Sioux Nation Treaty Council - est 1894

Remember when you were a kid and you had to take history classes in school? I really didn’t like history because it wasn’t what my grandma told me, and I couldn’t remember all those dates. Later, as an adult, I realized that learning history explained a lot of the reasons why things are how they are, including the day called International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples. A specific date was also given to it, August 9^th.

Who did this? The United Nations, (UN) of course. It was proclaimed in Dec., 1994, following the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in 1993. That was 501 years after Columbus “discovered” us. Interesting, eh? Too bad it wasn’t called Indigenous Nations Day because we all come from nations. However, if they acknowledge our nationhood, they would have to acknowledge us in the UN as nations.

The UN was created on Oct. 24, 1945, or almost 81 years ago, by 50 different countries including the United States, Russia, China, and Great Britain. It was created to stop any more World Wars. It was created right after the end of World War Two.

The UN Charter is its founding document just like the US Constitution is the foundation of the United States. The Preamble to the UN Charter states its goals and ideals and states in part:

“WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED...to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,...

It was these underlined portions which our elders read and decided that we needed to go to the United Nations to have our 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty enforced. However, our elders did not know that the colonizing governments, mainly Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States were working behind the scenes to have our Indigenous nations not included. The colonizing governments conveniently overlooked the fact that many of our people were involved in World War Two. The colonizing governments are nicknamed CANZUS, and also worked hard behind the scenes to have the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples changed to fit what they wanted as recently as 2006. [The author participated in the debates and wrote about it in the book, Indigenous Nations Rights in the Balance, with all proceeds going to the work of the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council.]

However, there is also another portion of the UN Charter under Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles, Article 1 which states,

The Purposes of the United Nations are:… 2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;…3. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Our elders were right in going to the United Nations. Despite CANZUS trying to stop Indigenous Nations from surviving and overcoming the oppression and occupation caused by CANZUS, there was still a Purpose of the UN that required the principle of Self Determination.

Self Determination means the free will of the people. It does not mean a law by an occupying nation which titles itself as Self Determination, or US. Public Law 93-638.

Even the Creator gave us all free will. In our old Tituwan Oceti Sakowin laws we have the law about not imposing your will on anyone else. This is Free Will.

If we all together want to speak a certain language, that is Free Will. If we all together want to pray a certain way, that is Free Will. If we all together want to share what we have with each other so no one goes hungry, that is Free Will. If we all together have laws to govern ourselves, that is Free Will.

All Indigenous nations around the world had these attributes of Free Will. When a group of people continued to live a certain way, they were a nation. We, the Oceti Sakowin, were a nation for hundreds of thousands of years with our own Ancient Laws long before Columbus “discovered” us. We were honorable people and thought the Americans were honorable people too, but they were not. We were taught for millenia that when you lie, you die. We thought they believed the same way. They did not and still do not today. (See The Ancient Laws of the Oceti Sakowin at www.siouxnationtreatycouncil.org .)

 When the United Nations finally respects TRUE Self Determination for ALL Nations, including Indigenous Nations, then there will be a time to celebrate an International Day of the World’s Indigenous Nations. Until that time, we only can Remember the World’s Indigenous Nations, not celebrate.

We are becoming extinct. Our language, our true culture, not the beads and feathers imposed on us by the occupiers, our very nationhood is on the brink of disappearing. Many of our people don’t know why a certain feather is worn; why certain colors are worn; what certain face paint means; and certainly don’t know that our ancestors are continually trying to teach us through dreams. Many of our people don’t know that certain ceremonies can only be done by those who have had a dream or vision. And we wonder why our people have such a hard time. When those protocols are broken, the consequences fall on all of the people.

What can we do? Try to learn from our old traditional people, not elders, but our old traditions that some of our people still know. Ask for help. Pray and meditate. That was part of our old traditions. Help your community to begin again, to heal itself. Don’t wait for a ‘Savior’ to come save you. Each one of us has the choice and the free will to save ourselves and our relatives in our everyday words and actions. If none listens, at least we have tried.

The United Nations won’t be here forever. That is the consequence of NOT respecting their own Charter and continuing to allow the oppression and occupation of Indigenous nations. The United States will not be here forever either. Again, the consequence of Not respecting their own Constitution and their honor and commitment to the UN Charter which they helped build. The Circle does come around.

However, if we live the way the Creator made us to be, we will continue with Ina Unci Makoce (Mother Grandmother Earth) for as long as she is here. We do not have to go the way of the colonizers. We can choose our own way, exert our own individual self-determination. We might be considered eccentric but we will be true to ourselves and the Creator Who made us. Hetchetu ktso. (It is so.)

July 31, 2026

Charmaine White Face, or Zumila Wobaga, is an Oglala Tituwan Oceti Sakowin elder, (79) and the Spokesperson for the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council. She has attended many meetings at the United Nations fighting for the enforcement of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty including the recognition of the Sioux Nation as a nation. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.