Deusdedit Ruhangariyo
Special to ICT
Around the world: A new regional chief in Canada, child protection oversight in Australia and deforestation in Peru’s Amazon territories
AUSTRALIA: Indigenous advocate to oversee reforms
A Gamilaraay woman has been appointed the new chair of a government oversight committee reviewing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system for the Australian Capital Territory, National Indigenous Times reported on Dec. 8.
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Natalie Brown, an advocate for systemic reform who has worked on Ngunnawal country for the past 20 years, will lead the territorial government’s Our Booris, Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee. The committee was established in 2020 to oversee dozens of recommendations to improve the handling of Indigenous children.
Brown is replacing Barb Causon, who was appointed as the new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Advocate, a role that was created from the recommendations of the committee.
“I look forward to continuing the critical work of the Our Booris, Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee and working closely with community as well as the ACT government to implement the recommendations,” Brown said in a statement.
Rachel Stephen-Smith, the territorial government’s minister for families and community services, said Brown was a good choice to lead the committee.
“Ms. Brown has been key in steering the Our Booris, Our Way process and has a strong
commitment to ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are supported, connected to their community, culture and country,” she said, according to National Indigenous Times.
“Real change can only be realized through strong collaboration, transparency, and accountability,” she said.
The review into the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system in the ACT began in 2017, with the oversight committee established to monitor implementation of the recommendations.
PERU: Religious group leading deforestation in Amazon
Mennonite colonies are now the leading cause of large-scale deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, exceeding deforestation caused by agribusiness and oil palm plantations and endangering biodiversity, Mongabay.com reported on Dec. 8.
The Mennonites emigrated from Bolivia in 2016 to settle near two Indigenous communities near Buenos Aires and Caimito, then rapidly began to clear forests to make way for agriculture, Mongabay.com reported.
According to satellite data, between 2017 and 2021, the colonies had deforested about 10,000 acres of Peruvian forests and encroached into the Indigenous lands.
Mongabay.com video host Romi Castagnino visited the central Peruvian Amazon and reported that before the Mennonites arrived, the Indigenous communities had lived in relative peace, protecting their forests and relying on biodiversity to harvest medicinal plants, timber and bushmeat.
According to Monagabay.com, investigations have discovered irregularities in the land titling process Mennonites used to purchase land and refuted claims that the land was already cleared when purchased.
CANADA: New regional chief for Newfoundland approved
First Nations in Newfoundland will get their own national representative on the Assembly of First Nations executive committee in a move officials say will strengthen the representation for the island’s growing Mi’kmaq population, CBC News reported on Dec. 12.
A motion passed at the assembly of special chiefs in Ottawa, Canada, cleared the way for creation of the new position. The island’s Mi’kmaq First Nations had previously shared a regional chief with Nova Scotia, said the current chief, Paul Prosper, who has represented them both.
“They have unique views and interests and … I think it’s good for them to have their own regional representative,” Prosper said. “There is a distinct representative there that is more aware and in tune with the interests and issues and the history that exists within that particular region. They’re able to represent and articulate those interests more fully on behalf of their constituents.”
Miawpukek First Nation Chief Mi’sel Joe told the gathering how the Mi’kmaq in Newfoundland had been left out of the terms of an agreement signed with Canada when Newfoundland and Labrador became a province in 1949.
“That’s why this is so important to us,” he told the room full of chiefs. “This moment in time is so important to help us move in the direction we need to go. We don’t have treaty rights in Newfoundland. All we have is the help of the Assembly of First Nations and the help of the Atlantic Equality Congress. If we don’t have this help, we don’t have anything going for us.”
My final thoughts
My final thoughts go to the Central Peruvian Amazon, where the Mennonites religious group is clearing forests and encroaching onto Indigenous territory. Unfortunately, they have support in some government circles and deny evidence that is clear from satellite data. Please, a religious organization in the 21st century should not be making the same mistakes religious organizations were making in the last century. Leave Indigenous territories alone, leave forests alone – they are carbon sinks, absorbing more carbon than they are releasing, and we all breathe oxygen.
Global Indigenous is a weekly news roundup published every Wednesday by ICT (formerly Indian Country Today) with some of the key stories about Indigenous peoples around the world.
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