The Resolution by the White Earth Anishinaabe Nation to Protect the Inherent Rights of Wild Rice

Abstract

On December 31, 2018, the White Earth Reservation Business Committee, or tribal council, passed Resolution Number 001-19-009 recognizing the inherent rights of wild rice. The resolution also includes a regulation entitled “Rights of Manoomin,” meaning the regulation is enforceable under tribal law (White Earth Reservation Business Committee, 2019, pp. 19–21). The Rights of Manoomin lays out the legal protections afforded to wild rice under the resolution. The Reservation Business Committee passed Resolution Number 001-19-010 the same day to support the previous resolution (White Earth Reservation Business Committee, 2019, pp. 22–26). The resolution to recognize the inherent rights of wild rice is part of a larger international movement to recognize the rights of nature (Bouayad, 2020, pp. 39–40). However, the case of the White Earth Anishinaabeg (pl.) and wild rice is different for two reasons. First, the Rights of Manoomin regulation is the first to recognize the inherent rights of a plant (LaDuke, 2019). Second, the resolution claims protection for wild rice in all the territories the Anishinaabeg ceded under the 1867 treaty with the United States government that established the reservation. In this paper, I will argue that the importance of wild rice to the Anishinaabeg and the threats it is currently under served as an impetus for the White Earth Reservation Business Committee to pass the resolutions in question.

Citation

Gross, L.W. (2021), "The Resolution by the White Earth Anishinaabe Nation to Protect the Inherent Rights of Wild Rice", Spee, J.C., McMurray, A. and McMillan, M. (Ed.) Clan and Tribal Perspectives on Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-365-520211014