Indigenous Policy Ongoing Activities

ONGOING ACTIVITIES

Steve Sachs

Activities in the U.S.

Tex Hall, President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), delivered the third annual State of Indian Nations Address, on February 3rd, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Hall emphasized promoting strong tribal self-governance and developing healthy tribal economies. Among his concerns, was that, "Indian tribes must be able to raise funds like other governments. Indian tribes issue tax exempt bonds, just like states and local governments, to raise funding for schools, jails, roads and other important infrastructure needs. However, under current rules tribes are subject to a stringent "essential government function" test that no other government is required to pass." He stated that Indian nations, the administration and Congress need to collaborate in developing a reform of the trust system with a proper settling of accounts and insuring the future of the trust system, while, “respecting tribal sovereignty to ensure that tribal counsels have greater control over the natural resource decisions on their reservations." "Tribal governments must be able to take control of law enforcement locally to improve responsiveness, strengthen accountability, and tailor services to meet community needs. . . . While the Indian Tribal Justice Act promised $58.4 million per year in additional funding for tribal court systems starting in FY1994, tribal courts have yet to see any funding under this Act." "Even with the improvements we have seen, Indian families are still three times more likely to live in overcrowded homes when compared with the general population. . . . congressional allocations to Indian housing for FY 2005 were the lowest in five years." "Indian tribes suffer the highest traffic fatality rate in the Nation, more than four times the national average. The BIA allocates for road maintenance $500 per mile versus $5000 per mile for counties and states. We need equitable funding and program improvements." "The health disparities our tribal communities face need to be addressed immediately before another generation of American Indian and Alaska Native people lose their quality of life to debilitating health problems left untreated. American Indians and Alaska Natives have a life expectancy five years less than all other races in this country . . . .The mortality rates from diabetes for our Native communities are more than three times the national average. . . . In spite of this disproportionate health care need, today the per capita expenditure for American Indian and Alaska Native medical services is less than one-third of the average annual expenditure for individual Medicaid assistance, and is even less than our per capita health expenditure for federal prisoners." Hall also stated, "When I think of the war in Iraq, I am reminded of the basic principle that the United States cannot do good around the world unless we first do good at home. Much of the power that the United States enjoys grows out of the power of our example. We can't tell people to make a more democratic world unless they think we are making opportunity and hope available to every American citizen." For more information contact the National Congress of American Indians,1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20036 (202) 466-7767, www.ncai.org.

NCAI hoisted a conference call, on February 24, to discuss a proposal by Congressman Rahall (D-WV) in sponsoring a bill protecting sacred places. It was agreed that an effort to protect sacred places would need to be bipartisan to succeed. It was deemed advisable for Congress to hold hearings, especially as any bill that might pass would, at most, be a partial solution, and a hearing would help build support for further action. The Sacred Lands Protection Coalition working group had identified number of desirable provisions for a sacred site protection act during discussion of a bill proposed by Congressman Rahall in the 108th Congress (HR 2419). There was concern that in the closing days of the 108th Congress, the House had passed a rider, not passed by the Senate, that would have authorized setting aside provisions of environmental and historic preservation laws in the construction of a security fence along the Mexican boarder. As political maneuvering intensified over judicial nominations in Congress, this Spring, NCAI reiterated its objection to the nomination of William G. Myers as a circuit court judge, with Tex Hall saying that Myers is "unfit for the federal bench." "Myers shameless and blatant disrespect for federal laws protecting American Indian sacred sites and his blatant disregard for the government-to-government consultation process have forced us to take an unprecedented stand. The interests of mining companies have come at the expense of Indian people, tribal government and the environment.

NCAI's Midyear-Year Conference in Green bay, WI, June 12-15, focused on "Investing in Our Future: Stronger Economics, Healthier Communities." stressing the need for appropriate economic and community development. The meeting provided an opportunity for tribal, government and business leaders to keep abreast of trends on such issues as economic development, criminal jurisdiction and domestic violence, Social security/Medicare reform, tax questions, financial literacy, energy development, trust reform and homeland security.

The Indigenous Environmental Network, which has been lobbying Congress for clean energy and an ending of the long term practice of making Indian country a dumping ground for nuclear waste, disease producing coal mines and environment destroying power plants, spoke to those issues at the National Press Club, in Washington, DC, on April 5. The network is urging congress not to pass the President's energy bill, seeing it as essentially the same pro-industry legislation that failed to pass previously, and instead to legislate to cut green house gas levels, promote energy efficiency and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The group opposed the White House plan to build the first nuclear energy plants in 30 years on Indian land in Alaska and Idaho.

