Category Archives: Indigenous peoples

Bill to reinterpret founding treaty with Māori would make New Zealand a ‘laughing stock’, MPs told

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Introduced to parliament by a minor coalition party, the treaty principles bill seeks to abandon a set of principles that guide the relationship between Māori and ruling authorities

A marathon public hearing into a bill that seeks to radically reinterpret New Zealand’s founding treaty between Māori tribes and the British Crown began on Monday amid widespread outcry the proposed changes are unconstitutional, socially divisive and an attack on Māori rights.

The treaty principles bill, which was introduced to parliament by the minor coalition Act party, seeks to abandon a set of well-established principles that guide the relationship between Māori and ruling authorities in favour of its own redefined principles.

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‘White people shouldn’t mess with it’: Native American church laments psychedelic cactus shortage

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Western ‘psychedelic renaissance’ is partly to blame for dwindling supplies of peyote, which produces mescaline

Aldous Huxley wrote about the spiritual visions he had while taking the drug mescaline in The Doors of Perception, while Hunter S Thompson wrote of driving at 100mph while under the influence of it in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

But now a growing number of western spiritual seekers dabbling in psychedelics are accused of causing a shortage of the plant that produces mescaline.

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Biden designates two new national monuments after advocacy from tribes

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Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments in California will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development

Joe Biden will designate two new national monuments in California in his last days in office, after tribes and environment groups asked him to take urgent action.

The designation of the Chuckwalla monument in southern California and the Sáttítla monument in the far north of the state will place 840,000 acres (339,935 hectares) of land under protection, shielding it from extraction and energy development.

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Uncontacted hunter-gatherers facing threat of genocide because of minerals mining, claims report

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Survival International says Hongana Manyawa in Indonesia are at risk but mining company says the people in ‘voluntary’ contact with workers

Uncontacted hunter-gatherers in Indonesia “are facing a severe and immediate threat of genocide” because of mining for minerals on their lands for use in electric vehicles, a report claims.

In their own language, the Indigenous Hongana Manyawa people, of Halmahera island, call themselves “the people of the forest”. But their forest home is being destroyed in a rush for nickel, a crucial component in rechargeable batteries, campaigners say.

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Canada’s employment minister resigns after shifting his claims of Indigenous ancestry

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Randy Boissonnault to ‘step away from cabinet’ after being accused of ‘pretendianism’ and improper business dealings

Canada’s employment minister has resigned from the cabinet after weeks of scrutiny over both his business dealings and his shifting claims of Indigenous ancestry.

Moments before question period on Wednesday, prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office said Randy Boissonnault would “step away from cabinet effective immediately” and will “focus on clearing the allegations made against him”.

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Standoff as Canada Yukon town council refuses to swear oath to King Charles

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Council in Yukon territory deadlocked, citing the crown’s tarnished relations with Indigenous peoples in the region

The council of a town in Canada’s Yukon territory has been locked for weeks in bureaucratic standstill after its members refused to swear a mandatory oath of allegiance to King Charles, citing the crown’s tarnished relations with Indigenous peoples in the region.

The standoff, which threatens to cost them their seats, reflects a complicated view of the country’s head of state, who lives thousands of miles away, and increasingly serves as a reminder to a history of violence and broken promises

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Milei plan to privatise Argentina river sparks fears among local communities

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Communities on Paraná River fear privatisation of waterway operations will destroy way of life

River communities in Argentina fear that Javier Milei’s plans to privatise operations on a key shipping route could lead to environmental damage and destroy their way of life.

Since taking office almost a year ago, the self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” president has pledged to privatise a number of the state’s assets. The latest is the Paraguay-Paraná waterway – a shipping route of strategic importance for Argentina and its neighbours.

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Insults and a haka in New Zealand parliament as MPs debate Māori rights bill

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Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Māori party MP ripping up a copy of the bill

New Zealand’s parliament has erupted into fiery debate, personal attacks and a haka over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the crown is interpreted.

The treaty principles bill was tabled by the libertarian Act party – a minor partner in New Zealand’s coalition government – and passed its first reading on Thursday, amid scathing speeches and disruptions.

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Norway apologises to Sami, Forest Finns and Kvens for forced assimilation policy

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Parliament votes to express ‘deepest regret’ over more than a century of ‘Norwegianisation’ of minorities

The Norwegian parliament has apologised unreservedly to minority groups and Indigenous people for more than a century of historical injustices committed against them as part of its “Norwegianisation” policy.

The forced assimilation policy – which included state-run boarding schools that banned minority languages and the forced relocation of whole villages – pursued by Norwegian authorities dated back to the 18th century and became official policy from 1851. Although parts were phased out in the 1960s, much of the policy continued into the 1980s.

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Indigenous Canadian judge who reshaped nation’s legal system dies aged 73

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Murray Sinclair praised by prime minister for pioneering country’s Indigenous reconciliation efforts

Murray Sinclair, the Anishinaabe judge, senator and university chancellor, who reshaped Canada’s legal system and forced the public to confront the brutal realities of the Indigenous residential school system, has died at the age of 73.

Sinclair – whose spirit name was Mizhana Gheezhik, meaning “The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky” – was a champion of Indigenous rights and reconciliation efforts, dedicating his life to reversing the stark inequities many Indigenous communities face as the result of colonial policy.

