2020 Sterling Prize Ceremony and Lecture with Tamara Starblanket

Sharon Venne

Sharon H. Venne (Notokwew Muskwa Manitokan) is a Cree woman. She has worked at the United Nations prior to the establishment of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in 1982. The background research to the many clauses on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is included in her book Our Elders Understand Our Rights: Evolving International Law Regarding Indigenous Peoples. In addition, Sharon has written numerous articles and edited materials related to the rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has lectured on the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, France, Italy, Hawaii, the United States and Canada. Sharon worked to secure a UN Study on Treaties from the first introduction of the resolution in 1983 until the report was finalized in 1999. She worked to ensure that the report reflected Indigenous laws and norms. Sharon has written numerous articles on the Treaty Rights of Indigenous Peoples. All her work internationally and domestically relates to the promotion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially rights related to lands, resources and treaties. Sharon has written extensively on the laws of Cree Peoples related to treaty making, published in Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada (Michael Asch ed.), Natives and Settlers – Now & Then (Paul DePasquale ed.) and in other publications. Her most recent published article is “Manufactured consent: how state governments manufacture consent and use it against Indigenous Nations at the domestic and international level” in a book edited by Irene Watson: Indigenous Peoples as Subjects of International Law.