The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) held a Tribal Leaders Meeting in Washington, DC, in January, to provide tribal leaders an opportunity to meet with members of Congress and the National Indian Gaming Commission. During the discussions, Senator John McCain, Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and House Committee on Resources Chair Richard Pombo, stated that they intended to address issues of off reservation gaming and tribal acquisition of land for gaming during the 109th Congress. McCain also indicated that he would continue investigation into the Abramoff/Scanlon lobbying scandal, and thought congressional action to settle the Cobell trust fund suite might be inevitable.

A national conference on disenrolled and disenfranchises Indian people took place in Temeccula, CA, on May 21, with nearly 300 people participating, from tribes and reservations throughout the U.S. Among those intending were disenrolled people who had been tribal chairs and council members. There was much discussion of legal strategies that might be followed in regaining tribal membership rights, and protecting the rights of others who might become disenrolled by what participants widely saw as corrupt tribal governments.

The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) held its Eighth Annual Legislative Summit in Washington, DC, in February. The meeting included a special consultation on the No Child Left Behind Act and a joint session with the National Indian Gaming Association. NIEA President David Beaulieu, said, "Despite our successes in 2004, which included the signing of the President's Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, there remain serious challenges to our ability to provide quality educational opportunities for our native students. As we all know, there are tremendous needs in our communities; and it is our responsibility as educators and advocates for our people that we make our voices - and the voices of our native young people - heard in the halls of Congress and insure that 'no native child is left behind'." The Fifth Annual Virginia Summit on Higher Education took place at the University of Virginia, March 18-20. Discussions included panel, Tribal Sovereignty and Federal Recognition, Featuring Kevin Gover, former head of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and professor of law at Arizona State University, Jack Trope, executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, and David Wilkins, professor of law, political science, and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota.

The Native Networking Policy Center (NNPC), in Washington, DC, is dedicated to advancing equitable and affordable access to, and culturally appropriate use of, telecommunications and information technology throughout Indian Country. For details go to: http://www.nativenetworking.org/,

Americans for Indian Opportunity, in its 35th year of collaborating with native nations to improve tribal government, working to build true government-to-government relations between tribal and other governments, nurturing Indian leadership, networking to improve Indian policy, and organizing to put an indigenous face on globalization, has moved to 1001 Marquette, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (505)842-8677, aio@aio.org, www.aio.org. AIO's Ambassadors Alliance is now functioning in networking to extend leadership development and community building beyond AIO's Ambassadors Program of leadership nurturing. AIO continues to use its inclusive, participatory strategic planning process with Indian nations and groups, in July, facilitating a meeting of the Directors of New Mexico Tribal Senior Meals Sites, in Santa Fe. Internationally, AIO President LaDonna Harris spoke in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia about the effectiveness of indigenous dispute resolution systems and how they can be integrated with, or function along side of, European legal systems. In November, she will lead an AIO group to the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education, in Hamilton, NZ, where she will be a major speaker.

In January: the Karuk Tribe entered the re-licensing dispute for electric power dams on the Klamath River in the mountains of northwest California, operated by PacifiCorp, to regain salmon fisheries and tribal members' health, by bringing back a substantial diet of now scarce and endangered fish to their now overly carbohydrate diets. The situation has worsened with drought this year, with fish stocks that normally range from 30,000 - 50,000 (and on occasion 70,000), down to 16,800, causing difficulties for the Hoopa and Yurok tribes, as well as the Karuks. Thus, the Kuruks seek the removal of Klamath river dams, with re-licensing pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Nutritional justice is an addition to the complex of issues in the renewal battle involving demands for electric power, corporate profit, and a number of environmental and water use questions, involving numerous groups, entities and people. In mid-March, more than 300 members of the Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa and Klamath tribes, supported by hundreds of fishermen, human rights advocates and conservationists, rallied at the California state capitol, on the eighth International Day of Action for Rivers, urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to approve dam removal and restoration of the Klamath River's salmon fisheries. In May, Scottish Power sold the dams on the Klamath River operated by its subsidiary, PacifiCorp, to billionaire investor Warren. Later, the River Rally Journey to the Sea brought together Klamath Basin residents, including tribal members, highlighting threats to the river. For more information call Geneva Wortman: (707)482-1350.

