MMIW

Kansas Indian Law CLE January 29

Kate Fort

Here is the announcement.

Not to be too promotional, but they got three pretty solid presenters (no manel here!) for this CLE: 

Working for Tribal Clients – Ethics
An overview of ethical responsibilities and obligations of legal practitioners who represent tribal clients, including tribal nations, tribal organizations and tribal members. (1.0 Ethics CLE)
Presented by: Vivien Olsen, Managing Attorney for the Legal Assistance to Victims program of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.
 
Indian Child Welfare Act: Litigation and Legislation
Are you familiar with ICWA (1978)? Any attorney practicing in family law or child-related cases will benefit from this session where Professor Kate Fort will review ICWA and key cases from 2019 and 2020, including recent state legislation and court rules adopted to protect ICWA. (1.0 General CLE)
Presenter: Professor Kate Fort, Michigan State University, Indian Law Clinic
 
The Violence Against Women Act & the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Crisis
4 in 5 Indigenous women will experience violence in their lifetimes. – National Institute of Justice Report
 
This session will discuss the re-authorization of VAWA efforts over the past two years and will discuss the most recent efforts to pass legislation that will address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous Persons in the United States. (1.0 General CLE)
Presented by: Mary Kathryn Nagle, member of Cherokee Nation, partner at Pipestem Law PC

H.R.3977 – To amend the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 to extend the jurisdiction of tribal courts to cover crimes involving sexual violence, and for other purposes.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Introduced by Rep. Haaland.

BILLS-116hr3977ih

Op-Ed in Maclean’s About Canada’s Child Welfare Crisis

Kate Fort

Here, by Pam Palmater. Canada’s numbers of Native children in care may be currently worse than pre-ICWA numbers in the United States (Task Force Four Report).

The increasing number of First Nations children being placed into foster care in Canada is nothing short of a crisis. Although Indigenous children make up only seven per cent of the population in Canada, they represent 48 per cent of all children in foster care. It is an astounding number until one examines these rates on a province-by-province basis. In Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Indigenous children represent a shocking 73 per cent, 85 per cent and 87 per cent of all children in care respectively, according to the most recent Statistics Canada report. However, Manitoba reports that their numbers of Indigenous children in care are increasing and currently stands at 90 per cent, which represents one of the highest rates in the world. This isn’t much of a surprise given that one newborn is taken away from his or her mother every day in Manitoba as a matter of course—the vast majority being Indigenous. They are not the only provinces implicated as Indigenous children in Ontario are 168 per cent more likely to be taken into care than white children.