Tonya Gonnella Frichner. Photo by Andy Mager / Facebook

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, an attorney and activist from the Snipe Clan of the Onondaga Nation of New York, died on Saturday. She was 67.

Frichner dedicated her life to the protection of indigenous rights. She was the founder and president of the American Indian Law Alliance and worked on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

"She chose to serve the Haudenosaunee and Indigenous Peoples in the arena of international law, focusing her skills and energy on the issues of: treaties; land rights; the collective and human rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Sovereignty with a big 'S,'" Sidney Hill, the Tadodaho, or leader, of the Onondaga Nation, said in a letter published in Indian Country Today.

Frichner will be laid to rest at the Onondaga Nation Cemetery tomorrow.

Get the Story:
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Global indigenous leader, Onondaga Nation member Tonya Gonnella Frichner dies at 67 (The Syracuse Post-Standard 2/16)

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