Indigenous Governance Database

Civics

Reframing Return on Investments for Tribal Colleges and Universities: Aligning Analyses with Tribal Priorities and Educational Missions

Reframing return on investments for tribal colleges and universities: Aligning analyses with tribal priorities and educational missions

TCUs serve dual missions: educating students and addressing American Indian tribal priorities. Due to this unique status, mainstream ROI metrics fail to fully align with TCU missions. This paper critiques mainstream measures of ROI in the tribal context and provides insights into alternative ROI…

Report on Best Practices in Developing Effective Processes of American Indian Constitutional Reform

Report on Best Practices in Developing Effective Processes of American Indian Constitutional Reform

The Executive Session on American Indian Constitutional Reform is a national working group of constitutional reformers from 12 American Indian nations and leading academics. The Executive Session meets twice a year to rethink strategies for strengthening tribal constitutions and constitution-making…

Valuing Tradition: Governance, Cultural Match, and the BC Treaty Process

Valuing Tradition: Governance, Cultural Match, and the BC Treaty Process

Self-governance negotiations are an integral part of British Columbia’s modern day treaty process. At some treaty tables, impasses have resulted from differences on how to include traditional First Nations governance within treaty. Although some First Nations are determined to pursue traditional…

What Does Indigenous Participatory Democracy Look Like? Kahnawà:Ke's Community Decision Making Process

What Does Indigenous Participatory Democracy Look Like? Kahnawà:Ke's Community Decision Making Process

With the 1979 Community Mandate to move towards Traditional Government, the community of Kahnawà:ke has consistently requested more involvement in decision-making on issues that affect the community as a whole. The Kahnawà:ke Community Decision Making Process is a response to the community's call…

First Nations Communications Toolkit

First Nations Communications Toolkit

The First Nations Communications Toolkit is a unique resource jointly developed by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, BC Region, and Tewanee Consulting Group. This Toolkit was designed explicitly for First Nations communicators and is based on input from First Nations communicators and…

Declaration of Tsawwassen Identity & Nationhood

Declaration of Tsawwassen Identity & Nationhood

We are Tsawwassen People "People facing the sea", descendants of our ancestors who exercised sovereign authority over our land for thousands of years. Tsawwassen People were governed under the advice and guidance of leaders, highborn women, headmen, and speakers through countless generations...

Tribal Law as Indigenous Social Reality and Separate Consciousness: [Re]Incorporating Customs and Traditions into Tribal Law

Tribal Law as Indigenous Social Reality and Separate Consciousness: [Re]Incorporating Customs and Traditions into Tribal Law

At some point in my legal career, I recall becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the inconsistencies between the values in the written law of various indigenous nations and the values I knew were embedded in indigenous societies themselves. The two are not entirely in harmony, and in fact, in…

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

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

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…