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Alleged mastermind in murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira formally charged

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Brazilian federal police announce end of two-year inquiry into killing of journalist and Indigenous expert in Amazon

Federal police in Brazil have formally charged the alleged mastermind of the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira in the Amazon, accusing him of arming and funding the criminal group responsible for the crime as well as plotting to hide the victims’ bodies.

In a statement released on Monday morning, police in the Amazon city of Manaus announced they had concluded the two-year investigation into the shootings of the British journalist and the Brazilian Indigenous expert in June 2022.

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Funding cuts could mean death of Sámi languages, say Indigenous parliaments

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Sweden and Finland plan to withdraw funding to safeguard nine languages defined as threatened by Unesco

The Indigenous parliaments of Sweden, Finland and Norway have warned that some Sámi languages could disappear if Stockholm and Helsinki press ahead with plans to withdraw funding that could hit a critical preservation body.

Sámi Giellagáldu was created to safeguard, promote and strengthen the use of the nine Sámi languages across the Nordics, including North Sámi, which is spoken by an estimated 20,000 people across Norway, Sweden and Finland and classified by Unesco as endangered, and the much smaller Pite Sámi and Ute Sámi, which have less than 50 speakers each.

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US navy apologizes for razing of Native Alaska community in late 1800s

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In ceremony in Kake, military acknowledges bombardment of village that destroyed it and led to many deaths

In a ceremony Saturday afternoon, the US navy apologized for firing upon and torching the Alaska Native village of Kake in 1869.

Surrounded by tribal Chilkat weavings, historic photographs and other Lingít artwork in the Kake elementary and high school gymnasium, R Adm Mark B Sucato expressed the military’s regret, in the first of two apologies planned by the military for bombardments of Alaska Native communities in the late 1800s.

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‘They want total control’: how Russia is forcing Sami people to hide their identity

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The ministry of justice has added 55 Indigenous organisations to a list of terrorists and extremists, leading many to leave for Nordic countries

Sami people in Russia are being forced to hide their identity and live “outside the law” for fear of imprisonment and persecution, leading figures from the community have warned, after the government labelled dozens of Indigenous organisations terrorists and extremists.

In July, Russia’s ministry of justice added 55 Indigenous organisations to a list of terrorists and extremists, meaning that representatives of the groups – and anyone who takes part, cooperates or communicates with them – risk being sentenced to years in prison.

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Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: murder charge dropped against one of three suspects

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Activists greet decision over killings of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert with ‘indignation’

Appeal judges in Brazil yesterday upheld charges against only two of the three men accused of murdering Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, in a decision “received with indignation” by Indigenous activists.

The three judges ruled that there was “insufficient evidence of authorship or participation” by Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, a fisher, in the 2022 deaths of the Brazilian Indigenous expert and the British Guardian journalist.

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British Columbia shaken by messy election campaign putting progressive policies at risk

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Tumultuous campaign threatens to undo climate policies and Indigenous rights when voters go to polls in October

Canada’s westernmost province has been gripped by a chaotic provincial election campaign, rife with political backstabbing, abrupt resignations and unexpected allegiances.

And as an unpopular premier squares off against a climate crisis skeptic, the October vote could have profound consequences for British Columbia, a province seen as the vanguard for progressive climate policy.

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Almost 200 people killed last year trying to defend the environment, report finds

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Latin America was the most deadly region in which to defend ecosystems from mining and deforestation, with Indigenous people among half the dead

At least 196 people were killed last year for defending the environment, with more than a third of killings taking place in Colombia, new figures show.

From campaigners who spoke out against mining projects to Indigenous communities targeted by organised crime groups, an environmental defender was killed every other day in 2023, according to a new report by the NGO Global Witness.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features.

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Two loggers shot dead with arrows in clash with Indigenous group in Peruvian Amazon

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Two more people missing and one injured after attack by ‘uncontacted’ Mashco Piro in rainforest

At least two loggers have been shot dead with arrows, one has been injured and two more are missing after a confrontation with members of the “uncontacted” Mashco Piro people in the Peruvian Amazon, according to Indigenous activists who have criticised the government for failing to formally recognise and protect all of the isolated people’s territory.

The deadly attack, which occurred last Thursday but was made known only this week, took place a day before the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) suspended for eight months the sustainability certification of a logging company that campaigners have accused of encroaching on the fiercely territorial Indigenous group’s ancestral land.

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Shock as police chief taken off Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips murder case

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Activists and lawyers in Brazil say unexpected change is ‘a big step backwards’ in the investigation

Indigenous activists and lawyers in Brazil have voiced shock and dismay after the federal police chief leading the investigation into the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips was unexpectedly removed from the case.

Francisco Badenes, an experienced investigator, had been running the inquiry into the 2022 deaths of the Brazilian Indigenous expert and the British journalist since the second half of that year.

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Could a £2-a-day basic income be the key to protecting rainforests?

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Pilot scheme in Amazon communities of central Peru aims to help people choose a more sustainable way of living

“At the beginning, there was a lot of fear and disbelief,” said Ketty Marcelo. “There was a perception from the communities that this was another scam, that it was only looking to steal information or our integrity.”

Indigenous communities in the Amazon have grown weary of people coming in from outside with plans that could mean them losing their land or way of life. When a team from Cool Earth, a climate action NGO, came to the Amazon communities of central Peru in October 2022, local people were hesitant. “These fears caused some families not to participate,” Marcelo said. “And we, as an organisation, were afraid this would be another project that would seek to impose activities without respecting the autonomy of the communities.”

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