News of Note 1/17/25: Black Hills Mining Ban, US UNDRIP Position, Remembering Niilo Edwards
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Black Hills gold mining ban protects land, water, Sioux Nation church (ICT News)
"The response protects more than 20,500 acres tribes have long fought to spare from gold exploration and other mineral development. [...] ‘The He Sapa are very sacred for us Lakota - they hold our creation story, our coming into being as human beings,’ says Lakota grandmother Carla Rae Marshall, board member of the Rapid Creek Watershed Action and member of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance. ‘This land is our “Church,” where we put our prayer altars. It is known to us as “The Heart of Everything That Is.”’”
Advancing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (U.S. Department of the Interior)
The U.S. Department of the Interior released its statement on the UNDRIP, collating several resources and actions the Biden-Administration moved forward during its term. Among materials spotlighted, they linked to to the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) International Affairs 2024 Statement and Guidelines on Free, Prior, Informed Consent, which states "FPIC is conceived as an expression of the fundamental right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination."
Legacy of Niilo Edwards will live on as a beacon of co-operation and reconciliation (National Newswatch)
"[Edwards] worked with his First Nations colleagues and friends — initially in northern British Columbia, and eventually across the country — to develop the idea that collective capitalism, the union of many First Nations to make a more formidable economic force, held great promise for Indigenous economic renewal..”
More News
Tribes Mobilize Fire Crews, Resources for Southern California (Native News Online) and Native nations respond to Los Angeles fires (ICT News)
Mining in a forest conservation site clouds Republic of Congo’s carbon credit scheme (Mongabay)
In Farewell, Haaland Reflects on Historic Interior Tenure: 'No One Has Accomplished Anything Alone’ (Native News Online)
Why the 'digital divide' persists within Indigenous communities (Mashable)