Indigenous Peoples’ Day

New Zealand’s reparations for the Māori people are an example the United States can follow in pursuit of racial justice for Black and Native American communities.

In a referendum held on 20 August, over 58 per cent of voters chose to stop oil extraction in the Yasuni National Park, a UN protected biosphere located in the Amazon. In a second referendum, Ecuadorians also voted to ban all extraction activities in the Choco Andino tropical rainforest, near Quito, with around 68 per cent of support.

On 7 March, Fosen Vind, a joint venture led by state-owned enterprise Statkraft, reached an agreement with the Nord-Fosen siida, a local community of Indigenous Sámi people, over the construction of a windfarm on lands used by Sámi people for centuries for reindeer husbandry. The agreement establishes that the Roan Vind farm can continue its operations and includes provisions for the sustainable continuation of reindeer herding in the region. The agreement allocates wind energy for local purposes, establishes a government grant geared towards supporting Sámi culture, and foresees the designation of area for reindeer grazing in the winter (to be available starting from 2026-2027).

The Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling about collective rights of Indigenous Peoples. The ruling upheld the requirement that individuals who wish to be elected to the Vuntut Giwtchin First Nation of Yukon’s Council must reside on traditional lands.

The Supreme Court sided with the Xokleng people in a case considered a landmark for Indigenous peoples’ rights. The case stemmed from Santa Catarina state’s challenge to the land claims of the Xokleng people which, it argued, were not valid on the basis of the “marco temporal” doctrine.

President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva announced the legal recognition of six new Indigenous territories. This recognition entails special protection of the peoples that inhabit the territories. It also aims to put an end to illegal mining and other resource exploitation activities that have contributed to the deteriorating health and well-being of certain Indigenous communities

A settlement reached in January between the Canadian government and representatives of First Nations whose members were day scholars at residential schools between the mid-1800s and up until the 1990s, has been approved by a Federal Court. The settlement approved a 2.8 billion Canadian dollars payment to an Indigenous-led association that will manage the funds to implement measures to reverse loss of heritage, language and culture. The settlement is intended to address the collective harm suffered by day scholars who attended residential schools. It does not include claims over the death and disappearance of Indigenous children forced to attend these schools.

The South Australian government passed a historic bill on 26 March, making it the first Australian jurisdiction to legislate an Indigenous Voice to the Parliament at a state level.