From gars@netcom.com Tue Nov 10 22:08:25 1998 Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:04:58 -0800 (PST) From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews06.046 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 06, ISSUE 046 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, November 14, 1998 O o O KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from Paths-L, TribalLaw & Nat-Film Lists; MNN Mohawk Nation News; Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty; A-Infos News Service; Newsgroup: alt.native; UUCP email Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination and/or permission for inclusion has been secured. Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A. I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people. IMPORTANT!! ----------- To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted even if there is no monetary gain. Just because a newspaper has a website where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for their redistribution. Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do with full permission. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org Thanks to Borries Demeler all _Wotanging_Ikche_ (part a) submissions to AISESnet are archived under AISESnet and can be accessed easily by World Wide Web: 1994: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/94_dis.html 1995: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/95_dis.html 1996: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/96_dis.html 1997: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/97_dis.html This is a searchable index to the AISESnet Discussion mailing list database archive, and the keyword "Wotanging" will retrieve all issues for that year. Downloading Wotanging Ikche on AOL From: MAANG1419@aol.com Just thought I would share some info. I could not download on to a .txt because I kept getting the message (when I tried to retrieve it) that the text editor could not handle the volume. This time I downloaded it on to a .doc and when I retrieved it out of file manager, IT WORKED. "I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I realized then that we could not hold our own with the white men. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had a small country. Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not, and would change the rivers and mountains if the did not suit them." __ Chief Joseph, Nez Perce +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Remember our veterans - those warriors who came home, and those who did not. -- -- -- -- -- -- Any time any elder dies, it is a great loss. Each one, no matter how prominent or well known, is a precious gem of knowledge. As these elders drop their earthly robes and take their Spirit journey, they leave the knowledge others sought them for, to listen and learn; but more often these days this wisdom is not sought and it is carried away along with its precious wisdom keeper. It is with honor and respect I share the loss of a elder to the Mescalero. Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 20:33:23 -0700 From: Robert Warrior Subj: Wendell Chino Albuquerque Journal Thursday, November 5, 1998 Mescaleros' Chino Dies Leader Battled For Sovereignty By Leslie Linthicum Journal Staff Writer Wendell Chino, the leader of the Mescalero Apache tribe for the past 43 years and an outspoken and sometimes brash defender of Indian rights, died of a heart attack Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. Chino, 74, had been visiting a health center and was working out on a treadmill when he suffered a heart attack Wednesday afternoon. He was revived in the emergency room of the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and transferred to a critical care unit at the hospital where he died at 3:28 p.m. MST, according to hospital spokesman Ted Braun. Chino's death set off shock and rumors across the Mescalero reservation in southern New Mexico and beyond. Chino was a nationally recognized Indian leader who fought for tribal sovereignty and ruled Mescalero with an iron fist while successfully building and diversifying the tribe's economy. Chino served as the tribal business council chairman from 1955 to 1965, when the Mescaleros adopted a president and council form of government. Chino easily won election as the tribe's first president and then handily won 16 more terms. Over the years he befriended and berated hundreds of politicians in New Mexico and Washington, D.C., and launched lawsuits and standoffs in the name of Indian sovereignty. Members of the tribal council and the tribe's attorneys were to meet this morning to discuss Chino's death and the future of tribal government, Chino's friend Dale Webb said Wednesday night. Webb said he heard the news from Chino's son Wednesday night. "We're all just waiting," Webb said. Tribal members said Mescalero conservation officers ringed tribal headquarters in the mountains of Otero County on Wednesday night, awaiting the arrival of the tribe's vice president, Paul Ortega. Some tribal members said they believe Ortega will take over the presidency for 90 days under tribal laws and then a special election will be held. George Fettinger, the tribe's attorney, would not comment Wednesday night. Chino and Albuquerque businessman Ray Gallegos had been checked in to the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica for several days, a friend said. Chino underwent an angioplasty for a heart problem last year but continued to be active. Chino, a little man with stooped shoulders, two hearing aids and a booming voice, appeared gruff in public but hid a sly sense of humor. Under his leadership, the 4,000-member tribe transformed itself into a prosperous business empire with a sawmill, a metal fabrication plant, a casino, a ski resort and a resort hotel. Chino once described the Mescalero tribe's strength this way: Navajos, he said, make rugs, and the Pueblos make pottery. "The Mescaleros," Chino said, "make money." His critics questioned where the profits from those enterprises went, noting that most tribal members had not seen prosperity. In an interview with the Journal just before winning re-election to his 17th term in November 1997, Chino down played his image as a dictator and defended his record. "Wendell Chino doesn't elect himself," he said. "If they didn't like the way I was operating, they would have booted me a long time ago." =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\= Again, this winter this editorial section will feature groups or individuals who are helping those in need, primarily on reservations and especially those who aid children and elders. Urban help will not be excluded. I have lived in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis and been a guest in Lakota Housing in Rapid City and in Shiprock. The need to eat and be warm does not end because a person has left the rez. PLEASE forward contact information for all you know who help those less able to do so make it through the harsh winter months. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We have two deletions from the list carried over from last year. From: Lora Czarnowsky Please remove Addie Defender and Liam Patterson(from the contact list). A note posted on the Big Mountain list speaks of the emormous needs by many of the Dine', especially those standing their ground at Black Mesa: Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 16:20:50 -0800 From: Robert Dorman Subj: Aid request for Bonnie Whitesinger Mailing List: Big Mountain List I received a letter from Bonnie Whitesinger, Dineh resistor. Since it is short, I will quote the whole thing. ----- Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dorman, Hello. How are things going for you and your family. Hopefully things are good. I had to write to let you know that we are still here at Big Mountain and I still go to dialysis. Pauline is doing good- she's still healthy - all out and about. She recently did her corn harvest. Me and my family need dollars to buy winter supplies. Can you help us with your hearts to respond to our survival needs? There was also articles about livestock impoundments but then it sounds that they won't do until later dates. Also, Marsha is on the land at Black Mesa. She floating around. So, other then that we helped her establish a board of Directors for S.D.N. So, that's good news. This is all for now-- and we'll wait for your response. Thanks, Bonnie Whitesinger -------- Bonnie's address is Box 1073. Hotevilla, AZ 86030. If anyone can help Bonnie and her family out (she has several children), I know she would appreciate it. ============================================= For additional information or to make donations contact: For the Red Shirt Community: Marvin Helper P.O. Box 312 Hermosa, SD 57744 For Porcupine, Oglala and Wounded Knee: Joe Chasing Horse % P.O. Box 8392 Rapid City, S.D. 57709 For Truck loads & UPS Shipments: Joe Chasing Horse 714 Paha Sapa Drive Rapid City, SD 57701 From: tusweca Darlene Cross PO Box 52 Kyle SD 577075 From: yona@infi.net Toy drive going on for the Cheyenne River Reservation in Eagle Butte If you would like to donate a toy or more information, you may contact me by email: yona@infi.net or phone me 757-425-7992..you may also drop off a toy if you are in the vicinity of our store Na-va'kee 618 Hilltop West. biah yazzie From: DORSEY.THOMAS_J+@ALBANY.VA.GOV Norma Grassrope Lower Brule Reservation Lower Brule, South Dakota 57028 (605) 473-5594 She is the chair of a charitable group called the Womens Support Group. From: Pioquark@aol.com Clay Watson Pioneer Industries 1100 E. 24th St. Cheyenne, Wy. 82001 (307)778-7860 pioquark@aol.com These donations will be gifted to the Rose Bud and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. I'm on the road a lot, out back loading the truck etc. PLEASE leave a message if there is no answer.. From: ALBERT SUN BUTLER Ti Ospaye PO Box 200 Wanblee SD 57577 Supporting the elders through personal contact: Adopt A Grandparent Mountain Light Center PO Box 241 Taos NM 87571 TEL: 505 776 8474 FAX: 505 776 8050 For information call 800 291-8474. email: agpmlc@aol.com For the Cherokee, NC Rez and South FL (Now taking one load/week): From: "lonewolf" Lone Wolf -or- Bob and Linda Crowe 1060 N. Bee St. 2800 West Highway 5 Deland, Fl 32720 Bowden, GA 30108 770-258-1536 From BIGMTLIST The Dineh could use some blankets to help with the cold winters. Bonnie Whitesinger Box 1073 Hotevilla, AZ 86030 Since UPS doesn't deliver to PO boxes, you would have to use parcel post. --------------------------------------------- From: leslie@neca.com Pathways to Spirit in Fort Collins Colorado Contact: Carmeen Klausner Phone: 970 282 8573 email pathways@webaccess.net This group is non profit and takes tractor trailer loads of clothes and furniture to Pine Ridge several times each year. --------------------------------------------- From: "g hindsman" Subj: Help for Families on Rez Morning Star Fellowship Circle, Inc. All of the donations are sorted and packed for each family according to size, sex etc. This year we are in particular need of blankets, space heaters, fans and linens (towels and sheets). We have many toys and clothing of all sizes but good winter coats are always useful. We are registered as a private non profit, so receipts can be given for donations. We can always use money donations. We deliver in December, June and in August. We also do mail deliveries occasionally. Over the years, we have made many friends at Pine Ridge, Rosebud, the Crow Agency and others. We try to help with special requests when we can. Morning Star has also been a home away from home for students and elders who are temporarily on the East Coast. Our headquarters are located in Delaware but we have other circles in Virginia, New York, West Virginia, Maryland and soon in Florida. --------------------------------------------- From: