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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Jennifer K. Falcon, jennifer@ienearth.org

We Don't Need Performative Proclamations, Our Communities Are Dying

Indigenous Environmental Network Statement on Biden’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day Proclamation

WASHINGTON

If President Biden was committed to honoring the treaties and strengthening sovereignty, he would implement a policy of Free, Prior and Informed Consent by executive authority and act swiftly to mitigate the climate chaos that has engulfed our communities by ending the anti-Indigenous U.S. legacy of fossil fuel extractivism.

Since taking office, Biden has consistently fallen short of protecting the water that sustains all life on Mother Earth and continuously failed to honor our treaties. He has disregarded tribal nations' consent by ignoring tribal nations, like Red Lake and White Earth, who have been fighting Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline for years. We have had enough of your empty words. Our communities need clean water, land returned, divestment from the fossil fuel industry, and healing from residential school traumas.

Proclamations don't erase the police surveillance of Indigenous peoples standing for our land and water, beatings and imprisonment for those trying to stop pipelines, fracking, LNG, uranium and other extractive industries from devastating our ecosystems and our bodies and violating our rights.

On Indigenous Peoples' day thousands of people descend on Biden's doorstep to demand he uses his executive authority to make good on the promises he made on the campaign trail to respect Indigenous rights, prioritize environmental justice, and pursue an "all government" approach to combating the climate crisis.

No proclamations needed until there is justice for the original stewards of these lands.

Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN's activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.