Digital initiative sets out to improve tribal and governmental relations
5th July 2023 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
A recently announced grant from the Henry Luce Foundation will go toward developing a first-of-its-kind digital depository of policies and resources to help Indigenous tribes advance tribal sovereignty and help Native-American leadership communicate with all levels of government.
The $250,000 funding was announced in May and will create a partnership, dubbed the Indigenous Knowledge Initiative, between the Environmental Law Institute and the Native American Rights Fund. The partnership will gather, catalog and compile tribal consultation policies and resources in a single digital database in order to facilitate and bolster relations between tribal leadership and local, state and federal governing bodies on an equal, government-to-government basis.
Greta Swanson, one of ELI’s principal investigators for the project, said that the existing tribal consultation laws of California and their impacts in that state will serve as a model for the new Indigenous Knowledge Initiative and digital hub “a first-of-its-kind dynamic digital repository of Tribal consultation policies and related resources.”
She added that organizers “envision the core feature will be a robust, living database of consultation policies developed by Tribal, local, state, national and international governmental bodies and civil society organizations.”
“The Digital Consultation Hub will provide a one-stop-shop online resource for Tribes to engage effectively in government-to-government consultation with agencies at the federal, state and local level,” Swanson said.
With a focus on environmental laws and considerations that can encourage a holistic type of health for tribes and their members, Swanson said, the project will hopefully rebuild the fractured trust between tribes and governmental agencies that’s resulted from decades of destructive governmental ignorance and overreach.
“This project addresses the misunderstandings, conflicts, and adverse impacts that often arise when state and local agencies make the many decisions that impact the health and wellness of Tribal communities, using California as our pilot,” she said. “Our goal is to identify gaps in the existing laws and policies, determine best practices, propose policy solutions and, ultimately, bridge the gap between Tribal and state/local agency understandings of impacts on environment, culture, and health, so that Tribes can meaningfully engage in environmental decision-making to promote the health and wellness of their citizens.”
Anne Lucke, the director of NARF’s National Indian Library, said NARF’s National Indian Law Library “has a long history of collecting tribal law and making it accessible through our Tribal Law Gateway,” one that attracted the attention of the Luce Foundation, which was eager to chip in.
“ELI is familiar with our work and reached out to us to collaborate on developing this new library of tribal consultation materials,” she said.
Lucke said the ELI is leading the new effort to develop a national knowledge depository that’s trailblazing and wholly unique.
“This will be a first-of-its-kind collection to build the capacity of tribal, state, and local policymakers to implement best practices in government-to-government consultation,” she said. “Specifically, NILL is assisting with developing the database and features to make it searchable using multiple parameters like jurisdiction, type of government, and effective date.”
The New York City-based Henry Luce Foundation works to increase the overall knowledge of the public and assist knowledge makers in communicating with the public. Raymond Foxworth, program director of the Indigenous Knowledge Initiative at the Henry Luce Foundation, said the Luce Foundation is glad to help Indigenous peoples advance their sovereignty and policies.
He added that hopefully the effort will help reclaim tribal culture and self-governing that have been continually eroded over time.
“Through the Indigenous Knowledge Initiative, the Henry Luce Foundation supports knowledge that perpetuates Indigenous identities, cultures and sovereignty – all of which have been systematically undermined, appropriated and in some cases destroyed,” Foxworth said.
“This project supports a collaboration between the Environmental Law Institute and Native American Rights Fund to grow the capacity of Native nations to advocate effectively with government agencies. The tools this project develops will benefit Native communities as they seek to protect their sovereign rights as Native nations.”
Although the new national digital depository will use similar current systems and results as models, NARF’s Lucke said the goal is to help tribes across, including those in Louisiana.
“While this project is initially centered on California,” she said, “our hope is that the materials will be useful to tribes across the country and even internationally. Over time, we hope to expand the database to include additional states and regions.”
Swanson said that initially, the project will extend the already undertaken analysis of government-to-government consultation in California to at least three other states, of which Louisiana very might be selected as one. However, she added that ultimately, the work will be expanded throughout Turtle Island, which is the Indigenous name for the collective Native-American population, culture and identity of Native-Americans across the country and the continent.
“The Digital Consultation Hub will provide resources for Tribes and First Nations across the continent, and will be stronger and more useful for the input of Tribes in Louisiana,” she said. “Our ambition is to extend the broader project to many more jurisdictions, working with Tribes to evaluate consultation in the law and on the ground in each state, and make recommendations customized to the needs, history of Tribe-state relations, and pragmatic considerations of each state.
“The Digital Consultation Hub will be customized for both Tribes/Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous government agencies across the United States, and we very much welcome input and insights of Tribes in Louisiana,” she added.
Swanson said it’s crucial to the health, well being and future of Indigenous tribes and their members to bolster tribes’ identity and individuality.
“Recognition of Tribal sovereignty ensures federal, state and local agencies truly engage with Tribes on a government-to-government basis and incorporate Tribal priorities and perspectives when making decisions, such as approving development permits and infrastructure projects,” she said. “These projects impact cultural and natural resources – often one and the same – and have significant repercussions for the health and wellness of Tribal citizens which is significantly linked to these resources.
“But without recognition as equal sovereigns,” she added, “tribes have lacked adequate power to assert their needs when state and local agencies make decisions about projects that affect them.
“This means Tribal priorities are overlooked by agency decision-makers, there is a practice of deferring to project applicants and consultants, and mitigation measures often are culturally inappropriate and fail to account for direct and cumulative impacts to Tribal resources. This results in projects with inequitable and harmful outcomes for Tribal citizens.”
This article originally published in the July 3, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