Janet S MORNING STAR OUTREACH c/o Cassada 320 N. 31st #13 Bismarck, North Dakota 58501 Charitable organization founded and directed by Dawn & Douglas Cassada. MORNING STAR OUTREACH chooses to offer direct as well as mediation assistance to the United States American Indian Reservations in the form of clothing, bedding, food provisions, toys for the children, scholarship funding and household provisions. This also includes craft items, fabrics, beads, patterns, yarns and notions. MORNING STAR OUTREACH chooses, because of the census reports, to support the reservations of the Native Lakota Sioux Nation within the United States, South and North Dakota. For information about Morning Star you can call or write our Outreach Coordinator at: Morning Star Fellowship Circle, Inc. 321 Beverly Place Wilmington, DE 19809 Phone: 302-764-1178 EMail - candy crow@aol.com --------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 14:03:10 -0800 From: POP ACCOUNT We would ask simply that you take a few minutes to visit our web site at http://www.nightwalker.org/holidays and review the information provided there. If you find it in yourself to help these children, there is a link on the site there to our SSL Secure server for online donations, or you can download and print out a form that can be mailed instead. If you do not have access to the World Wide Web, but would still like to help out, you can send an email to donate@nightwalker.org, and a donation form will be automatically sent back to you. Night Walker Enterprises is an all volunteer, 501(c)(3) non profit corporation, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by IRS regulations and current US tax law. --------------------------------------------- Those shipping large amounts of materials to reservations may have a great opportunity to facilitate your shipping. This arrived in this week's email, and I have not had an opportunity to pursue it further. I offer it now, in hopes it will help some in the contact list. A lot of reservations are near military facilities. PLEASE let me know how things go if you do attempt to use this service: Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 11:45:42 -0600 Subj: transportation of relief materials Senders name removed by request. FYI For transportation of relief materials by non-profit agencies or groups. Telephone all of your local congressman's offices and request in writing, their assistance in obtaining military transportation assistance. Then contact the nearest military base with an airfield, Public Affairs Office (PAO) and also a written letter to the Base Commander also requesting assistance. The military and in particular the USAF has many cargo aircraft (C-130 Hercules, KC-10, C-141, C-17 and C-5). The State Air National Guard's own C-130's and the US Marines owns a number of C-130 aircraft. Flying Aircrews require a number of training flight hours per quarter to maintain their Flight Proficiency. There is always some aircraft heading in the correct direction. The aircraft cannot deliver to the door but can deliver to within a few hundred miles at the most. Please consider that some of these aircraft weigh 140 Tons or more and will "sink" into concrete less than 18+ inches deep. Therefore they cannot land at just any airfield runway. The shipped materials must be shipped securely fastened on pallets (no loose material, everything sealed in boxes, some restrictions on flammables and no propellents (explosives)). The PAO will provide the necessary guidance. The local Flight Engineers, Loadmasters and even Boy Scouts will help with the inspection, boxing and palletizing. The USAF is always hauling materials (on a non-interference basis naturally) for charitable purposes. No one likes an empty cargo aircraft. --------------------------------------------- From: The Stones Another organization you might consider adding to your list is: Lakota Link http://rtt.colorado.edu/~cameron/LakxotaKxoyag.html Ellen Stone The following snailmail addresses are included for help to communities on the Cheyenne River Rez: Craig and Ruth Cameron LakxotaKxoyag P O Box 176 Jamestown, CO 80455-0176 Lakxota Kxoyag c/o Marvin and Veronica Holy Town of Bridger Representatives P.O. Box 172 Howes, SD 57748 Lakxota Kxoyag c/o Violet Catches HC 77 Box 500 Howes, SD 57748 Lakxota Kxoyag c/o Kathleen Eagle Chasing Town of Cherry Creek Representatives P.O. Box 101 Cherry Creek, SD 57622 UPS ADDRESS: Lakxota Kxoyag c/o Kathleen Eagle Chasing Town of Cherry Creek Representatives House #245 Cherry Creek, SD 57622. Lakxota Kxoyag c/o Elvira Chasing Hawk Town of Red Scaffold Representatives Box 481 Red Scaffold RD Red Scaffold, SD 57626 or c/o Candace Hollow Horn Box 522 Red Scaffold RD Red Scaffold, SD 57626 --------------------------------------------- From: JRP The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization 402 West 145th Street * New York, NY 10031 212/926-5757 * 212/926-5842 (fax) * ifco@igc.apc.org (email) * www.ifconews.org (web) (earmark your gift for November caravan to Chiapas) Bucketline to the Elders this group provides food and supplies First Security Bank to the elders of the 205 N Main Big Mountain /Black Mesa area. Layton, UT 84041 Redfeather Development Corp This group repairs and winterizes Box 52652 housing for the Bellevue, WA 98015-2652 elders of the Dakotas area. Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== gars@bellsouth.net Fax: 770-528-9643 gars@juno.com ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Leonard Peltier Needs a Lawyer - Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash - Six Nations Going Ahead - Salmon Recovery with Elections - California Passes Indian - Delaware to Vote Gaming Measure - Cherokees to get Funds Monthly - Nisga Propaganda Tour - Hermosillo Victory - Wilma Mankiller - Controversy over Indian Remains - Jury Refused for in Louisiana Tsuu T'ina Inquiry - Head Start Program - What is an Indian - Winona Laduke in Chattanooga - COINTELPRO Revisited - Bison Banned from Carson - Native Prisoner National Forest - A Hundred Years Ago - COPS4 FCCC Indigenous Declaration - Poem: The Brightest of Gems - National Day of Mourning - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days Orientation - Conferences and Powwows --------- "RE: Leonard Peltier Needs a Lawyer" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 11:17:05 -0600 From: LPDC Subj: LEONARD PELTIER NEEDS LAWYER TO TAKE CASE! UUCP email Dear Leonard Peltier supporters, Please pass this message to any progressive law firms/lawyers who may be interested. Thank you! Gina LPDC LEONARD PELTIER NEEDS A LAWYER TO TAKE CASE! Leonard Peltier needs a lawyer to take a medical malpractice law-suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In 1996 he was transferred to Springfield Medical Facility for a maxilla-facial surgery on his jaw. Dr. Collins, a contracted prison doctor had recommended that he be treated at the Mayo Clinic because, according to him, Springfield did not have the facilities to perform the operation. The prison ignored this advice. During the surgery Leonard almost died from blood loss. He went into a coma for fourteen hours. After the surgery, while he was still weak, he was put in the "hole" which was infested with cockroaches and ants. He was forced to stay in the 5x7 cell for 23 hours a day and was not given adequate writing materials or use of a telephone. During this time doctors convinced him that he needed radiation treatment on his jaw or he would die. He was not diagnosed with cancer. He was given radiation treatment for five days straight, making his condition even weaker. The operation was largely unsuccessful as his jaw is now in worse condition than it ever was before. For obvious reasons Leonard refuses any further "treatment" from Springfield. Leonard cannot completely open or close his mouth. He cannot bite or chew his food and the prison will not blend it for him. He must mash his food with his tongue to eat. The condition of his jaw causes him to be in excruciating pain daily and he suffers from extreme headaches. The prison refuses to send him to the Mayo Clinic and will allow him to receive medical attention from Springfield only. The Mayo Clinic is contracted with the federal prison system and prisoners are routinely sent there for treatment. Dr. Keller from the Mayo Clinic has agreed to perform Leonard's surgery. Leonard had to file a law suit pro-se because the statute of limitations by which to file was nearly up. He sighted cruel and unusual punishment as a means for relief. The prison quickly dismissed it on the grounds that medical neglect or malpractice does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment (October 14th). Obviously the prison was and is deliberately indifferent to Leonard's medical needs and this decision needs to be appealed before the statute of limitations is up. We need help ASAP! Jim Leonard, one of Leonard's part-time lawyers, has a lot of necessary research prepared for the case and is willing to meet with lawyers interested in taking the case. He cannot take it himself because he normally defends doctors against medical malpractice suits. Please contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee for more information. We can email, fax, or mail you copies of the original brief and the dismissal. Leonard's condition could prove to be fatal if an infection in his gums or teeth should occur. --------- "RE: Six Nations Going Ahead with Elections" --------- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 20:22:04 -0500 From: Kahn-Tineta Horn Subj: SIX NATIONS IROQUOIS GOING AHEAD WITH ELECTIONS UNDER ILLEGAL CODE UUCP email MNN. Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. 8 Nov. 98. Are we at the beginning of a new era? We have a chance now that the Iroquois have been waiting over 70 year for. But is the former Indian Act band council going to miss this chance? Six Nations is going ahead with elections on November 14th under the so-called "custom election" code which is illegal. It was challenged by Brian Maracle and his sister Marilyn because they had not been consulted. The band council withdrew the case on the steps of the Federal Court of Canada. After that the band council asked to be put back under the illegal Indian Act election section 74. These moves by the band council do not have community support. Indian Affairs Canada have the issue "under review". Or has Indian Affairs may have made an opening for the Confederacy Council to step back in? Since the Confederacy Council never stopped operating perhaps the federal government is ready to recognize that this is the legal government of Six Nations. Firstly, what kind of council will the Six Nations have if it is elected under an illegal code? The council would be illegal. Any business they conduct will be questionable. Councilors could be personally liable. Canadian and international law and the Six Nations people cannot recognize such a council. The one thing that Canadian elections have in common with the Iroquois Confederacy is that you need the support of the majority of the people. In the meantime, Indian Affairs has the right to appoint an administrator to run the territory. Wellington Staats as band councilor probably would not want to go down in history as the person who refused to let Indian Affairs allow Six Nations to withdraw from an illegally imposed election system that was put in by police force in 1924. At this time Canada and the former band councilors should recognize the power of the Confederacy to represent the people. Surely Canada does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past by trying to retake governance by asking for another Order in Council and then imposing a foreign code on the people again. Canadian and international law does not allow such an imposition in this day and age. So Indian Affairs is stalling because