How does measuring poverty and welfare affect American Indian children?

From Brookings:

For one group of children in particular, American Indians and Alaska Natives, exceedingly high poverty rates have had profound impacts on community wellbeing and long-term cohesiveness. Given the best available data, from the U.S. Census data, child poverty rates among American Indians and Alaska Natives have consistently exceeded 40% for almost the past 30 years.

Here.

Colville Member Prevails in B.C.’s High Court on Right to Hunt in Canada

Here’s a news article.  Mr. Desautel prevailed as a descendant of the Sinixt Tribe. Decision is here.

International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 Helps Legalize Land Grabs on Indigenous Territories

From Truth-Out.org:

“Because Convention 169 commits the signatory states to guarantee the integrity of Indigenous peoples, it’s been frequently invoked by Indigenous communities and peoples, especially in Latin America, when defending their territories in court. But the Convention has clear limitations that actually jeopardize its intent.”

HERE.

July 4th: No Time for Celebration for Indigenous Peoples in US

The Anglo-American settlers’ violent break from Britain, from 1775 to 1783, paralleled a decade of their search and destroy annihilation of Delaware, Cherokee, Muskogee, Seneca, Mohawk, Shawnee, Miami and other nations’ villages and fields, slaughtering the residents without distinction of age or gender and overrunning the boundaries of the 13 colonies into unceded Native American territories.

Here

Prime Minister Trudeau’s Mandate to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Link to letter here.

“I made a personal commitment to bring new leadership and a new tone to Ottawa. We made a commitment to Canadians to pursue our goals with a renewed sense of collaboration. Improved partnerships with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments are essential to deliver the real, positive change that we promised Canadians. No relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with Indigenous Peoples. It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.”

Some top priorities:

  • “Develop, in collaboration with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, and supported by the Minister of Status of Women, an approach to, and a mandate for, an inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada, including the identification of a lead Minister.
  • Work with the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to address gaps in services to Aboriginal people and those with mental illness throughout the criminal justice system.”

Indigenous Women’s Movements to End Violence Against American Indian, Alaska Native, and Aboriginal Women

The Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, Indian Law Resource Center, National Congress of American Indians, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and Native Women’s Association of Canada are co-sponsoring an event to  be held during the NGO-Forum of the Commission on the Status of Women’s 60th Session.

The event  will take place on Tuesday, March 22nd at 4:30 p.m., at the United Nations Church Center Chapel.

More information can be found here.

CSW-parallelevent

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Releases Decision on Discrimination Against Children Living on Reserves

Here is the decision.

AANDC’s [Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada] design, management and control of the FNCFS [First Nations Child and Family Services] Program, along with its
corresponding funding formulas and the other related provincial/territorial agreements have resulted in denials of services and created various adverse impacts for many First
Nations children and families living on reserves.

Here is the media coverage.

This is a tremendous and long-fought victory for the First Nations and Family Caring Society, who brought the claim, and Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the Society and incredible driving force behind the claim.

Navajo Blame EPA Inaction for Suicides

From The Daily Beast:
“For most Americans, the third week of December is about wrapping up Christmas shopping and prepping for a whirlwind of family gatherings. But for the leaders of the Navajo Nation, it’s about something much heavier: suicide prevention.”

Article is HERE.

 

 

 

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report Signals Time for Government to Act

The head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday wound up a six-year odyssey that chronicled decades of suffering and tragedy in thousands of pages of testimony from victims of the residential school system.

Huff Post Canada link HERE

CBC Coverage here and here.

 

EPA Accepting Comments on Revised Interpretation of CWA Tribal Provisions

Link to Request for Comments here.

EPA proposes to conclude definitively that section 518 includes an express delegation of authority by Congress to eligible Indian tribes to administer regulatory programs over their entire reservations. This reinterpretation would eliminate the need for applicant tribes to demonstrate inherent authority to regulate under the Act, thus allowing tribes to implement the congressional delegation of authority unhindered by requirements not specified in the statute. The reinterpretation would also bring EPA’s treatment of tribes under the Clean Water Act in line with EPA’s treatment of tribes under the Clean Air Act, which has similar statutory language addressing tribal regulation of Indian reservation areas.

Comments must be submitted by October 6, 2015.