Indigenous Governance Database
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Honoring Nations: Oren Lyons: Rebuilding Healthy Nations
Onondaga Chief and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons urges Native nations to continue sharing their stories of success, learning from each other, and working towards creating a better future for the next seven generations.
Honoring Nations: Floyd "Buck" Jourdain: Sovereignty Today
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Former Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain defines sovereignty as the aggressive and proactive exercise of a nation's sovereign powers, and illustrates how his nation takes this approach in advancing its own priorities and dealing with other sovereign governments.
Honoring Nations: Allen Pemberton: The Red Lake Walleye Recovery Project
Red Lake Chippewa Natural Resources Director Allen Pemberton provides an overview of the Honoring Nations award-winning Red Lake Walleye Recovery Project, and illustrates how the program reflects the benefits of Native nations taking over control of their own affairs from the federal government.
Honoring Nations: Jon Waterhouse and Rob Rosenfeld: The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
Jon Waterhouse and Rob Rosenfeld provide an overview of the work accomplished by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, demonstrating the benefits of Native nations who have common cultures and challenges to band together to solve issues of mutual concern.
Honoring Nations: Elvera Sargent: The Akwesasne Freedom School
Elvera Sargent discusses the Akwesasne Freedom School and the role it plays in the cultural identity of each generation that goes through the curriculum.
Honoring Nations: Joyce Country and Dorry Larson: The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Professional Empowerment Program (2007)
Joyce Country and Dr. Dorry Larson discuss what prompted the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate to establish its award-winning Professional Empowerment Program, and the positive impacts it is having on the lives of its citizens.
Honoring Nations: Hilda Faye Nickey: The Mississippi Choctaw Tribal Court System
Mississippi Choctaw Chief Justice Hilda Faye Nickey discusses the Choctaw tribal court system, and provides an overview of Choctaw's youth court and how it works to educate Choctaw youth about Choctaw ethics and core values in order to set them on the right path.
Honoring Nations: Brian Cladoosby: Sovereignty Today
Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby offers his perspective on what tribal sovereignty means today. He argues that the long-term sustainability of Native nations hinges on their right and ability to decide their own affairs and determine their own futures, and stresses the importance of educating…
Honoring Nations: Michael Thomas: Sovereignty Today
Former Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Michael Thomas provides his definition of what tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and stresses the importance of Native nations examining and reconnecting with their traditional governance principles as they work to exercise sovereignty effectively.
Honoring Nations: Joseph Singer: Sovereignty Today
Harvard Professor Joseph Singer makes a compelling case that Native nations' best defense of sovereignty is their effective exercise of it, and stresses the importance of educating the general public -- particularly young people -- about what tribal sovereignty is and means.
Catalyx and Ramona Tribe Start Work on 100% Off-Grid Renewable Energy Eco Tourism Resort
Catalyx, Inc. has been contracted to be the technology provider and will team with the Ramona Band of the Cahuilla Indian Tribe to develop the Tribe's Eco-Tourism resort near Anza, Calif. The first of its kind, the Ramona Band of Cahuilla Mission Native Americans' resort is designed as a 100% off-…
Kuskokwim Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Meets
Just a few weeks before the king salmon run begins in earnest, Kuskokwim tribal leaders came together in the first-ever meeting of Kuskokwim River Inter Tribal Fisheries Commission. The group is pushing to create a system in which tribes have a direct management role in the river’s salmon...
Tribe asserts DV jurisdiction over non-Indians
The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that American Indian women “are more than 2.5 more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general”. The DOJ also reports, per its Bureau of Justice Statistics, that at least 70 percent of the “violent victimizations experienced…
What is Section 17?
It’s been over a year since Tribal Council passed a resolution (No. 182 — 2014) authorizing a draft to be crafted for a Section 17 corporate charter for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The main goal, per Res. No. 182, “is seeking economic diversification” that will benefit the Tribe into the…
Cheyenne River Youth Project's Garden Evolving Into Micro Farm
When the Cheyenne River Youth Project started its organic garden in 1999, staff at the 26-year-old nonprofit would never have guessed where the little garden would take them. The two-acre Winyan Toka Win–or “Leading Lady”–garden is the heart of the youth project, and is becoming a micro farm.…
How Can Tribes Relate to Off-Reservation Citizens Better? Study Aims to Help
How do you define “home?” “Home is where one starts from” is one explanation, while another states, “Our feet may leave home, but not our hearts.” Where you call home is especially important to Native Americans who have left the familiarity of where they grew up among fellow tribal members and…
Native Language: Pathway to Traditions, Self-Identity
Stacey Burns says a transformation has taken place within the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony from something as old as the Washoe, Paiute and Shoshone tribes themselves: their native languages...
Bureau delegates authority to Colville law enforcement
At the request of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Bureau of Reclamation is delegating authority to enforce federal laws on Reclamation lands within the exterior boundary of the Colville Reservation to certified Tribal police officers. The delegation of authority does not…
New Alaska Native Business Powerhouse Assembled In Alaska's Arctic
Representatives of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), NANA Regional Corporation (NANA) and Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) are announcing the establishment of the Iñuit Arctic Business Alliance (IABA).IABA's mission is to provide a unified voice, collective vision, guidelines and…
Meet The Woman Helping Native American Communities Get Ready For Climate Change
The effects of climate change are already being felt across America. In Alaska, rising sea levels and eroding coastlines have forced a dozen different communities to relocate. In the Southwest, the risk of forest fires is increasing, water supplies are dwindling and native animal species are coming…