they're cornered. They can't move unless they get the informed consent of the majority of the electors, not only of those who show up to vote. Therefore, the time has come for the Confederacy to step back in. Why should Brian and Marilyn Maracle be taking out an injunction to stop the election on November 14th alone? The more support they get the easier it will be for Indian Affairs to do the right thing. The Six Nations people need to get their voice back. Instead of whispering behind the band council's back, the people can do what's right to defend the Iroquois' rightful place in history, The Iroquois taught Europeans about confederations and about people exercising their power. The Confederacy has been patient, which is the way it was done in the old days. They talked a lot, reached a consensus and came to sensible decisions. Wellington Staats and the others on the former band council had the right idea to go back to custom. It backfired because they forgot what the real custom was. But they should not try to go backwards by bringing back the Indian Act council. They should have the courage to move forward. Maybe they just did not know enough history. Now is the time for them to be the heroes who bring the Iroquois Nation back to their rightful place. They should speak to the Confederacy Council to see how they can step aside and hand over the reigns of power to them. If the band council knew their history, they would be proud of the Iroquois form of government and democratic governance by the people. This is not a question of band council versus Confederacy Council. The Confederacy involves everybody to form consensus. All have a duty to support and take part in deciding what is best for the people. Everyone must discuss intelligently how they can reconfirm the strength of the Six Nations traditions. The Confederacy kept its council fire going all these years to see the people safely through many transitions. Many of these ways were copied by the settlers although they did not understand it completely. Remember, a copy is never as good as the original. An honourable way would be for the band council and Confederacy Council to have a public ceremony where the colonial government would resign and the true traditional government would be reaffirmed. The Queen should be invited because she represents the other party to the ancient agreements and because they are allies of the Six Nations; and the Prime Minister because he represents the people of Canada who have developed a relationship with the Six Nations. Indian Affairs could come as ambassadors from Canada rather than as superintendents or agents. Comments would be appreciated. mohawkns@cyberglobe.com MNN Mohawk Nation News Box 991, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (Quebec, Canada) J0L 1B0 Books and items http://www.cyberglobe.net/users/otsira --------- "RE: Delaware to Vote" --------- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 09:35:31 -0600 From: "John Berry" Subj: (FWD) Indian News 11/6/98, pt. 1 ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov Delaware members to vote By Natasha Washington Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise 11/5/98 Members of the Delaware Tribe of Indians will have the opportunity to attend, vote and become an active participant of the annual General Council meeting to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Tri-County Technology Center. Tribal members will vote for Chief, three Tribal Council members, two Tribal Judges, the amended constitution and the approval/disapproval of the 1999 annual trust fund budget. Polls are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Chief Curtis Zunigha will present the State of the Tribe address and the State of Trust will be given by Chet Brooks. In an interview with the Examiner-Enterprise Monday, Chief Zunigha emphasizes why the meeting is important to the tribe's vision for the future. "The meeting itself will be like a town meeting where we will call it to order, make reports and answer questions," he said. "The message I want to get out is that I want to encourage all registered Delaware tribal members to attend the general council meeting and to vote for Chief, council and constitution. Just as (Tuesday's) elections are important, so are the tribal elections." At the general meeting there will be some discussion concerning the purchase of the 80-acre tract of land located at the northwest corner of Madison Boulevard and Tuxedo Boulevard and the leasing of 42,087 square feet of the National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (NIPER) facility (Buildings 3 & 5 and the two shops attached to it) to the Delaware Tribe of Indians. Zunigha said the first project the tribe will begin on the 80-acre tract will be the child care center. "We have a federal grant to administer a child care program for people that meet income guidelines, but by law we are allowed to prioritize services," he said. "We obviously are getting the money as a tribal government and we intend to serve our tribal members and other Indian and nonIndian people that meet income guidelines." Zunigha said other federal grants and tribal monies will be used to develop a cultural center and museum which will be Phase Two adjoining the property. Some long range plans include housing on the north end and an assisted living center for the elderly. In matters concerning the NIPER facility, the next step for the Delaware Tribe will be to accept lease a portion of that campus, Zunigha said. "We are seeking to acquire full title of that deed to the property within the period of that lease," he said. "It will be our intention to move our administrative headquarters for all of the functions of the Delaware Tribal government to that building. And most likely make the additional space available for commercial occupancy." Candidates Jerry Douglas, Dee Ketchum and Zunigha will be on the ballot for Chief. Douglas, a Chelsea native, is a retired computer programmer who served four years in the United States Air Force and attended Tulsa Junior college and the Oklahoma School of Accounting. He has served the Delaware Tribe for many years as a tribal councilor, trust board member and has served on many committees. He was a member of the Indian Advisory Board in Claremore and uses the Indian Health service. Ketchum, a Bartlesville native, has worked in the fields of education, insurance, petroleum supply and construction. He is presently serving as Treasurer of the Tribal Council and on committees for cultural preservation, reinvestment, personnel, economic development and child care. He has also served as chairman and co-chairman for six year for Indian Summer and was a member of the Bartlesville Centennial Committee. Ketchum has a bachelor's degree in Education/Language Arts and a master's degree in psychology and counseling from the University of Kansas. Zunigha is the incumbent in the race for Chief. He has served as Chief of the Delaware Tribe since 1994. He also serves as chairman of the Board of the Delaware Tribe, Inc., the nonprofit branch of tribal government. He has previously served as tribal councilman, business manager, cultural educator and ambassador to Sweden. He has also served in additional capacities at the state and national level. He is also a member of the American Legion Post 198. Candidates for the Tribal Council are Chet Brooks, Douglas Buck, Raymond Cline, Russell Ellis, Sally Farley, Jeff Hawkins, Paula Pechonick and John Sumpter. Chief Zunigha said tribal members will also vote on amendments to tribe's constitution. "We have constitutional amendments to reform and improve our tribal constitution," Zunigha said. "This tribal council has unanimously endorsed the changes to the constitution. It is up to the people to ultimately approve that during this election. We did this work as necessary to present a constitution that's really going to meet the needs of the tribal government as we go into the next century." --------- "RE: Cherokees to get Funds Monthly" --------- Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 09:35:31 -0600 From: "John Berry" Subj: (FWD) Indian News 11/6/98, pt. 1 ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov Cherokees to get funds monthly Tulsa World 11/6/98 TAHLEQUAH (AP) -- The U.S. government will dole out funds to the Cherokee Nation month-by- month until the tribe restores its financial credibility, a funding agreement shows. The tribe, which typically receives an annual lump sum, also must provide monthly reports of expenditures, according to the 1999 Self-Governance Agreement. "While it's embarrassing and uncomfortable for us to have lost credibility by having weaknesses pointed out everywhere, we've got a plan in hand," said Charles Head, the tribe's executive director of finance and administration, on Thursday. Tribal officials say they have been working for more than a year to fix a faulty accounting system, which they blame for problems cited in federal audits. In October, auditors for the U.S. Department of Interior reported that the tribe improperly charged the federal agency $88,000 for legal services and submitted an inaccurate financial report. The audit also found that the tribe transferred $16.1 million in federal funds to its own depleted operating fund without proof the transfers were reimbursements. Chief Joe Byrd and Assistant U.S. Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover signed the negotiated agreement last month. "This is tantamount to having to put your teen-ager on a monthly allowance after you have found that they are unable to handle an annual allowance without your supervision and control," Tulsa lawyer Chuck Shipley said. He represents some tribal members in lawsuits against the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority. The restricted payments will continue until the tribe submits audited financial statements for fiscal year 1997 that show the source and use of federal funds, submits unaudited financial statements for 1998 self-governance funds and repays or resolves the questioned $88,000, the agreement states. The Cherokee Nation also must submit a report from an independent accounting firm stating that its accounting system meets federal requirements and produces accurate and timely financial reports. --------- "RE: Hermosillo Victory" --------- Date: Friday, November 06, 1998 2:23 PM From: Susan Smith Subj: Sierra Blanca and CYTRAR UUCP email via Save Ward Valley SIERRA BLANCA TRIUMPH HELPS PROPEL HERMOSILLO VICTORY OVER TOXIC DUMPERS The citizens of Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora are enjoying a hard fought victory over toxic waste dumpers in their community, and they're saying the recent decision to cancel the Sierra Blanca nuclear waste dump in Texas was a big factor in their success. A coalition of Hermosillo organizations had been fighting for over a year to shut down the Spanish owned toxic waste dump (known as CYTRAR) located only 7 kilometers from the city. The dump violated a federal regulation which requires a toxic waste dump to be at least 25 kilometers from an urban area. Last January the coalition physically blockaded the dump for 37 days until they were dislodged by police. They then sent up a permanent presence in front of the state government palace for several months until once again being forcibly removed. Then only a few days after the Sierra Blanca dump was defeated on October 22, the coalition organized a march which turned out to be the largest protest to date drawing over 1000 citizens. Dr. German Rios Barcelo, one of the coalition leaders, said the Sierra Blanca outcome inspired many people to join their movement. Finally on November 2, federal authorities revoked CYTRAR's permit effective Nov. 20 after which no more waste will be allowed into the site. The coalition also plans to push for removal of all the waste that has