A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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Christopher Columbus Loses a Holiday in Los Angeles, and Loses His Head in New York Reprinted with permission from Indian Country Today Media (September 1, 2017) Columbus Day is no more in Los Angeles, California – at least at the city level. The L.A. City Council voted 14-1 to dump Columbus Day as a city-recognized holiday for Indigenous Peoples Day which will be celebrated on the second Monday in October, according to reports. Natives of every stripe – Aztecs, Diné, Lakota, and more – descended upon City Hall on August 30 to speak in favor...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau split Indigenous and Northern Affairs into two departments and named a second minister. Reprinted with permission from APTN National News with files from the Canadian Press The two departments of Indigenous Affairs will have one side focusing on a new relationship with Indigenous people, such as First Nations working on self-government agreements, and the other will continue providing services for all First Nations. Minister Carolyn Bennett will lead the new department becoming the minister of Crown-Indigenous...
Reprinted with permission from APTN National News On Saturday, more than 100 people gathered on the Mohawk Territory of Kanesatake demanding that a housing project on disputed land be stopped. The development outside the sacred pines was approved by the Town council of Oka that sits down the road from Kanesatake. Momentum is building to stop this development. But this time, support is coming from all sides. "I do respect their territory," said Oka resident Alexandre Boivin. "It is something...
Reprinted with permission from ICMT July 31, 2017. The topic of cannabis and the celebration of the 2017 Canoe Journey/Paddle to We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum seemed a strange juxtaposition. The Canoe Journey has done much to promote sobriety and healthy living among young Native people, and yet some pullers represent Native Nations that have gone into the cannabis business: The Suquamish Tribe owns Agate Dreams, a successful retail cannabis store on Highway 305 on the Kitsap Peninsula, west of Seattle; The Squaxin Island Tribe owns Elevation, a...
Reprinted with permission from ICMT July 25, 2017. U.S. House appropriators are temporarily finding their efforts stymied to curb dramatic cuts to American Indian programs proposed by the Trump administration. After intense meetings that culminated the week of July 17, the House Committee on Appropriations, which includes Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), one of two Native Americans currently serving in Congress, decided to approve a 2018 spending bill that would have provided $2.9 billion for Indian programs at the U.S. Department of the Interior,...
Onondaga Nation Facing Turning Point in Education Onondaga Nation is facing a turning point in the education of their children. Onondaga children attend the Onondaga Nation Elementary School, which operates under the LaFayette School District. Most Onondaga high school students attend the LaFayette High School. Unlike any other school in Central New York, the Onondaga Nation School is solely for Onondaga Nation students who are taught the state curriculum at the same time they learn the Onondaga language and culture. Onondaga Nation School...
Reprinted with permission from Indian Country Media July 11, 2017. Throughout much of 2016 and into the winter of 2017, water protectors stood fast against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), even in the face of severe injury. The egregiousness of the actions taken against unarmed water protectors caught the attention of the Wallace Global Fund, founded by Henry A. Wallace, who was Vice President of the United States under Franklin D. Roosevelt. The progressive fund awarded $250,000 to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and pledged to invest an...
Reprinted with permission from ICMT June 14, 2017.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the law in its fast-tracked approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington D.C. has ruled. Judge James Boasberg said the Corps did not consider key components of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in granting the Lake Oahe easement under the Missouri River when directed to do so by President Donald Trump shortly after his swearing-in. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, with the Cheyenne River Sioux as...
Reprinted with permission from Indian Country Media Network (May 12, 2017) As the entourage of Utah lawmakers and U.S. Department of Interior officials drove out of Butler Wash in the Bears Ears National Monument, area resident Leonard Lee, a former Navajo Nation delegate and chapter house president, shook his head slightly. Lee, one of the originators of the proposal to make Bears Ears a monument, spoke about the seven years of gathering documentation, meeting with local residents and elected representatives, and strategizing to gather...
Reprinted with permission from Indian Country Media (April 28, 2017) Following a Nebraska judge’s ruling to overturn the liquor commission’s decision to pull the liquor licenses for Whiteclay’s four beer store owners, state AG filed an appeal halting sales for the time being. The Nebraska State Liquor Commission’s made a unanimous decision to deny renewal of licenses to the Whiteclay businesses in Lincoln last week. Jumping Eagle Inn, State Line Liquor, Arrowhead Inn and D&S Pioneer Service were forced to close at midnight on Sunday, April 3...
Beer should no longer flow in Whiteclay, Nebraska state regulators have decided. The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission decided Wednesday to deny licenses to the four beer stores in the alcohol-soaked outpost in northwest Nebraska. The small town is only a few miles from from the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Commissioners voted unanimously, 3-0, to deny the licenses. “This is not a place that can exist any longer,” said commission Chairman Bob Batt of Omaha, who moved to deny the licenses. “This is not a place that can exist as a purve...
Reprinted with permission from Indian Country Media Network March 20, 2017. Roughly 30 miles north of Las Vegas, shovels broke earth on March 17 to pave way for 3.2 million solar panels to cover 25 million square feet (that’s 450 NFL football fields). The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project will be the first-ever utility-scale solar power plant on tribal land. First Solar Inc. and the Moapa Band of Paiutes joined forces for the 250-megawatt solar farm on the 72,000-acre Moapa River Indian Reservation. First Solar, the operator, inked a 25-year...
She:kon. This is to inform the members of the press on Kanesatake’s position on the honoring of Mr. Jean Jolicoeur as the Patriot Of the Year by the Sovereignist parties of Quebec. First, Mr. Jolicoeur has never been a member of the Mohawks of Kanesatake and only enjoyed some friendships with certain members here. He has never been, nor will he ever be, a Chief representing our community. As a Quebecer he may display his views on sovereignty as freely as he wants but he cannot, and must not, invoke Kanesatake in these views, as this is a m...
