LATEST GLOBAL INDIGENOUS NEWS

Not every federal agency has experience with incorporating cost estimates for damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions into their daily work, but that's going to change under President Joe Biden's new directive that all agencies must begin using them in their budgeting, procurement and permitting decisions.

A lawsuit filed by a tribal business entity against a law firm and one of its shareholders reads like a movie script filled with allegations of putting millions of dollars at risk, inciting threats and intimidation against tribal councilors, a scheme to transfer the company’s assets to another tribe, and even the shooting of two horses on an Indian reservation in northern Montana. 

Little Priest has always offered some health and science courses, but college Vice President of Finance and Operations Mark Vasina said the two-year school is also creating pathways to higher education for its graduates.

The post Little Priest Tribal College Builds Opportunity ‘Pipelines,’ STEM Workforce appeared first on Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education.

A Long Island school district says the New York State Education Department and its Board of Regents' ban on the use of Native American names, mascots and logos within the state's public school system is an abuse of discretion that left educators scrambling to financially navigate the new law's requirements.

Two Florida casino operators on Monday opened a new front in their challenge to the state's gambling pact with the Seminole Tribe, arguing in a petition filed with the Florida Supreme Court that the governor exceeded his authority when he signed the pact because it expands gambling in violation of the state constitution.

The three new bloggers, each with their own distinctive thematic approach, reflect the great diversity at tribal colleges and universities. Their blogs will be featured at TCJStudent.org.

The post <em>TCJ Student</em> Announces Three New Student Bloggers appeared first on Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education.

Tribal nations came out in support of the Michigan attorney general's legal challenge to Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline, telling the Sixth Circuit the pipeline threatens waters that are culturally, economically and spiritually significant to nations across the Great Lakes.

Check out our Social Impact Leaders ranking, analysis and interactive graphics to see which firms stand out for their engagement with social responsibility and commitment to pro bono service.

As backlash to institutional efforts around environmental, social and corporate governance spreads in the U.S., experts say law firms are likely to take a long-term view and continue focusing on ESG principles, even if some of the wording and messaging around those efforts may change.

Join Native News Online’s Publisher Levi Rickert at noon today on Native Bidaské as he interviews Oglala Lakota composer Mato Wayuhi on his film and music composition work across Indian Country.

Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.

A First Nation in British Columbia says it has found nearly 160 child deaths at four facilities in the province.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, most of the deaths occurred at a hospital.

The probe by the Stó:lō Nation in British Columbia focused on unmarked graves and missing children, going back to the 1860’s.

But representatives of the First Nation and its research and resource management center say the work is only beginning.

So far, obstacles have been the lack of access to information from Ottawa as well as religious institutions that were linked to residential schools.

The research, using ground penetrating radar, archives, and field work, was into three residential schools, cemeteries, and a First Nation hospital.

Most of the children died of diseases such as tuberculosis. Some from accidents.

Amber Kostuchenko is a researcher and the project manager.

“One child died because they were jumped on by another student. Another child was reported to have hit their head against the bed under unknown circumstances. And another was reported to have broken their spine while jumping rope.”

The institutions included the St. Mary’s Indian Residential School, the Coqualeetza Industrial Institute, and the Coqualeetza Hospital – all three in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.  And the fourth was the All Hallows School in Yale, BC.

Kostuchencko says her team is still gathering information and has only accessed about half of the 70,000 documents they need.

One of the lead researchers also says interviews with survivors suggested many atrocities committed against children, including sexual assaults, starvation, and secret burials.

Some survivors allege that the St Mary’s school was a place of punishment and starvation – and later when it moved to a second location, a place of pedophilia.

Photo: Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

For years, it was extremely difficult to find meals like bison pot roast or an elk taco at a restaurant.

Yet, Indigenous cuisine has been in the Americas for centuries.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde joined a chef in Denver community kitchen Same Day Café to see her approach to the cuisine.

Chef Andrea Murdoch (Indigenous Andean) is busy in the kitchen.

She’s baking her light blue sugar cookies with the help of some volunteer chefs.

“‘They’re like blue!’ ‘Yeah. They stay blue.’ ‘They do?’ ‘Yeah.'”

The color is made using Ute Mountain Ute cornmeal from Southwest Colorado.

“And blue cornmeal is something that’s very specific to the Four Corners region of the U.S. Like you will not find this easily out on the West Coast, out on the east coast.”

