RIGHTS: Russian Indigenous Leaders Tour Pacific Northwest

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

Pratap Chatterjee

OAKLAND, California, Jul 4 2002 (IPS) - Anthropologists are still arguing whether the indigenous people of North America evolved on this continent or crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia, but history will record that a small group from Russia crossed the Pacific Ocean in mid-June 2002 to meet tribes here.

Six representatives of various groups flew across the Pacific to study the successes and failures of their North American counterparts as part of an effort to establish their own territories in Russia.

North American tribes have a certain degree of autonomy guaranteed by treaties signed with the European invaders who established the United States of America and Canada.

Many of these agreements were made in an effort to stop the wholesale genocide of their peoples, so although the treaties often recognise the sovereignty of the original inhabitants, they do not provide much control over the natural resources of the land.

Indigenous people in the former Soviet Union have even less autonomy. The traditional territories of Russia’s native peoples once covered 85 per cent of the country’s land area, yet today there are few state boundaries that demarcate these traditional use zones.

Current trends of land privatisation mean that Russia’s indigenous peoples could lose even these rights to state-recognised land parcels. Yet, a landmark law passed in 2001 allows them to establish “territories of traditional nature use” with rights to manager their land.

The Siberian natives travelled to North America to gather ideas on how to profit from the new law.

“We need to protect Russian indigenous land rights through the courts while we still have priority status by law,” says Tatyana Khetani, an Evenk from the Magadan region on the Sea of Okhotsk. Her tribal lands are currently threatened by gold and copper mining.

Siberia’s indigenous communities are hobbled by the fact they have no influence over the Russian government in faraway Moscow.

“We have no indigenous representatives within our government. Indigenous peoples make up a very small percent of our population. And since we have not joined together, there are no indigenous leaders to take government positions,” says Sergei Sytchin, who represents the Selikup people of the Tomsk region.

Pacific Environment, an activist group from Oakland, arranged for the six people to travel up the Pacific coast of North America to visit the Makah, the Hoh, the Quinault and the Swinomish tribes of Washington state and the Musqueam and Xaxliip groups in British Columbia, Canada.

Beginning in the Olympic National Park, the western most tip of Washington state, the group visited the Makah tribe, which has recently resumed its traditional practice of whaling. At the Forks and Hoh Nation Reservation, they examined the impact of logging on salmon runs.

The Swinomish talked to the group about economic development and cultural preservation while the Musqueam explained the ongoing Canadian treaty negotiation process.

The Siberians concluded that North American native groups are able to defend their land and resource rights when they have direct access to decision makers, lobbyists, lawyers and are able to document traditional land use.

“I was impressed to learn that many native American communities have their own constitutions; there are other nations located within the United States. And American Indians have lawyers that are actually winning cases on their behalf,” says Polina Khodzher of the Nanai peoples of Khabarovsk.

“We were able to see real examples of self-determination. Among the Makah, the Hoh, and Quinault Nations, each community had made very different decisions in regards to resource management and government. Within the boundaries of what was possible, each nation was deciding its own path,” adds Khodzher.

For example, she says, the Makah supplement their traditional whaling with a fish hatchery. The Quinault built a casino to add to their fisheries income.

But the group also noticed how natural resources were exploited in some areas. “I was shocked by the widespread clear-cuts, especially along the rivers,” says Sytchin. They were also critical about natives becoming dependent on fish hatcheries and losing their wild salmon.

Khetani says he has a plan to retain control over his group’s land and resources. “I’m planning to initiate a mapping project on traditional nature use. Right now we are only guessing at the size of our actual territory because our generation does not have this knowledge. And our elders are dying.”

“But we need this information now to define our traditional territory boundaries and effectively argue our traditional land claims,” she says.

The Siberians are aware that every day they wait, the harder it becomes. “We are losing our young people. Within the communities we visited, the older generations are the only ones dealing with these questions. We need to work more with the youth to build their awareness of the struggle,” says Elena Novyukhova of Krasnoyarsk, who also represents the Selikup peoples.

The representatives also believe that they must work with each other and organise effectively in their own communities.

“We can demand rights over our traditional territories, but we must prove that we have the ability to make sustainable land management decisions,” says Khodzher.