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Indigenous communities in the Wood Buffalo region need full-time mental health support, instead of fly-in, fly-out counsellors, according to research out of the University of Alberta.

Federal officials in the United States say they want to lift protections on the grey wolf, but some feel the removal may be premature.

Including uranium on a list of 'critical minerals' opens the door to expedited mining that will put tribal lands and national parks at risk, lawmakers were told.

Critics attack Trump administration push to expedite uranium mining

Former Nunavut premiers Eva Aariak and Peter Taptuna are weighing in on the debate on whether Nunavummiut should elect their own premier.

About 30 members of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen met outside the locked gates of a half-built community centre last week to topple Chief Edward Machimity, who has gripped the reins of power in the northern Ontario community for more than 30 years. However, Machimity still refuses to step down.

Wilfrid Cleveland, president of the Ho-Chunk Nation, speaks to members of the Ho-Chunk Nation and UW–Madison community members during the June 18 dedication ceremony for the “Our Shared Future” heritage marker on Bascom Hill. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER

Published June 26, 2019

MADISON, Wis. — A new heritage marker on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin–Madison recognizes the land as the ancestral home of the Ho-Chunk, acknowledges the circumstances that led to their forced removal, and honors the Ho-Chunk Nation’s history of resistance and resilience.

At a dedication ceremony June 18, UW–Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank described the plaque as an important step in furthering a respectful, collaborative relationship with the Ho-Chunk Nation. About three dozen elected leaders and citizens of the Ho-Chunk Nation attended the ceremony, including President Wilfrid Cleveland.

He said the plaque addresses hard but crucial truths.

“For most non-Native people, the easiest way around these hard truths is to just ignore the real history of Wisconsin and the real history of the people who first lived here,” he said after the ceremony. “My hope is that this plaque will cause them to dig a little deeper, that it will be a spark for them to learn about the Ho-Chunk people and the sacredness we hold for this land.”

The heritage marker, titled “Our Shared Future,” is near the top of Bascom Hill, just to the side of South Hall. The plaque reads in full:

The University of Wisconsin–Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial.

In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory.

Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin.

This history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation.

Today, UW–Madison respects the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.

Aaron Bird Bear, left, an assistant dean at the UW–Madison School of Education, helps Demetria Abangan-Brown Eagle create a crayon rubbing on paper of the new heritage marker on Bascom Hill following a dedication ceremony. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER

The plaque, developed in collaboration with representatives of the Ho-Chunk Nation, bears the Great Seal of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the seal of the university. Chancellor Blank said the plaque is a beginning, not an end.

“No plaque or monument can ever adequately convey a difficult and complicated history,” she said. “But it can start a conversation that moves us from ignorance to awareness. So today is the beginning of an intentional effort to teach our shared history.”

Blank said the university will incorporate the marker and the larger story behind it in multiple venues:

• All campus tours offered by Campus and Visitor Relations, including those designed for prospective students and their families.
• The Our Wisconsin inclusion program, offered to all 7,500 students living in university residence halls and others. The program promotes community among incoming students and aims to increase knowledge about cultural differences.
• The new UW–Madison Public History Project, which is in its early stages and is intended to uncover lost voices and stories from diverse campus groups.
• In various ways in curricula across schools and departments.

Blank said she is asking several units across campus to host the marker over the next year to make it as visible as possible. The first location will be Bascom Hall. Other locations will be announced later this year. The marker will return to its permanent home on Bascom Hill in the fall of 2020.

The university’s director of tribal relations will assist with this effort and will work with Native Nations in Wisconsin to identify other areas for collaboration, Blank said. The university is in the process of hiring for the new position.

Paul Robbins, dean of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, told the crowd the plaque is just a small part of the university’s pledge four years ago to forge a better partnership with the 12 Native Nations of Wisconsin. In 2015, the Nelson Institute convened a leadership summit with representatives from the 12 Nations. That led the following year to the creation of the Native Nations_UW Working Group. A second leadership summit was held in Madison this past May.

Many positive projects have come from the effort, Robbins said.

“All of the projects are aimed at reconciliation and recognition,” he said. “And amongst those are an effort to memorialize the history of this land so that it can be shared with students and faculty and the community with honesty.”

