Oglala Sioux Tribe legalizes same-sex marriage
The tribal council last week approved a same-gender marriage ordinance in a 12-3 vote with one abstention.
Indigenous rights & well-being
This archive covers documented progress on Indigenous rights, sovereignty, land protection, cultural preservation, and community health. Stories here highlight policy wins, legal milestones, and Indigenous-led initiatives that are improving lives and strengthening self-determination around the world.
Ecuador Amazon tribe win first victory against oil companies
Ecuador’s Waorani indigenous tribe won their first victory against big oil companies in a ruling that blocks entry onto ancestral lands for oil exploration.
Navajo Nation embraces renewable energy as era of coal power ends
The Navajo Nation voted not to pursue the plan to operate the coal-powered Navajo Generating Station itself, but rather to create a new local economy based on renewable energy.
The United States convenes the most diverse Congress in its history
There are more women than ever before, and a new generation of Muslims, Latinos, Native Americans and African-Americans in the House creating what academics call a reflective democracy, more aligned with the population of the United States.
New Mexico Democrat Debra Haaland and Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids become the first Native American women elected to U.S. Congress
Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Native American women elected to Congress.
Indigenous rights get boost as Green Climate Fund approves $1 billion for new projects
The fund – to which countries have pledged more than $10 billion – adopted a landmark policy to protect indigenous people who often live in or near forests, where the fund plans to back conservation projects.
L.A. City Council replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day on city calendar
Over the objections of Italian American civic groups, the council made the second Monday in October a day in L.A. to commemorate “indigenous, aboriginal and native people.”
Court finds that approval of Dakota Access Pipeline violated the law
A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects.
U.S. Army halts Dakota Access Pipeline route in Standing Rock victory
At Standing Rock in December 2016, thousands of water protectors camped on the North Dakota plains erupted in cheers when the U.S. Army Corps denied the easement to drill the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe. The pause proved temporary, but the movement brought tribal treaty rights and the phrase “water is life” into wider American conversation.
Great Bear Rainforest agreement protects millions of acres under Indigenous leadership
The Great Bear Rainforest agreement, signed in February 2016, protected 85% of old-growth trees across 6.4 million hectares of British Columbia’s coast — a temperate rainforest roughly the size of Ireland. Reached after nearly 20 years of negotiation, it placed 26 First Nations at the center as co-managers, embedding Indigenous authority into conservation law.