Indigenous Governance Database
tribal administration
First Peoples Lost: Determining the State of Status First Nations Mortality in Canada Using Administrative Data
We present the most comprehensive set of estimates to date for status First Nations mortality in Canada. We use administrative data from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to establish a set of stylized facts regarding status First Nations mortality rates. Between 2010 to 2013, the mortality…
Dr. Karen Diver: Indigenous autonomy is the way forward
Dr. Karen Diver spoke at ANZSOG's Reimagining Public Administration conference on February 20, as part of a plenary on International perspectives on Indigenous affairs. The Native American tribal leader and former adviser to President Obama, said that Indigenous communities had been inexorably…
Kenneth Hall: Rising to the challenge of self-governance
Councilman Kenneth Hall was elected to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation tribal business council in 2012 and represents the largest population in the north segment. Councilman Hall is Hidatsa, of the Knife Clan, and great-grandson of Chief Dragswolf, the last chief of the Hidatsa people. Hall…
Fond du Lac's Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative
In 1995, faced with rising pharmaceutical costs, limited Indian Health Service (IHS) funds, and an inability to bill and collect from third party insurers, the Human Services Division contracted with a private sector firm to design and implement a computerized pharmacy billing system. The first of…
Trust Resource Management (Salish and Kootenai)
For more than three decades, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) have been building capable governing institutions and taking over management of resources and programs previously managed by outsiders. Recognizing that self-management both allows the tribal government to determine its…
Tsigo bugeh Village (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo)
Restoring communal living through Pueblo-style housing, the Tsigo bugeh Village offers "traditional living with a modern touch" for Ohkay Owingeh citizens. Designed to honor a sense of community and place, Tsigo bugeh addresses Ohkay Owingeh’s urgent housing demands with 40 units for single and…
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Land Title and Records Office
With the ultimate goal of seeing a time when Native people and nations once again own and manage the land within the boundaries of every reservation as well as those lands that are culturally important to them beyond reservations, the Tribal Land Title and Records Office keeps all records and…
Muscogee Creek Nation Reintegration Program
Although the state of Oklahoma has one of the largest prison systems in the US, it provides released prisoners with little post-incarceration support. Many struggle to find their way on the "outside" and are eventually re-incarcerated. In the early 2000s, the Muscogee Creek Nation set out to tackle…
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
Serving tribes in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) was created in 1972 to increase tribes’ ability to exercise control over the design and development of tribal health care delivery systems. Governed by tribal government delegates, NPAIHB…
Puyallup's Institutionalized Quality Improvement Program
Following a major tribally-initiated restructuring in the early 1980s that created a quality improvement committee and a flatter organizational structure, the PTHA has increased patient access for urgent care visits, reduced "no show" rates, created clinical objectives, increased dental treatments…
Ned Norris, Jr.: Strengthening Governance at Tohono O'odham
Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. discusses how his nation has systematically worked to strengthen its system of governance, from creating an independent, effective judiciary to developing an innovative, culturally appropriate approach to caring for the nation's elders.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "What Effective Bureaucracies Need"
Native leaders offer their perspectives on the key characteristics that Native nation bureaucracies need to possess in order to be effective.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The Role of Bureaucracies in Nation Building"
Native leaders discuss the critical role that bureaucracies play in Native nations' efforts to achieve their nation-building and community development priorities.
David Montgomery: The Quinault Indian Nation's Q-munity Roadmap
In this interview with NNI's Ian Record, Quinault Indian Nation Budget Officer David Montgomery provides a comprehensive overview of Quinault's Q-munity Roadmap performance-based budgeting process, and discusses how citizen education and engagement has proven crucial to the success of this…
Karen Diver: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Chairwoman Karen Diver shares her Top-10 list of the things she wished she knew before she took office as chairwoman of her nation, stressing the need for leaders to create capable governance systems and build capable staffs so that they focus on…
Native Nation Building TV: "A Capable Bureaucracy: The Key to Good Government"
Guests Urban Giff and Joan Timeche explain that good governance requires effective, transparent and accountable bureaucracies. The segment demonstrates how clearly defined organizational structures and roles and responsibilities help make things work and get things done, and how their absence…
Like An Ill-Fitting Boot: Government, Governance and Management Systems in the Contemporary Indian Act
Few people are satisfied with the Indian Act, but no one will deny its importance. For the individuals to whom it applies, the Act is a basic and specific constitutional document. It defines their rights and entitlements, their citizenship and their relationship to the federal and provincial…