Canada: Indigenous land rights in court

From - Nuchatlaht First Nation: How a Legal Battle Could Change Land Rights for Good Indigenous groups have been fighting for land for decades, often with disappointing results

by Troy Sebastian / Nupqu ʔa·kǂ am̓
Illustration by bailey macabre / Cedar Sage Skoden 
Updated 10:26, Feb. 13, 2023 | Published 6:30, Feb. 13, 2023 

Robed figures entered the room in silence and took their seats on the dais at the Supreme Court of Canada in regal movements. Lawyers fidgeted as our delegation of Ktunaxa elders, leaders, and youth packed into a stockade-like public gallery. The hour was early, but it felt as though the day had already passed. This was the place to be, and yet it was not the location where justice was found.

Will a request for a Declaration of Aboriginal Title prevail?

Universities and Museums start to return Native American artifacts and remains.

Dozens of Museums and Universities Pledge to Return Native American Remains. Few Have Funded the Effort. Reporting from nearly 50 local newsrooms, based on ProPublica’s “Repatriation Project,” has sparked a wave of apologies and commitment to returning ancestral remains. But without funding for the work tribal nations could still face empty promises.

https://www.propublica.org/article/museums-universities-pledge-to-return-native-american-remains and the Repatriation Project, https://www.propublica.org/series/the-repatriation-project.

Canada, Australia, and Mexico, address Indigenous issues before the United Nations Human Rights Council

https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/03/human-rights-council-hears-16-dignitaries-it-continues-its-high-level-segment

Re-forestation using local resources in Kenya

Using charcoal seedballs in Kenya to replant local forests. Charcoal-coated seedballs are re-planting Kenya’s lost forests. A method that could be utilised by other communities facing def0restation.

Nansemond tribe gets back 500 acres of tribal land

History was marked in a quiet ceremony at the Tribal Center overlooking the Nansemond River on a glorious fall day. It was emotional for the Tribe and donors.

"What an amazing day for the Nansemond Tribe," Dominion Energy Tribal Relations Manager Ken Custalow said as he choked up. Custalow is a member of the Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division Tribe and affiliated with the Mattaponi Tribe. "Congratulations on the return of part of your homelands. This is a great day for you as well as Virginia and the national Native community and for me personally." Continued here: Nansemond get back tribal land

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

The UN celebrated the 2022 International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August 2022. This year's theme was The role of indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge See the link above for more information.

Indigenous Rights in Canada

From the US Library of Congress: FALQs: The Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement Act; The Indian Act; and the UNDRIP:

A brief review of Indigenous Rights in Canada.

New bill for Alaska Native Education

https://nativenewsonline.net/education/a-proposed-tribal-education-compacting-bill-could-overhaul-education-for-alaska-natives

Finland establishes the Sami Truth and Reconciiation Commission

From the US Library of Congress:

Finland: Sami Truth and Reconciliation Commission Established

On October 28, 2021, the Finnish government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the historical treatment of the indigenous Sami population and promote the attainment of the Sami people’s rights.

Finnish law recognizes the Sami people as indigenous to Finland, and the Finnish Constitution affords them protection as a native people. (17 § Finlands Grundlag (FFS 11.6.1999/731).) Thus, the Sami people have a right to exercise their culture and language. The Sami people’s right to use its language is further regulated in the Sami Language Act (Samisk språklag (FFS 15.12.2003/1086)), whereas the Sami Parliament Act (Sametingslag (FFS 17.7.1995/974)) provides for the establishment of a Sami Parliament and specifies that the Sami, because of their status as indigenous, “shall be guaranteed cultural autonomy within their home area in matters concerning their language and culture. For the management of matters belonging to the cultural autonomy, the ‘Sami’ shall, by elections conducted among them, elect a Sami parliament.” (1 § Sametingslagen.)

Continued: https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2021-11-18/finland-sami-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-established/

American Indian Tribal Law projects

A blog post from the Foreign and Comparative Law section of the American Association of Law Libraries reviews some efforts to collect and publish tribal law statutes, legislation, and court decisions in the USA.AALL 2021 Recap: Sovereignty, Native America, and Legal Culture: Why Accessing and Understanding Tribal Law Just Became More Important

Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Since 2014 the UN has been working toward the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. See, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/InternationalDecade/Pages/ForumPeopleAfricanDescent.aspx for more details.

World Indigenous Forum, 13-14 January 2021

Indigenous Business for a Fairer Future
Go here for more information on the online program: https://www.worldindigenousforum.com/welcome

Article: Environmental Justice

Environmental conflicts and defenders: a global overview is a free access article from Global Environmental Change.

