Indian Law Resource Center

The Onondaga Nation has used its historic land rights to achieve a huge victory on Nov. 16, 2009.  A federal judge gave the go-ahead for a new plan to use green technology to protect Onondaga Creek and Onondaga Lake from sewage, storm water, and other pollution.

“This success shows again how Indian nations can use their political power and their legal rights to achieve important goals that benefit everyone in the region and protect the Earth itself,” said Robert T. Coulter, Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center.

The Indian Law Resource Center represents the Onondaga Nation in its historic land rights lawsuit and has worked with the Nation to help develop its legal strategy for protecting the land, cleaning up Onondaga Lake, and improving water quality.

Photo by Dick Blume/ The Post-Standard

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 3:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (27)

Ben Shelly, vice president of the Navajo Nation was among the 400 tribal leaders in attendance at the White House Tribal Nations Conference.

“What Obama told us about partnership, collaboration, consultation and sovereignty … was music to my ears.”

The issues mentioned by Ben Shelly — self-determination, control over resources, revenue and economic development for self-sufficiency — are important for all Indian and Alaska Native nations and are included in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 4:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (68)

Reactions to the historic White House Tribal Nations Conference by Lucy Simpson, Navajo, Senior Staff Attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center.

“Adoption of the UN Declaration by the United States would be a formal commitment to respect the most basic rights to fairness, equality before the law, respect for treaty commitments, rights to our lands and resources, rights to education and cultural preservation, and perhaps most importantly self-determination for Indian peoples. “

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 3:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (112)

Joe Kennedy, chairman of the Timbisha Shoshone of the Western Shoshone Nation, reflects on the White House Tribal Nations Conference held Nov. 5, 2009.

“The Obama administration should enforce the right  to property due process of law  and equality under the law.”

Las Vegas Review Journal photo by Gary Thompson

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 4:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (101)

“What happened is a failure on the part of Congress to really acknowledge what it has done in the past.”

www.indianlaw.org

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (145)