decision making

Kin-Based Governments Can Be Successful and Profitable

Producer
Indian Country Today
Year

A key to understanding American Indian nations, and Indigenous Peoples in general, is local community organization. Local groups, as basic building blocks of indigenous nations, play a powerful role in tribal or national consensus building and decision-making. The ways that local indigenous groups are constructed varies considerably among the nations, and through history...

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Citation

Champagne, Duane. "Kin-Based Governments Can Be Successful and Profitable." Indian Country Today. October 11, 2013. Article. (https://ictnews.org/archive/kin-based-governments-can-be-successful-and-profitable, accessed August 1, 2023)

How Does Tribal Leadership Compare to Parliamentary Leadership?

Producer
Indian Country Today
Year

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 represents the position of the community or nation. Generally, Indigenous political leadership serves at the consent and support of the local group, community, or nation...

Native Nations
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Citation

Champagne, Duane. "How Does Tribal Leadership Compare to Parliamentary Leadership?" Indian Country Today. September 27, 2013. Article. (https://ictnews.org/archive/how-does-tribal-leadership-compare-to-parliamentary-leadership, accessed July 18, 2023)

Indigenous Women and Governance in Guatemala

Year

The concept of governance goes beyond institutional relations to encompass the integration and cohesion capacity of a particular political system. Hence, the effective functioning of the institutions of representative democracy is an important condition of governance, but it does not satisfy its broader implications. Governance entails a certain degree of citizen participation in the political processes not only as an element of legitimacy but of political viability as well.

This paper deals with the historical context and the systematic obstacles that hinder indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women, to participate at the different levels of the society, especially the political processes.

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Citation

Mejia Lopez, Meeylyn Lorena. Indigenous Women and Governance in Guatemala. FOCAL. Ottawa, Ontario. Canada. March 2006. Paper. (http://www.focal.ca/pdf/mujer_indigena_e.pdf, accessed October 15, 2015)

On Improving Tribal-Corporate Relations In The Mining Sector: A White Paper on Strategies for Both Sides of the Table

Year

Mining everywhere is inherently controversial. By its very nature, it poses hard economic, environmental, and social tradeoffs. Depending on the nature of the resource and its location, to greater or lesser degrees, the mining process necessarily disturbs environments, alters landscapes, and changes communities. On the other hand, the products that mining can yield, from aluminum to zinc, are valuable because they are useful in meeting peoples’ material needs. It goes without saying that the result of these tradeoffs is often strident conflict in the public and political arenas.

Mining that affects indigenous communities–because they own or govern targeted minerals or because they are culturally, economically and/or environmentally affected by the development of targeted minerals–is especially controversial. Indigenous people have borne a long history of exploitation of their resources without their consent and to their detriment. But times are changing. At least in the Lower 48 United States, tribes increasingly have the legal and institutional capacity to assert rights of local self-government that can make or break a mining project. It is fair to say that, in today’s environment, the tribe that wants to block minerals development on at least its own reservation, if not across its entire traditional territories, most likely can. By the same token, the tribe that wants to develop its mineral resources is hard to stop...

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Citation

Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. On ImprovIng TrIbal-Corporate Relations In The Mining Sector: A White Paper on Strategies for Both Sides of the Table. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. John F. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. April 2014. Paper. (http://hpaied.org/sites/default/files/documents/miningrelations.pdf, accessed May 26, 2016)

Community-Led Development

Year

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept and practice of community-led development. It is an approach to tackling local problems that is taking hold throughout the world. While its expression may vary depending upon the community and the specific area of focus, there are nonetheless some common principles that hold it in place.

"Community" is a broad term that can refer to both physical places and groups of people with common interests or concerns. For the purposes of this discussion, the notion of community is used only in its geographic sense. Community-led development in this paper focuses on initiatives undertaken in physical places, be they neighborhoods, cities or towns, rural or remote regions of the country, or First Nations reserves.

Native Nations
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Citation

Torjman, Sherri and Anne Makhoul. "Community-Led Development." Report prepared on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. The Caledon Institute of Social Policy. Ottawa, ON. January 2012. Report. (https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/978ENG.pdf, accessed March 29, 2023)

Best Practices Case Study (Inter-Governmental Relations): Squamish & Lil'wat First Nations

Year

The Squamish First Nation and the Lil'wat First Nation are both located in southwestern B.C. and have an area of overlapping traditional territory that extends into the lands around the resort community of Whistler. Although they are two distinct First Nations with different cultures and social relationships, they have a history of respectful co-existence as neighbours. Mindful of the historic precedence of shared lands and the overlapping interests in land stewardship, the Lil'wat Nation met with the Squamish Nation in 1999 to discuss land use and planning in areas of traditional territory overlap. This signalled a move away from competition between neighbouring First Nations for recognition and scarce resources and toward a relationship that could leverage the power of working together on mutual objectives...

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Citation

National Centre for First Nations Governance. "Best Practices Case Study (Inter-Governmental Relations): Squamish & Lil'wat First Nations." A Report for the National Centre for First Nations Governance. The National Centre for First Nations Governance. Canada. June 2009. Case Study. (https://fngovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IGR_SquamishLilwat.pdf, accessed March 8, 2023)

Best Practices Case Study (Participation in Decision Making): Gila River Indian Community

Year

Gila River Indian Community, which borders the Arizona cities of Tempe, Phoenix, Mesa, and Chandler, has nearly 17,000 tribal citizens. Half of the population is younger than 18. Like youth elsewhere, Gila River youth are challenged by a host of problems. Gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and teen pregnancy are particularly acute on the 372,000-acre reservation.

Until the late 1980s however, Gila River youth had little or no avenue to participate in decision-making related to these and other matters affecting them. This was the result, in part, of their government's own attitude about youth and their role in the community. As one Gila River leader acknowledged, "the tribal government has always focused on the elders, but youth and their issues were historically overlooked."

Formed in 1987 and chartered under the laws of the Gila River Indian Community, the Akimel O'odham / Pee-Posh Youth Council (the Youth Council) gives youth a formal voice in tribal governance and prepares the next generation of leadership...

Resource Type
Citation

National Centre for First Nations Governance. "Best Practices Case Study (Participation in Decision Making): Gila River Indian Community." A Report for the National Centre for First Nations Governance. The National Centre for First Nations Governance. Canada. June 2009. Case Study. (https://fngovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PDM_GilaRiver.pdf, accessed March 8, 2023)