmen: Assertion or Abuse of Sovereignty?

Taylor Keen (Cherokee), a former member of the Cherokee Nation Council, discusses the stand he took against his nation's recent decision to disenfranchise the Cherokee Freedman. He offers a convincing argument against the move, explaining that taking away the citizenship rights of the Freedmen…

Image
Iroquois women enjoyed equality long before 1492

Iroquois women enjoyed equality long before 1492

Normal perceptions regarding Women’s History Month revolve around the struggle for women’s political equality in the United States. Yet, many citizens in the U.S. would not suspect that within some American Indian culture, long before Columbus ventured across the Atlantic Ocean, native women…

Image
Preserving Indigenous Democracy

Preserving Indigenous Democracy

When Europeans first came to the Americas they took note of the democratic processes they observed in most indigenous nations. Indigenous political relations were usually decentralized, consensus based, and inclusive. Indigenous democracies may not seem remarkable by contemporary standards, but…

Image
Disenrollment Demands Serious Attention by All Sovereign Nations

Disenrollment Demands Serious Attention by All Sovereign Nations

For most people, their sense of who they are–their identity–is at least partially defined from connection to others and to a community. When individuals are forced to sever those connections, the consequences can be devastating. Unfortunately, all too often in tribal disenrollment conflicts–like…

Image
Josh Gerzetich, citizen of Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
,
Image
John Low, citizen of Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

Tribal Enrollment

Tribes have the right to determine their own membership. These criteria for enrollment vary from tribe to tribe. In the Midwest, the criteria are based on descendancy, that is, descent from an individual on a particular roll, as well as, in some cases, blood quantum and/or residency of the…

Image
Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform

Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform

As part of its ongoing process of educating the White Earth people and others about White Earth's proposed new constitution, White Earth Nation's Constitutional Education Team produced several videos for White Earth citizens to view in order to gain a better understanding of the key governance…

Image
Developing a Community Constitution

Developing a Community Constitution

In this, the third part of the BCAFN Governance Toolkit: A Guide to Nation Building, we explore the complex and often controversial subject of governance reform in our communities and ways to approach community engagement. The Governance Toolkit is intended as a resource for First Nations…

Image
Constitutions Fact Sheet

Constitutions Fact Sheet

The National Centre for First Nations Governance developed this quick reference for Native nations who are discussing constitutions and constitutional reform.