Members of the Ho-Chunk Nation are pictured following the June 18 dedication of a heritage marker on Bascom Hill. Several UW–Madison officials, including Chancellor Rebecca Blank, joined them for the group photo. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER

Aaron Bird Bear, an assistant dean at the School of Education, said there’s an incredible hunger among students, faculty and staff to know more about the land that is now the UW–Madison campus. He is among university employees who give First Nations cultural landscape tours to fill in some of that history. The heritage marker will further that goal, he said.

“We’re excited for the ability to tell a deeper human story of this space as we continue to deepen our relationship with the Ho-Chunk people,” he said.

Cleveland said he appreciates the university’s efforts and looks forward to a continuing partnership.

“A plaque is a nice gesture, but it’s really just a support for the actions that need to happen,” he said. “The past cannot be changed, so the important part is how we continue our relationship in the future.”

The post UW–Madison heritage marker honors Ho-Chunk Nation, recognizes land as ancestral home appeared first on Native News Online.

E. Sequoyah Simermeyer of Maryland

Published June 26, 2019

WASHINGTON— On Tuesday, E. Sequoyah Simermeyer, a tribal citizen of the Coharie Tribe, was nominated to chair the National Indian Gaming Commission. Simermeyer, previously advised the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, served under the Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, and worked for the National Congress of American Indians.

“Sequoyah Simermeyer has a wealth of experience on tribal issues working in different executive and legislative branch capacities,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. “He is the ideal candidate for this position, and I urge Congress to confirm him quickly.”

“We appreciate the President quickly nominating a new Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission,” said Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “Mr. Simermeyer has years of experience that qualify him for NIGC Chair including serving as Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, as Counsel on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and presently as Associate Commissioner of the NIGC since November 2015. We look forward to hearing about Mr. Simermeyer’s vision for the NIGC during the confirmation process.”

In his current role as a Commissioner and the Director of Self-Regulation for the National Indian Gaming Commission, Simermeyer works with federal, state, and tribal bodies on national gaming regulatory policy and compliance as well as self-regulation petitions.

Simermeyer formerly advised the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and served as the Deputy Chief of Staff and as a Counselor to the Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. He also advocated on national and international policy issues with the National Congress of American Indians and holds a law degree from Cornell Law School.

 

The post Sequoyah Simermeyer Nominated for Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission appeared first on Native News Online.

Published June 26, 2019

Healthy Children Healthy Nations Fund supports efforts to improve early childhood development and nutrition in Native American communities

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. — The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC), Better Way Foundation, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundations today announced that their Healthy Children, Healthy Nations (HCHN) Fund has awarded $220,000 in grants to 10 Native American tribes and nonprofits in Minnesota. These grants will support innovation in and the expansion of early childhood development and childhood nutrition programs in Minnesota’s Native communities.

“We were astonished by the overwhelming response to this grant program, and the many impressive applications we received,” said Andreas Hipple, executive director of Better Way Foundation. “These grants will support many innovative projects, capacity building and effective programming to benefit our state’s Native American children.”

Launched in January 2019, the HCHN Fund is the first donor-advised fund committed to Native early childhood development and nutrition in Minnesota. The fund supports work that expands Native early childhood development programs, provides healthful early nutrition to children, and seeks to build whole, healthy Native children, families and communities.

“There are many tribal governments and Native-led organizations working to improve early childhood development and nutrition in our state, yet there is a critical shortage of financial resources available to them,” said SMSC Chairman Charles R. Vig. “We believe that these grants can provide some of the support they need to continue their important efforts.”

The SMSC and Better Way Foundation each committed $100,000 to seed the fund, and Casey Family Programs contributed $20,000. This grant-making fund is administered by the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundations and received research support from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’s Center for Indian Country Development.

Grants were offered to tribes and Native nonprofits whose work aligns with the goals of the initiative and who need additional support to either help advance a specific element of their work, develop a new initiative, or explore new collaborations, partnerships and strategies.

