The Osage Nation located in Oklahoma received a very negative 2010 U.S. Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit decision that held the tribe’s reservation had been disestablished in the past. As regards the tribe’s casino operations, this raised an argument that the casinos could not continue operating since tribal casinos have to be located within “Indian [...]

I was just told of this documentary that you can watch for free on line by someone from Chile. Check it out: “The Voice of the Mapuche” http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/festival/play/6068/The-Voice-of-the-Mapuche Here is the synopsis of the film from the web site: “The Mapuche defeated the Spanish Crown invaders, and do not recognize the border that Chile and [...]

In August, a ceremony was held to celebrate the creation of the Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. Up to now, the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark had been designated as a landmark only for its archeological value and encompassed a 110 acre area around the Medicine Wheel. [...]

The English newspaper the Guardian reports that Peru enacted a new law that protects the land rights of Peru’s indigenous peoples, and that Peru now leads the way for Latin America’s indigenous communities. The paper also reports that in February, indigenous communities in Ecuador’s Amazon region won a multi-billion dollar landmark ruling against the oil [...]

A representative of the United States made a statement in Geneva Switzerland on September 15, 2011 in response to the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Water and Sanitation from the rapporteur’s visit to the United States from February 22 to March 4, 2011. Some people are reading into this [...]

The controversy continues over the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma excluding some descendants of ex-slaves of the Nation from citizenship in the tribe and voting rights. The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled just last week that this expulsion was legal. The Asst. Secretary of Interior who manages the Bureau of Indian Affairs has threatened to not [...]

It is reported that the National Park Service has proposed a new rule that would allow American Indian tribes to remove plants and minerals from national parks for traditional uses. The document, dated March 25, was stamped “confidential.” It states that NPS intends to authorize agreements with federally recognized Indian tribes to allow plants or [...]

Australia is one of the few, if not the only, ex-English colony that refused to recognize some sovereign and property rights of Indigenous peoples. Robert J. Miller, Jacinta Ruru, Larissa Behrendt & Tracey Lindberg, Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies 171-86 (Oxford University Press 2010). Australia has not to this [...]

Indian Country Today reports that a Canadian border agent confiscated a Haudenosaunee passport and called it a ‘Fantasy Document.’ A Mohawk woman is preparing a complaint against the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) due to a recent incident in which her Haudenosaunee passport was seized by a border official. Joyce King, a citizen of the [...]

The U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Interior (DOI) have released the congressionally-mandated Long Term Plan to Build and Enhance Tribal Justice Systems, in accordance with sections 211, 241, and 244 of the Tribal Law and Order Act. DOJ and DOI were mandated by Congress to develop long-term plans to address incarceration in Indian Country [...]