January 16, 2017 - Seneca Falls, NY—The Cayuga Nation’s traditional government - the Council of Chiefs and Clan Mothers – on Friday appealed the December 15, 2016 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) decision declaring a group organized by Clint Halftown to be the government of the Cayuga Nation. The decision by BIA Eastern Regional Director Bruce Maytubby would strip the Clan Mothers of their longstanding role in the Nation’s government, a role Clint Halftown has previously supported. It would put in place a mail-in survey process to substitute for...
MAJOR INITIATIVE IS LAUNCHED TO TRANSFORM SOCIETY’S VIEWS OF NATIVE AMERICANS Two-year project will conduct research and develop strategies for perception-changing campaign LONGMONT, Colo. – An unprecedented national project was announced today to bring Native Americans out of the shadows of public consciousness. Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America’s Myths and Misconceptions is a two-year research and strategy-setting effort to create a long-term, Native-led movement that will positively transform the image of and narra...
JOE MEDICINE CROW, LAST SURVIVING WAR CHIEF FOR MONTANA’S CROW TRIBE AND ACCLAIMED NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORIAN DIES AGED 102 Joseph Medicine Crow, an acclaimed Native American historian and last surviving war chief for Montana’s Crow Tribe, has died aged 102. Medicine Crow died on Sunday, funeral home director Terry Bullis said. A member of the Crow Tribe’s Whistling Water clan, Medicine Crow was raised by his grandparents in a log house in a rural area of the Crow Reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana. His Crow name was ‘High Bird’, and he re...
CATHOLIC RESPONSES TO TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION CALL TO ACTION 48 AND QUESTIONS REGARDING THE “DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY” OTTAWA, March 29, 2016 /CNW/ - In response to Call to Action 48 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and to questions on the legal concepts known as “Doctrine of Discovery” and terra nullius, Catholic leaders, representing Bishops, religious communities, Indigenous People and laity, have issued two documents. Both texts are signed by representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadia...
JUDGE APPROVES NEARLY $1B SETTLEMENT BETWEEN US AND TRIBES A judge has approved a nearly $1 billion settlement between the Obama administration and Native American tribes over claims the government shorted tribes for decades on contract costs to manage education, law enforcement and other federal services. Attorneys for the tribes learned last Wednesday that a federal judge in Albuquerque approved the agreement, about five months after the Interior Department and tribal leaders announced they had reached a proposed $940 million settlement in...
MELANIE MARK IS FIRST INDIGENOUS WOMAN ELECTED TO B.C. LEGISLATURE NDP CANDIDATE Melanie Mark has made history as the first indigenous woman ever elected to the British Columbia legislature, trouncing the competition with more than 60 percent of the vote in a February 2 by-election. Mark is Nisga’a, Gitxsan, Cree and Ojibway. Born and raised in Mount Pleasant, Mark worked alongside children and youth watchdog, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, fighting to protect the rights and interests of the most vulnerable children and youth in BC. Her d...
NAVAJO WATER SUPPLY IS ‘MORE HORRIFIC THAN FLINT,’ BUT NO ONE CARES BECAUSE THEY’RE NATIVE AMERICAN Reprinted from The Free Thought Project @ http://thefreethoughtproject.com By Justin Gardner (January 31, 2016) The news out of Flint, Michigan brought the issue of contaminated drinking water into sharp focus, as it was revealed that officials at every level—local, state and federal—knew about lead-poisoned water for months but did nothing to address the problem. Under state-run systems like utilities and roads, poorer communities are the last...
SCHOOL SHOOTING IN LA LOCHE, SASKATCHEWAN “First Nations citizens and Canadians across the country are shocked and saddened by the shooting and fatalities that took place Friday, January 22 in La Loche, Saskatchewan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of La Loche and with the friends and families of all those affected by the tragedy. On behalf of myself and the AFN National Executive I convey our sincere sympathies and condolences. I am from Saskatchewan and know the community of La Loche and their neighbor, the Clearwater River D...
Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke Issues New “Vacate” Notices (Kahnawà:ke, Kentenhkó:wa/November 2015). The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) announced at a Fall Community Meeting that it is issuing a new “Notice of Non-Entitlement to Reside in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke” to persons currently residing illegally in the Territory. The letter, dated 16 Kentenhkó:wa/ November, is signed by Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton on behalf of the MCK. It contains the following: “Please be advised that all persons who are currently residing illega...
Olympian and U.S. Hockey Legend, Henry Boucha, Ojibway, Launches Kickstarter to Fund Henry Boucha is a 1972 silver medalist in men’s hockey, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Member, former Minnesota North Star, Detroit Red Wing and Ojibwa. Boucha has launched a Kickstarter, through his nonprofit Kah-Bay-Kah-Nong, Inc., to fund the development of a documentary series that details the lives and accomplishments of Native American Olympians. The story of Henry Boucha, Ojibwa Native American from Warroad, Minnesota is one of struggle, tragedy and t...
September 29, 2015 - Royal Dutch Shell has announced its plans to abandon its attempts to drill for oil off Alaska’s northwest coast, citing disappointing results from exploratory wells. Native American leaders who have been campaigning against the Shell project and other extreme energy developments share their thoughts on the announcement made yesterday: Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), based in Alaska, remarks: “This is an amazing result of the fight to defend the Arc...
“Denali” Official Name After 20 Year Request ANCHORAGE, AK – In recognition of the long history of strong support from Alaska state, tribal and congressional leaders, and in resolution of an official request for a name change pending for 40 years, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that the highest mountain in the United States and North America, formerly known as Mount McKinley, will be officially given the traditional Koyukon Athabascan name of Denali. President Obama endorsed Jewell’s decision to issue a Secreta...
