The official announcement can be found here.
BIA to hold Sacred Sites Listening Sessions.
The official announcement can be found here.
Aboriginal Rights
First Stewards Climate Change Symposium
Coastal First Peoples are currently gathered in Washington DC to discuss climate change impacts and response strategies. Symposium details, including live streaming video of presentations, can be found here.
Globe and Mail: All But 2 Recently Appointed Canadian Federal Judges Are White
Here.
Thanks to N.X.
Updated Supreme Court of Canada Aboriginal Law Stats
Here’s the updated stats after the recent decision, R. v. Ipeelee, 2012 SCC 13, where the court revisited Gladue and found in favor of aboriginal interests 6-1. Individual percentages in favor of aboriginal interests now range from 29.1% (LeBel – 7/24) to 57.1% (Cromwell – 4/7).
https://turtletalk.blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/supreme-court-of-canada-report-card-2012.pdf
City of Dillingham, Alaska – Proposed Annexation of Nushagak Bay
The City of Dillingham has petitioned to annex a large portion of the Nushagak Bay. The City intends to impose a tax on the sale or use of raw fish within the territory to be annexed. The Petition has been opposed by several Alaska Native groups that rely heavily on Bay resources.
The Petition and related documents can be found here:
http://commerce.alaska.gov/dca/lbc/2010_City_of_Dillingham_Annexation/
The City also has requested preclearance from the Department of Justice to hold the annexation vote, pursuant to the Voting Rights Act of 1965:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/notices/vnote013012.php
Politician’s Comments Spark Indigenous Rights Protest in Australia
Here’s a news article describing the protest of an Australian holiday commemorating the invasion/arrival of British colonists in 1788. The protest heated up after a politician made some comments about recent progress on Native issues and the consequent lack of continued need for indigenous Tent Embassy in the Capital.
Tribal Comments on Wisconsin Mining Proposal
Related to Matthew’s Dec 13 post on tribal objections to proposed Wisconsin mining legislation, see this post here outlining tribal comments at a recent public hearing. Representatives from several Wisconsin tribes pointed out the failure to consult with tribes about legislation that could negatively impact their treaty rights, tribal lands/waters and culturally significant resources.
Fantastic News: Rebecca Tsosie Scholarship Created
From the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law website:
A new scholarship named for Professor Rebecca Tsosie, currently on sabbatical leave from the Indian Legal Program, has been established with a $10,000 pledge from Dr. Gary Weiss and his wife, Cathleen, the parents of Melissa Dempsey, who graduated from the program in May 2011.
The Rebecca Tsosie Spirit of Excellence Award will be given each year to the student who is most committed to the ideals of the program and plans to serve the legal needs of Native communities.
Weiss said Tsosie was a great influence on his daughter’s life, and her choice to attend the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
“The first time we visited ASU, we met Professor Tsosie and I was extremely impressed,” Weiss said. “She was very helpful talking about the school and community and excited and energetic. When we walked out of that meeting, I turned to Melissa and said, ‘There’s no question this is the place you should go. We don’t need to look any further.’
“In the following three years, I continued to be impressed, and we wanted to do whatever we could to help other students have the same experience, to have enough money that they could participate in a law journal without having to worry about where every single penny was coming from.”
Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band v. Canada – Something Smells Fishy About This Decision…
In Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band v. Canada (Attorney General), 2011 SCC 56, the Supreme Court of Canada recently (Nov. 10) dealt a serious blow to any tribes wanting to engage in commercial fisheries within their traditional territories. The unanimous, 7 judge court (McLachlin, Binnie, LeBel, Deschamps, Abella, Charron, and Rothstein) rejected a claim to possession (under s. 35) of an aboriginal right to fish commercially all species in their traditional territories. Before contact with the newcomers, the Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band fished off their ancestral coast for thousands of years, regularly traded fish grease extracted from the eulachon, as well engaged in occassional trade in other fish and fish products. As such, the Lax Kw’alaams sought a declaration as to their aboriginal rights to engage in commercial fishing. The trial judge and later, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, rejected their claim. The Supreme Court followed suit – and Justice Binnie (shouldn’t he be gone by now?), writing for the court, agreed with the lower courts.
No Axes To the Taxes – Marcinyshyn v. R.
Marcinyshyn v. R was recently handed down by the Tax Court of Canada – and is really just more of the same. The aboriginal appellants were denied tax relief because of the failed “connecting factors” test, notwithstanding their argument that the test has become obsolete as a result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bastien and Dubé.
Turtle Talk 
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