The Northern California Indian Development Council, Inc. is a private nonprofit corporation that annually provides services to 14,000 to 15,000 clients statewide. NCIDC was established in 1976 to research, develop and administer social and economic development programs designed to meet the needs of Indian and Native American Communities; to provide support and technical assistance for the development of such programs, and the conservation and preservation of historic and archeological sites and resources. The NCIDC operates employment and training programs under the WINS program of the U.S. Department of Labor; statewide disaster assistance programs, food and nutrition program awareness and assistance; housing development and rehabilitation services; transportation assistance; child care; youth education, career exploration and recreational services; a program of fish rearing and habitat enhancement on the Klamath River; and community development and enhancement projects among others. In 1978, NCIDC became one of a very limited number of Community Services Administration Indian grantees located in Region IX. Although established as a Limited Purpose Agency, NCIDC functions in a similar capacity to a Community Action Agency, with the exception being the service population focus of American Indians, which in 1984 developed a statewide service network, including a statewide Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and a disaster assistance program serving Indian communities throughout the state. Active concerns and efforts span a great number of areas from environmental preservation and restoration, to economic and cultural development. Through the efforts of tribal governments and organizations such as NCIDC, Indian people will continue to play an increasingly important and central role in the ongoing development of their local communities and the State of California for future generations. For more information, contact Andre Cramblit at the Ureka Office, andre.p.cramblit.86@alum.dartmouth.org, or Joyce Jones at the Yreka office (530)842-9522), http://www.ncidc.org.

The American Indian Health Summit of Minnesota tribes took place April 11-12, at the Shakopee Medwakanton Sioux Community, Mystic Lake Casino & Hotel, Prior Lake, MN to discuss the health of Indian people in the state, providing information about the status of the Indian communities and solutions to improve the health of all American Indians. For details contact Sharon T. Smith, Tribal Health Coordinator, Office of Minority & Multicultural Health, 85 East Seventh Place Suite 400, P.O. Box 64882, St. Paul, MN 55164 (651)215-5817, sharon.t.smith@health.state.mn.us.

The California Native Sacred Places Protection Workshop Coordinating Committee of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation held a two-day training about holding federal agencies responsible for carrying out the requirements of laws and procedures relevant to Native sacred lands protection, on May 25-26, at the Redding Rancheria Mutli-Purpose Room in Redding, California. For more information contact James Hayward, Redding Rancheria Council Delegate (530)225-8979, Radley Davis, Illmawi Councilman of the Pit River Nation (530)335- 5421. Mark LeBeau, California Rural Indian Health Board Policy Analyst (916)939-9761, Hillary Renick, ACHP Native American Advisory Group Member hrenick@excite.com, or Margaret Field Assoc. Professor and Chair, Dept. Amer. Indian Studies, SDSU (619)594-2779. United Native Americans is continuing to work to have the name of the sacred site in Wyoming, officially known as Devils Tower (and Devils Tower National Monument) changed to the English for its traditional name, Bear Lodge, in the face of the U.S. Park Service rejecting the proposal. The group has also been working to change the name of Custer State Park, in South Dakota to Crazy Horse State Park and to have Andrew Jackson’s picture removed from $20 bills because of his ill treatment of Indians. Many Navajos and other Native Americans are objecting to the decision of the U.S. Forrest Service, in March, to allow additional ski slopes and artificial snow making on the San Francisco Peaks, in Arizona, a sacred site for Navajos. A ‘Gathering for Respect’ rally was held, March 18, in Flagstaff. Washington, DC. Observances and ceremonies were held across the U.S. on June 21 to mark the 2005 National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. Some of the gatherings were educational forums, open to the general public. Others were ceremonial and were conducted in private. In addition, there were commemorations and prayers offered at sacred places under threat. For more information contact the Morning Starr Institute, 611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003, (202)547-5531.

Professors Janie Hipp (Chickasaw) and Jennie Popp at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville, have launched the first national Native American women farmers’ organization, in collaboration with the Inter-Tribal Agriculture Council of Billings, Mt.

A barbed wire top was removed from an eight foot fence being built around the Chemawa Indian school, a boarding school in Oregon serving Indian students across the U.S., after students protested about it in February.