already been buried. Congratulations to the brave citizens of Hermosillo! Richard Boren PO Box 85878 Tucson, AZ 85754-5878 Tucson phone--(520) 294-0089 El Paso phone--(915) 757-8005 email-rboren@igc.org Save Ward Valley 107 F Street Needles, CA 92363 ph. 760/326-6267 fax 760/326-6268 www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley www.ctaz.com/~swv1 http://banwaste.envirolink.org www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html www.greenaction.org --------- "RE: Controversy over Indian Remains in Louisiana" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 03:00:18 -0000 From: "Keith and Michelle Pounds" Subj: Controversy over Indian Remains in Louisiana UUCP email Bogalusa, Louisiana - A group of Indians in southeast Louisiana has recently decided to join together to discuss, and address Indian issues. Co-organizer, Ricardo Rico says their concerns stem mostly from misinformation that Indian children attending public schools are being taught. "We had no idea we would be stepping into this much controversy within the first two months," Rico said, "it seems like its been one thing after another since we got started, but that's just made us more determined." The group had went to the local museum in Bogalusa to ask the museum curator, Woody Lively, about obtaining a meeting place for members. Once at the museum, they found two different displays labeled 'Indian remains' and immediately decided to take on the issue. Mr. Lively made repeated demands to leave the remains alone, and not address the issue. Matriarch, Michelle Pounds(Cherokee) said, "He told us, at first, that the remains were donated by local residents, then he said they came from Louisiana State University, then he said,he didn't have record of any donations." Becoming frustrated with Lively, MWIS decided to take the issue to the city council. The night before the city council meeting, Lively told members that he had been in contact with officials of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw in Philadelphia, Miss. and they had told him they would take the remains. But according to Keith Pounds, MWIS member, "this is simply not true, I talked with Philadelphia, they advised that we contact Bill Day, of the Tunica-Biloxi. He's been contacted and is aware of the situation. On Oct. 6, 1998, the group addressed the city council, demanded the remains be removed pursuant to NAGPRA, and asked that the members be kept informed of their disposition, due to the controversy sparked by the museum curator. But, the night after the council, meeting two members of MWIS found Mr. Lively, the Mayor-elect, and the Chief of Police at the museum putting the remains in a police car. At the next city council meeting MWIS members addressed the council again to demand information regarding the remains. They complained that the council members had vowed to keep them informed of their disposition, but did not. The Mayor-elect Mack McGehee, replied that the remains were removed to provide for their safe-keeping, and would be held in the evidence room of the Bogalua Police Department. "They are safe in there," he said "and will stay there until the proper authorities are called in." At one point in the meeting, McGehee replied to the Matriarch, "Are you satisfied?" At which point she snapped, "We didn't come here to get satisfied, we came here to get these remains repatriated." Before the meeting adjourned, McGehee directed the City Attorney to meet with MWIS members to straighten out the matter, and allow them to offer their assistance. Members say that was just a show put on for the television cameras form the NBC affiliate, WDSU, in New Orleans, who showed up to cover the issue. The City Attorney left out the back door of the building, without meeting with MWIS. The Matriarch, who is also a paralegal at a local law firm, says there may still be some legal issues regarding the remains, even after they are reburied. Apparently, along with the three conflicting stories given by the curator, the City Attorney sent a letter to the Mayor stating that some of the remains were donated by local citizens and found in "1971...in Woodville, Mississippi," others "several people have suggested... came primarily from South America," the remaining items..."donated by Mr. Williams were displayed as having been discovered in...Angie, Louisiana...(but)he(Mr.Williams) said they were discovered somewhere in Alabama." Mrs. Pounds added that in one statement made in the local newspaper, the curator(Woody Lively) was quoted as saying, "Let it be known that this matter, is now in the hands of the proper authorities... and will be taken before representatives of the 16 tribes known as the Indian Nation later this month." "That," said Mrs. Pounds, "shows that he has no idea what he is talking about. Not just confusion over the facts of where they came from, but it sounds like he's trying to convince the city officials that there's only 16 Indian tribes." A "truth About Thanksgiving" article was printed by two local newspapers that was supplied by MWIS. According to MWIS members there has been an attitude of displeasure toward members because of the remains issue and the Thanksgiving story. Keith Pounds (MWIS member) said that a local Elementary School Principal called him and was sarcastic in her request for documentation regarding the story, adding that she had said, "I want a list of books, not something off the Internet." Pounds obliged by taking her information supplied by the Fourth World Documentation Project, the American Indian Movement, and a list of books authored by Vine Deloria, Jr. Pounds requested that the Principal furnish him with Thanksgiving lessons plans for all grades taught at the school, and documentation to support what they were teaching. "No, I don't think so!" was the Principal's reply. Ricardo Rico says that email from all over the country has come in to MWIS in support. --------- "RE: Head Start Program" --------- Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 00:37:05 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Let the brainwashing begin: "Head Start" comes to Canada :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: HEAD START TO HELP YOUNG ABORIGINALS Victoria Times Colonist, October 19, 1998 Page A5 (CP) [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] Ottawa - a multi-million dollar program to help lift aboriginal children out of poverty on reserves is scheduled to be announced today by the federal government. The program, called Aboriginal Head Start, was promised by Liberals in the 1997 federal recommendation in the massive report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The cost of the initiative, designed to give young children a healthy start in life, was pegged in the Liberal red book of election promises at $25 million a year when fully implemented. The program will expand on an existing program for aboriginal children who live in urban areas that costs about $22.5 million a year. The off-reserve program began in 1994. It was created to fight an aboriginal poverty rate of over 50 per cent. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: SOVEREIGNTY IS THE ANSWER - CANADA IS THE PROBLEM Letters to Times-Colonist - mailto:jknox@victoriatimescolonist.com In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Winona Laduke in Chattanooga" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 09:57:22 -0800 From: Nancy Thomas Subj: Winona Laduke! speaking in Chattanooga! Mailing List: Paths-L -= A N N O U N C E M E N T ! =- pass it on! >From: tom kunesh The Organization of Native Americans at TVA (ONA-TVA) invites the Native American and larger community to ONA's Native American Celebration Tuesday, November 17, 1998, in Chattanooga at the TVA main building, MRBN201, Auditorium at 11:30 EST. We hope to see you ALL there! It will be simulcast in Knoxville TN and Muscle Shoals AL. The featured speaker will be WINONA LADUKE of the White Earth Land Recovery Project and Indigenous Women's Network! Laduke is a long time environmentalist and indigenous rights activist, representative in a number of United Nations, as well as congressional forums, program director of the Seventh Generation Fund's environmental program, native american grant-making and advocacy organization; and was US Vice Presidential candidate with Ralph Nader in 1996. Everyone's invited!! the "Save Little Cedar Mountain" movement couldn't have invited a better speaker ourselves!! [The MoJo Wire / mother_jones] Celebrating Hellraisers: Winona LaDuke by Jay Walljasper In 1982, after graduating from Harvard with a degree in native economic development, Winona LaDuke packed her bags and moved to White Earth, the ancestral lands of the Anishinabeg (Ojibwe) people, located in a poor rural county of northern Minnesota. "The thing about being an Indian person," explains LaDuke, who grew up on the West Coast with her Anishinabekwe father and Jewish mother, "is that you feel most at home with your own people." LaDuke took a job as principal of the local reservation high school, but quickly found herself involved with a lawsuit to recover lands promised to the Anishinabeg people by an 1867 federal treaty. When the case was dismissed four years later, she founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project to continue efforts to regain lost lands. Over 90 percent of the original 837,000 acres are in the hands of non-Indians. Using grants and a $20,000 human rights prize from Reebok, the group so far has bought back 1,000 acres and hopes to acquire 30,000 more in the next 15 years. Still, LaDuke, 36, has encountered local resistance. When people from the Land Recovery Project recently blockaded a lumber truck used in clear-cutting, the tribal council let the driver use reservation roads to get out. Although the tribal chairman and two other tribal officials are now facing 44 separate federal indictments for election fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement, and bribery, LaDuke doesn't ignore them. "I need to deal with them because it affects other people where I live." It's the same with the power structure in any community, she says. "You've got to take them on and change them. You've also got to build an alternative to show people." What keeps her going, in part, is the intergenerational nature of Native American organizing. "We tell our stories to the children. It's incumbent on us to offer oral history because no one else will," says LaDuke, the mother of two. "We make sure the kids are part of everything. In most of America, it seems you don't matter if you're not between 25 and 50." Traditional Anishinabekwe religion is LaDuke's other source of power and sustenance. "Spirituality is the foundation of all my political work. In many of the progressive movements in this country, religion carries a lot of baggage. But I think that's changing. You can't dismiss the significance of Eastern religions, earth-based religions, and Western religions on political work today. What we all need to do is find the wellspring that keeps us going, that gives us the strength and patience to keep up this struggle for a long time." Winona Laduke is of the Ahnishinabe tribe of Native American Indians. She shared in a Seeds of Change interview: "I live on the White Earth reservation. I work mostly on the land. In our language, most nouns are animate, whether it is the word for corn, for wild rice, min-o-min, or stone. Having spirit and standing on its own, I'm very careful when I harvest it because I must reckon with that spirit. In our culture, it is because you are respectful when you harvest is how you ensure that you are able to continue harvesting. It is not because you're smart or clever, it's because you're respectful and you are worthy of receiving. In our culture, before rice, I offer ah-say-mah, tobacco, to that plant or that rice. Min-o-min