WC Minnesota News

After Margaret Campbell field a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights against Honor the Earth, alleging sexual harassment by a coworker in 2014 and 2015, the agency said there was “no probable cause” to show that the organization had taken retaliatory actions against her, nor was there cause to show the organization was guilty of sexual discrimination. 

The human rights agency’s report, issued in 2018, also noted that it believed the alleged harassment was too old to pursue, and that the organization had developed a policy that outlined its stance on sexual harassment, which is no tolerance.

Campbell left her position with the organization under duress in February 2015 after reporting the incidents and, according to her complaint, after Winona LaDuke and others in the group did not take her seriously.

When Campbell appealed the decision of the state’s human rights agency in 2019, Human Rights Commissioner Kevin Lindsey gave Campbell 45 days to appeal the decision in court. She filed a civil suit in court Feb. 11, 2019. The complaint issued last February alleges that a coworker, who is not referred to by name, also “used his status as a spiritual leader to commit sexual violence against Native American boys.”

An attorney for Honor the Earth challenged Campbell’s lawsuit, saying that the Becker County District Court was not the right place for the lawsuit. Frank Bibeau told Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony that he believed the case belonged in tribal court because the group’s activities mostly took place on the White Earth Band of Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota. 

Campbell’s attorney disputed that argument, saying that Honor the Earth is incorporated as a Minnesota nonprofit organization and should be subject to state law.

Honor the Earth was founded by LaDuke, a former Green Party vice presidential candidate, and members of the Indigo Girls.  Since 2016 the organization has been involved in protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.