Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

A Study Of Six Nations Public Library: Rights And Access To Information, Alison Frayne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Contemporary Indigenous public libraries play a critical role in providing access to information in Indigenous communities. My research focuses on the relationship between rights and access to information for individuals and communities within the context of Indigenous public libraries. I use a qualitative case study methodology of the Six Nations Public Library (SNPL) in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. Interviews were conducted with SNPL patrons and library management and with off-reserve participants from government and library associations.

I analyse four themes, library governance, rights, library value and access to information, which are outcomes of the SNPL case study findings. This analysis reveals ...

What Can Traditional Indigenous Knowledge Teach Us About Changing Our Approach To Human Activity And Environmental Stewardship In Order To Reduce The Severity Of Climate Change?, John G. Hansen, Rose Antsanen

The International Indigenous Policy Journal

Many Indigenous communities living on traditional lands have not contributed significantly to harmful climate change. Yet, they are the most likely to be impacted by climate change. This article discusses environmental stewardship in relation to Indigenous experiences and worldviews. Indigenous knowledge teaches us about environmental stewardship. It speaks of reducing the severity of climate change and of continued sustainable development. The methodology that directs this research is premised on the notion that the wisdom of the Elders holds much significance for addressing the harmful impacts of climate change in the present day. This article's fundamental assumption is that Indigenous ...

Patently Absurd: Critiquing The Uspto’S Disparate Treatment Of Tribal And State Immunity In Inter Partes Review, Maya Ginga

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Foundational Law To Limiting Principles In Federal Indian Law, Alexander Tallchief Skibine

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I am arguing that one of the reasons animating the Court’s move away from Justice Marshall’s exceptionalism is its fear that under traditional foundational principles of federal Indian law, Indian tribes may gain what the court subjectively perceives to be “unfair” advantages over non-Indians. Therefore, the Court has been looking for limiting principles tending to achieve level playing fields between tribal and non-tribal actors. This Article also argues, however, that while looking for a level playing field may sound like a worthwhile goal, there are many pitfalls involved in this process that may end up ...

Energy Justice: Us And International Perspectives, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Elizabeth A. Kronk Warner, Raya C. Salter

Carmen G. Gonzalez

Tribal Sovereign Immunity And The Need For Congressional Action, Hunter Malasky

Boston College Law Review

Native American Indian tribal sovereign immunity is a judicially created doctrine that provides immunity from suit for Indian tribes in the United States. Although judicially created, the United States’ courts have repeatedly emphasized that only Congress has the power to limit Indian tribal immunity. As a result, tribal sovereign immunity has become a seemingly boundless means of avoiding lawsuits and liability. Moreover, tribal sovereign immunity has created a gap in the United States judicial system in which an individual may avoid certain lawsuits by entering into a favorable transaction with an Indian tribe. In these transactions, an individual may transfer ...

The Canadian Crown's Duty To Consult Indigenous Nations' Knowledge Systems In Federal Environmental Assessments, Stephen S. Crawford

The International Indigenous Policy Journal

In 2016, the Government of Canada undertook a review of regulatory processes for federal environmental assessments (EAs) in preparation for replacing the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. An EA Expert Panel was appointed to review numerous oral and written submissions from Indigenous nations, government agencies, and the public. The Panel's final report included recommendations that were considered by Canada in the development of its currently proposed new legislation regarding federal EAs: Bill C-69. The goal of this analysis is to evaluate the extent to which Canada’s review and proposed legislation actually addressed the Crown’s duty to consult Indigenous ...

Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Isaac Stevens, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of Washington Territory, negotiated a series of treaties with Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest during 1854 and 1855. A century and a half later in 2001, the United States joined 21 Indian tribes in filing a Request for Determination in the United States District Court for the District of Washington. Plaintiffs alleged the State of Washington had violated those 150-year-old treaties, which remained in effect, by building and maintaining culverts under roads that prevented salmon passage. This litigation eventually reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in favor ...

Collaboration Through Nepa: Achieving A Social License To Operate On Federal Public Lands, Temple Stoellinger, L. Steven Smutko, Jessica M. Western

Public Land & Resources Law Review

As demand and consumption of natural gas increases, so will drilling operations to extract the natural gas on federal public lands. Fueled by the shale gas revolution, natural gas drilling operations are now frequently taking place, not only in the highly documented urban settings, but also on federal public lands with high conservation value. The phenomenon of increased drilling in sensitive locations, both urban and remote, has sparked increased public opposition, requiring oil and gas producers to reconsider how they engage the public. Oil and gas producers have increasingly deployed the concept of a social license to operate to gain ...

