#landtheft — Public Fediverse posts

Pure evil! #Genocide, #landTheft, #dehumanization, #humanRightsViolations, #settlerviolence #colonialViolence - words that @cbcnews stumbles over in its reporting to normalize #Israeli's murderous regime.

#Palestine #Palestinians #FreePalestine

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/defence-minister-israel-katz-palestinians-gaza-9.7330886

When it comes to standing up to #Trump, I laud #Maine Governor #JanetMills. But when it comes to #Wabanaki #Sovereignty, building wind terminals on undeveloped islands (#SearsIsland / #Wahsumkik ), destroying untouched forests to supply #WesternMass with electricity, or building highways through farmland (#MDOT), we definitely DO NOT always see eye-to-eye!

Governor opposed to latest change to #SettlementAct backed by #WabanakiNations

by Emma Davis
Wed, April 9, 2025

"Discussion of legislation to afford the Wabanaki Nations more authority over their land revealed that Gov. Janet Mills does not support the change, presenting a steep path for a plan that otherwise has bipartisan support.

"After not testifying during the public hearing last week, the governor’s counsel, Jerry Reid, told the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Mills’ concerns stem from the inability to predict the future needs of state government, an issue also raised in written testimony from the #MaineDepartmentOfTransportation, which was made available after the hearing.

"When pressed by committee members, Reid said he doesn’t have a specific example of an infrastructure project that would warrant seizing tribal land but that, 'We need to write the law mindful of the potential for problems.'

"While Reid and Wabanaki leaders noted that progress has and continues to be made to improve the relationship between the state and Wabanaki Nations, Reid added, 'the fact that we have such a good relationship right now might not always be true.'

"The U.S. government can seize private property for public use, a principle known as eminent domain, however that authority is restricted by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires just compensation for land taken, as well as some federal laws.

"The 1834 federal Indian Nonintercourse Act prohibited land transactions with tribes unless authorized by Congress. However, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act specified that that federal law was not applicable to the #HoultonBand of #Maliseet Indians, the #PassamaquoddyTribe and the #PenobscotNation.

"This is the act that has overall resulted in the Tribes being treated more akin to #municipalities than #SovereignNations. So far, sweeping changes to the act have failed due to opposition from Mills, but the governor, lawmakers and Wabanaki leaders have successfully made some targeted adjustments, including expanding tribal authority to prosecute crimes last year.

"The legislation being considered this session, #LD958, would amend the Settlement Act to prohibit the state from exercising eminent domain on trust and reservation land, which is protected under federal law, though fee land — or private property for which the owner owns the title — would still be subject to the state taking.

"The bill would also amend the 2023 #MikmaqNationRestorationAct to make this change for the Mi’kmaq Nation, which wasn’t included in the Settlement Act.

"On Tuesday, the Taxation Committee unanimously voted in favor of a bill to ensure equal tax treatment among all of the Wabanaki Nations, which Mills supports. #LD982 would provide the #MikmaqNation the same rights to sales tax revenue on its land that the other three tribes of the Wabanaki Nations were granted in 2022 through an amendment to the Settlement Act.
State hasn’t exercised this authority in decades, but argues it’s necessary

"The state hasn’t exercised eminent domain over #TribalLands since the #SettlementAct. However, testimony from Wabanaki leaders and state government officials underscore that it is a possibility."

Source:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/governor-opposed-latest-change-settlement-185134791.html

#MaineSettlementAct #EminentDomain #LandTheft #FirstNations #WabanakiConfederancy
#MaineFirstNations #Maine #MainePol
#NativeAmericanNews #TribalSovereignty #SaveSmilingHillFarm #SaveTheForests #MainePol #IndigenousPeoplesDay

Bipartisan lawmakers, Wabanaki leaders propose next change to Settlement Act

by Emma Davis
Fri, April 4, 2025

"A bipartisan group of lawmakers presented legislation on Friday to prevent the state from being able to seize #Wabanaki land for public use without consultation.

"For the past several Legislative sessions, leaders of the Wabanaki Nations have worked with lawmakers to try to overhaul the 1980 #MaineIndianClaimsSettlementAct that has resulted in the tribes being treated more akin to municipalities than #SovereignNations.

"So far, sweeping change has failed due to opposition from Gov. #JanetMills, but the executive, lawmakers and Wabanaki leaders have successfully made some targeted adjustments, including expanding tribal authority to prosecute crimes last year.

"#LD958 represents the next area of focus, although an omnibus bill is still expected to be considered during the second regular session of the Legislature next year.

"Sponsored by House Minority leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) and bipartisan co-sponsors, LD 958 would amend the #SettlementAct and the 2023 #MikmaqNationRestorationAct — as the Mi’kmaq Nation hadn’t been included in the earlier act — to prohibit eminent domain, a protection already afforded to almost all other federally recognized tribes.

" 'Much of our land contains irreplaceable cultural, spiritual and ecological resources,' said #Passamaquoddy Tribal Rep. Aaron Dana, a co-sponsor of the bill who sits on the Judiciary Committee. 'This bill ensures those places are safeguarded and are not subject to #destruction or #appropriation. Too often in our history, our #TribalLands have been taken, divided and exploited under the guise of progress.'

"The U.S. government can seize private property for public use, known as eminent domain, however that authority is restricted by the #FifthAmendment U.S. Constitution, which requires just compensation for land taken, as well as some federal laws.

"Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford), a co-sponsor who sits on the Judiciary Committee, questioned whether the bill is in conflict with the Constitution. It is not, Faulkingham, tribal leaders and attorneys explained, because the Constitution outlines when eminent domain can be exercised but not that it can’t be further restricted.

" 'There’s nothing in the Fifth Amendment that prohibits a state from enacting laws that says we won’t do that,' Faulkingham said.

"LD 958 applies to land protected under federal law — trust and reservation land — but fee lands — private property for which the owner owns the title — would still be subject to state power of eminent domain. A constitutional amendment allows states to condemn individually owned plots within tribal reservations.

"Maine has seized Wabanaki land from the start of their intertwined histories, as the state territory today had first been inhabited by the Wabanaki people."

Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bipartisan-lawmakers-wabanaki-leaders-propose-204713964.html

#MaineSettlementAct #FirstNations #WabanakiConfederancy
#MaineFirstNations #Maine #MainePol #NativeAmericanNews #LandTheft
#PenobscotNation #PassamaquoddyTribe #HoultonBand of #Maliseets #MikmaqNation #Dawnland #TribalSovereignty

Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28

Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”

by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023

“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.

”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas. 

'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'

“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.

“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages. 

“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects. 

“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy. 

“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries. 

“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.

“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.

“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.

“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?' 

“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .

“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked. 

“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.  

“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.

“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said. 

“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.

“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said. 

“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings. 

"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.

“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined. 

“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”

https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/heres-whats-at-stake-for-indigenous-peoples-at-cop28/

#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas