Amended FANA Constitution & Judiciary Treaty Adopted
January 28, 2023
On January 28, 2023, The Principal Chiefs and Allies of The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA) met in Providence, Rhode Island.
Attending this meeting, either in person or virtually, were the Principal Chiefs of FANA, executive board members of FANA, Principal Chiefs and/or representatives of the Indigenous Nations that are Allies of FANA from Canada, Mexico to South America, and the Caribbean. Also amongst the guests were ambassadors from the United Nations representing other organizations.
It was announced that Principal Chief Dr. Ronald Yonguska Holloway of the SandHill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians (NY, NJ, PA) had his title changed from FANA’s Ambassador to the Minister of International Affairs.
The purpose of this historic event was to sign an expanded version of FANA’s constitution and to sign the Judiciary Court System documents with the addition of newly written addendums.
I will address the signing of these two documents separately in this article so that it does not become confusing to the readers.
The Constitution
The first document to be addressed was FANA’s Constitution. The formal signing ceremony of FANA’s Constitution began with the reading of the Constitution’s newly written Preamble. Also under the new constitution, all FANA member nations had to submit their own Tribe’s Constitution to have it attached to the newly changed Constitution.
Once the reading of the changes to the Constitution was completed, the Principal Chiefs of FANA signed the document. Each Principal Chief first signed his name with a pen and then coated his thumb with red ink. They then placed their thumbprint over their signature.
It was customary for their ancestors to sign Treaties/documents with a bloodied thumbprint. Today, red ink is used to symbolize that this document was signed with their blood.
Judiciary System
The second purpose of the meeting was to sign an amended version of Article II of FANA's Inter-Tribal Judiciary Court Treaty to include the Kinakwii Confederation.
This revision became necessary to do when the Kinakwii Nation requested admittance to FANA’s Judiciary Court System. It quickly became apparent that the Laws of the Kinakwii Nation differed in varying degrees from FANA’s laws. Therefore, it was decided that each Ally and other Indigenous Tribes who requested to join FANA’s Judicial System would have their laws automatically attached to the document once they joined. The necessity of having FANA’s Chiefs sign the Treaty every time a new member’s laws were attached would no longer be necessary.
The signing of the expanded versions of both FANA’s Constitution and Judiciary System is historic in multiple ways. Firstly, upon accepting the Kinakwii Confederation into the court system, it linked Canada, the East Coast of the United States, and part of the Caribbean under a united Court system.
This establishment of an International Indigenous justice system has never been accomplished before in written history.
Secondly, FANA’s Tribal members and the Kinakwii Nation are members of the Algonquin Family. Therefore, the FANA Constitution needed to follow closely the Algonquin manner of how the Tribes had been governed by their ancestors.
FANA’s Constitution is similar to the United States Constitution, as America’s Founding Fathers had copied the Algonquin Governmental system.
Within this newly adapted Constitution is the establishment of FANA’s Legislative body. The Principal Chiefs would fall into the U.S. Senate category. FANA’s version of the House of Representatives would be comprised of each Tribe having a number of representatives based upon their Tribal population. Very much paralleling the U.S. Legislative Branch.
This action allows each Tribal representative to voice his or her opinion on proposed changes to the Constitution, laws or actions to be voted on by the Principal Chiefs. Thereby guaranteeing that all the voices of the said representatives are equally heard.
One interesting aspect of the amended Judiciary System Treaty is that FANA now has access to both Commonwealth Laws and United States Laws. This will prove to be very important regarding future treaties as it increases FANA’s ability to flow more freely in legal pursuits with its allies. It enables them to pull from both legal systems in their future legal endeavors.
If you have any questions, please feel free to submit your questions below or email them to fanamediaandpublicrelations@gmail.com.