Public-Private Conservation Agreements And The Greater Sage-Grouse, Justin R. Pidot

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2015, the Obama Administration announced its conservation plans for the greater sage-grouse, an iconic bird of the intermountain west.Political leadership at the time described those plans as the “largest landscape-level conservation effort in U.S. history,”and they served as the foundation for a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) that a listing of the bird was not warranted under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The Trump Administration appears poised to substantially amend the plans, although an array of interested parties have urged that the plans be left intact. Regardless of the outcome of ...

Streamlining The Production Of Clean Energy: Proposals To Reform The Hydroelectricity Licensing Process, Travis Kavulla, Laura Farkas

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Hydroelectric power is an efficient and clean source of power. In an era when air emissions dominate public concern about the environmental effects of the energy sector, it is a paradox that among the most highly regulated energy projects are hydroelectric dams, which do not combust fuel. This is partly due to a failure of successive statutory enactments,which have transformed hydroelectric licensing from a regulatory “one-stop shop” with a single regulator, to a process chained to a bewilderingnumber of often conflicting regulatory agencies, often riven with delay. Hydroelectric licensing has also failed because its capacious standard of review encourages ...

Keeping Power In Charge: Federal Hydropower And The Downstream Environment, Reed D. Benson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Language Matters: Environmental Controversy And The Quest For Common Ground, Scott Slovic

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Center For Biological Diversity V. Zinke, Ryan Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The oft-cited “arbitrary and capricious” standard revived the Center for Biological Diversity’s most recent legal challenge in its decades-long quest to see arctic grayling listed under the Endangered Species Act. While this Ninth Circuit decision did not grant grayling ESA protections, it did require the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its 2014 finding that listing grayling as threatened or endangered was unwarranted. In doing so, the court found “range,” as used in the ESA, vague while endorsing the FWS’s 2014 clarification of that term. Finally, this holding identified specific shortcomings of the challenged FWS finding ...

Friends Of Animals V. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Bradley E. Tinker

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Friends of Animals v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, the Ninth Circuit held that the plain language of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act allows for the removal of one species of bird to benefit another species. Friends of Animals argued that the Service’s experiment permitting the taking of one species––the barred owl––to advance the conservation of a different species––the northern spotted owl––violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The court, however, found that the Act delegates broad implementing discretion to the Secretary of the Interior, and neither the Act nor the underlying international conventions limit ...

Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility V. United States Epa, F. Aaron Rains

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Prior to 2016, the EPA acknowledged that human activities significantly contribute to climate change. However, on March 9, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that significant debate regarding the issue remained in the scientific community. In response to these statements, a nonprofit organization filed a FOIA request with the EPA seeking any documents or records Pruitt may have used when formulating his statements or substantiating his position. The EPA refused to comply with the request, citing undue burden and improper interrogation and this action followed. Upon review, the District Court for the District of Columbia found the plaintiff’s FOIA ...

Upper Skagit Indian Tribe V. Lundgren, Brett Berntsen

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Stemming from a property dispute between a private landowner and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, this action evolved into a debate concerning the scope of tribal sovereign immunity and whether Indian tribes should be bound by certain common law doctrines applicable to most other sovereigns. The Washington Supreme Court originally ruled against the Tribe, citing County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation in holding that sovereign immunity does not apply to in rem actions. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to clarify that its ruling in Yakima did not support such a proposition. The case ...

Sections 7 And 15 Of The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms In The Context Of The Clean Water Crisis On Reserves: Opportunities And Challenges For First Nations Women, Madiha Vallani

Master of Laws Research Papers Repository

This paper analyzes the water crisis on reserves through the lens of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Specifically, this paper discusses certain issues, stemming from the water crisis, that some First Nations women experience, through the lens of the Charter’s section 15 right to equality, and section 7 right to life, liberty, and security of the person. In doing so, this paper aims to draw attention to the various ways that the water crisis uniquely impacts First Nations women due to their intersectional experiences under the protected grounds of sex, ethnic origin, race, and residency on reserve ...

Upstate Citizens For Equality, Inc. V. United States, Kirsa Shelkey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1935 is the proper avenue for Tribes pursuing restoration of their historic trust lands. The Oneida Indian Nation of New York long sought to reassert tribal jurisdiction over its historic homeland in Central New York. These efforts were largely unsuccessful until 2008 when the United States took 13,000 acres of this historic homeland into trust on behalf of the Tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act. This case affirms the federal government’s plenary powers over Indian Tribes, and that neither state sovereignty principles, nor the Enclave Clause upset that authority.

The Seminole Water Rights Compact And The Seminole Indian Land Claims Settlement Act Of 1987, Jim Shore, Jerry C. Straus

Florida State University Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law

No abstract provided.