Indigenous Nationhood movement goes online

A new website iscalling for Aboriginal nations to move away from the Indian Act and towards autonomy and traditional governments.

Siku Allooloo is part Haitian, part Inuk, and now living in New York. She was part of a group of Native and non-Native people that drafted principles for the Indigenous Nationhood movement that were released this morning.

To be able to see how far and wide the movement stretches, I find it affirming, Allooloo says. When you can see the amount of collective support... and that's what I hope people get out of this site.

Allooloo says the website will act as a central platform to house their statement of principles explaining who they are and what they stand for, and be a place for the public to get information about future actions and campaigns.

She says one of the main challenges Indigenous people face is a skewed representation in the public, in government policies and in text books. She hopes this website will help balance that by giving indigenous people more control over how theyre represented and by building solidarity with many people across different regions.

Glen Coulthard is a Weledeh Dene, and an assistant professor in the First Nations Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He says this movement is something Northerners can learn from and be a part of.

Its a place where people can re-learn traditional land-based forms of knowledge, he says. And start thinking about alternatives to the dominant economic model in the NWT.

Coulthard is one of many people who plan to publish articles on the site, on topics like capitalism and Indigenous traditions.