was given to us by our Creator." Winona Laduke of the Indigenous Women's Network in the United States made a passionate plea for us all to honour Natural Laws, which exist beyond man-made laws. She added that women are the manifestations of the Mother Earth in Human form and that Mother Earth produces all that sustain life. Let us remember as we abuse the Earth, are abusing all its peoples. --------- "RE: Bison Banned from Carson National Forest" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 15:12:25 -0800 (PST) From: Susanna Shreeve Subj: FRONTLINE ONLINE 37 (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 11:31:38 -0700 (MST) From: john horning Subject: FRONTLINE ONLINE 37 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> F O R E S T G U A R D I A N S <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> FRONTLINE NEWS Friday, November 6 http://www.fguardians.org <<<<____NO. 37____>>>> ====> FOREST SERVICE TO BAN BISON HERD FROM CARSON NATIONAL FOREST Ranchers pressure agency into removing Turner Bison herd from Valle Vidal ====>PROPOSAL TO LEGISLATE EXTINCTION WITHDRAWN BY GAME AND FISH Director Maracchini will not ask the legislature to axe the Conservation Services Division ====> CONGRESS EXEMPTS GRAZING PERMITS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Congress Gives Bureau of Land Management Permittees Free Ride on Permit Renewals <><><><><><>MORE BELOW<><><><><><> FOREST SERVICE TO REMOVE BISON HERD FROM CARSON NATIONAL FOREST Ranchers pressure agency into removing herd from Valle Vidal Unit A small herd of bison will be permanently removed from the Carson National Forest and forced to be kept on private lands. The decision comes as a result of a Forest Service investigation into the ownership of the bison, initiated this Spring at the request of local ranchers. The herd, which has migrated between the privately owned Vermejo Park Ranch and national forest for at least the last two decades is one of only a handful of herds in the Southwest allowed to roam relatively freely on public lands. Until this September the Forest Service allowed the approximately 40 bison to graze seasonally on national forest land believing that the public owned half of the bison as a result of a 1982 donation from the Pennzoil Corporation, which had also donated the 200,000 acre ranch at the time. Although a February 23, 1982 memo clearly indicates that the Forest Service agreed to accept a donation of 20 bison, apparently the transfer was never formally completed. Forest Guardians is investigating the matter to ensure that one of the last free roaming bison herds in the Southwest is protected. In the meantime, the Forest service has told the Vermejo Ranch to build the fence necessary to contain the bison by the summer of 1999. Vermejo Park Ranch, which was also once owned by Pennzoil, was recently acquired by Ted Turner. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> PROPOSAL TO LEGISLATE EXTINCTION WITHDRAWN BY GAME AND FISH Director Maracchini will not ask the legislature to axe the Conservation Services Division A proposal by NM Department of Game and Fish Director Jerry Maracchini to eliminate funding for the Conservation Services Division was killed by the Game Commission itself. Maracchini had submitted his proposal to the Governor without the Game Commission's approval, prior to the most recent meeting. The commissioners then voted unanimously to rescind the Director's action and withdraw the proposal. There had been very little support for and vocal citizen opposition to the proposal that would have eliminated critical funding for the conservation activities of the Department of Game and Fish. In further news from the Game Commission meeting, an amendment to the NM Wildlife Conservation Act was also approved extending protection to threatened species under state law. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> CONGRESS EXEMPTS GRAZING PERMITS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Congress Gives Bureau of Land Management Permittees Free Ride on Permit Renewals The BLM must reissue approximately 4,500 expiring grazing permits in 1999 without conducting baseline environmental reviews to gage the effect of livestock grazing on water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. The exemption under the National Environmental Policy Act means the public will not have the opportunity to participate in decision making on these public lands until at least 2009 when the 10 year grazing permits expire again. Instead the only recourse for interested citizens will be to file suit in federal court under federal environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act. In New Mexico and Arizona almost 800 permits covering more than 3 million acres will be reissued under the congressional exemption. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> John Horning Watershed Protection Program Forest Guardians 1413 Second Street Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 988-9126 505 989-8623 fax www.fguardians.org --------- "RE: COPS4 FCCC Indigenous Declaration" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 11:43:32 -0800 (PST) From: Tom Goldtooth Subj: COPS4 FCCC INDIGENOUS DECLARATION UUCP email Global climate change and warming issue. Indigenous voice. CALL FOR ACTION * CALL FOR ACTION * CALL FOR ACTION Please post and disseminate. The Indigenous Peoples of the Turtle Island of North America recently completed a four day gathering, "Circles of Wisdom," Native Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop held in Albuquerque, New Mexico within what is known as the United States. The Indigenous Peoples of North America sent over 180 delegates to share ideas on the impact of climate change and climate variability on Indigenous Peoples and all life on Mother Earth. The Indigenous Peoples worked together to offer solutions to reduce global warming and contribute to the restoration of sustainable economies on Native homelands for our future generations. This gathering was a historic gathering that enabled a meeting between the Indigenous elders, governmental, environmental, educators and many other community leaders and United States scientists involved in identifying the impacts of climate change. Both advice and action were offered from spiritual and scientific perspectives to restore balance to Mother Earth. The gathering provided a teaching and reminder to the scientists working on climate change issues that these things were foreseen and global warming is being caused by unsustainable technologies and developments throughout the world. We have been delegated as an ad hoc group of the Indigenous Peoples in attendance at this gathering to prepare and send the following ALBUQUERQUE DECLARATION to appropriate contacts in attendance at the Conference of the Parties Four (COPs-4) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) being held in Buenos Aries, Argentina, November 2-13, 1998. We are requesting the FCCC allow a voice for Indigenous Peoples be added to the global discussions on the impacts of climate imbalance to all life on the sacred Mother Earth. On behalf of the delegates at this Albuquerque gathering (partial list of delegates attached), we are sending this ALBUQUERQUE DECLARATION throughout the world for global dissemination. The words within the PREAMBLE and other parts of this declaration is a CALL FOR ACTION that the people of the world must open their eyes to the dangerous situation ALL humans are in - if we continue this path of unsustainable developments - we may not have a future for our children. Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Chief, Onondaga Nation Tom "Mato Awanyankapi" Goldtooth, National Spokesperson, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) Patrick Spears, President, and Bob Gough, Secretary, Intertribal Council on Utility Policy (ICOUP) Jackie Warledo, Field Representative, International Indian Treaty Council THE ALBUQUERQUE DECLARATION FROM THE "CIRCLES OF WISDOM" NATIVE PEOPLES / NATIVE HOMELANDS CLIMATE CHANGE WORKSHOP-SUMMIT, NOVEMBER 1, 1998, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO TO BE PRESENTED TO THE CONFERENCES OF THE PARTIES FOUR (COP-4) OF THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (FCCC), BUENOS, AIRES, ARGENTINA, NOVEMBER 2-13, 1998 PREAMBLE As Indigenous Peoples, we begin each day with a prayer, bringing our minds together in thanks for every part of the natural world. We are grateful that each part of our natural world continues to fulfill the responsibilities that have been set for it by our Creator, in an unbreakable relationship to each other. As the roles and responsibilities are fulfilled, we are allowed to live our lives in peace. We are grateful for the natural order put in place and regulated by natural laws. Most of our ceremonies are about giving thanks, at the right time and in the right way. They are what was given to us, what makes us who we are. They enable us to speak about life itself. Maintaining our ceremonies is an important part of our life. There is nothing more important than preserving life, celebrating life, and that is what the ceremonies do. Our instruction tells us that we are to maintain our ceremonies, however few of us there are, so that we can fulfil the spiritual responsibilities given to us by the Creator. The balance of men and women is the leading principle of our wisdom. This balance is the creative principle of Father Sky and Mother Earth that fosters life. In our traditions, it is women who carry the seeds, both of our own future generations and of the plant life. It is women who plant and tend the gardens, and women who bear and raise the children. The women remind us of our connection to the earth, for it is from the earth that life comes. We draw no line between what is political and what is spiritual. Our leaders are also our spiritual leaders. In making any law, our leaders must consider three things: the effect of their decisions on peace; the effect on the natural order and law; and the effect on future generations. The natural order and laws are self-evident and do not need scientific proof. We believe that all lawmakers should be required to think this way, that all constitutions should contain these principles. Our prophecies and teachings tell us that life on earth is in danger of coming to an end. We have accepted the responsibility designated by our prophecies to tell the world that we must live in peace and harmony and ensure balance with the rest of Creation. The destruction of the rest of Creation must not be allowed to continue, for if it does, Mother Earth will react in such a way that almost all people will suffer the end of life as we know it. A growing body of western scientific evidence now suggests what Indigenous Peoples have expressed for a long time: life as we know it is in danger. We can no longer afford to ignore the consequences of this evidence. We must learn to live with this shadow, and always strive towards the light that will restore the natural order. How western science and technology is being used needs to be examined in order for Mother Earth to sustain life. Our Peoples and lands are a scattering of islands within a sea of our neighbors, the richest material nations in the world. The world is beginning to recognize that today's market driven economies are not sustainable and place in jeopardy the existence of future generations. It is upsetting the natural order and laws created for all our benefit. The continued extraction and destruction of natural resources is unsustainable. There is a direct relationship between the denial of Indigenous Peoples land and water rights, along with the appropriation without consent of Indigenous Peoples' natural resources, and the causes of global climate change today. Examples include deforestation, contamination of land and water by pesticides