Water Protector Legal Collective's work focuses on these program areas.
Protect The Sacred
Protection and defense of sacred sites and ancestral lands threatened by extractive industry and mass development projects. We view our strategic litigation, civil rights, criminal defense, and advocacy work to protect Water Protectors, human rights defenders, and the Earth herself, as part of protecting the Sacred.
Implementing creative legal strategies and advocacy to elevate treaty rights and rights of Self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and Original Nations both across Turtle Island and Internationally. This work is further based on a core understanding and commitment to Decolonization, De-occupation, Demilitarization, Landback, Waterback, Dismantling Green Colonialism, and Implementing Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). The commitment to Indigenous Sovereignty and Self-Determination and the critical understanding that comes with it, underlies all of the legal and advocacy work we do.
Critical Research
Research and advocacy work at the intersection of human rights, Indigenous rights, Earth justice, corporate accountability, and impact of militarization and extractive industry on frontline communities.
Earth and Climate
Justice Advocacy
Legal support and advocacy for climate and earth justice, including regulatory and administrative processes across Turtle Island and internationally, in defense of the Water, territorial integrity of the Earth, and in opposition to extractive industry and mass development projects.
Resistance Training and Education
Resistance training (“Know Your Rights”) and community legal education efforts in direct response to requests from communities across Turtle Island and the world seeking legal support.
International Human Rights Advocacy
Engagement in international fora and mechanisms and work in direct relation with Indigenous Peoples and frontline community organizations across Turtle Island and the world.