Local Government Series

UNDRIP and Local Governments The everyday decisions and actions of local governments – ranging from regulating significant natural areas and hunting grounds to creating regulations that directly affect the health of the land and water – have profound, often harmful impacts on the rights of W̱SÁNEĆ. In fact, there are so many cumulative impacts from these decisions, there is no longer a place in W̱SÁNEĆ territory where W̱SÁNEĆ can practice inherent or treaty rights without watchful judgment. XPȺ¸ (Western Redcedar) - W̱SÁNEĆ Territory Yet, any local government body has very little obligation to consult with or consider W̱SÁNEĆ Rights. [...]

Every day, local governments make decisions that significantly impact W̱SÁNEĆ rights and interests. Despite these far-reaching impacts, there is very little obligation on any local government body to consult with or consider W̱SÁNEĆ. W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council (“WLC”) will explore this lack of duty to consult and the many opportunities for collaboration that might fill the gap through a multi-part series, of which this is the first part. It may be difficult to fully understand the impact of local governments’ lack of consultation and decision making on W̱SÁNEĆ interests and rights, but there is no land or water remaining in [...]