First Rights of Salmon Case Goes to Tribal Court, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe v. City of Seattle

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) and our partner Menīkānaehkem were pleased to present and co-sponsor this webinar on the first “rights of salmon” case to be brought in a tribal court on March 30th, 2022. 

Jack Fiander, Tribal Attorney for the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, and Thomas Linzey, CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel, presented.  

The case, filed by the Tribe on its own behalf and on behalf of Tsuladx (salmon in the Tribe’s language), was filed in Sauk-Suiattle Tribal Court.

The Tribe seeks a ruling from the Tribal Court that salmon have inherent rights to “exist, flourish, regenerate…and restoration,” and that the Tribe possesses the duty to “protect and save” salmon in the face of continued harm and decline, including from Seattle’s dams on the Skagit River.  

This case comes as several tribal nations, as well as communities within the U.S., Canada, and Brazil, and countries including Ecuador and Bangladesh, have recognized the legal rights of nature through lawmaking and court rulings.  In August 2021, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, in Minnesota, became the first tribe to bring a case to enforce the legal rights of nature in a tribal court.

Read our recent press release on the Sauk-Suiattle lawsuit.  

Our webinar on March 30 was an opportunity to learn more about this case and growing efforts by tribal nations to advance their rights to protect nature and the rights of nature.