Alaska: Native Movement launches Indigenous leadership training

Contact: Cathy Rexford (907) 561-2975
Evon Peter (928) 213-9063

Native Movement launches the Arctic Institute for Indigenous Leadership, a yearlong training and networking program for Alaska Natives.

Anchorage, AK – On Friday, March 16th the Arctic Institute for Indigenous Leadership will begin accepting applications for it’s yearlong training program. The Institute is open to all Alaska Natives between ages 18-35 and applications are due by May 16th, 2007. There will be 30 participants selected for the first annual program from throughout Alaska.

The Arctic Institute for Indigenous Leadership was founded as a tool to bring together some of the state’s most innovative and inspired Indigenous minds. “We will be creating a space to build lasting relationships among young leaders and establish a foundation of knowledge and skills for addressing the many challenges our communities are facing,” states Evon Peter, Executive Director for Native Movement.

Participants will gather together over the course of the next year to strategically focus on creative and innovative approaches to revitalizing Alaska Native cultures, languages, and ways of living, while also addressing social, political, and economic challenges. The first gathering will be held in Anchorage beginning on August 24, 2007. According to Cathy Rexford, Alaska Director of Native Movement, “The Institute is the first of it’s kind and will be an incredible opportunity for young Alaska Natives to sit together to discuss what is going on in our communities and to learn from Indigenous leaders from throughout the State and beyond.”

The Arctic Institute is hosted by Native Movement with support from a growing number of young Alaska Native leaders and organizations. Shawna Larson, an Arctic Institute facilitator, who works for Alaska Community Action on Toxics and the Indigenous Environmental Network, states, "this Indigenous Leadership program as a way to network the next generation of leaders who will be bringing our cultures into the successes of our future."

You can download the application and find out more information at: www.nativemovement.org/alaska

Canada scolded over Indigenous exploitation at UN

Canada Scolded over Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples' Lands

This news report comes from OneWorld US

by Haider Rizvi....Canada, like the United States, is facing international scrutiny for its treatment of indigenous people.
In late February 2007, a United Nations treaty body took the rare step of telling Canada to change its behavior on the human rights of native populations.
In a report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said it was concerned about complaints of exploitation of indigenous resources by corporations registered in Canada.
CERD, which is based in Geneva, told the Canadian government to take "appropriate legislative or administrative measures to prevent the acts of transnational corporations on indigenous territories."
The CERD report comes in response to a petition filed by indigenous organizations that charged private businesses from Canada were unlawfully involved in the exploitation of their lands located in the United States.
Their petition particularly focused on the situation facing the Western Shoshone, a native American tribe, whom some non-natives also refer to as "Snake Indians," although in their own language they are called Newe people.
Stretching across the states of Nevada, California, Idaho, and Utah, the Shoshone lands are currently the third largest gold producing area in the world, where numerous multinational corporations are operating and many are planning to move in.
Many of these companies, which include Bravo Venture Group, Nevada Pacific Bold, Barrick Gold, Glamis Gold, Great Basin Gold, and U.S. GoldCorp, according to the complaint, are registered in Canada.
Many areas where mining is going on have been used by natives for spiritual ceremonies and cultural purposes for thousands of years. Certain areas are home to Shoshone creation stories and vital to indigenous traditions of acquiring knowledge.
"The sites where the Canadian [corporations] are operating or preparing to operate are akin to a church or mosque to us," said Carrie Dann, a Shoshone elder. "We believe we're placed here on this land as caretakers. We are responsible for the health and preservation of our lands."
Shoshone elders have repeatedly charged that the enormous amount of toxic material produced as a result of mining is causing enormous damage to the health and well being of their people and the environment.
Last year, in response to the Western Shoshone petition, CERD assailed the U.S. government for violating the tribes' rights and said Washington had run afoul of the international antiracism treaty.
The 18-member UN panel of experts, set up to monitor global compliance with the 1969 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, said it had "credible information" that the Shoshone were being denied their traditional rights to land.
In its petition, the tribe had challenged the U.S. government assertion that it owned 90 percent of Shoshone lands covering about 60 million acres. CERD members said the U.S. government must cease all commercial activities on tribal lands, including mining operations.
The United States recognized Shoshone rights to their land under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that the pact gave Washington trusteeship over tribal lands.
The federal government justified its position by saying that tribe members had abandoned traditional land tenure and practices and cited "gradual encroachment" by non-natives as evidence to claim much of the land as federal territory.
The Western Shoshone, in their petition to the UN panel, countered that "gradual encroachment" in fact took place as part of a U.S. policy to steal their lands, and that this constituted racism.
The Geneva-based panel agreed with the Shoshone by noting that Washington's claim to the land "did not comply with contemporary international human rights norms, principles, and standards that govern determination of indigenous property interests."
Shoshone leaders said they went before the UN panel because they had exhausted all other legal options to prevent the U.S. government from taking over their ancestral lands, and for similar reason they had to challenge the role of the Canadian government.
In addition to recommending legal steps to change corporate behavior, the UN panel has also asked Canada to submit a report on the effects of the activities of transnational corporations in Canada on indigenous peoples abroad.
For their part, Dann and other indigenous leaders said they were pleased with the UN response to their petition.
"This is ground breaking news," Dann said about the CERD report on Canada. "This is the first time a UN treaty body has addressed government accountability to its corporate profiteering of ongoing human rights violations against indigenous peoples."
Also see:
Plundering versus Prosperinghttp://www.progress.org/2007/plund02.htm
Unlimited Toxic Waste Dumps Allowed on Public Landshttp://www.progress.org/2003/corpw34.htm
1872 Mining Law is anti-Americanhttp://www.progress.org/archive/cwmining.htm

Flagstaff: Celebration of Peaks Victory!

CELEBRATE THE PEAKS!A Gathering for Healing, Gratitude and Respect!Wednesday, March 21st4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.Heritage Square Downtown Flagstaff, AZ
You are invited to celebrate the healing of our community! Join members of the Save the Peaks Coalition in prayer and thanks-giving for all of the support and respect given to maintain the relationships we all share with the Sacred San Francisco Peaks.
Come join us for what could possibly be Flagstaff's largest friendship Round Dance EVER!Bring your friends and family!
For more information: (928) 637-4280 - coalition(at)savethepeaks.org
What: Join us for a commemoration of the recent court decision to protect the San Francisco Peaks! This will be a thanks-giving celebration of all of those who continually support and protect the ecological and cultural values of the sacred Peaks.
Who: Tribal leaders, educators, skiers and snowboarders, community members and people of faith, environmentalists, families, winter recreationists!
When: Wednesday, March 21stGathering with songs and prayers at 4PM - Rally with invited speakers from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Where: Heritage Square in Downtown Flagstaff, AZ
www.savethepeaks.org