Two organizations actively opposing Indian sovereignty and gaming announced, in November, that they will merge. United Property Owners of Redmond, Wash., is coming together with One Nation of Oklahoma to form a new non-partisan anti-Indian organization called One Nation United. The new organization says it will have some 300,000 members across all 50 states. New York is to be represented on the One Nation United Advisory Board by David Vickers, president of anti-Indian organization Upstate Citizens for Equality. A new anti Indian rights organization, birthed from Citizens Equal Rights Foundation, a Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare, is working in the U.S. and Canada, at: www.caicw.org. For one Indian view of its work contact Susanne Aikman, ZSAikman@webtv.net.

International Activities

Tribal peoples around the world appealed to the British government on UN Human Rights Day, December 10, to stop following the U.S. in opposing their rights. The UK and the USA are together blocking an historic UN declaration on indigenous rights, claiming that collective human rights do not exist. Collective rights are essential for the survival of tribal peoples. The UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples ended with the close of last year, during which a draft declaration on their rights was completed following hundreds of consultations with indigenous representatives. If agreed upon it would stand beside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marking a turning point for indigenous peoples. But at the latest round of talks in Geneva, the UK and the U.S. continued to stall the declaration's progress. Indigenous protests in Britain against the government's international policy relating to native people also took place on Commonwealth Day, March 14. In May, Survival launched a new campaign to highlight the use of harmful stereotypes, such as 'stone age' and 'primitive', in media coverage of tribal people. For more information contact Miriam Ross, Survival International, 6 Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7ET, UK, Tel: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700, mr@survival-international.org, or info@survival-international.org, http://www.survival-international.org.

On February 7th, the U.S. Mission to the Organization of the American States (OAS) invited participants in the negotiations of the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to attend a reception at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Around 100 indigenous delegates boycotted the reception to send a message to the U.S. government: dishonorable negotiations will not be tolerated. The Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus stated, "We cannot accept an invitation to be honored in the halls of the National Museum of the American Indian when the U.S. and Canada have shown us a complete lack of honor and respect during the negotiations of the OAS Draft Declaration. These two States are putting forth positions that do not recognize the fundamental human rights of indigenous peoples.” Early February marked the Fifth Meeting of Negotiations in the Quest for Points of Consensus of the OAS Working Group to Elaborate the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

An international campaign led by Survival International and local protest has brought authorities in India to increase the size of the reserve set aside for the recently-contacted Jarawa tribe by 180 sq km, which is crucial for the tribe's survival, For details, contact Survival International: http://www.survival-international.org/news.htm. In March, Survival International launched a boycott of Botswana at the world's largest tourism fair, ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) Berlin, asking people not to go on holiday in Botswana until the Bushmen are allowed to return to their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and to hunt and gather freely. On June 22, Survival International picketed the opening, in New York, of the first De Beers diamond store in the U.S. over the eviction of the Bushmen from the Kalahari to allow De Beers to mine diamonds on their reserve, and has also called for a boycott of De Beers.

In May, Survival International reported that a small tribe of uncontacted Indians in the Brazilian Amazon is facing annihilation as loggers invade their land, forcing them to flee further and further into the forest. Logging companies are chopping down the Indians' forest in the Rio Pardo area in the states of Amazonas and Mato Grosso, despite repeated reports of the existence of isolated Indians in the area. Empty Indian villages have been found with footprints by the streams, and signs that the Indians have left in a hurry. 'The Indians will be annihilated if we don't act now,' says Sydney Possuelo, head of the isolated Indians unit of the government's Indians affairs department, FUNAI. 'To witness a people being annihilated without even giving them the opportunity to scream, is a scandal.' He believes there may be three other groups of uncontacted Indians in the region. Elsewhere in Brazil, three long-running Survival campaigns have helped Indians win back their land in recent months, as the Awá, the Makuxi and other tribes of Raposa-Serra do Sol and two Guarani communities have had their land officially recognized. Survival's director Stephen Corry said, 'It took over twenty years for the Awá and the Makuxi to win back their land. The Indians of Rio Pardo don't have this long. Brazil must act now to protect them and stop the loggers - otherwise yet another Brazilian tribe will be consigned to history. The annihilation of a tribe, however small, is of course genocide.'

