James (Sákéj) Youngblood Henderson | |
|---|---|
 Professor James (Sákéj) Youngblood Henderson in January 2017 | |
| Born | December 20, 1944 Ardmore, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Nationality | Chickasaw Nation, American |
| Spouse | Marie Battiste |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Harvard Law School (Juris doctor) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Indigenous law |
James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson (born 1944) [1] is an international human rights lawyer,advocate,and educator. [2] [3]
James Youngblood Henderson was born on December 20,1944,in Ardmore,Oklahoma. [1] His is Chickasaw through his paternal grandfather,and he also claims Cheyenne ancestry. [2] He experienced poverty while growing up,which prompted him to make ending poverty for all Indigenous peoples a life goal. [4]
As an undergraduate student,he served as the vice-president of the American National Indian Youth Council,which prompted him to look at the Civil Rights Movement as a model for a potential Indigenous rights movement. [4] He attended Harvard Law School,where in 1974 he became one of the first Native Americans to be awarded the Juris Doctor. [5]
He married Mi'kmaq educator Marie Battiste and is the father of Canadian MP Jaime Battiste. [2]
In his first year out of Harvard Law School,Henderson completed his first major case,in which he reestablished for his father's clan several legal rights. [4] Since then,Henderson has worked to protect Indigenous heritage and culture through legal means,working with the Canadian government,the Mi'kmaq Nation,the United Nations,and other First Nation governments. [2] Additionally,he has taught law at Stanford University,Berkeley,Harvard University,and other North American law schools throughout his career. [4] Henderson was brought to Canada in 1978 when his wife,Marie Battiste,was asked by the Grand Captain of the Mi'kmaq people to set up a bilingual education program in Nova Scotia. [4] He then began working with the Mi'kmaw Nation on drafting their land titles and representing them in their legal proceedings. [4] Between 1978 and 1983,Henderson worked with the Mi'kmaq Nation and the Assembly of First Nations as a constitutional advisor and continued working with these groups through the constitutional process in Canada through 1993. [2] [6] [4] His expertise in Indigenous legal issues lead Henderson to serve on the advisory board of the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs,as a member of the Sectoral Commission on Culture,Communication,and Information of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO between 2000 and 2010,and as a member of the Experts Advisory Group on International Cultural Diversity. [2] [6] [5] Additionally,Henderson worked to protect Indigenous Nations' rights during the Kelowna Accord,and through the Four Directions Council,a United Nations Non-Governmental Organization. [6] [4] Throughout his career,he has helped draft and author many legal documents and other works which protect Indigenous heritage,culture,and legal rights,including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [6] He wrote many books,articles,and other writings on Indigenous law. [6]
Henderson works in Canada as the Research Director of the Native Law Centre and as a professor of Indigenous law at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Henderson has received several awards and honors for his proficiency in international law and his dedication to pursuing justice for Indigenous peoples,including an Indigenous People's Council award in 2005,a National Aboriginal Achievement Award,now the Indspire Award,for Law and Justice in 2006,and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Carleton University in 2007. [6] [11] In addition,he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2013. [6]
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| National | |
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Archived 2019-10-28 at the Wayback Machine 
The Mi'kmaq are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.
The Mi'kmaq language, or Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk, is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States; the total ethnic Mi'kmaq population is roughly 20,000. The native name of the language is Lnuismk, Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk or Miꞌkmwei. The word Miꞌkmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Miꞌkmaw.
Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing or Suckerfish script was a writing system for the Miꞌkmaw language, later superseded by various Latin scripts which are currently in use. Mi'kmaw are a Canadian First Nation whose homeland, called Mi'kma'ki, overlaps much of the Atlantic provinces, specifically all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation is a Mi'gmaq First Nations band government with a registered population (2022) of 4,248 members, most of whom are of Mi'kmaq ancestry. The name Listuguj, is the origin for the name of the Restigouche River, as well as other nearby places also carrying the name Restigouche. Listuguj is also used as a name for one of the Míkmaq orthographies. Its southern border is adjacent to Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec.
Chief Henri Membertou was the sakmow of the Mi'kmaq First Nations tribe situated near Port Royal, site of the first French settlement in Acadia, present-day Nova Scotia, Canada. Originally sakmow of the Kespukwitk district, he was appointed as Grand Chief by the sakmowk of the other six districts. Membertou claimed to have been a grown man when he first met Jacques Cartier, which makes it likely that he was born in the early years of the sixteenth century.
The Eskasoni Mi'kmaw Nation is a band government of the Mi'kmaq First Nations, located in Unama'ki, Nova Scotia, Canada. As of 2021, Eskasoni has a membership of 4,675. Of this population, 3,973 live on-Reserve, and 667 live off-Reserve.
