Announcements

Indian Heritage Month Talks at GVSU This Week

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Loosemore Auditorium

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Special Guest:  Dennis Banks

Movie:  We Shall Remain: Episode V – Wounded Knee followed by a firsthand discussion with Dennis Banks.

Dennis Banks (Ojibwe) is one of the co-founders of the American Indian Movement (AIM).  AIM began in Minneapolis in 1968 to prevent police brutality against urban Indians.  It grew rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Banks took a leading role in the decisions leading to the takeovers of Alcatraz Island and Bureau of Indian Affairs Office in Washington D.C., to bring attention to the poor living conditions American Indians endured throughout the United States.  In 2004, he authored Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

L.V. Eberhard Center, 2nd Floor, Auditorium

7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Movie:  The Business of Fancydancing (Written & directed by Sherman Alexie)

Special Guests:  Paul Collins, Jennifer Gauthier, Shannon Martin

Friday, November 13th, 2009

L.V. Eberhard Center, 2nd Floor

5:15 p.m.: Traditional Native American Ceremony

5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.:  Journey to Forgiveness: Implications for Social Change

Special Guests:  Hunter Genia, George Martin, Shannon Martin

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Seating is first come/first serve – overflow seating in the Eberhard Auditorium and DeVos Center)

Special Guest:  Sherman Alexie

Continue reading →

NALSA Panel Event: Tribal Judges

Kate Fort1 Comment

MSU NALSA is hosting a panel of tribal judges on Wednesday, November 11 at 4:30 pm in the Castle Board Room.  Hon. Michael Petsokey, Hon. Holly Thompson and Hon. Matthew Fletcher will be talking.

Food and drink will be served.

NALSA Tribal Judges Event

NALSA logotest

Talk at Columbia Law School re: DV in Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I’ll be presenting my paper “Addressing the Epidemic of Domestic Violence in Indian Country by Restoring Tribal Sovereignty” at Columbia Law School today, on the gracious invitation of the Columbia NALSA and Domestic Violence Project.

National NALSA Announces 2010 Writing Competition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the flyer — Writing Competition Announcement 2009

Deadline is Dec. 18….

9th Annual National Native American Law Students Association

WRITING COMPETITION

Hosted by the University of Arizona NALSA Chapter

Topic: Advanced topics in Tribal, Indian, or Indigenous law or policy

1st place $2000

2nd place $1000

3rd place $500

The winning article will be published in the Arizona Journal of International & Comparative Law

Papers covering any of the following are eligible:
• Tribal law and policy
• International law and policy concerning indigenous peoples
• Comparative law (i.e. intertribal or government-to-government studies)
Papers will be judged on criteria including: originality, timeliness of topic, quality and creativity of analysis, knowledge and use of relevant law, grammar, punctuation, and citation style.

Linda Hogan to Speak at Aquinas College Next Week

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

As part of the continuing Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College , Linda Hogan, one of the most influential and provocative Native American figures in contemporary American literature, will read and speak in the Wege Center Ballroom on the Aquinas campus.  The event will be held on October 29 at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Hogan, a Chickasaw poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and activist, grew up in a military family, spending most of her childhood in Oklahoma and Colorado .  Hogan received her master’s degree in English and creative writing from the University of Colorado , and was the writer-in-residence for the states of Colorado and Oklahoma .  In 1982 she became an assistant professor in the TRIBES program at Colorado College , Colorado Springs after which she became an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota .  She then moved to the University of Colorado as a professor in the English department.  She left that position to become a full-time writer.  Hogan’s writing is prolific, and she has distinguished herself as a political ideologist and an environmental/philosophical theorist.

Continue reading →

Call for Tribal Signatories for Issue Paper on Indian Country Criminal Justice Issues

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Brent Leonhard has drafted a position paper (or recommendations) addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder in anticipation of next week’s listening session in Minneapolis. He is asking for tribes to sign on to the paper.

