Niibi Posts
VIDEO: Kekek Stark Keynote – First Annual Anishinaabe Law Conference
Kekek Stark is Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, member of the
Bizhiw (Lynx) Clan and a practitioner of Indigenous law. Kekek is an Associate Professor at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana where he serves as the Co-Director of the Indian Law Program, the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic, and the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute. This is Kekek’s keynote address from the first annual Anishinaabe Law conference on White Earth in June, 2023.
VIDEO: Tom Goldtooth Keynote – First Annual Anishinaabe Law Conference
Tom Goldtooth is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, working for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, rights of Mother Earth and for environmental and economic justice. Tom has networked with Indigenous Peoples and spiritual/religious leaders globally helping humanity to re-evaluate their relationship to the sacredness of Grandmother Earth. His moving address at the first annual Anishinaabe Law Conference on White Earth in June 2023 touches on many issues of Indigenous sovereignty, both locally and globally.
Read MoreVIDEO: Rebecca Tsosie Keynote – First Annual Anishinaabe Law Conference
Rebecca Tsosie is a Yaqui tribal member, an attorney at law, an expert in Indigenous Law and a professor emeritus at Arizona State University. Professor Tsosie gives a passionate and informative keynote presentation on Indigenous Law at the first annual Anishinaabe Law Conference held in June of 2023 on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota.
Read MoreNiibi Center Hosts Anishinaabe Law Conference
I had the privilege of attending the First Annual Anishinaabe Law Conference, hosted by the Niibi Center on White Earth, June 25 th & 26 th – 2023. The conference provided a forum where Water Protectors, tribal lawyers and non-tribal lawyers, and nationally and internationally renowned Indigenous legal scholars could begin a formal dialogue concerning what customary, or natural law, is and looks like in practice. Among the honored speakers were Tom Goldtooth, Diné of the Dibé izhiní clan on his mother’s side, Kekek Stark – Turtle Mountain Ojibwe and member of the Bizhiw clan, and Rebecca Tsosie who is of Yaqui descent.
Read MoreSpeakers Announced for Upcoming Anishinaabe Law Conference
The Niibi Center, a local White Earth non-profit, is hosting our first annual Anishinaabe Law Conference June 25th and 26th. Our hope is to learn from other Tribal nations and lndigenous leaders who are currently utilizing natural law in Tribal legal systems and beyond, as well as share wisdom about Indigenous sovereignty and Treaty Rights.
Read MoreProtecting Manoomin through Anishinaabe Law
Rights of nature is a movement that seeks to give non-human relatives legal status as persons, and has gotten some traction around the world, as well as here in Minnesota. The White Earth Nation voted to give manoomin (wild rice) rights in 2019, in order to help protect wild rice and the habitats in which it grows. This legal standing is important due to manoomin’s status as not only an integral food source for Ojibwe and non-Native people in Minnesota, but most crucially because of the role manoomin plays at the center of Anishinaabe prophecy, spirituality and culture.
Read MoreSpotlight on the Historical Trauma Healing Program
The Niibi Center’s Historical Trauma Healing program focuses on preserving historical information/records, sharing stories around the effects of boarding school trauma, forced removal and other generational and current manifestations of colonization, and taking steps to help individuals and the community heal from the effects of this trauma.
Read MoreNiibi Center Updates and Call for Interviews
Autumn is a rich time here in northern Minnesota, from the vibrant colors of the fast fading trees to nourishing cultural practices like fishing and collecting/processing manoomin. It is a time to enjoy the harvest season by putting up the garden and giving gratitude for the earth’s generosity. Here at the Niibi Center, we wanted to take a moment and reflect back on some of the work we have done this year, as well as to invite and engage the community in our current projects and future work.
Read MoreInterfaith Prayer Gathering at Mississippi Headwaters
Almost exactly a year to the day after the history-making Treaty People’s Gathering, a large interfaith group returned to the Mississippi headwaters to pray and remember.
Read MoreIndigenous Arctic Leaders and Great Lakes Tribes Gather to Protect Water
White Earth tribal members, along with participants from across the United States and Russia, have gathered twice this Spring for cultural and information sharing around protection of water, particularly in the context of Tribal societies, for which water is a central facet of life and culture.
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