First Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Day at the 1977 Geneva UN Conference

The Native nations from the USA sent a delegation of thirteen members plus staff and observers. In addition, the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Federation sent a separate delegation of twelve, plus several observers. Five of the US delegates were affiliated with IITC: Russell Means (Lakota), David Monongye (Hopi, Hotevilla), Phillip Deere (Muscogee), Larry Red Shirt (Lakota), and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Southern Cheyenne). AIM delegates were Pat Bellanger (Ojibwa) and Clyde Bellecourt (Anishinabe-Ojibwe). An additional fifteen Native people from the USA came as staff and observers, seven of whom were affiliated with IITC, including Peggy Phelps Means (Lakota), Bill Means (Lakota), and Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe). Others included Marie-Helene Laraque (Taino), Joe Lefferty (Sioux), Marie Sanchez (Northern Cheyenne), and David Spotted Horse (Hunkpapa). The Iroquois delegation included Leon Shenandoah, Oren Lyons, and Audrey Shenandoah (Onondaga). Four of the seven Canadian delegates were affiliated with AIM Canada, including Ed Burnstick (Cree) and Art Solomon (Ojibwe).

“One of the most important things to come out of the Geneva Conference did not get much attention at the time, even though it was the first item of the program of action in the final resolutions. It reads: ”¦”˜to observe October 12, the day of so-called ”˜discovery”' of America, as an international day of solidarity with the indigenous people of the Americas.”'… Read the rest “First Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Day at the 1977 Geneva UN Conference”