Specific recipients include:

• American Indian Community Housing Organization – A $25,000 grant for the organization to identify a strategy to provide early intervention to Native American families dealing with historical trauma.
• American Indian Family Center – $25,000 grant to develop an urban intergenerational healing garden.
• Indigenous Breastfeeding Coalition of Minnesota – A $25,000 grant to hire a part-time staff member to lead planning and implementation for a community coalition workshop.
• Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe – A $15,000 grant toward developing a Native American language summit.
• Lower Sioux Indian Community – A $25,000 grant to support a Dakota language program for teachers at the tribe’s Early Head Start and Head Start facilities.
• Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center – A $24,965 grant to support the organization’s GroShed Food and Medicine Project, which will provide plant medicine and cooking lessons to families and children.
• Montessori American Indian Childcare Center – A $25,000 grant to strengthen the organization’s Ojibwe language revitalization program for children.
• Native American Community Clinic – A $15,000 grant to support the organization’s 10-week Indigenous healthy eating and child care program for young children and families.
• Prairie Island Indian Community – A $15,000 grant to develop a youth-focused program within the tribe’s existing Dakota language education initiative.
• Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians – A $25,000 grant to establish a garden and develop educational materials for the tribe’s early childhood immersion school program.

“These grant recipients are doing important work to strengthen Native communities here in Minnesota,” said Eric J. Jolly, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundations. “The Foundations are proud to be a partner in the Healthy Children, Healthy Nations Fund, and we’re thankful that its leaders are supporting these innovative projects.”

In Minnesota, there are more than 5,000 Native American children under the age of five. Many are at risk of starting school behind, and are more likely to suffer adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) than kids in other populations.

“Our research shows that an extra dollar spent on the education of vulnerable children saves between $4 to $16 in future social costs related to health care, education and crime,” said Patrice Kunesh, assistant vice president and director of the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. “These sorts of investments impact positive change not just for the grantees, but the broader community.”

This collaborative fund is an outgrowth of the Healthy Children, Healthy Nations initiative, a project of the SMSC’S Seeds of Native Health campaign, Better Way Foundation, and the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. This joint effort issued a report in April 2018, “Charting Pathways on Early Childhood Development and Nutrition for Minnesota’s Native Children,” after it convened practitioners, funders and tribal leaders to determine ways to improve the health and well-being of Minnesota’s Native children.

The post First-of-its-kind fund Awards More Than $200,000 to Tribes & Native Nonprofits in Minnesota appeared first on Native News Online.

Nation President Jonathan Nez joins other officials to break ground for the new Dilkon Medical Center facility in Dilkon, Ariz. on June 25, 2019

Published June 26, 2019

DILKON, Ariz. — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez joined officials from the Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Inc., Dilkon Health Center Steering Committee, and Dilkon Chapter on Tuesday to celebrate the start of construction of the new Dilkon Medical Center, which will provide medical services to thousands of Navajo people in Dilkon and nearby communities in the southwestern portion of the Navajo Nation.

In support of local self-governance, President Nez signed and issued a letter on May 9 to Indian Health Service that authorized the Winslow Indian Health Care Center in coordination with the Dilkon Health Care Steering Committee, to complete the design and construction of the medical center under a Title V construction project agreement with IHS.

“Today’s groundbreaking is the result of years of the hard work and persistence of local officials working in partnership with the Winslow Indian Health Care Center. This project symbolizes what can be accomplished to meet the health care needs of our Navajo people by working together and by empowering our communities,” said President Nez. “The Nez-Lizer Administration supports local self-governance.”

For many years, the Dilkon Health Care Steering Committee and Dilkon Chapter have advocated for the new medical center and for the ability to oversee the design and construction of the new facility. Winslow Indian Health Care Center Board of Directors Chairman Robert Salabye thanked the Nez-Lizer Administration for supporting local empowerment with the signing of the letter to the IHS, which allowed the project to move forward.

Vice President Myron Lizer also commended the local officials and thanked them for remaining determined to help their community members.

“The community of Dilkon has a vision for their people and that encompasses community and economic opportunities and growth. This new medical center will be a major part of developing that overall vision to create jobs, revenue, and sustainability,” Vice President Lizer stated.

The Nez-Lizer Administration continues to advocate for water projects and resources that would bring more water to the Dilkon area and surrounding communities for other development initiatives.

“If we bring water resources, the possibilities are endless for our Navajo people,” added President Nez. “The community of Dilkon is practicing the Navajo teaching of T’áá hwó’ajít’éego, or self-reliance, to be less dependent on the central government and to help build and strengthen their community.”

