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Nearly half a million hectares of Crown land on Haida Gwaii will be returned to Indigenous people in first-of-its-kind agreementFor centuries, the Haida people have known that the impenetrable forests and bountiful waters of Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai – “the islands at the boundary of the world” – were both a life-giving force and their rightful home.Now, after decades of negotiation, the province of British Columbia...

Advocates fear situation could escalate in Javari valley, a region plagued by violence and poor healthcareMore than 100 Indigenous people in Brazil’s Javari valley have been diagnosed with flu-like symptoms, raising fears that the situation could escalate into an epidemic.The valley, where Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips were killed in 2022, is home to the largest population of Indigenous people in...

Justin Trudeau says allegations ‘extremely troubling’ after officers arrested First Nations men and confiscated their boots and phonesTwo First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw...

President of amnesty commission investigating crimes of 1964-85 regime makes first-ever apology to Indigenous leaderBrazil has issued its first-ever apology for the torture and persecution of Indigenous people during the military dictatorship, including the incarceration of victims in an infamous detention centre known as an “Indigenous concentration camp”.The apology was made on Tuesday by an amnesty commission attached to the human rights ministry that...

Descendants of enslaved miners who dug up gold, silver and emeralds worth billions call on Colombia to halt plan to lift cargoIndigenous communities in Bolivia have objected to Colombia’s plans to recover the remains of an 18th-century galleon believed to be carrying gold, silver and emeralds worth billions, calling on Spain and Unesco to step in and halt the project.Colombia hopes to begin recovering...

‘Momentous change’ will permit lawmakers in Canadian province to address chamber in ‘first languages’Lawmakers in Ontario will now be able to address the province’s legislature using Indigenous languages, in a “momentous change” that belatedly recognizes the “first languages” of the region.The Ontario government house leader, Paul Calandra, this week moved to amend a standing order that previously required lawmakers to use either English or...

Police initially said they did not have resources to search for women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killerCanada has pledged tens of millions of dollars to search landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killer, but experts and community groups have warned that the figure still may not be enough...

Cruise ships offer crucial income to poverty-hit village of Pond Inlet but opponents say it is vicious cycleAn increase in “last chance tourism” in Canada’s melting Arctic is causing a row between those who warn of the devastation it is causing to the environment and those who rely on income from tourists to survive as hunting becomes increasingly difficult.Pond Inlet, a village of about...

Exclusive: $9bn port, airport and military base on Great Nicobar Island will cause ‘genocide’ of isolated Shompen, academics warnAcademics from around the world have urged India to cancel a huge construction project on Great Nicobar Island, warning it would be “a death sentence” for the Shompen hunter-gatherer people who live there.The $9bn (£7bn) port project, planned to transform the Indian Ocean island of 8,000...

Brazil president hosts summit amid criticism that easing of crackdown had allowed outsiders to return to forest areasThe Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has insisted his government must not lose the “war” against the environmental criminals devastating Indigenous lands in the Amazon after claims that thousands of illegal miners were resisting eviction from the country’s biggest such territory.After taking power last January,...

Corruption and the cost of living have trumped concerns about a belligerent neighbour in close race for the presidencyDeep in the mountains of Hsinchu county in north Taiwan, a few dozen residents of Smangus are holding their daily morning meeting in a weatherboard hut, overlooking the towering peaks nearby.The remote Indigenous village, home to about 200 Atayal people, is preparing for Saturday’s presidential election....

‘Time marker’ legislation means Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to lands they occupied in 1988, invalidating scores of claimsA controversial law curtailing Indigenous rights in Brazil has come into force, marking a victory for the powerful agribusiness caucus in congress.The new legislation upholds the so-called “time marker” theory (marco temporal), which establishes that Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to land they physically...