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At General Motors’ annual shareholder meeting on June 2, 2026, shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on whether the company should report on the effectiveness of its policies and processes related to Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
General Motors has made commitments to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Now the company needs to show how it is following through. The controversies and harms associated with the Thacker Pass lithium mine are just one example of how General Motors is not adequately implementing its policies on respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
The shareholders who presented the proposal, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, say that not respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights exposes General Motors and its investors to material risk. Project delays, higher costs, damage to a company’s reputation, loss of public trust, and more can all result when mining projects violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
The Thacker Pass Mine raises concerns
The Thacker Pass lithium mine is just one example of a project that raises concerns about the significant risks associated with sourcing materials from projects that violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights. General Motors invested $650 million in Lithium Americans Corp in 2023 and became a joint owner of the mine in 2024.
The mine is located in a landscape that is sacred to the Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock peoples in Nevada in the United States, who have cared for it since time immemorial.
In 1865, the US Cavalry massacred dozens of people when they attacked families in a Paiute camp now known as Peehee Mu’huh or Rotten Moon. The attack took place during the so-called “Snake Wars,” when settlers came into Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock lands and took land, water, game, and gold.
Now, the Thacker Pass lithium mine is making permanent changes to this sacred landscape. Ranchers, environmental nonprofit organizations, and local Tribes opposed the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of the mine. They raised concerns about inadequate consultation with Indigenous Peoples, inadequate analysis of mining claims, and impacts to water. The entire permitting process for the fast-tracked project lasted approximately one year.
Despite these shortcomings, the BLM approved the project in 2021. Courts concluded that the BLM had violated the law by not properly validating the mine’s claims, but the courts did not take away the mine’s permit.
A 2025 report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch concluded that by permitting the mine, the US government had violated Indigenous Peoples’ rights. A new report from Amnesty International on lithium mining in Nevada held up the mine as an example of a “business model that systematically prioritizes speed, scale and profit at the expense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and the environment.”
The federal government invested in Lithium Americas and the Thacker Pass mine last year, diluting GM’s shares and posing potential political risks.
The litigation delays, alongside higher exploration, administrative, and investment costs related to the problematic mine resulted in a net loss of $42.6 million and increased liabilities, according to analysis by the US Sustainable Investment Forum.
A gap between commitments and actions
This is not the first time concerns about GM’s investment in Thacker Pass and its impact on Indigenous Peoples’ rights have come up. In a report published by Mighty Earth in 2023, civil society and Indigenous-led groups highlighted an important gap. The report revealed that although GM has made ambitious commitments to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, the company does not have adequate mechanisms to ensure these commitments were put into practice.
The Lead the Charge Leaderboard is an annual ranking of 18 of the world’s leading automakers and their commitment to building fossil-fuel-free supply chains that respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and human rights and protect the environment. It shows a poor track record of respect for the rights of Indigenous People affected by mining for the materials used to build GM vehicles. Since the Leaderboard began in 2023, GM has only received 11 out of 100 points on its respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, with no improvement in three years.
According to the latest report, “Despite having commitments [to Indigenous Peoples’ rights in its supply chain], the company fails to disclose tangible evidence of how they are being effectively operationalized and enforced in practice.”
A look at next steps
A more sustainable future can only be built by recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ rights, leadership, and stewardship of land and water. Auto manufacturers that demand that their materials come from mines that respect these rights can help shape the future and build public confidence that their dollars are buying a product that is sustainably made.
Investors deserve more transparency and information on General Motors’ risk management and human and Indigenous Peoples’ rights due diligence processes. The shareholder proposal requesting a report on GM’s practices regarding Indigenous Peoples’ rights is an important step in ensuring General Motors upholds its own Indigenous Peoples’ rights commitments.