and industrial waste, toxic and radioactive poisoning, military and mining impacts. The four elements of fire, water, earth and air sustain all life. These elements of life are being destroyed and misused by the modern world. Fire gives life and understanding, but is being disrespected by technology of the industrialized world that allows it to take life such as the fire in the coal-fired powered plants, the toxic waste incinerators, the fossil-fuel combustion engine and other polluting technologies that add to greenhouse gases. Coal extraction from sacred earth is being used to fuel the greenhouse gases that are causing global climate warming. Because of our relationship with our lands, waters and natural surroundings which has sustained us since time immemorial, we carry the knowledge and ideas that the world needs today. We know how to live with this land: we have done so for thousands of years. We are a powerful spiritual people. It is this spiritual connection to Mother Earth, Father Sky, and all Creation that is lacking in the rest of the world. Our extended family includes our Mother Earth, Father Sky, and our brothers and sisters, the animal and plant life. We must speak for the plants, for the animals, for the rest of Creation. It is our responsibility, given to us by our Creator, to speak on their behalf to the rest of the world. For the future of all the children, for the future of Mother Earth and Father Sky, we call upon the leaders of the world, at all levels of governments, to accept responsibility for the welfare of future generations. Their decisions must reflect their consciousness of this responsibility and they must act on it. We demand a place at the table in discussions that involve and effect our future and the natural order and natural laws that govern us. THEREFORE We, the participants in the "Circles of Wisdom" Native Peoples / Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico of the United States, in the traditional territory of the Pueblo Peoples, express profound concern for the well being of our sacred Mother Earth and Father Sky and the potential consequences of climate imbalance for our Indigenous Peoples and the significance of these consequences for our communities, our environment, our economies, our culture and our relationships to the natural order and laws. Indigenous prophecy now meets scientific prediction. What we have known and believed, you also now know: The Earth is out of balance. The plants are disappearing, the animals are dying, and the very weather --rain, wind, fire itself -- reacts against the actions of the human being. For the future of the children, for the health of our Mother Earth, Father Sky, and rest of Creation, we call upon the people of the world to hold your leaders accountable. We submit this declaration to the Fourth Conference of the Parties (COP-4) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 2-13, 1998. We wish to add our voices to ongoing global discussions regarding the impact of climate imbalance on forests, oceans, plants, animals, fish, humans and biodiversity. PRINCIPLES The following principles are self-evident and guide our beliefs and actions. Mother Earth, Father Sky, and all of Creation, from microorganisms to human, plant, trees, fish, bird, and animal relatives are part of the natural order and regulated by natural laws. Each has a unique role and is a critical part of the whole that is Creation. Each is sacred, respected, and a unique living being with its own right to survive, and each plays an essential role in the survival and health of the natural world. As sovereign Peoples and Nations, we have an inherent right to self-determination, protected through inherent rights and upheld through treaties and other binding agreements. As Indigenous Peoples, our consent and approval are necessary in all negotiations and activities that have direct and indirect impact on our lands, ecosystems, waters, other natural resources and our human bodies. Human beings are part of the natural order. Our role and responsibility, as human beings, is to live peacefully and in a harmonious balance with all life. Our cultures are based on this harmony, peace and ecological balance which ensures long term sustainability for future generations. This concept of sustainability must be the basis of the decisions and negotiations underway on national and international levels. The Creator has entrusted us a sacred responsibility to protect and care for the land and all of life, as well as to safeguard its well being for future generations to come. Indigenous Peoples have the right and responsibility to control access to our traditional knowledge, innovations and practices, which constitute the basis for the maintenance of our lifestyles and future [The Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]; CONCLUSIONS Indigenous Peoples of North America were invited by neither the United States nor Canada to participate in the negotiations of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. In June 1997, more than 2,000 U.S. scientists, from over 150 countries, including Nobel Laureates, signed the Scientists Statement on Global Climate Disruption which reads, in part, the "accumulation of greenhouses gases commits the sacred earth irreversibly to further global climate change and consequent ecological, economic, social and spiritual disruption" (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, December 1995). Climate imbalance will cause the greatest suffering to the Indigenous peoples and most pristine ecosystems globally. The migration of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) through the air and water pathways continues from warmer southern climates to the colder climates of the Great Lakes and Arctic climates of North America and the Arctic Circle. Increased temperatures and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) disproportionately impact indigenous Peoples, through their food web systems, causing health and ecosystem impacts. Within the next 20 years, temperatures over land areas of North America, Europe and Northern Asia will increase as much as 5 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit over today's normal temperatures, well in excess of the global average (IPCC Report 1998). This increase in temperature will cause the sea level to rise (5-25 feet over the next 500 years), drying out North America's soil moisture (20 - 50%), and result in major increases in the summer heat index (10 - 25 degrees F). The burning of oil, gas, and coal ("fossil fuels") is the primary source of human-induced climate change. The increasing demand and use of fossil fuels continues to have adverse impacts on natural forests. Natural forests are critical parts of the ecosystems that maintain global climate stability. The continued large-scale taking of fossil fuels results in numerous impacts on these vital areas through deforestation and pollution from drilling operations and ultimately forest degradation from the global climate imbalance. The mining and drilling for coal, oil, and gas, as well as other mineral extractions, results in substantial local environmental consequences, including severe degradation of air, forests, rivers, oceans and farmlands. Cultural impacts, forced removal, land appropriation, destruction of sacred and historical significant areas, breakdown of Indigenous social systems, and violence against women and children are too often the outcomes of fossil fuel development on Indigenous Peoples. Fossil fuel extraction areas are home to some of Mother Earth's last and most vulnerable Indigenous populations, resulting in accelerated losses of biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and ultimately in ethnocide and genocide. ACTIONS We request that the potential consequences of climate imbalance for Indigenous Peoples and our environments, economies, culture, place and role in the natural order be addressed by: 1. Establishing and funding an Inter-sessional Open-ended Working Group for Indigenous Peoples within the Conference of the Parties (COPs) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC); 2. Provisions for case studies be established within the framework of FCCC that would allow for assessing how climate changes effect different regions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities; assessing climate changes on flora and fauna, freshwater and oceans, forestry, traditional agricultural practices, medicinal plants and other biodiversity that impact subsistence and land-based cultures of Indigenous Peoples; and other case studies that would provide a clearer understanding of all effects and impacts of climate change and warming upon Indigenous Peoples and local communities; 3. Indigenous Peoples have the right, responsibility and expertise to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making including needs assessments, case studies, within national and international policy-making activities concerning climate change impacts, causes and solutions; 4. Within the FCCC, establish protocols that would actively promote international energy efficient and sustainable forms of development, including the widespread use of appropriately scaled solar energy and renewable energy technologies as well as sustainable agricultural and forestry practice models; 5. Mandating a moratorium on new exploration and projects for extraction for fossil fuel reserves in pristine areas. Exploration and development in the traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples of the world must be done with the full consent of Indigenous Peoples, respecting their right to decline a project that may adversely impact them; 6. Imposing a legally binding obligation to restore all areas already affected by oil, gas, and coal exploration and exploitation by the corporations or public entities that are responsible. This restoration must be done such that Indigenous Peoples can continue traditional uses of their lands. This is a partial list of additional Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups signing in support of the Declaration. The following Indigenous Peoples and Nations attended this Albuquerque Workshop-Summit and fully endorse this declaration: Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force - Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Native Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta and Medicine Lake Highlands Defense Columbia River Alliance for Economic and Environmental Education International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism International Indian Treaty Council Intertribal Council on Utility Policy Native American Council of New York City Seventh Generation Fund Roundtable of Institutions of People of Color Sapa Dawn Center Dine' Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE) Anishinabe Niijii North American Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Project Gwiichin Steering Committee Alaska Council of Indigenous Environmental Network Eastern Cherokee Defense League Great Lakes Regional Indigenous Environmental Network White Clay Society of Gros Ventre Oklahoma Regional Indigenous Environmental Network Shundahai Network American Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Mexico American Indian Law Alliance Traditional and Spiritual Leaders: Oren Lyons, Onondaga Kendall Rice, Potawatomi Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota Marvin Stevens, Kickapoo Tom Stillday Jr., Red Lake Ojibway Johnny Jackson, Yakama Cascade Band Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone Jake Swamp, Mohawk Albert Yazzie, Navajo Richard Dalton Sr, Tlingit Individuals: Tonya Goubella Frichuer, Onondaga Chuck Crowe, Eastern Band of Cherokee Kent Lebsock, Lakota Fidel Moreno, Yaqui/Huichol Carlon Ami, Hopi/Tewa Mary Defender-Wilson, Dakota/Hidatsa Jan Stevens, Sac & Fox Walt Bresette, Red Cliff