Posts Tagged ‘Great Sioux Nation’

6
Dec

Indian Country Sunday Brunch: First Nations protest; Sacred Black Hills; Indigenous rights in Bolivia; Dawes Rolls; Navajo ouster

   Posted by: admin    in Black Hills, Dawes Act, First Nations, Great Sioux Nation, Indigenous people, Navajo



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First Nations stage huge protests in Canada against sales tax
Tribes blocked the Trans-Canada Highway in three places, and First Nations members also rallied in Toronto to protest the “Harmonized Sales Tax,” saying that one nation – in this case, Canada – has no right to tax another, according to the NewsWire. “Today is just the beginning,” says Grand Chief Randall Phillips of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, representing eight First Nation communities across Ontario. “We have put the Federal and Provincial governments on notice that we are prepared to fight the imposition of the HST on First Nations.”

The sacred peak, Opahata I, is also known as Harney Peak (Defenders of the Black Hills photo)

The sacred peak, Opahata I, is also known as Harney Peak (Defenders of the Black Hills photo)

Support for sacred Black Hills site as national monument
The group calling itself Defenders of the Black Hills has endorsed the designation of the roughly 40,000 acres of National Forest System lands as the Okawita Paha National Monument, Indian Country Today reports here.

Within the hills, the sacred peak, Opahata I, also known as Harney Peak, is considered the “center of all that is” to many Native American nation. The surrounding Okawita Paha area, literally “Gathering Place,” also is considered sacred, the newspaper writes. The monument – where activities such as logging and prescribed burns would be off-limits – would be jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Great Sioux Nation.

Morales’ re-election means more pro-indigenous policies in Bolivia
Here’s an interesting story from Bolivia on the re-election of Evo Morales to the presidency. The result is likely to be more pro-indigenous policies in Bolivia, where Morales would not have won without strong support from the country’s indigenous people.

Dawes Rolls prove great tool for Native family research
Whatever you may think about the Dawes Rolls – created to allocate (vastly reduced) amounts of land to tribes – they’ve turned out to be a huge help to people doing geneaological research, according to the Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune Star, here.

Top aide to Navajo president asked to resign
Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly has asked Patrick Sandoval, chief of staff to President Joe Shirley Jr., to resign, the Navajo Times reports here. Shirley, under investigation in connection failed business dealings, has been on administrative leave for six weeks.

Gwen Florio

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25
Sep

Moving forward in push to return Black Hills to Sioux

   Posted by: admin    in Black Hills, Sioux

Bison graze in South Dakota's Black Hills. The Great Sioux Nation seeks return of its lands taken by the federal government. (Library of Congress photo)

Bison graze in South Dakota's Black Hills. The Great Sioux Nation seeks return of its lands taken by the federal government. (Library of Congress photo)


Sioux spiritual and government leaders representing tribes seeking the return of Black Hills land will meet again next month in the hopes of forming a proposal to present to the Obama administration, which they see as sympathetic to their cause.

Obama met with tribal representatives during his presidential campaign and left the strong impression that he was serious about trying to find a settlement beyond a 29-year-old U.S. Supreme Court award, according to this story in today’s Rapid City (S.D.) Journal.

That forced settlement was about millions of dollars, not acres of land, and it has consistently been rejected by tribes of the Great Sioux Nation.

“The consensus is that they will never take the money,” says Gay Kingman of Rapid City, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association. “It’s the land that matters.”

Some tribal members have filed suit, seeking distribution of the money, but most leaders want the land returned. The idea now is to find consensus, which is why leaders for Sioux tribes in the Dakotas, Montana and Nebraska are holding the meetings on the issue.

Previous attempts to return land taken by the federal government to the Sioux, most notably a bill in the mid-1980s by New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley that would have turned over 1.3 million acres of federal forest and park lands, have failed.

Bradley left the Senate more than 12 years ago, and none of South Dakota’s three congressional members has shown an interest in supporting a rerun of the Bradley bill, although Democrat Tim Johnson recently said, significantly, that he’s open to discussing the issue (See previous post here.) Still, support would likely be a liability in a statewide campaign.

Gwen Florio

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