Group Gathered at the Phoenix Indian School Memorial Hall to Celebrate Indigenous
Shannon Rivers, D5, emceed to a small crowd which gathered at the Memorial Hall of the Phoenix Indian School to celebrate on Mar. 11, the 7th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day, hosted by the Nahuacalli Embassy of Indigenous Peoples, Phoenix.
Rivers has been attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and has been promoting the endorsement of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was passed by the United Nations General Assembly.
On Sept. 13, 2007, 144 states voted in favor of adopting the Declaration. Its passage was heralded worldwide. However, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand voted against its passage.
River’s UNPFII work is also affiliated with the Seventh Generation Fund, a non-profit indigenous advocacy group out of California with ongoing projects throughout North and South America.
Among other things, the Declaration requires governments to consult and cooperate in good faith with indigenous people to obtain free and informed consent prior to approval of any project affecting indigenous lands or resources, particularly in connection with development, utilization, or exploitation of mineral, water, or other resources.
“The articles are minimum standards,” said Rivers. The Declaration is 12 pages and contains 46 articles. The work is an accumulation of decadeslong effort by many individuals.
In 2008 the GRIC Council passed Resolution 126-08 which affirms the Community’s support for the Declaration.
Rivers said that at Gila River, the Community signed the Water Rights Settlement Act, “yet we face more litigation.”
Rivers also said “nations should cite the declaration in its constitution, resolutions, and court documents.”
There are 370 million indigenous people around the world. The Declaration is international law and provides principles and framework for partnership and reconciliation between governments and indigenous people.
Dennis Manuel and Ernie Moristo continue to hold their stance against commercialization of Baboquivari Peak, a sacred site for the Tohono O’odham who believe that creator I’itoi resides there.
Manuel and Moristo are spokespeople for the Baboquivari Defense Project, a current project of the Seventh Generation Fund.
Moristo said he and his family members, who have lived near the Peak for generations now, firmly believe there should be no commercialization of Baboquivari Peak. “Once you do that, you can’t return it the way it was.”
When asked what development and by who? Manuel said, “everything from an RV park to a horse stable, to a telescope,” referring to the proposal to expand Kitt Peak National Observatory. According to Moristo, the development proposals originate from the Baboquivari District.
However Manuel said the proposal to expand Kitt Peak was stopped by then-Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, Ed Manuel “because the whole mountain range is sacred.” The observatory sites are under lease from the Tohono O’odham Nation.
The Peak lies within the Baboquivari Wilderness Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The area is popular with hikers, mountain climbers, bird watchers, etc.
Moristo is so adamant against development he recently spent one week shy of 30-days in jail for his stance against further commercialization of the area. According to Moristo, “the case was struck,” at the appeal level.
Dan Millis, Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign, said the border fence is wrecking the ecosystems. The Sasabe border wall abuts the base of the southern end of the Baboquivari mountain range. A vehicle barrier runs the entire boundary of the O’odham Reservation.
According to Millis, the Bush administration waived dozens of land management and environmental laws to get the wall built.
“The indigenous plants and animals are disappearing because the animals can’t get to water and the seedings aren’t happening,” said Manuel. There are several endangered species in the region that no longer freely roam which impacts breeding and genetic diversity.
The border wall funnels migrants deeper into the desert. “People are dying in record numbers from dehydration and exposure,” said Millis.
Indigenous people worldwide face a disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards. Some situations are extremely grave. Byproducts of mining excavation produce irreversible toxic chemical damage to the environment.
Randall Gingrich, Tierra Nativa, spoke of the inequities by the O’oba, Yaqui, and Mestizo communities 200 miles south of the border. Seven Canadian gold mines and dozens of exploratory sites are harmfully impacting the Sierra Madres and its watersheds.
Gingrich said companies often hired consultants who effectively manipulated concessions of $200 per acre to isolated communities less adept at negotiation. Gold reserves are projected to be worth billions of dollars.
Gingrich said mine companies provide an occasional food basket, used clothing, or day clinics to people who survive on less than two hundred dollars per year.
News accounts say since the 2007 passage of the Declaration by the UN, Australia changed its position. Canada recently announced that it may give “qualified recognition” to the Declaration. Skeptics say a fundamental legal contradiction exists.
An 1823 Supreme Court case, Johnson v. M’Intosh, which is foundational to federal Indian law, holds that Indians have a mere right to occupy their lands due to the Doctrine of Discovery, a 500 year old European charter used by countries while competing to obtain lands and resources of non-Christian peoples.
So long as Congress has plenary power over tribes, native nations many be hard pressed to witness official endorsement of the Declaration by the US.
Nevertheless, the Declaration anchors and serves as a benchmark for human rights and is politically significant for native nations.
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