Educational Sovereignty

In 2000, the Red Lake Nation passed a powerful Accountability Decree.  It united a foundational commitment to Tribal sovereignty, with a belief that a “quality education system” will contribute to the “independence and economic security,” of every Tribal member.  It concludes with a powerful promise to “preserve, protect, and maintain our land base, natural resources, health and welfare, cultural heritage, language, and traditions to ensure our children and future generations will continue to have the resources to live as sovereign people.”  This is our Tribe’s commitment as a sovereign nation to begin a new educational story for our children.

In 2010 the Council unanimously passed a resolution declaring Ojibwemowin as the official language of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.

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 In 2014, Council passed a resolution that confirmed its commitment to language revitalization and called for the community to take specific actions. This resolution created the Ojibwemowin Advisory Committee, a resource for the “promotion, protection, maintenance and instruction of the Ojibwe language and culture.”  It mandated Ojibwemowin be used in business, legislative, executive and judicial matters, Red Lake’s Constitution and other official documents be transcribed into Ojibwemowin, and traffic and other public signs be in both Ojibwemowin and English.  And it also called for “Ojibwe materials, language, stories, songs, dance, traditions and history [to] be integrated into the curriculum in education institutions from early childhood to higher education.”  Their resolution is a Tribal commitment to culturally sustaining and revitalizing education and promoting Educational Sovereignty.