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February 2000: Canadian Parliament Member Louise Hardy Visits Lincoln
"The treaty had to be accepted wholly or not at all. Otherwise ... we would have turned our back on the First Nations again."
Louise Hardy, commenting on a recent treaty agreement between the Nisga'a and the Canadian government.
Photo Courtesy of Joel Sartore
This February we were privileged to host Louise Hardy [right], member of the Canadian Parliament, on her visit to Nebraska. While in Lincoln, she joined tribal judge Ken VanPola, NU law professor, John Snowden, and Frank LaMere of the Winnebago tribe in a panel discussion at UNL Law College on tribal sovereignty issues.
As a member of the Canadian House of Commons Aboriginal Affairs Committee, Hardy was involved in negotiations for one of the most controversial treaties ever between the First Nations and the province of British Columbia. The entire process took more than twenty years. Hardy's visit and discussion of aboriginal rights issues re-emphasized the parallels that exist between the Great Plains and the Alaska-Yukon area.
Photo Courtesy of Joel Sartore
While in Nebraska, Hardy visited the Winnebago Tribal Bison Project and met with Gordon Winters, the editorial page editor at the Lincoln Journal Star, to discuss the need to protect the Arctic National Wildlife from oil development. Hardy observed that the spectacle of the caribou migration evokes images of the buffalo herd that once roamed the Great Plains. Hardy emphasized the deep, spiritual connection between the Gwitch'in, aboriginal peoples who have lived on the land for centuries, and the caribou who calve there. In May, the Journal Star ran an editorial in favor of protecting the refuge.
Photo Courtesy of Joel Sartore
The following quotes are taken from Jodi Rave Lee's February 4, 2000 article in the Lincoln Journal Star, UNL Law College holds forum on tribal sovereignty.
"This particular subject really resonates in Nebraska. You're talking about a sovereign nation in the state and legal issues that people need to discuss."
-- Nancy Rapoport, former NU Law Dean and current dean of University of Houston Law Center
"We were sovereign as long as we had something you wanted to have."
-- Frank LaMere, a member of the Winnebago Tribe, to the largely white audience of the panel discussion.