Indigenous Governance Database
Indian Act of 1869
Indigenous Land Management in the United States: Context, Cases, Lessons
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is seeking ways to support First Nations’ economic development. Among its concerns are the status and management of First Nations’ lands. The Indian Act, bureaucratic processes, the capacities of First Nations themselves, and other factors currently limit the…
Robert Innes: Elder Brother and the Law of the People: Maintaining Sovereignty Through Identity and Culture
Robert Innes, a citizen of the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, discusses how traditional Cowessess kinship systems and practices continue to structure and inform the individual and collective identities of Cowessess people today, and how those traditional systems and practices are serving…
Sophie Pierre: Enacting Self-Determination and Self-Governance at Ktunaxa
In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Sophie Pierre, longtime chief of the Ktunaxa Nation, discusses Ktunaxa's ongoing effort to reclaim and redesign their system of governance through British Columbia's treaty process, specifically Ktunaxa's citizen-led process to develop a new…
Angela Wesley: Huu-ay-aht First Nations' Forging of a New Governance System
Angela Wesley, Chair of Huu-ay-aht Constitution Committee, discusses the painstaking effort the Huu-ay-aht First Nations undertook to develop a new constitution and system of governance, and how they continue to work to turn the promise of self-governance embodied in their new constitution into…
Angela Wesley: A "Made in Huu-ay-aht" Constitution
Angela Wesley, Chair of the Huu-ay-aht Constitution Committee, discusses the process that the Huu-ay-Aht First Nations followed in developing their own constitution and system of government. She describes how Huu-ay-aht's new governance system is fundamentally different from their old Indian Act…
NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell (Part 1)
Grand Chief Michael Mitchell of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne provides an overview of the nation-building work his nation has engaged in over the past four decades, from its decision to move away from the Indian Act to its systematic development of capable governing institutions designed to…
Michael K. Mitchell: A History of the Akwesasne Mohawk
Grand Chief Michael Mitchell of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne offers students a broad overview of the governance history of the Akwesasne Mohawk and the efforts his people have made during his time in office to exercise true self-governance and rebuild their nation.
Stephen Cornell: Getting Practical: Constitutional Issues Facing Native Nations
Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy Director Stephen Cornell provides a brief overview of what a constitution fundamentally is, and some of the emerging trends in innovation that Native nations are exhibiting when it comes to constitutional development and reform. This video resource is…
Michael K. Mitchell: Perspectives on Leadership and Nation Building
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Grand Chief Michael K. Mitchell discusses the Akwesasne Mohawk's effort to regain control over their own affairs, and offers his advice to leaders who are working to regain jurisdiction over their lands and resources as well as rebuild their nations.
Michael K. Mitchell: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Grand Chief Michael K. Mitchell reflects on his role as a modern elected leader of his nation. Mitchell encourages small changes in terminology and ideology that in turn will change the community's mindset about nation rebuilding and what is possible.
Sophie Pierre: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office
Former Ktunaxa Nation Chief Sophie Pierre discusses the Ktunaxa Nation's nation-building struggle, and offers her thoughts on what sustainable leadership is and what it requires of leaders.
Native Nation Building TV: "Constitutions and Constitutional Reform"
Guests Joseph P. Kalt and Sophie Pierre explore the evidence that strong Native nations require strong foundations, which necessarily require the development of effective, internally created constitutions (whether written or unwritten). It examines the impacts a constitution has on the people it…
Gwen Phillips: Reforming the Ktunaxa Nation Constitution: What We're Doing and Why
Gwen Phillips, Director of Corporate Services and Governance Transition for the Ktunaxa Nation, discusses how Ktunaxa is using the British Columbia treaty process to reconceive and restructure its governance system from the ground up in order to revitalize Ktunaxa culture, language and core values…
Indian Act: Time for a New Memory
Canadians recently discovered the crushing poverty in Attawapiskat. This is not the first time Attawapiskat has struggled; and Attawapiskat is not alone. Every three years or so, these problems are discovered and agonized over. There is often a quick fix – new homes, an emergency relocation, a…
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and its Application to Canadian Aboriginal Business
This lecture is part of a course Stephen Cornell is teaching in Simon Fraser University's Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program. A panel of three joined Dr. Cornell in a discussion about the building of First Nation economies and the role citizen entrepreneurship can play in…
Nipissing Gichi-Naaknigewin
Nipissing First Nation members and staff, members of Chief and Council, as well as the Grand Council Chief, speak to the Nipissing Gichi-Naaknigewin.
Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee: NFN Gichi-Naaknigewin
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Wedaseh Madahbee speaks to Nipissing First Nation members about the importance of the Gichi-Naaknigewin (Constitution) and its relationship to community development.
Our Journey - Our Choice - Our Future: Maa-nulth Treaty Legacy
On April 1, 2011, the Maa-nulth First Nations completed what has been a long journey to self-determination. It was an historic day for all, and a day of celebration for the Huu-ay-aht, Ka:’yu:’k't’h/Che:k’tles7et’h, Toquaht, Uchucklesaht, and Ucluelet people. New Journey Productions worked with the…
Tsawwassen First Nation: Law and Policy
Tsawwassen's story about creating laws and policies after their historic treaty signing provides important insight for all First Nations who wish to develop laws and policy.
Westbank First Nation Circle of Governance
The people of the Westbank First Nation share the history and process taken toward self-governance and how it has transformed their community.