Discussion with Friedman Professor of Law, James M. Grijalva
November 18, 2022 @ 12:00-2:00PM
Northern Arizona University's Native American Cultural Center

Since contact with colonial Euro-American governments, indigenous peoples' ancient spiritual and cultural relationship with the natural environment has been negatively impacted. Federal recognition of inherent tribal sovereignty, Indian rights based in treaties and statutes, and laws ostensibly aimed at protecting indigenous cultural interests too often seem specious. Dwindling water supplies are allocated without considering tribal rights, abandoned mines and tailings are left on Indian lands, wastewater is sprayed on sacred mountains, industrial sites operate next to sacred sites, and climate change disproportionately affects indigenous peoples. Join us for an interactive discussion on how native students and their allies can become effective advocates for discharging their sacred responsibility in protecting all their relations. 

James Grijalva is a Friedman Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota. Professor Grijalva frequently speaks and writes on numerous issues related to Indian Country Environmental Law. Since 1996, he has worked with the governments and grassroots organizations of over 70 Indian tribes across the country and Alaska as the Director of the Tribal Environmental Law project, a component of the Northern Plains Indian Law Center, which he also directs. He has also served as a technical services contractor and legal trainer for multiple offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. He is a Special Alternate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation of the Forth Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. 
  
Sponsored by NAU's Office of Native American Initiatives, the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, and the University of North Dakota.