Ojibwe Earl Tulley, Dine' Floyd Buckskin, Pitt River Andrew Becenti, Dine' Barbara Bernacik, Laguna Pueblo M.C. Balwin, Dine' Joseph Campbell, Dakota Elena Bautista Sparrow, Yujpik Joseph Chasing Horse, Lakota Charlotte Caldwell, Menominee Tami Soreson, Ojibwe Marylou Stillday, Ojibwe Sarah James, Neestaii Gwichin Athapascan Tom Goldtooth, Dine'/Dakota Michael Sturdevant, Menominee Jose Barrero, Taino James Main, Sr, Gros Ventre Roy Taylor, Pawnee/Choctow Barbara McCloud, Puyallup Valerie Taliman, Dine' Janet McCloud, Tulalip Wilbur Slockish Jr, Yakama Klickitat Band Dana Mitchell, Penobscot James Ransom, Haudenosaunee Robert Shimek, Ojibwe Jimbo Simmons, Choctow Patrick Spears, Lakota Carlos Pelayo, Yoreme Dean Suagee, Oklahoma Band of Cherokee Angel Valencia, Yaqui Mose Walkingstick, Eastern Band of Cherokee Geraldine Warledo, Cheyenne/Arapaho Jackie Warledo, Seminole This is a partial list. For more information contact: Indigenous Environmental Network - National Office P.O. Box 485 Bemidji, Minnesota 56619-0485 USA Phone: (218) 751-4967 Fax: (218) 751-0561 e-mail: ien@igc.apc.org Web Site: http://www.alphacdc.com/ien "An alliance of Indigenous Peoples protecting the sacredness of Mother Earth and building sustainable communities." --------- "RE: National Day of Mourning Orientation" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 17:39:30 -0500 (EST) From: United American Indians of New England Subj: National Day of Mourning Orientation UUCP email This e-mailing contains three documents: an orientation for National Day of Mourning '98, a volunteer sign-up form, and our press release of 10/19 including some highlights of the settlement we reached with Plymouth. [Document 1:] United American Indians of New England P.O. Box 697501 - Quincy, MA 02269 - Telephone 781-331-3690 e-mail: uaine19@idt.net Visit our website at http://idt.net/~uaine19 Dear Sisters and Brothers: November 4, 1998 Here is an orientation for National Day of Mourning '98. We realize this is pretty long, but we are trying to answer at least most of the questions we have been asked about it in recent months. Things are happening very quickly, so please be patient with us if we overlook something or cannot return your call or e-mail right away. We look forward to seeing you in Plymouth on what we believe will be an historic day. WHAT IS NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING? An annual tradition since 1970, Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. Many of us fast from sun-down the day before through the afternoon of that day (and often have a social after Day of Mourning so that participants in NDOM can break their fasts). We are mourning our ancestors and the genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands. NDOM is a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in gathering together and in political action. For example, we have often marched in Plymouth to point out the true history of the European invasion of our lands. Every year since 1976, we have demanded freedom for Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners and called upon participants to take action to make this happen.. WHEN AND WHERE IS DAY OF MOURNING? Thursday, November 26, 1998 (U.S. "thanksgiving" day), Cole's Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 12 noon SHARP. (Cole's Hill is the hill above Plymouth Rock in the Plymouth downtown waterfront area.) WILL THERE BE A MARCH? There will be a march this year through the waterfront district of Plymouth. Plymouth has agreed, as part of the settlement of 10/19/98, that UAINE may march on Day of Mourning without the need for a permit as long as we give the town advance notice. DRUMS: Native drummers and singers are welcomed. PROGRAM: Although we welcome our non-Native supporters to stand with us, it is a day when Native people only speak about our history and what is going on with us now, such as the continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier, the attacks of the Mexican government on the people of Chiapas, and other Indigenous struggles that are taking place throughout the Americas. This year, because of the number of people expected to attend, speakers will be by invitation only. We need to know in advance what Native organizations will be in attendance at NDOM. Because of time constraints, not everyone who wants to do so will be able to speak, but we want to acknowledge and welcome everyone, especially guests from out of town. VENDORS/LITERATURE: NDOM is not a pow-wow nor a day to make money or entertain the tourists. We do not allow anyone to buy or sell merchandise at Cole's Hill under any circumstances. There are 364 other days in the year when people can do so. If you have literature that is free, we will provide a place for you to put it. If you try to sell literature or other merchandise on Cole's Hill, our Peacekeepers will ask you to stop. Native elders involved with UAINE and Day of Mourning since 1970 have been very clear on this point. The only exception is that we usually have a blanket dance to raise funds for the Peltier Defense Committee and UAINE. POT-LUCK SOCIAL: We hope to have a pot-luck social following NDOM. Because seating may be limited, it is possible that people may need to eat in shifts. We ask that you respect our custom that elders, women and young children eat first. People who do not respect our customs will be asked to leave. Please bring something with you to eat or drink (no alcohol), but please do NOT bring anything that needs to be cooked. We do not know yet whether we will have a hall with kitchen facilities, so we may only be able to reheat cooked items. WEATHER: It is often cold and very windy. We cannot predict whether there will be rain or snow. Please dress for the weather. Dress in layers, and remember that you will be standing outside on cold ground for at least a couple of hours. This year, the First Parish Church has kindly offered to open its social hall so that there is a place nearby where elders, children and others who need to do so can get in out of the cold and have some hot chocolate or coffee. The organization Food Not Bombs has offered to assist us with this. VOLUNTEERS: Volunteers are needed for many tasks. We have asked the Boston chapter of the National Peoples Campaign to coordinate volunteers and housing. Please contact them at (617) 522-6626 or npcboston@yahoo.com. HOUSING AND CAMPING: Volunteers are currently working up a list of available motels and camping sites as well as housing in supporters' homes and floor space at area churches. We have asked the Boston chapter of the National Peoples Campaign to coordinate housing. Please contact them at (617) 522-6626 or npcboston@yahoo.com. Although they will do their best to try and match folks up with housing, they cannot guarantee housing. TRANSPORTATION: Limited bus seats will be available from the following cities. Please let us know if you know of other buses or car caravans. Boston: Buses. Contact the NPC at (617) 522-6626. New York: Buses. Contact the NPC at (212) 633-6646. Philadelphia: Contact the NPC at (215) 724-1618. Baltimore: Contact the NPC at (410) 235-7040. FUNDING: UAINE is in serious need of monetary donations for Day of Mourning this year, so that we may purchase paper products and other items for the social, for subsidized seats on buses, for printing and mailing, tables and chairs, sound and stage, you name it! Please give whatever you can afford to help with this historic event. We are pleased to announce that a grant from the Haymarket People's Fund will help us to defray some of these costs. CAN'T GET TO DAY OF MOURNING? Some people who live too far away to travel are having a Day of Mourning right where they live. For example, we just heard from the AIM Central Indiana Support Group, who wrote, "I am writing to find out what can we do to help. We will not be able to join you at the rally, but we are going to try to hold a small rally in our hometown. I was just wondering what else can we do to help bring this issue to light in Indiana. Also on this day we will be praying that all goes well there and we will be there in spirit." This is great, and we encourage more people to take steps locally to increase awareness about the past and continuing mistreatment of Native peoples. To get more information, to find out how you can help, and to find out about other events being organized by United American Indians of New England, please contact us! Name________________________________________________________________ Address:____________________________________________________________________ _______ Phone:_________________________________ E-mail:________________________ Organization:_______________________________________________________ ____Members/representatives from my organization will attend Day of Mourning this year. ____I'm enclosing a donation of $_______ to help UAINE with National Day of Mourning. [Document 2:] United American Indians of New England National Day of Mourning '98 Volunteer Sign Up Sheet Please note: Due to the expected large turn-out for the 29th National Day of Mourning, United American Indians of New England has asked the National Peoples Campaign to coordinate volunteers in order to ensure that NDOM '98 goes smoothly. Name________________________________________________________ Address______________________________________________________ Phone_______________________________E-mail___________________ Organization____________________________________________ I am interested in working on the following: POT LUCK SOCIAL: 1. Kitchen (set-up and operation) 2. Food 3. Clean-up HOUSING: Note: All housing should be located within an hour's drive or so from Plymouth. _______I have space in my home for_______persons. ____ sleeping bag spaces ____ beds Please indicate what nights you could make the space available: ___Wednesday, November 26th ___Thursday, November 27th _______I am unable to provide housing but would be willing to make calls to: 1. Local hotels and motels 2. Churches about making available halls for sleeping, etc. 3. Friends, neighbors, groups, etc. about the availability of space in private homes. _______I need housing for ________ persons. (Please indicate which nights) ___Wednesday, November 26th ___Thursday, November 27th OUTREACH: 1. Leafletting (campuses, pow-wows, etc.) 2. Internet 3. Calling or faxing organizations with information regarding Day of Mourning. TRANSPORTATION 1. I can provide transportation for _____ people from_____________ 2. I need transportation for _________ people from_________________ Please return this form to: NPC, 31 Germania Street, Boston, MA 02130 or call (617) 522-6626. or e-mail to npcboston @yahoo.com [Document 3:] ALL CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST PLYMOUTH 25! HISTORIC SETTLEMENT REACHED WITH PLYMOUTH! October 19, 1998 Statement of United American Indians of New England We need not recount what happened on November 27, 1997, when 25 peaceful protesters were arrested in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The events are well-documented, not only in pictures and words, but in the memories of those who experienced what took place on the streets of Plymouth. Since then, UAINE has received thousands of letters of support and petitions. People and organizations from across the country and from throughout the world sent letters, e-mails, and faxes to federal, state, and local officials demanding that the charges against the Plymouth 25 be dropped. Many of these people honored our call for an economic boycott of Plymouth. Supporters stood with us in court every time we were required to make an appearance and made sure that information about our case was distributed internationally. To each and every one of you who refused to look the other way when confronted by injustice, we say "thank you," and we honor you. We are pleased to announce