Abstract:

Recent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global sustainability and emphasize their need for protection against violence and repression. However, effective support may benefit from a more systematic understanding of the underlying environmental conflicts, as well as from better knowledge on the factors that enable environmental defenders to mobilize successfully. We have created the global Environmental Justice Atlas to address this knowledge gap. 

Here we present a large-n analysis of 2743 cases that sheds light on the characteristics of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved, as well as on successful mobilization strategies. 

We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially just uses of the environment occur worldwide across all income groups, testifying to the global existence of various forms of grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability. Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups who employ largely non-violent protest forms. In 11% of cases globally, they contributed to halt environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects, defending the environment and livelihoods. Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest diversification and litigation can increase this success rate significantly to up to 27%. 

However, defenders face globally also high rates of criminalization (20% of cases), physical violence (18%), and assassinations (13%), which significantly increase when Indigenous people are involved. Our results call for targeted actions to enhance the conditions enabling successful mobilizations, and for specific support for Indigenous environmental defenders.

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Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities

Book Review:

Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities.

How scientists are working to partner with indigenous communities for genomics research: SING

From Illinois Public Media News: Christine Herman, reporting:

How scientists are working to partner with indigenous communities for genomics research

Many scientists are interested in studying the DNA of Indigenous populations in an effort to reveal the "human migration story" and contribute to our understanding about the genetic basis of disease.

But many in the Indigenous community feel these scientific pursuits have a history of being exploitative, achieved without consideration of the needs or interests of the people who have contributed their DNA for science.

The result is a lack of trust between Indigenous people and scientists, said University of Illinois anthropologist Ripan Malhi.

“There's a long history (of) anthropologists and scientists going to Indigenous communities, getting what they need, leaving and never coming back,” Malhi said. “I learned early on that that was the norm in science and anthropology up until recently.”

Summer Internships for Indigenous People in Genomics

Landmark: A world map of Indigenous Lands

From Medium:

This Alternative to Google Maps Aims to Protect Indigenous Land


Even high tech often ignores indigenous lands, but an ambitious mapping project called LandMark is helping communities stake their claims

Japan to recognize Ainu as "an indigenous people" reversing 1899 non-recognition law

Japan prepares law to finally recognize and protect its indigenous Ainu people https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-prepares-law-to-finally-recognize-and-protect-its-indigenous-ainu-people/2019/02/15/2c85a0d8-3113-11e9-ac6c-14eea99d5e24_story.html

Japan finally began to acknowledge the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic group in recent decades, under domestic and international pressure. The 1899 law was repealed in 1997, and funds were provided to promote Ainu culture, helping to revive their language, dance and music.

In 2008, Japan’s two houses of parliament passed a joint resolution recognizing the Ainu for the first time as “an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture.”

The new draft bill aims to give some legal weight to that symbolic gesture.

It recognizes the Ainu as an indigenous people for the first time in legislation and lists its objective as “realizing a society that will respect the pride of the Ainu as an ethnic group.” It sets aside money to promote Ainu culture and makes it easier for Ainu people to log in state-owned forests and catch salmon in rivers, NHK reported.

Ancient nuclear genomes enable repatriation of Indigenous human remains

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/12/eaau5064

Abstract

After European colonization, the ancestral remains of Indigenous people were often collected for scientific research or display in museum collections. For many decades, Indigenous people, including Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, have fought for their return. However, many of these remains have no recorded provenance, making their repatriation very difficult or impossible. To determine whether DNA-based methods could resolve this important problem, we sequenced 10 nuclear genomes and 27 mitogenomes from ancient pre-European Aboriginal Australians (up to 1540 years before the present) of known provenance and compared them to 100 high-coverage contemporary Aboriginal Australian genomes, also of known provenance.

We report substantial ancient population structure showing strong genetic affinities between ancient and contemporary Aboriginal Australian individuals from the same geographic location. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of successfully identifying the origins of unprovenanced ancestral remains using genomic methods.

Article continues http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/12/eaau5064

UN Human Rights Day: 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UN Human Rights Day

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 70
Let's stand up for equality, justice and human dignity

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, Human Rights Day marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being -- regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. It is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages.

International Day for Genocide Prevention and Remembrance: 70th Aninversary of the Genocide Convention

International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime 9 December http://www.un.org/en/events/genocidepreventionday/index.shtml

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The 9th of December is the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”). This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Convention.

The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the Genocide Convention and its role in combating and preventing the crime of genocide, as defined in the Convention, and to commemorate and honour its victims.

In adopting the resolution, without a vote, the 193-member Assembly reiterated the responsibility of each individual State to protect its populations from genocide, which entails the prevention of such a crime, including incitement to it.