Indigenous Rights Movements & the Law

Aboriginal, Native American, Indian, or Indigenous Peoples laws all generally refer to American laws relating to Native Americans, also known as American

Summary of H.R.5444 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act

Native tribes are reliant on their local water sources, which have been continuously exploited and contaminated by the U.S. government and non-Native people. Indigenous groups are finding new ways to demand justice.

The new Arizona Native Scholars Grant program, the first of its kind in the state, will cover tuition and fees for full-time, in-state undergraduate students from Arizona's 22 federally recognized

On the second-to-last day of the 2021-22 term, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Oklahoma — and all other states — possesses concurrent jurisdiction with the federal government over crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country, wiping away centuries of tradition and practice. Vi

Tribes across the U.S. and in Arizona are studying three Supreme Court decisions, and ponder what another case means for the future.

An 8-part series that tells the stories of four students: three who survived and one who didn’t. They attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools – where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day. Hosted by Duncan McCue. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.

Native Hawaiians have protested the $2.65bn project, saying it will further defile an area already harmed by other observatories

The University of Arizona has announced its new "Arizona Native Scholars Grant" program that will cover tuition and mandatory fees for full-time undergraduate students from Arizona's 22 federally recognized tribes who plan study at the main Tucson campus.

BARRE, Mass. (AP) — One by one, items purportedly taken from Native Americans massacred at Wounded Knee Creek emerged from the dark, cluttered display cases where they’ve sat for more than a century in a museum in rural Massachusetts.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho officials violated the federal Clean Air Act as well as the state’s regulations by issuing an air quality permit for a proposed gold mine in west-central Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe and two conservation groups said.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, July 28th, 2022 Contact Natalie Cook 651-295-3483 Treaty Rights, Land and Water Pollution, and Climate at Issue in Clearwater County Case BAGLEY, MN – Today a Clearwater County Judge heard arguments with far-reaching implications for Indigenous treaty rights as they relate to extractive industry, land and water pollution, and climate change. In treaties with the United States, Anishinaabe peoples retained the right to engage in spiritual and cultural activities. I

Last month, the University of WI Law School hosted a weeklong legal boot camp culminating the National Tribal Trial College’s Certificate in Tribal Court Legal Advocacy.  This free, 6-month, skill-building course empowers laypersons to practice …

The program applies to undergraduate and graduate students who are members of federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and will begin in the fall.

Tribe Chairman says the case may be “the most important Tribal Supreme Court case of our generation.”

We continue our Earth Day special by looking at how Indigenous peoples are protecting the Earth. We follow the journey of Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, an awar...

Today's interview, with Dr. Katharina Ruckstuhl of the University of Otago, looks at why and how we should implement research infrastructure processes that support Indigenous knowledge.

QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the Maine Indian Settlement Acts— consistent with this Court’s precedents on statutory interpretation and the Indian canons of construction— codify the historical understanding of the Penobscot,Nation, the United States, and the State that the Penobscot Reservation encompasses the Main Stem of the Penobscot River.

The bill, which faces opposition from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, passed 81-55 and now goes to the Senate.

Crimes against indigenous women are the subject of increasing public concern and awareness. Government officials – tribal, federal, and state – have established initiatives to address the disturbingly disproportionate rates of violent crimes perpetrated against indigenous women. The tools these gove

The Rappahannock Tribe, a Native Tribe in Virginia, has reacquired 465 acres of sacred land at Fones Cliff.

The Lummi Nation, on the US west coast, has faced addiction issues for decades. Now they are utilizing a combination of culturally-based healing and western approaches

Australia’s stunning galleries of rock art are vast repositories of knowledge that can teach us much.

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GENDER, INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, AND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHEAST BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Environmentalists and some Alaskan Native communities had opposed the plan over climate, wildlife and food-shortage fears

The Navajo Nation is providing new safe water sources for in-home use to residents living in homes with no piped water during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.This website describes how people without piped water in their homes can gain access to water from safe sources. This website provides information on water point locations, operating hours, and contact information. There is also information provided that will explain the importance of accessing and hauling your drinking and cooking water from safe water points.This site is best viewed using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge explorers. It does not work on Internet Explorer.

In the United States the use of unregulated water sources – defined as sources that do not meet criteria to be classified as a public water system as defined by the Safe Drinking Water Act - are used regularly for livestock watering, agriculture, domestic, and other purposes. Nationally, more than 45 million people rely on unregulated water sources for drinking water; however, there remains infrastructure disparities for drinking water access in communities on Tribal nations. For the Navajo Nation, a sovereign Indigenous nation in the Southwestern United States, between 7% and 30% of homes lack plumbing to deliver household drinking water, so residents are compelled to access other water sources – regulated and unregulated alike. Previous unregulated water quality studies on the Navajo Nation were regionally focused and unsuitable for evaluating water quality trends across the Navajo Nation, an area that encompasses more than 71,000 square kilometers in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Therefore, beginning in 2011 the Community Environmental Health Program at the University of New Mexico began to compile existing water quality datasets, principally for unregulated groundwater sources, in a single geospatial relational database. Researchers at the University of New Mexico Center for Native Environmental Health Equity Research of the New Mexico METALS Superfund Research Program, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, and the Southwest Research and Information Center have compiled a database of water quality measurements from groundwater wells on the Navajo Nation using data from the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, and data from researchers at the University of New Mexico, Diné College and Northern Arizona University. To date, this data compilation has been used for publications but has not been disseminated publicly. The purpose of this website is to facilitate access to these compiled water quality data. The application design enables users to view water quality information using statistical and geospatial tools. Our hope is that this information will support individual and community decisions about water use from unregulated sources.