Native American Rights Fund
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 #HonorTheTreaties
 
On Thursday, the United States District Court for the
District of Montana, Great Falls Division, heard arguments in Rosebud
Sioux Tribe v. Trump. [link removed] NARF was there on behalf of our clients, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota Oyate) and the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes).

At the hearings, the US government argued that the treaties
that the United States signed with tribal nations are not relevant to
the Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, the treaties were created specifically for
this sort of violation.

"When the Tribes negotiated their treaties, they gave millions of acres of
land to the United States-including, ironically, the land on which the
courthouse now stands.
In return, they asked that the United States protect their lands from
trespass and their resources from destruction. Today, the Presidents of Rosebud
Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community were in federal court to
invoke their sacred inheritance from these treaties-because the KXL pipeline
is exactly the kind of depredation the Tribes sought to prevent," NARF Staff
Attorney Natalie Landreth explained after the hearings.

When they entered into treaties with the United States, the tribal
nations were working to protect their natural resources (water,
grasslands, sacred places, and the great buffalo herds) and
keep people from crossing their lands. The United States formally
agreed, among other things, to keep outsiders off Lakota (Sioux) and other tribal
nations' territories and protect tribal cultural and natural resources. The
2019 pipeline approval violates both of these provisions.

All the Tribes are asking is that the US government honor
the treaties that the president signed and the US Congress ratified.
All they are asking is the law be upheld. NARF will not allow the US government
to ignore or forget the agreements made with tribal nations. Neither the
president nor wealthy foreign corporations are above the laws of our
country. 

Treaties are not just an agreement between two sovereign
governments.  Rather, they are an agreement between the citizens of those sovereigns. If a government violates their agreements, they dishonor not just themselves, but
also the people they are representing.  

Don't let this president dishonor our country. Don't allow
him to dishonor you. You can support the Tribes' fight for justice.  Donate
today.

[link removed]
 


Native American Rights Fund
[email protected]
Anchorage 907-276-0680
Boulder 303-447-8760
Washington 202-785-4166

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