And this isn’t the first time she’s used unique ingredients.

“I sourced locally and indigenously to support those economies. Kroger doesn’t need my money.”

It all started when Murdoch expanded Four Directions Cuisine, her food business.

She wanted to create South American cuisine, and through her research, she found that ingredients representative of the culture were pre-colonial.

Like rabbit, bison, or other foods that existed in the Americas before colonizers arrived.

“I have this distinct privilege and honor to be able to take the teachings from others and translate that through menus.”

Along with sourcing food from local and Indigenous farmers, she forages around her for flowers and grasses, praying to the weather god Illapa for rain.

As she cooks, she taps into what she calls her “sixth sense” and connects with plants and animals that are seen as relatives in her culture.

“There’s an element of listening to the ingredients and understanding how you’re going to honor them best.”

Indigenous cuisine like Murdoch’s has recently grown in popularity, with many restaurants opening in cities like Minneapolis and Seattle.

And, for the second year in a row, a Native chef won a James Beard award – almost like the Oscars for cooking.

But it wasn’t always this way. And there’s still room to grow.

“We find food from all over the world in our amazing cities. And very seldom do we find food of where we happen to be standing that represents the land and the Indigenous communities and cultures.”

That’s Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), head chef of Owamni in Minnesota and a multi-James Beard Award winner. 

“We should really be focused on what’s the true food of North America. And you can’t understand North American food unless you bring the Indigenous perspective into it.”

 

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A coalition of tribal organizations is warning about the potential damage of a federal government shutdown to tribal citizens.

Among other things, Native officials say it could disrupt important appropriations for at-risk tribal members. At the same time, COVID-19 infections are on the rise and distribution of vaccines is off to a rocky start.

Native America Calling will get perspectives on two significant events in the news.

Dr. Rebecca St. Germaine (Lac Courte Oreilles), evaluator for the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center and program director for the Tribal Epidemiology Center Public Health Infrastructure

Stacey Bohlen (citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), chief executive officer of the National Indian Health Board

Dr. Matthew Clark, chief medical officer for the Alaska Area Native Health Service and chair of the IHS National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee

Dr. Amber Lyon, assistant professor in the Master of Public Health Program at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences

Diné farmer and father Zac Ben is busy harvesting and processing corn from his farm in Shiprock, N.M. to make baby food, the product of his company Bidii Baby Foods. Citizen Potawatomi chef Loretta Barrett Oden’s new cookbook Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine features recipes and ingredients she’s gathered from her culinary start in Santa Fe to her current post at Thirty Nine Restaurant in the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City.  And, we’ll explore the contributions Hispanic traditional foods have made to American and Native American cuisine.

It’s been a year since Pope Francis officially apologized for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the abuses and forced assimilation of Indigenous people at Canadian residential schools. At the time, officials said it was an important step toward healing and reconciliation. But others said it was more important for the Church to take action in addition to rhetoric. We’ll get different perspectives about the weight of the papal apology one year later.

A coalition of tribal organizations is warning about the potential damage of a federal government shutdown to tribal citizens. Among other things, Native officials say it could disrupt important appropriations for at-risk tribal members. At the same time, COVID-19 infections are on the rise and distribution of vaccines is off to a rocky start. We’ll get perspectives on two significant events in the news.

GUESTS

Dr. Rebecca St. Germaine (Lac Courte Oreilles), evaluator for the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center and program director for the Tribal Epidemiology Center Public Health Infrastructure

Stacey Bohlen (citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), chief executive officer of the National Indian Health Board

Dr. Matthew Clark, chief medical officer for the Alaska Area Native Health Service and chair of the IHS National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee

Dr. Amber Lyon, assistant professor in the Master of Public Health Program at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences

A Native American activist group that spearheaded a petition to change the Washington Commanders' name back to the Redskins claims the NFL team conspired with the National Congress of American Indians to defame the organization and silence opposing indigenous voices, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday in North Dakota.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians continues to push the D.C. Circuit to reverse a court order that blocked the tribe from acquiring land for two casino developments, escalating a dispute that has already caused the tribe to pay $25 million over the failed plans.

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen are asking a federal judge for a stay to appeal a lower court order in a voting rights lawsuit, saying the judge erred by compelling the production of certain communications because they're protected under legislative privilege.