Lakota People's Law Project

LNI Features Conference on ICWA

Patrick — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:41:17 +0000

While the Lakota National Invitational (LNI) is most known as a State-wide basketball tournament, LNI has grown to include art shows, a Lakota language bowl, and hand game tournaments, along with many other festivities. With so many people congregating in Rapid City each year, many organizations take the opportunity to hold conferences during this time.

This year, the Lakota People’s Law Project and the Coalition of Sioux Tribes: United for Children and Families organized a three-day conference on Indian child welfare at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn. Speakers covered topics such as the breaking of the Indian parent/child bond, the impact of current laws on family connections, and addressing victimization after prosecution.

See a copy of the Conference Agenda.

LPLP Attends Mystic Lake Workshop

Patrick — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:03:06 +0000

LPLP Operations Coordinator Lilias Jarding recently attended the “Native Peoples, Native Homelands” workshop on Climate Change (held November 18-21 in Prior Lake, MN), which brought people together from across the United States to consider the impacts of climate change on native communities. These impacts are already bringing a variety of threats to our communities, including changes in animal habits, where certain types of plants can grow, and water levels.

The Workshop, convened by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, focused on finding solutions to the cultural, health, energy, economic, and other challenges we face as a result of climate change. Delegates took the result of the Workshop, the Mystic Lake Declaration, to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, bringing the indigenous voice to this critical issue.

While at the workshop, Lilias had the opportunity to connect with many of her former colleagues from the Black Hills Alliance, a multicultural organization, instrumental in stopping uranium mining in the Black Hills. Those colleagues (pictured at right) included:

Dick Bancroft, Indigenous Movements Photographer, Minneapolis, MN
Zoltan Grossman, Professor, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Jose Barreiro (Taino), Assistant Director for Research, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC
Katsi Cook (Mohawk), First Environment Collaborative, New York, NY and Washington, DC
Faye Brown, Development and Communications Director, Honor the Earth, Minneapolis, MN
Lilias Jarding, Operations Coordinator, Lakota People’s Law Project
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth, and Founding Director, White Earth Land Recovery Project, White Earth, MN

Learn more about the Mystic Lake Workshop.

LPLP Hosts Groundbreaking Training

Patrick — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:00:20 +0000

On December 2nd and 3rd the Lakota People’s Law Project hosted a first-of-its-kind training. Attended by representatives from all of South Dakota’s Indian reservations, the training prepares participants to act as Qualified Expert Witnesses (QEW) in court proceedings involving Native American children. Due to a notable lack of certified Native-QEWs, tribes have historically been underrepresented in court while States and other parties have sufficient numbers of witnesses to testify for their side. Now, South Dakota’s tribes will be prepared to testify to the importance of keeping Lakota children with Lakota families. The training was co-sponsored by the Murphy Law Offices, the Roberts Law Offices, and Lorina and Cesna, LLP.

The training was covered in the Native Sun News. The full article is below.

NCAI supports ICWA Amendment

Patrick — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:59:45 +0000

View a copy of the official NCAI Resolution.

In October of this year, Lakota People’s Law Project staff Belva Morrison, Madonna Thunder Hawk, Sara Nelson and Daniel Sheehan attended the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 66th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Palm Springs, CA. Their goal was to secure support from the NCAI for our ICWA Amendment Initiative.

With the help of our friend and ally Ron His Horse Is Thunder (outgoing chair of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association and NCAI Vice-President for the Great Plains Region), we were able to place a resolution supporting our proposed ICWA amendment on the Health Sub-Committee’s agenda. After some back and forth over the amendment and an initial motion to table the resolution, Madonna Thunder Hawk delivered a moving speech to the assembled crowd, discussing her own experiences with Indian children being taken from their families. Her heartfelt words opened a flood-gate of similar stories from other tribal nations’ delegates, and a motion to support passed easily.

On the last day of the Convention, the resolution was presented to the full plenary session for consideration. The Indian Child and Family Welfare Sub-Committee and Human Relations Committee announced their endorsement of the resolution and delegates from the 200-plus member tribes voted unanimously to pass the resolution in support of amending ICWA to the mandatory placement preference provisions of Sections 1915 and 1916 enforceable in federal court.

This is a major step forward in our effort to amend the Indian Child Welfare Act and our efforts to stop the seizure of Lakota children. To learn more, view a copy of the NCAI resolution and read about our Lakota Child Rescue Project and ICWA Amendment Initiative.