International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Well-Being, Health and the Keystone XL Pipeline

August 9 was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The theme for this year’s day was to ensure the well-being and health of the indigenous peoples. This theme comes curiously timed with events  and decisions that determine whether or not the contentious Keystone XL Pipeline will received needed permits to be constructed.

Pipeline proponents are anticipating a final rejection by President Obama, which, according to this news article, might be delivered sometime in August. 

9 days of hearings were held in South Dakota  on the issue of pipe construction through that state.

The pipeline’s planned route through South Dakota would “pass through Lakota treaty territory”   “[R]epresentatives and expert witnessesfor four tribal governments” provided testimony at the recent concluded South Dakota hearings against the construction of the pipeline. 

Lakota People's Law Project Video Response to Goldwater Institute Press Conference

The Lakota People's Law Project has made a video response to the press conference held by the Goldwater Institute to announce its class-action law suit against the Indian Child Welfare Act. 

More on Class Action Law Suit Against the Indian Child Welfare Act

More information on the lawsuit which has been filed by the Goldwater Institute, challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) can be found at the Turtle Talk blog.The Turtle Talk blog comments that: “This is highly funded, highly professional media campaign.” The blog also provides a link to the complaint  filed to initiate the law suit.  

Paragraph 5 of the complaint sets out the aims of the lawsuit: “They seek a declaration by this Court that certain provisions of ICWA, and Guidelines issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), both facially and as applied, violate the United States Constitution. They also seek an injunction from this Court against the application of certain provisions of ICWA and the accompanying BIA Guidelines.”

A statement from  theNational Indian Child Welfare Association 

 remarks that “It is disappointing that during this era of unprecedented support for Native children and youth, there are still special interests intent on mobilizing their considerable resources to dismantle critical protections for children that Indian Country and our allies fought so hard to establish.”

Keeping Track of the Indian Child Welfare Act

It is by now a well-rehearsed comment on the Indian Child Welfare Act that it is poorly implemented and adhered to by states. This poor implementation and state adherence was at least in part responsible for the issuance of new ICWA Guidelines and a proposed binding rule earlier this year. Each of this is a notable event in its own right. The non-binding Guidelines have not been updated since 1979, and there has never been a binding rule in place for ICWA.

The Children’s Bureau, part of the Administration for Children and Families, announced on April 2, 2015, that it intended to issue a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that would, for the first time, collect information on ICWA as part of the federal child welfare data. The  intent to publish a supplemental notice  states that:

“we have determined that there is authority under the statute (section 479(c) of the Act) to collect ICWA-related data in AFCARS. Specifically, the statute permits broader data collection in order to assess the current state of adoption and foster care programs in general, as well as to develop future national policies concerning those programs.”

This is significant in providing a needed mechanism to provide federal oversight of state performance with respect to ICWA. To date, no further supplemental notice of proposed rule-making has been published—and without that, the details of what would be included on the ICWA data has not been stated. Nevertheless, this information from the Children’s Bureau is a much needed step in the right direction with respect to ensuring compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act.