Permalink: https://doi.org/10.1353/cro.2024.a963640

Abstract

The American Indian Law Alliance (AILA) was founded in 1989 by Tonya Gonnella Frichner as an Indigenous, non-profit organization advocating for sovereignty, human rights, and social justice for Indigenous peoples. AILA works at the international level to support and advocate for Indigenous nations. In 2010, Gonnella Frichner submitted a Preliminary Study on The Impact on Indigenous Peoples of The Doctrine of Discovery to the United Nations. The study highlighted the ongoing effects of the Doctrine of Discovery on Indigenous peoples globally. AILA continues to call for a follow-up study by the United Nations. The organization also works to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery through advocacy and collaboration with other organizations. Here, Brett and Hill discuss the history of the Doctrine of Discovery, the work of Indigenous nations in international diplomacy, and the importance of shifting from a rights-based approach to a responsibility-based approach. He emphasize the need for collective action to challenge the Doctrine of Discovery and create a more just and sustainable world.

INTRODUCTION

The American Indian Law Alliance (AILA) was founded in 1989 by Tonya Gonnella Frichner, 1974–2015, (Onondaga Nation, Snipe Clan). She founded the organization as an Indigenous, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with Indigenous nations, communities and organizations in our struggle for sovereignty, human rights and social justice for our peoples. AILA continues to work to support and advocate for Indigenous nations and peoples at the international level. In 2010 Tonya Gonnella Frichner in her role as the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues submitted the Preliminary Study of The Impact on Indigenous Peoples of The International Legal Construct Known as The Doctrine of Discovery.1 She compiled this work with the assistance of Shawnee and Lenape scholar Steven T. Newcomb. Both Newcomb and Gonnella Frichner had been working together closely for a number of years and felt a sincere urgency about publishing a preliminary study and calling for a larger study to be done by the United Nations.

In 1992 Newcomb met Birgil Kills Straight (and Elder of the Oglala Lakota Nation) and together they traveled to the Traditional Circle of Elders and Youth which was meeting in Washington state. It was there where he met Onondaga Nation Turtle Clan Faithkeeper Oren Lyons, and other Haudenosaunee leaders.2 Newcomb showed up to this meeting with handfuls of documentation about the Doctrine of Discovery and presented this material to the elders highlighting how what was happening to the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island/Aba Yala (the Americas) was happening around the world.3 After, the Haudenosaunee elders shared the materials with Gonnella Frichner who realized that there needed to be a preliminary report for the United Nations to allow everyone to have access to this important information. Additionally, this would provide an [End Page 519] international record and become part of the United Nations institutional memory. Her hope in doing this was that the information could not be ignored by the international community, settler-colonial states, and faith-based organizations. The preliminary report has served as a watershed moment for the international movement to repudiate and rescind the Doctrine of Discovery globally. Each year AILA continues to call for the follow up study to be conducted by the United Nations, however that study has yet to occur.4

Rescind and repudiate movement

Even as the United Nations refuses to act on producing a follow up statement, AILA and its colleagues are working on their own statement. Further, the movement to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery continues to thrive even without the United Nations support. In 2006 Rev. John Dieffenbacher-Krall led a movement amongst Episcopalians to have the Episcopal Church repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.5 In 2009 the denomination became the first denomination to formally repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.6 The World Council of Churches, an inter-church Ecumenical organization with over 350 members issued a repudiation in 2012.7 This statement was followed up in 2013, The Loretto Community and thirteen Roman Catholic Organizations asked the Pope to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.8 These three statements serve as exemplars of the type of statements written by churches. The Episcopalians really helped to set the stage for other churches to do this work.

Having an ecumenical organization with such a large membership body also issue a statement was a watershed movement which helped to solidify the call for repudiations, and it put pressure on member churches to issue their own statements as well. Additionally, the statement by the Loretto Community and their sibling Roman Catholic organizations illustrated in powerful and compelling fashion how there was vocal support within the Catholic church at the leadership level for rescinding and repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery. These statements helped to pave the way for the surprising 2023 statement from the Vatican.9 While we (the authors) are thankful for these repudiation statements, especially the Vatican's statement, they all fall short of the ultimate goal which is rescinding and repudiating the Papal Bulls which undergird the Doctrine of Discovery. Or more accurately, as...