Activism
In the 1960s, Lyons joined the Red Power movement and joined the Unity Caravan, which traveled through Indian Country to foster dialogue about traditional tribal values. In 1972, he was a leader in the Trail of Broken Treaties, a caravan to Washington DC to convince the Bureau of Indian Affairs to honor its treaties with Native American tribes.
In 1977, Lyons helped create the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth at a meeting in Montana. Since then, the Circle has gathered annually at a different site in Indian country. In 1977, he also was part of the Haudenosaunee delegation to the first World Conference on Racism.
"At first, I wanted to defend the Iroquois. Then my sights broadened to embrace other Indians. Then I saw this had to include defending indigenous peoples all over the world," Lyons said.
In 1981, he traveled with Stephen Gaskin and Ina May Gaskin to New Zealand to attend festival at Nambassa, where he delivered a number of lectures and workshops. At Nambassa he coordinated with Indigenous Maori land rights activists on questions of indigenous people sharing his Native American experiences
For over fourteen years he has taken part in the meetings in Geneva of Indigenous Peoples of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations, and helped to establish the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival, and is a principal figure in the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders. He was a negotiator between the governments of Canada, Quebec, New York State and the Mohawk Indians in the Oka crisis during the summer of 1990.
Lyons appeared on a one-hour documentary Faithkeeper. produced and hosted by Bill Moyers and broadcast on PBS, July 3, 1991. He appeared in Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary "The 11th Hour" in 2007.
In 1992 he addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations where he opened the International Year of the World's Indigenous People
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