Canadian Aboriginal law is the body of law of Canada that concerns a variety of issues related to Indigenous peoples in Canada. Canadian Aboriginal Law is different from Canadian Indigenous law: In Canada, Indigenous Law refers to the legal traditions, customs, and practices of Indigenous peoples and groups. Aboriginal peoples as a collective noun is a specific term of art used in legal documents, including the Constitution Act, 1982, and includes First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. Canadian Aboriginal law provides certain constitutionally recognized rights to land and traditional practices. Canadian Aboriginal Law enforces and interprets certain treaties between the Crown and Indigenous people, and manages much of their interaction. A major area of Aboriginal law involves the duty to consult and accommodate.
Nora Bernard was a Canadian Mi'kmaq activist who sought compensation for survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. She was directly responsible for what became the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history, representing an estimated 79,000 survivors; the Canadian government settled the lawsuit in 2005 for upwards of C$5 billion.
The history of the First Nations is the prehistory and history of present-day Canada's peoples from the earliest times to the present day with a focus on First Nations. The pre-history settlement of the Americas is a subject of ongoing debate. First Nation's oral histories and traditional knowledge, combined with new methodologies and technologies —used by archaeologists, linguists, and other researchers—produce new—and sometimes conflicting—evidence.
Ursula Johnson is a multidisciplinary Mi’kmaq artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her work combines the Mi’kmaq tradition of basket weaving with sculpture, installation, and performance art. In all its manifestations her work operates as didactic intervention, seeking to both confront and educate her viewers about issues of identity, colonial history, tradition, and cultural practice. In 2017, she won the Sobey Art Award.
The Qalipu First Nation, is a Mi’kmaq band government, created by order-in-council in 2011 pursuant to the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band. After the band was approved as a First Nation, 100,000 people applied for membership and a total of 23,000 were approved.
The Miꞌkmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum was established in 1997 to provide the Miꞌkmaq, Nova Scotia and Canada a place to resolve issues of mutual concern. The Forum's vision is to develop Mi'kmaw communities and foster positive relationships with other Nova Scotians.
Marie Ann Battiste is an author and educator working as a professor in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan in the Department of Educational Foundations. From the Potlotek First Nation in Nova Scotia, Battiste is the daughter of Mi'kmaq parents John and Annie Battiste and is one of four children. Battiste was raised in Houlton, Maine, where she attended high school graduating in 1967. From there she went on to the University of Maine graduating from the Farmington campus in 1971 with her teaching certificate and a bachelor of science in both elementary and junior high education. She went on to attend Harvard University graduating in 1974 with a master of education in administration and social policy as well as Stanford University, where in 1984 she graduated with a doctor of education in curriculum and teacher education.
Trina Roache is a Mi'kmaq video journalist, educated at University of King's College. She has worked with CBC, as a freelancer and with APTN National News at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network covering the issues and stories of the Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqey (Maliseet) and Peskotomuhkati people in the Atlantic Canada. She is a member of the Glooscap First Nation.
Netawansum is a mythological figure in Mi'kmaq tradition who is the nephew/niece and travel companion of Klu'skap. Netawansum was created by Kisúlk using ocean foam that had been blown onto sweetgrass by the shore. Netawansum possessed knowledge about the life and strength of the maritime world.
The Peace and Friendship Treaties were a series of written documents that Britain signed bearing the Authority of Great Britain between 1725 and 1779 with various Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy peoples living in parts of what are now the Maritimes and Gaspé region in Canada and the northeastern United States. Primarily negotiated to reaffirm the peace after periods of war and to facilitate trade, these treaties remain in effect to this day.
Indigenous law in Canada refers to the legal traditions, customs, and practices of Indigenous peoples and groups. Canadian aboriginal law is different from Indigenous Law. Canadian Aboriginal law provides certain constitutionally recognized rights to land and traditional practices.
Jaime Battiste is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Sydney—Victoria in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Liberal Party in the 2019 Canadian federal election. He is the first Mi'kmaw Member of Parliament in Canada.
Alexander Denny, otherwise known as Kji-keptin Alex Denny of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, both a founding member and two-term president of the UNSI, was most prominently known for the role he played in the ongoing battle for recognition of Mi'kmaq treaties and Indigenous rights. Born to the Eskasoni First Nation and raised by two elders in the community, Denny was taught the importance of Mi'kmaq treaties from a young age. His passion for and knowledge of his community ultimately led Denny to be credited with attaining linguistic and political rights for the Mi'kmaq at an international level. Additionally, It was Denny and the UNSI that organized the very first Treaty Day.
Elsie Charles Basque (1916-2016) was a Mi’kmaq known as the first member of her tribe to earn a teaching certificate. She became a noted educator and was a recipient of the Order of Canada in 2009.