President Nez also recognized and thanked Norman and Marie Nez, whose family forfeited their grazing permit to allow for the construction of the medical center on their designated grazing area.

Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Inc. board chairman Robert Salabye also stated that the group is looking to secure additional funding for elderly homes in the Dilkon community. According to Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Inc., the construction of the Dilkon Health Center is expected to be completed by 2023.

The post Dilkon Community Reaches Another Milestone with the Groundbreaking of the New Dilkon Medical Center appeared first on Native News Online.

Published June 26, 2019

WASHINGTON — Access to affordable voice and internet service is vital to the quality of life for consumers who want to stay connected to health care clinics, loved ones, and workforce opportunities. Yet affordable and accessible service remains a challenge for millions of rural and native consumers who are constrained by distance and density limitations.  The federal Lifeline program provides a way to close the affordability gap for these consumers by offering a monthly discount of up to $34.25 towards their phone or internet bill. This benefit helps those who otherwise would never have a chance to connect to their communities and families. Currently, over 9 million consumers participate in the Lifeline Program, and of those, 274,000 are native households.

How to Apply

If you are interested in receiving the Lifeline discount, there are a few ways you can apply and demonstrate eligibility to qualify for this benefit. The first is through participation in a federal program. If you are in a federal program like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid you qualify for the Lifeline discount. You also qualify if you live on federally-recognized Tribal lands and take part in programs like the Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF), or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. You may also prove program eligibility through your income if it is at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines.

Universal Service Administrative Company staff present at National Congress of American Indians earlier this year in Washington, D.C.

To apply for Lifeline, you will need a document that proves you are eligible for the benefit. You may also need an item that you proves your identity such as an unexpired Driver’s License or Tribal issued ID and an item that proves your address such as a utility bill.  For more information regarding the Lifeline eligibility criteria, visit the program’s website which will give you additional information on the application process and which phone companies participate in this program. To find out which companies serve your area, you can input your zip code or city and state in the Companies Near Me tool on Lifeline’s website.

Additional Resources

If you have general questions about the Lifeline Program, you can contact the Lifeline Support Center at LifelineSupport@usac.org or (800) 234-9473. If you are a caseworker, social service agent, or consumer support representative and would like to be added to Lifeline’s consumer advocate and tribal distribution lists, email LifelineProgram@usac.org to receive updates on the program, upcoming events, and specific content for tribal communities.

For more information, contact Lifeline at (800) 234-9473 or visit LifelineSupport.org.

The post Lifeline Program Helps Native Consumers Stay Connected in Today’s Digital World appeared first on Native News Online.

The head of Oklahoma's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services took the stand Tuesday as the state's final witness in its trailblazing trial seeking to hold Johnson & Johnson liable for the opioid crisis, testifying that without a J&J-funded abatement plan, "more Oklahomans will die."

Members of Beaver First Nation and Dene Tha’ First Nation who were forced to leave their communities a week ago because of wildfire have been allowed to return home as of Tuesday.

Sitting Bull…Bismarck, D.T.. David Frances Barry, photographer, c1885. Prints & Photographs Division

Today in History – June 25

On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and the 265 men under his command lost their lives in the Battle of Little Big Horn, often referred to as Custer’s Last Stand.

Portrait of Maj. Gen. George A. Custer, Officer of the Federal Army. Brady National Photographic Art Gallery, [Jan. 4, 1865]. Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints. Prints & Photographs Division

Educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Custer proved his brilliance and daring as a cavalry officer of the Union Army in the Civil War. Major General George McClellan appointed the twenty-three-year-old Custer as brigadier general in charge of a Michigan cavalry brigade. By 1864, Custer was leading the Third Cavalry Division in General Philip Sheridan‘s Shenandoah Valley campaign. Throughout the fall, the Union Army moved across the valley—burning homes, mills, and fields of crops.

View of a Cheyenne Village at Big Timbers…. Daguerreotype by Solomon Carvalho, probably copied by Mathew Brady’s studio, between 1853 and 1860. Daguerreotypes. Prints & Photographs Division

This daguerreotype of an Indian village in Kansas Territory, taken during the Frémont Expedition in 1853, is one of the Library’s oldest images of the Plains Indians of the American West. Click on the image for a much sharper view of four large tipis (variant of teepees) standing at the edge of a wooded area.