The Indigenous Environmental Network has organized a planning committee for an organized Indigenous presence at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City, March 16-22, 2006, With water scarcity and quality issues increasing world wide, IEW considers it essential that indigenous people again have a significant voice at the water forum. For information contact Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, P,O. Box 485, Bemidji, MN (218)751-4967, ien@igc.org, www.ienearth.org. The forum is at: http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/default.asp. On World Water Day, March 22, Gana and Gwi Bushman in Botswana asked the government to allow them access to water. The government cut off the delivery of water to Bushman communities in the reserve when it evicted them in 2002. The government then smashed Bushman water boreholes and poured their supplies into the sand. Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Officials are emptying the water containers of the more than 200 bushman who have returned home.

The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East (RAIPON) appealed to the public and mass media to support the protest action, on January 20, of the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, with the support of Sakhalin’s social movements and parties, against the construction of two pipelines pumping oil and gas from the Okhotsk Sea shelf across the length and breadth of Sakhalin Island. These pipelines will cross 1,103 rivers and brooks comprising salmon spawning areas and will split the migration routes of wild animals and domestic reindeer in two. The full length of the land pipelines will lie on seismic zones of potential earthquake magnitude 8-9 and will cross 44 tectonic faults of different types no less than 55 times. The potential for danger to the population Sakhalin - the Nivkhi, Nanai and Ulchi, who have a traditional self-subsistence economy based on fishing, hunting, reindeer herding and wild plant gathering – is clear and the impact these projects will have on Sakhalin Island’s eco-system and close-lying areas of water is undoubted. Yet these projects are already being implemented by transnational companies Exxon, Shell, British Petroleum, Sakhalin Energy and their subsidiaries, in serious violation of Russian legislation and international standards, with no benefit whatsoever to the island’s population. The Vth Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Sakhalin Region, held on October 29, 2004, came to the following decision: “To commence a process of defence of our constitutional rights via protest actions against oil companies violating indigenous peoples’ rights according to the norms and principles of international justice and Russian legislation”. This decision has been supported by the Russian Association of Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East. On December 15, 2004 RAIPON and the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North held a meeting at the Sakhalin regional Duma in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with the participation of the Chairman of the Duma, 8 deputies, representatives of Sakhalin Energy, Rosneft, British Petroleum, Exxon and the head of the Sakhalin Administration’s Department for Indigenous Affairs. Participants in the meeting were again informed that Sakhalin’s indigenous peoples are suffering the negative effects of intensive oil and gas exploitation. As a way of solving the problem, a draft Memorandum was submitted to stakeholders, calling for the following:

· The conducting of an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (Ethnological expertise) for all industrial projects.

· The creation of a Sakhalin Indigenous Peoples’ Development Fund. This will be extremely necessary in terms of the industrial developing of Sakhalin Island.

· The creation of a special permanent Working Group to achieve the Memorandum’s goals (i.e. EIA implementation and Fund creation) .

Unfortunately, the meeting’s participants were unable to reach an agreement and the Memorandum was not accepted. Since the indigenous peoples of Sakhalin can see no other way to defend their lands and traditional lifestyle, they have decided to commence protest actions such as road blocks and pipeline blocks. For information contact the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Prospekt Mira, build. 245-Б, apart. 74, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 693000, Russia, green-sakhalin@mail.ru, Fax +7 4242 72 13 46, and Olga Murashko or Yana Dordina at RAIPON, P.O. box 110, Moscow, 119415, Russia,Tel/fax: +7 095 78 0 87 27 raipon@online.ru; murkre@aha.ru.

Grassroots International works to assist indigenous people around the world in regaining control of resources, power and control of their livelihoods. "From indigenous communities agriculture on Oxaca's abandoned coffee farms to Brazils Landless Workers Movement settling thousands of landless families on fallow land, every community has its unique tools to survive and develop. Every community has its own local 'piggy bank'. Grassroots International is proud to help people put these tools to use to build fair economies and protect human rights. A brutal global economy and U.S. policies that often hurt rather than help, make this a daunting task." For details contact Grassroots International, 179 Boylston St., 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02130 (617)524-1400, info@grassrootsonline.org, www.grassrootsonline.org.

The Save Our Wild Salmon Summit, in May, at Terrace, British Columbia, including representatives of a dozen First Nations bands, commercial and recreational fishermen, and concerned citizens called for a moratorium on salmon farm expansion, because the farms have been blamed for harming wild fish.

Gardens of Heaven: A Center for Transformation was created in 2003 in Costa Rica as a center for the transformation of consciousness on the planet from a Human based to an Earth based value system. For information contact Tom Heye, P,O. Box 927, Richland, WA, H: (509)943-1670, W: (509)943-2676

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