Timbisha Shoshone Urge Obama Pass UN Rights Declaration

Contacts: Shannon Rivers (480) 220-6766; Tupac Enrique Acosta (602) 466-8367
Email: chantlaca@tonatierra.org

7th Annual Indigenous Peoples Day
Nahn-coh-Mahss O'otham
Community Forum in Affirmation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Thursday March 11, 2010, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Memorial Hall - Phoenix Steele Indian School Park - 300 E. Indian School Road
PHOENIX – Representatives of Nations, Pueblos, and organizations of Indigenous Peoples from Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Canada will join with the Native American Heritage Coalition at Indian School Park on Thursday March 11thto take collective action implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The event is the 7th Annual proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day - Nahn-coh-Mahss O'otham and is being hosted by the Nahuacalli Neigborhood Association, the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, the Seventh Generation Fund and the ASU School of Law Indian Legal Program.
PRESS CONFERENCE 11:00 AM
MEMORIAL HALL, Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Road
The UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 13, 2007. The US government has yet to endorse the declaration, although the Obama administration has signaled through the state department that a new policy is being considered.
Taking up the message shared at the Native Nations Tribal Summit in Washington, DC last November by Mr. Joe Kennedy of the Timbisha Western Shoshone Nation, a national call to President Obama to take immediate action and endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be made public at the press conference.
Agenda
Opening Prayer:
10:00am – 10:15am Welcome & Overview of agenda: Native American Heritage Coalition History of Indigenous Peoples Day, Presentation on United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Presented and Hosted by Shannon Rivers & Tupac Enrique Acosta
10:15am – 11:15 “Indigenous Rights and Mining”: Presented by Randall Gingrich; Mr. Gingrich is the co-founder of Tierra Nativa. Tierra Nativa is dedicated to biocultural conservation and community development in the Sierra Tarahumara region in Chihuahua Mexico. Randall will be discussing the impact on mining to the traditional O’oba Pueblo of Yepachi.
11:15am – 11:45 Press Conference
11:45 – 12:00 Aquinnah Wampanoag – “Cape Wind Development”, CWD on Nantucket Shoal, in Nantucket Sound, Mass.: Presented by Stephanie Duckworth; Ms. Duckworth is an author and founder of Wampum Books.
12:00 – 12:15 Presentation from the Sierra Club: updates on local and International events. Presented by Dan Millis, Grand Canyon Chapter
12:15 – 12:45 Lunch
12:45 – 1:30 Treaty of Teotihucan Challenges and Responsibilities: “Defense of the Buffalo Nation”: attacks from parks services in Yellow Stone National Park. Presented by Rosalie Littlethunder; Ms. Littlethunder is Chairperson of Seven Generation Fund and a Lakota educator in South Dakota.
1:30 – 2:15 “Southern Indigenous Peoples Movements”: Presented by Luis Fernando Sarango; Mr. Sarango is Rector of the Amawtay Wasi Intercultural University of Indigenous Nationalities and Pueblos of Ecuador, in Quito.
An international educational institution, that works with other Indigenous Universities in Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Bolivia and Chile.
2:15 – 2:45 “Rights of Mobility and the Western Hemispheric Travel Initiative (WHTI)” WHTI’s impact on the Yaqui Peoples of Southern Arizona. Presented by Jose Matus; Director of Alianza Sin Fronteras (Alliance without Borders)
2:45 - 3:00 O’otham Scared Sites (Baboquivari) Presented by Earnest Moristo and Dennis Manuel
3:00 – 3:15 Update on Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier: Presented by Ms. Billie Fidlin; Ms. Fidlin is a former acting chair of LPDOF Committee and founder of Whisper n Thunder online magazine.
3:15 – 3:30 Native American Heritage Coalition: Presentation by Mr. Ben Chee
3:30 – 4:00 Open discussion, closing comments and questions
4:00pm Closing Prayer
Links: http://www.nahuacalli.org/
http://www.tonatierra.org/