Métis people are a group of Indigenous people who are federally recognized in Canada but not the United States. This identity is unique to the Great Lakes because of the French and Anishinaabe relationships.  My ancestry is Ojibway, Métis, Nippising and Huron.  Our Métis ancestry has been mixing since the late 1700’s on Mooniingwanekaaning-minis (Madeline Island, Wisconsin). 

By John McPhaul

A recent report of a commission named by the University of Costa Rica’s University Council to investigate clashes between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous residents in the southeastern Bri-Bri territory of Salitre blames the Costa Rican government for the historic marginalization and treatment of Indigenous Peoples leading to the recent unrest.
 

The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) launched a new campaign called Honor Native Land in October 2017 that calls on individuals and organizations “to open all public events and gatherings with an acknowledgment of the traditional Native inhabitants of the land.” Whether it be in a conference setting, classroom, place of worship or sports stadium, the practice of honoring the historic relationship Indigenous Peoples have with the land is a crucial step in the process of decolonization and reconciliation. It’s an act of respect toward Native peoples who have lived and continue to live on their land despite centuries of dispossession and oppression. According to the USDAC website, 75 organizations have already signed the pledge to make acknowledgment a regular practice including arts organizations, non-profits and educational institutions.

On March 5, 2018, La Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia  (ONIC) condemned the death of a young Nasa journalist Eider Campo Hurtado after his murder the previous night in the Pioyá Reservation in the Cauca department.

On February 21, 2018, the government of the Philippines filed a legal petition to have a number of organizations, associations, and leaders declared as terrorist and outlaws pursuant to the National Security Act of 2007. To the shock of the world, this includes UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Joan Carling, co-convener of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group on Sustainable Development, as well as 600 other Indigenous human rights defenders from across the country. Terri Hansen spoke with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz about the allegations. 

What do you do when a country places a United Nations Special Rapporteur on a terrorist hit list?  If you're the UN, you hit back. A petition filed February 21 in a Manila court by apparently unstable President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines labels Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 'a terrorist.'