This week on Minnesota Native News we hear the latest in an effort to connect global indigenous work on water, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe election results and the anniversary of a landmark court case.
Transcript
Story #1 - LaPionte Tiwahe Report from UN (2:05)
HOST: The Minnesota-based organizers of Mni Ki Wakan were at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this past April. Earlier this month they held a community meeting in Minneapolis to report back on their experience at the UN. Reporter Melissa Townsend was there and has this report.
The LaPointe family is Sicangu, Lakota and based in Eagan, Minnesota. They started the Indigenous Decade of Water. mni ki wakan in 2016. Wakiyan Lapointe explains:
LAPOINTE:: Mni ki wakan is a global indigenous water movement that brings together indigenous peoples and youth for the future of water - to develop innovations, transformations that we can coordinate and plan together. (:13)
For the past 2 years the LaPointe family has organized a Mni Ki Wakan summit in the Twin Cities Metro. There, Indigenous people from across the globe have come to share knowledge and gain support for their local efforts.
It’s that work that the Lapointe family wanted to share at this year’s UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.It was timely, since the theme of this year’s UN conference was Traditional Knowledge Transmission, Generation and Protection.
LAPOINTE: Many indigenous peoples and youth contacted us and we met with them on their indigenous water initiatives, working on the areas of indigenous water governance, water policy, food sovereignty as it connects to water, indigenous human rights as it connects to water. (:19)
Wakiyan and his family plan to continue their work at the third Mni ki wakan conference.That’s happening this August in the Black Hills in South Dakota. For more information, check facebook for mni ki wakan
Wakiyan Lapointe: M-N-I SPACE K-I SPACE W-A-K-A-N.
There’s also a video from their trip to the UN.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
STORY #2 - WHITE EARTH ELECTIONS RESULTS READER (:30)
In Minnesota ChippewaTribe election results ….The White Earth and Grand Portage Bands of Ojibwe have held their primary elections for new tribal Chairmen. At White Earth 2 candidates moved through the primary and will face off in the general election on August 6th.
It’s the same situation in Grand Portage.Two primary winners will compete in their General election on July 1st.
Both elections were scheduled after the tribal chairman of each Band passed away this spring. The winners of the upcoming general elections will serve out the remainder of the current term.
STORY #3 - ANNIVERSARY OF LANDMARK COURT CASE THAT MADE WAY FOR TRIBAL CASINOS (2:00)
HOST: June 14th marked the 43rd anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Bryan v. Itasca County. The ruling limited taxation on Indian reservations paving the way for tribal casinos.
Reporter Kayla Duoos has the story.
I asked the Director of the Indian Law Program at Mitchell Hamline School of Law Colette Routel to tell me about the history and implications of this case.
ROUTEL: In 1972, Helen and Russel Bryan were living on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, on a parcel of land that was held in trust by the United States, and that Helen Bryan had actually been born on. It was her grandfathers allotment, and the couple had recently purchased a mobile home which was on the property and Itasca County had decided to tax that property. (:25)
REPORTER: The Itasca county tax was levied according to the Termination Era Public Law 280.
ROUTEL: The state generally does not have the authority to tax tribal property, or property that's owned by tribal members on an Indian reservation unless Congress has explicitly granted the state that authority. The question in Bryan vs Itasca County really was whether Public Law 280 authorized local government [cut] to tax [cut] mobile homes on Indian reservations within the state of Minnesota. (:26)
REPORTER: The case went through serval court houses debating the true meaning of Public Law 280 before ultimately being presented to the Minnesota Supreme Court that ruled in the tribal members’ favor. Leech Lake Government Relations Attorney Lenny Fineday shares the impact that this case had on the tribe and Indian country.
FINEDAY: Bryan vs Itasca county was actually a seminal case that laid the foundation for the multi-billion dollar Indian gaming industry that we have today and it all started with a band member who was assessed for tax on trailer on trust property. (:18)
This case was the first big win for the Leech Lake Reservation Legal Services Project, now known as Anishinaabe Legal Services, a non-profit legal aid for Band members.
To this day Helen Charwood-Bryan resides on the property over which the initial dispute arose.
I’m Kayla Duoos with DeBahJiMon for Minnesota Native News.