indigenous innovation
PURPOSE
Address the unique desires, needs or concerns of the Nation
EXAMPLES
Per Capita Payments
Pueblo of Laguna (1958)
SECTION 1. Legislative Power.-The legislative Power shall be vested in the Pueblo Council, and the said power shall be exercised in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the United States applicable to Indians or Indian Tribes. The Pueblo Council shall have the following rights and powers:…(f) To fix… per capita payments to members of the Pueblo; Provided, that with the exception of the initial distribution, the amount distributed per capita in any one year shall not exceed one-half of the net income (including income from minerals) received during the preceding Pueblo fiscal year.
Coquille Indian Tribe (1999)
All members of the Coquille Indian Tribe shall be accorded the opportunity to participate in the economic resources and activities of the Tribe. No per capita payments shall be made to any tribal members.
Elders’ Councils
White Earth Nation (2009)
CHAPTER 8: COUNCIL OF ELDERS. The Council of Elders shall be nominated by citizens and designated by the Legislative Council. The Council of Elders shall provide ideas and thoughts on totemic associations, traditional knowledge, cultural and spiritual practices, native survivance, and considerations of resource management, and advice the Legislative Council. The Council of Elders shall consist of twenty citizens of the White Earth Nation who are at least fifty-five years of age at the time of appointment.
Treaty Rights
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe (2002)
Section 3. Hunting and Fishing Rights. Nothing in this Article shall restrict the exercise of hunting and fishing rights reserved by the Tribe under the Treaty of Point No point including the right to hunt on all open and unclaimed lands, and to fish at all of the Tribe's usual and accustomed grounds and stations.
Oath of Office
Pueblo of Zuni (1970)
"Into your care we entrust our land and our people. Regardless of whether you are poor, or lack the oratory to express yourself fluently, you will, to the best of your ability, be the protector, impartially, for your people. The stranger who comes into our land will become as one of your people, regardless of race, color, or creed, and you will give unto them the same protection and rights as you would your own. You will cherish and protect all that contains life; from the lowliest crawling creature to the human. By hastly work or deed you will refrain from hurting the feelings, both mentally and physically, of our people. In times when you, to the best of your ability and judgement, have resorted to every peaceful means of bringing reason to an individual, on a matter, and that individual, through stubborness, remains contrary to the point of disrespect for the office you hold, and would, through his action, be a bad example to his fellowmen, you will question him four times if he will continue to set aside peaceful intelligent reasoning. If his answer is yes the four times, then you may strike him with the flat of your hand, and four times if necessary."