Author: Sarah M Donnelly

The Atlantic: Why Several Native Americans Are Suing the Mormon Church

Sarah M Donnelly2 Comments

Links: Sunday’s article by Lilly Fowler, earlier post with briefs

Excerpt:

The location where the cases are litigated will prove crucial. These lawsuits have been filed in Navajo Nation District Court in Window Rock, Arizona. But the LDS Church is fighting to have the lawsuits dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, arguing the alleged abuse took place outside the reservation. The Navajo Nation allows alleged sexual-abuse victims to bring claims up to two years from the time when the harm of their abuse is discovered, accounting for the time it can take for people to realize the nature of their injuries. Other jurisdictions have stricter statutes of limitations to ensure claims are brought in a timely manner. In Utah’s civil courts, the statute of limitations for child sex abuse was recently eliminated, but only when the case is brought against the alleged perpetrator personally. The recent change in Utah law would not benefit those in the Indian Student Placement Program because the LDS Church is named as a defendant, and many, if not all, of the perpetrators are deceased. If the lawsuits were refiled in Utah, or one of many other states with a shorter statute of limitations, they would likely be dismissed.

David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests, an organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual abuse, said it often takes years for those affected by abuse to talk about it. “The more isolated and powerlessness victims … feel, the longer it takes for them to come forward,” Clohessy said. And “even if they had the smarts to understand they were being hurt, the courage to report it, given how many whites felt about Native Americans, many would find these boys and girls not particularly credible … This particular program is a predator’s dream.”

Further documents and briefs in the matter of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, et al v. RJ et al, 16-cv-00453 (D. Utah):

Doc. 17 Second Amended Complaint for Declaratory Judgment

Doc. 19 Amended Motion for Preliminary Injunction

Doc. 24 Combined Memorandum in Support of Amended Motion for Preliminary Injunction, and in Response to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint for Declaratory Judgment

Doc. 25 Reply to Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendants’ Objection and Motion to Dismiss

Doc. 29 Defendants’ Objection to Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint for Declaratory Judgment

Save the Date: Implementing VAWA in California

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): VAWA conference flyer YT 10 16

Implementing VAWA in California: Navigating Jurisdictional Waters
Yurok Tribal Office, Klamath, CA
November 17-18, 2016

This FREE regional training event will address topics including:

  • Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
  • Recognition and Enforcement of Tribal Protection Orders
  • Public Law 280 in California
  • BIPs – Best Practices for Offender Accountability
  • Engaging Men and Boys to Stop the Cycle of Violence
  • Coordinated Community Responses in Tribal Communities

Included with your registration is admission to a special live presentation of the acclaimed play, Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sliver of a Full Moon, depicting the historic passage of VAWA.

Register online for FREE at: http://NCTCC.eventbee.com/event?eid=145643524

For more information:
Contact Vicki Bates: vbates@yuroktribe.nsn.us or (708) 482-1350 extension #1344
Visit the Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/1739122973028450/

Hosted by the Yurok Tribe
through a grant from the United States Department of Justice
Office on Violence Against Women.

Schaghticoke Indians Want $600 Million For Lost Land

Sarah M Donnelly1 Comment

Link: Hartford Courant article by Kenneth R. Gosselin

Download(PDF): Complaint in re Schaghticoke Tribal Nation v. State of Connecticut (Oct. 13, 2016)

Excerpt from article:

In a lawsuit filed in Hartford on Thursday, the Kent tribe alleges the state took the land it was managing for the Schaghticokes — eventually amounting to 2,000 acres — without compensating the tribe. The lawsuit contends the tribe is owed at least $613 million, but the tribe says it expects that number to rise because it has not been able to determine the value of all the tracts.

Internship for Native American and Alaska Native students

Sarah M Donnelly

The Udall Foundation offers exceptional opportunities for Native American and Alaska Native students, and we would love for you to forward this information to students involved with your organization.

Native American Congressional Internship: This ten-week summer internship in Washington, D.C., is for Native American and Alaska Native students who wish to learn more about the federal government and issues affecting Indian Country. The Udall Foundation provides round-trip airfare, housing, per diem for food and incidentals, and a stipend at the close of the program. View the application and sign up for free webinars. You may also visit udall.gov to see what some of our alumni are up to now.

Please share this information and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. We’d also love to see you on Facebook, where we share application tips and alumni share job announcements: Native Education @ Udall Foundation.

Application Deadline: January 31st

The Times’ Article on Wells Fargo Targeting Per Capita Payments

Sarah M Donnelly1 Comment

Link: ‘Lions Hunting Zebras’: Ex-Wells Fargo Bankers Describe Abuses by Stacy Cowley

Excerpt:

In the Phoenix area, managers gleefully looked forward to the days when the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community made its quarterly per capita distribution payments, said Mr. Hansen, the former branch manager in Scottsdale.

Members of the Native American community would head straight to the bank with their checks, and employees would encourage them to use the money to open new accounts. Sometimes it was on the up and up: Mr. Hansen said that he looked forward to being able to open several dozen new accounts in one day but that he always tried to match customers with products that fit their needs.

Others did not. Mr. Hansen learned that one enterprising branch manager had invented “per capita day packages,” jammed with five or more bank accounts. Customers would be told that they needed separate accounts for such purposes as traveling, grocery shopping and saving for an emergency.

“They would deposit their money and get hit with fees like crazy, because they got confused about what account they were using,” Mr. Hansen said. “They would use the wrong debit card and overdraw their travel account, and then when they came back three months later, they would lose hundreds of dollars from their next check paying off those fees.”

