North

Land reunion as a renewal of sacred contract - whereby Land and ecosystems are held as sovereign, with inherent rights and dignified representation by Indigenous-led multicultural councils - is rooted in principles that remind us of our place within and belonging to a larger living whole. For integrity’s sake, the tools and guides used to restore connection must also assert and restore humanity’s place within an ecology teeming with animate beings, each with inherent rights. Orienting toward revitalization of sacred contracts, Land reunion practitioners call upon legal frameworks and governance practices that acknowledge a more fulsome notion of rights-bearing entities. For governance, we turn to approaches that distribute power within collectives enlivening a shared vision, sometimes leaning on protections Western law has accorded churches. These tools and guides restore a definition of sovereignty and animate values that uphold mutual dignity and concern for thriving life; that is, kinship. 

Start Here:

Rights of Nature and Mother Earth:  Rights-Based Law for Systemic Change: This guidebook offers practical examples of legal strategies to uphold the rights of ecosystems - i.e., observe laws that govern the Earth’s living systems - including case studies of places that have aligned legal frameworks and natural law to uphold the rights of land, rivers, and more-than-human beings.

Future Roots:  From Land Use to Land:Us: Webinar featuring Dr. Megan Peiser, tribally affiliated with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and co-chair of Oakland University’s Native American Advisory Committee that explores how traditional Western land “use” practices have broken our relationship to land, to each other, and to ourselves—and what it means to return. Includes the story of Gidinawemaaganinaanig: Endazhigiyang, a Native American Rematriation Heritage Site whose name means “All Our Relations: The Place Where We All Grow.”

Guide to the Rights of Nature in Indian Country: Authored by a coalition of Native and Native-descended authors, this guide - by and for American Indian/Alaska Native community members - offers a step-by-step guide for those interested in bringing Tribal values into contemporary law by passing a Rights of Nature law in their Tribal Governments, “re-Indigenizing” the law to protect land and resources for future generations.