OTTAWA, Canada — Ten years ago, Rick Desautel, a member of the Lakes Tribe of the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) in Washington state, shot an elk in a subsistence hunt on what was once his people’s traditional land—on the other side of the border in British Columbia, Canada.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that Congress has the authority to enact the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), while striking down a portion of the law that gives preference to Indigenous families in the adoption of Native American children.
A recent decision by the Cherokee Nation’s Supreme Court struck down a law that freedmen – descendants of people enslaved by Cherokees in the 18th and 19th centuries – cannot hold elective tribal office. The ruling is the latest development in a long-standing dispute about the tribal rights available to Black people once held in bondage by Native Americans.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Chippewa tribal officials in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan have blasted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for putting on what they say was a poorly planned wolf season during which state-licensed hunters blew past their quota in a matter of days.
Mike McKenzie felt that he had to leave his home. He says he was no longer welcome in Skeetchestn, a community in central British Columbia west of Kamloops that’s one of 17 reserves in the Secwepemc Nation. Three years later, he’s still not home.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Imagine a wide meadow where wildflowers bloom in vibrant oranges, yellow, purple, and grasses grow tall. Many acorn trees also grow in this meadow. The sun shines down upon elder tribal members of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation-Belardes (Acjachemen Nation), a California state recognized tribe, while they tell stories about Puvungna.
A package of bills passed by Congress on Dec. 26 included the return of the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tribes had long been fighting to regain ownership of the 18,800-acre wildlife refuge in western Montana, which was unlawfully taken from the heart of their reservation.
TRINIDAD, Calif. — In a win for tribal sovereignty, a California appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against a Northern California tribe requesting beach access to the tribe’s coastal property in Trinidad, Calif. on Wednesday.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Even though it appeared as if President Donald Trump refused to acknowledge he lost the 2020 presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden, those in the Trump administration knew their days in power were numbered. And since the election they have rushed to fast-track some of their mining projects that American Indians oppose.