Director of Student Services and Skills Posting for Lakehead University

Sarah M Donnelly

One contract position (three-year term), Thunder Bay Campus

Highly organized and possessing excellent interpersonal skills, you will play a key role in the administration of our legal program. Working closely with the Dean, you will be responsible for providing the coordination of services for student recruitment and retention, delivering the Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC), assisting course instructors with developing skills-exercise content for their courses, coordinating the third-year Practice Placement program with legal supervisors, and offering career support for upper level students.

You have a JD or LL.B. degree and three years of legal practice experience. Ideally, you possess membership in the Law Society of Upper Canada, have knowledge of Indigenous communities, and have previous experience with post-secondary administration, program development, and/or post-secondary instructional delivery. Collaborative and able to work with individuals of various backgrounds, you have outreach experience with law firms, legal departments in government organizations, and other community legal entities. Some travel is required.

This position is an initial three-year full-time contract with potential for renewal and is subject to budgetary approval. Salary is commensurate with experience. If you are interested in applying, please submit your curriculum vitae and cover letter outlining your experience to:

Lakehead University – Office of Human Resources
University Centre
Room UC-0003
fax: 807-346-7701
e-mail: careers@lakeheadu.ca

The deadline for applications is December 9, 2016. If you have questions about this position, please feel free to contact, Dean EagleWoman at lawfaculty@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals including women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal persons, and persons with disabilities. If you require accommodations for interviews or other meetings, please contact Human Resources at (807) 343-8334. We appreciate your interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be notified.

NIWRC Hiring Native Affairs Senior Advisor for StrongHearts Helpline

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): NIWRC-StrongHearts Senior Advisor

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. (NIWRC) is a Native nonprofit organization that was created specifically to serve as the National Indian Resource Center (NIRC) Addressing Domestic Violence and Safety for Indian Women. Under this grant project and in compliance with statutory requirements, the NIWRC will seek to enhance the capacity of American Indian and Alaska Native (Native) tribes, Native Hawaiians, and Tribal and Native Hawaiian organizations to respond to domestic violence.

AmeriCorps Attorney Opening in Utah

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): DNA_AmeriCorps Member Posting

DNA-People’s Legal Services in Shiprock, NM, has an opening for an AmeriCorps Member: Medical-Legal Partnership Attorney in Montezuma Creek/Monument Valley, Utah. This attorney would partner with Utah Navajo Health System to provide legal services to patients.

Aboriginal & Indigenous Law Faculty Posting for Lakehead University

Sarah M Donnelly

Tenure Track Position – Aboriginal and Indigenous Law Curriculum

Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law invites applications for a tenure track position to teach within the Aboriginal and Indigenous Law curriculum. Rank of appointment is commensurate with qualifications, teaching, and research. The appointment will commence on July 1, 2017. Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2016 and continue until the position is filled. Aboriginal and Indigenous candidates are encouraged to apply.

The ideal candidate will have teaching and research expertise in Indigenous legal traditions. Given the Faculty’s presence in Anishinaabe and Métis territory, preference will be given to qualified candidates with research and teaching expertise in either Anishinaabe law or Métis law or both. The Faculty invites candidates to discuss their experience engaging with the language, worldview, traditions, and protocols of an Indigenous people, and the ways in which their teaching and research address the relationship between Indigenous laws and Indigenous languages, worldviews, traditions, and protocols, where such is the case. The Faculty encourages applications from candidates who employ Indigenous pedagogy in their teaching, including land-based pedagogy.

The Bora Laskin Faculty of Law has a tripartite mandate, which includes a focus on Aboriginal and Indigenous law, natural resources and environmental law, and rural and small firm practice. The Faculty’s Integrated Practice Curriculum incorporates the requirement of articling into the Faculty’s three-year program. The Law Society of Upper Canada has approved the Integrated Practice Curriculum; as a result, successful graduates may be called to the bar in Ontario without completing a separate period of articles. Our faculty have experience practicing law, and many of our courses include skills-based exercises. The Faculty encourages applications from those who have experience in the practice of Indigenous law, and who can incorporate Indigenous skills exercise into their courses.

Applicants must have a law degree, and preference will be given to those who also have a graduate degree in law. Complete applications will consist of the following:

  • a cover letter that includes a teaching and research statement;
  • a curriculum vitae,
  • Law transcripts;
  • up to two samples of published research; and,
  • the names and email addresses of three referees.

Complete applications should be sent to:
Dean Angelique EagleWoman
Bora Laskin Faculty of Law
Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON  P7B 5E1
e-mail: lawfaculty@lakeheadu.ca

If you have questions about this position, please feel free to contact Dean EagleWoman, at lawfaculty@lakeheadu.ca. Review of the applications will begin November 15, 2016 and continue until the positions are filled.

A completed Confirmation of Eligibility to Work in Canada form should be submitted with the application.

Lakehead University is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals including women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal persons, and persons with disabilities. We appreciate your interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be notified. Lakehead University is committed to supporting an accessible environment. Please ask us how we may help you by contacting the Office of Human Resources, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Room UC0003, Thunder Bay, ON  P7B 5E1 (807) 343-8334 or e-mail human.resources@lakeheadu.ca.

NIGC Summer Intern Opportunity

Sarah M Donnelly

Download(PDF): Summer Intern Position with NIGC 2017

The National Indian Gaming Commission’s Office of General Counsel is seeking applicants for a paid intern position for the summer of 2017 in Washington, DC. The Office of General Counsel’s summer internship program is for students who have completed at least their first year of law school. The intern is expected to work at least 40 hours per week.

Deadline: Thursday, December 1, 2016