Custer’s Division Retiring from Mount Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, October 7, 1864, Alfred R. Waud, artist, 1864. American Treasures of the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

This sketch of Custer’s division retiring from Mount Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley on October 7, 1864, is by Alfred Waud, a Civil War sketch artist who documented the war for the press. Sketch artists provided the public’s only glimpse of battle at a time when the shutter speed of cameras was not fast enough to capture action. Waud routinely ventured dangerously close to the fighting, portraying more intimately than any other artist, the drama and horror of the Civil War.

Tapped to pursue General Robert E. Lee‘s army as it fled from Richmond, Custer himself received the Confederate flag of truce when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. At the end of the Civil War, he was commissioned to the western frontier as part of an army campaign to impress and intimidate hostile Plains Indians with a show of U.S. military might.

After gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, white miners flocked into territory ceded to the Sioux less than ten years earlier. Although the second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) clearly granted the tribe exclusive use of the Black Hills, in the winter of 1875, the U.S. ordered the Sioux to return to their reservation by the end of January. With many Indians out of the range of communication and many others hostile to the order, the U.S. Army prepared for battle.

On May 17, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel Custer led the 750 men of the 7th United States Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Commanded by Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry, Custer’s division was part of an expedition intended to locate and rout tribes organized for resistance under Chief Sitting Bull. Hoping to entrap Sitting Bull in the Little Big Horn area, Terry ordered Custer to follow the Rosebud River while he brought the majority of the men down the Yellowstone River. After meeting at the mouth of the Little Big Horn, they planned to force the Lakota Sioux and the Cheyenne back to their reservations.

Custer found Sitting Bull encamped on the Little Bighorn River in Montana. Instead of waiting for Terry, the lieutenant colonel chose to wage an immediate attack. He divided his forces into several groups and headed out. Quickly encircled by their enemy, the five companies under Custer’s immediate command were slaughtered in less than an hour. Over the next two days, the remnants of the 7th Cavalry fought for their lives as they waited in vain for Custer to relieve them.

On June 27, the Indians retreated as reinforcements arrived. Expecting to meet Custer and prepare for battle, General Terry discovered the bodies of Custer and his men. Nearly a third of the men of the 7th Cavalry, including Custer and his brother, died at Little Big Horn. A stunning but short-lived victory for Native Americans, the Battle of Little Big Horngalvanized the public against the Indians. In response, federal troops poured into the Black Hills.

While many Native Americans surrendered to federal authorities, Sitting Bull sought refuge in Canada in 1877. Four years later, with his supporters on the brink of starvation, Sitting Bull returned to the U.S. at Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota. There, he fought the sale of tribal lands under the Dawes Severalty Act and participated in the Ghost DanceMovement—a cultural and religious revitalization among Native Americans. Threatened by a religious awakening that promised the end of white dominance, federal authorities attempted to take custody of Sitting Bull in 1890. He was killed in the affray sparked by the attempted arrest.

The post Today in History – June 25, 1876: Custer’s Last Stand appeared first on Native News Online.

The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation appeared receptive Tuesday to an inventive proposal to create a class of local governments to negotiate a global settlement with drug companies accused of fueling the addiction crisis, saying novel problems need novel solutions.

Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation officials, the U.S. secretary of the interior and the mayor of Oklahoma City told a federal judge Monday there is no merit to a suit claiming Oklahoma City’s plan to siphon water from a state river would put endangered mussel species at risk.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he plans to nominate E. Sequoyah Simermeyer, a longtime U.S. Department of the Interior staffer and current National Indian Gaming Commission associate commissioner, to become chair of the commission.

The suicide rate for the United States’ general population latest is 33% higher than the rate in 1999 according to the latest CDC report, Native men are also higher than average at 71%

One Indigenous man is sharing different experiences of learning Haida in a podcast. He wants people to know they shouldn't be embarrassed when learning a language.

The Tenth Circuit on Monday refused to revisit its ruling that sent only a small number of drilling and hydraulic fracturing permits back to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for additional environmental review after finding that a development's impact on water resources was not examined closely enough.