Here is the paper:

JOINT RECOMMENDATIONS LETTER (draft)

If interested, please contact Brent as soon as possible at:

M. Brent Leonhard

Deputy Attorney General

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

P.O. Box 638

Pendleton, OR 97801

(541) 966-2023

BrentLeonhard@ctuir.com

Federal Register Notice for Comments on Interior Strategic Plan

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. Of note, the Department is seeking comments about how Interior can improve its tribal self-governance and tribal economic development programs, etc.

November 10, 2009 is the deadline.

UCLA Conference Announcement: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the International Human Rights Framework

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Angela Riley:

Please Save the Date! Friday, January 22, 2010

The UCLA American Indian Studies Center

in conjunction with

The UCLA School of Law Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs

will present a one-day Symposium, tentatively titled:

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the International Human Rights Framework — A Comfortable Fit?

This Symposium will bring together internationally-renowned scholars whose work focuses on issues pertaining to indigenous peoples’ group rights, with a particular emphasis on potential conflicts that arise for collective, indigenous claims within the international human rights framework.

Confirmed Keynote:

Professor S. James Anaya, Special Rapporteur to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Professor of Law, Arizona Law School

Please be on the lookout for more information as the date approaches. We do hope you will join us!

FBA Mid-Year Indian Law Conference Agenda

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

FBA/NNABA/NABADC DC Mid-Year Annual Indian Law Conference

National Museum of the American Indian

Friday November 13, 2009

8:00am-5:00pm

8:00-9:00         Registration

8:30-9:00         Welcome & Prayer

9:00-9:30         Federal Court Update

  • Richard Guest, Supreme Court Project, Native American Rights Fund

9:45-11:00        Ethics: Inter-Tribal Investment & Co-Ownership: Who Is your Client?

Many economically successful Tribes are looking for ways to diversify their economy, and many are investing in other Tribes. Other Tribes are looking to share limited resources through co-ownership opportunities for economic ventures, but also for co-management of land with shared interests such as sacred sites. This panel will explore some of the benefits and impediments to inter-tribal projects, as well as some of the ethical issues raised for attorneys. Specifically, do we as Tribal attorneys have a larger obligation to Indian people, and how does that work when all parties involved are Tribal entities?

Moderator: Heather Dawn Thompson, Partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal

  • Ron Solimon, President & CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Inc
  • Jim Bittorf, Deputy Chief Counsel, Oneida Tribes of Wisconsin, Counsel on Four Council Fire Tribes project
  • Little Fawn Boland, Rosette Law Firm, Counsel on Rumsey (Yocha Dehe)-Guidiville Rancheria project

11:15-12:30       Beyond Land-Into-Trust: Creative Land Ownership Options for Tribes

There are a number of creative ways for tribes to own land other than as federal trust land, such as federal restricted fee and conservation easements. Considering the practical problems with land-into-trust as well as the sovereignty concerns with the federal government “owning” the land, what options are available?

Moderator: Stacy L. Leeds. Professor of Law and Director, Tribal Law and Government Center, University of Kansas School of Law

  • Doug Nash, Director, Institute for Indian Estate Planning and Probate, Seattle University School of Law
  • Richard Monette, Associate Professor of Law, Director, Great Lakes Indian Law Center, University of Wisconsin School of Law
  • Brian Sawers, O’Connor Fellow, Arizona State University College of Law
  • Robert Odawi Porter, Professor of Law, Dean’s Research Scholar of Indigenous Nations Law, Director, Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship, Syracuse University College of Law

12:30-2:00 Lunch Keynote:     Hilary Tompkins, Solicitor, Department of Interior Continue reading →

Call for Papers — Law, Gender, and Citizenship for Indians and Immigrants

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Wisconsin Journal of

Law, Gender & Society

Announces our 2010 Symposium:

Law, Gender and Citizenship:

Contemporary Issues for American Indians and American Immigrants

March 5, 2010

University of Wisconsin Law School

Madison, Wisconsin

Symposium_Call for Submissions

Continue reading →