that the frame-up criminal charges against those arrested on November 27, 1997 have been dropped as of today, October 19, 1998. Further, United American Indians of New England has reached a settlement with the Town of Plymouth. Plymouth has acknowledged our right to walk on our own land without a permit on National Day of Mourning. Plymouth has agreed to make the truth part of its celebration of the pilgrim myth of thanksgiving. Under the terms of this agreement, we will have a number of important opportunities to address the lies and inaccuracies about "thanksgiving" and the history of Indigenous peoples that have been disseminated not only in Plymouth but throughout the country. We are confident that this agreement represents a tremendous victory for the struggle of Native people to have our voices heard and respected. This victory did not happen because of the courts or the politicians or any individuals. This agreement and the dropping of the charges have come about as a result of the peoples' struggle, as a result of the work of hundreds of our supporters from around the world. It comes as a result of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made by many, and in particular the Plymouth 25 defendants themselves. We want to thank all of our sisters and brothers from the Four Directions who were arrested with us last year, and who have stayed strong despite a lot of pressures. We want to thank our elders for their wisdom and encouragement. We also want to thank our lawyers, who have done a great and often thankless job. They are: Michael Altman, Danny Beck, Dave Nathanson, John Reinstein, and Barry Wilson. All who took part have written a new chapter in the struggle. We note that the United States government made -- and then broke -- more than 350 treaties with Native nations. We sincerely hope that Plymouth will not follow that example, and that it will honor its commitments in this agreement. For our part, United American Indians of New England will follow the example of our ancestors. We will honor our commitments. Our organization was born out of struggle, and we will continue to demand justice for all Native people and freedom for our brother, political prisoner Leonard Peltier. We very much look forward to the 29th National Day of Mourning this year, which will be held in Plymouth at 12 noon on "thanksgiving" day, November 26, 1998. We expect that many hundreds of people will be coming to National Day of Mourning from all over the country. As has been the case every year since 1970, Indigenous peoples from throughout the Americas and our supporters will gather to show our strength and unity, to speak the truth about our history as well as what is going on in many parts of Indian Country today. We are not vanishing. We are not conquered. We are STRONGER than ever. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SETTLEMENT WITH PLYMOUTH All charges against the Plymouth 25 defendants are dropped. The right of the United American Indians of New England to demonstrate on Cole's Hill and to march in Plymouth on National Day of Mourning is recognized in perpetuity without the requirement of a permit. Plymouth pays $100,000 to the Metacom Education Fund for education on the true history of Native people, pays $20,000 to the ACLU for legal fees, and sets aside $15,000 for two plaques. One plaque will be on Cole's Hill commemorating the National Day of Mourning, and one will be at the Plymouth Post Office Square telling the history of Metacom, also known as King Philip, whose head was posted on a pike in that square for 25 years after he was killed by the English. No payments will be made to UAINE or to any individuals as part of the settlement. Proposed Text of Plaque to be placed on Cole's Hill "Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience." --------- "RE: Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 00:39:19 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Democracy Street: Apec Protestors call for Public Inquiries DEMOCRACY STREET DEMANDS PUBLIC INQUIRIES NOW :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:Forwarded message:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 23:53:34 -0800 From: Garth Mullins Subject: Re: letter of support To: Prime Minister Jean Chretien ("Canada"), Premier Glen Clark ("British Columbia"), & Premier Mike Harris ("Ontario") Re: Demand for a Public Inquiry into events at Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash. Democracy Street represents many protesters who were subjected to police violence and political interference from the Prime Minister's Office while voicing opposition to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in November, 1997. While the state's actions during APEC (and later attempts to obstruct a fair hearing) represent a serious breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a denial of basic democratic principles; we recognise that the events at Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash were far more severe and aggressive assaults that, like the APEC demonstration, demand a full and public inquiry. Pepperspray, strip-searches, police dogs, brief detentions, and simple assaults are nothing compared to the intense violence used by the police in those cases and the ongoing violation of basic civil and political rights of Indigenous peoples. Gustafsen Lake was the largest para-military action in Canadian history and a heinous abuse of force as 77,000 rounds, including hollow point bullets, were fired into a small group of traditional Sundancers occupying unceded Shuswap territory. Armored personnel carriers and land mines were deployed. This police action also violated several international conventions on the use of force, including the Geneva Convention of 1951, of which the Canadian government is a signatory. The unanswered police murder of peaceful native protester, Dudley George at Ipperwash is a crime which further exposes the uneven application of justice in this country. Additionally, the government's misuse of power has been followed up by an intentional campaign to prevent the public from learning the truth about these incidents and to smear those involved. The PR campaign during the siege of Gustafsen Lake was lead by RCMP Sgt. Montague who was noted at the time to have said "smear campaigns are our specialty." Montague was also the head of security for the Indonesian delegation at APEC. The continual denial of a public inquiry discredits the government and damages the principles of democracy. We believe that Indigenous peoples and the public-at-large deserve a fair inquiry into these events and we demand that the politicians responsible be held to account for bringing violence upon the people at Gustafsen Lake and Ipperwash and denying their basic civil rights. We support Indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination and stand with them in their struggle against police violence and political interference. Finally, we urge the Prime Minister and Premiers Clark and Harris to publicly respond to these issues immediately with independent public inquiries. Democracy Street :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:End forwarded message:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NO TO THE CANADIAN POLICE STATE IN SERVICE OF APEC, COLONIALISM & GENOCIDE Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien mailto:remote-printer.Jean_Chretien@16139416900.iddd.tpc.int mailto:pm@pm.gc.ca BC Premier Glen Clark mailto:premier@gov.bc.ca Ontario Premier Mike Harris mailto:feedback@gov.on.ca e-mail page http://www.gov.on.ca/MBS/english/premier/reply.html To support the calls for inquiries into Gustafsen Lake and into the murder of Dudley George at Stoney Point (aka Ipperwash), please visit: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/GustLake/support.html http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Ipperwash/arch01.html Or write S.I.S.I.S. at mailto:sisis@envirolink.org :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Salmon Recovery" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 06:12:15 -0800 From: John Wm Sloniker Subj: Everyone's a stakeholder Think about it. Is there anyone that doesn't need clean water? -- jws Everyone's a stakeholder in salmon-recovery effort http://www.seattletimes.com/news/editorial/html98/garc_110498.html by Terry D. Garcia Special to The Times Posted at 04:51 a.m. PST; Wednesday, November 4, 1998 SALMON have raised the flag in the Pacific Northwest. There is no doubt about it. The status quo is driving the salmon runs to extinction. This means you have critical choices to make. What you decide will affect your very lives and livelihoods, the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest, and the legacy you leave for your children and grandchildren. Nature has already sounded a warning. From the early 1980s to recent years, commercial chinook landings in Puget Sound dropped about 60 percent. Coho landings experienced even more severe drops. From 1985-1993, the annual chinook sports catch in the Seattle area averaged 13,000 fish. This year it is 2,000 fish - an 85 percent drop. Good science tells us that the salmon problem is a clean-water problem. But the most compelling information comes from the fish themselves. Their message is loud, clear and alarming: Many Washington State rivers and streams are unhealthy, unproductive and increasingly polluted. Without cool, clean water, fish cannot co-exist with urban communities. Scientific data and voter surveys aren't needed to tell us that Washington state's residents don't want polluted water flowing into their steams either. We can trust that the water is clean when the salmon are healthy. Right now, the salmon are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I do not believe that Washington residents want to live in an environment where salmon can't survive - and children can no longer swim. Federal and state figures report that over 650 bodies of water in Washington are polluted. Consider the possible impact on your land values. Think of the long-term harm to this state's overall economic well-being. There is yet another, almost spiritual consideration. Nowhere does salmon touch as many souls, or resonate as passionately in the spirit of the people as here in the Pacific Northwest. Do you wish to be the last generation in Washington state to delight in the wonder of these wild fish? There are excellent reasons to live in Washington. They are the reasons people all across America dream of moving to the Pacific Northwest. Sacrifices sometimes need to be made, but I am sure that sacrificing your wonderful quality of life is not one of them. Yet, each day that passes without taking positive action to save salmon is a step in that direction. If this bleak vision of the future is to be avoided, the salmon must be saved. If extinction is not an option, we must collectively explore strategies and approaches that embrace a more productive vision, one that works for your economy and your environment. Sustainable salmon runs and sustainable economies are one and the same. There is no choosing between them in the struggle to save your streams and salmon. It is heartening to see the considerable commitment already at work in Washington state. Gov. Locke has established a salmon task force to coordinate state and local efforts. Partnerships are being formed among tribes, landowners, environmental groups, the business community and government at all levels. Many local governments around Puget Sound are actively rehabilitating habitats and observing results. The forest industry has recognized that existing rules are not compatible with healthy fish and discussion is under way among stakeholders. The administration is committed to making the needed changes to our harvest-management strategies, to shift away from the large, mixed-stock fisheries of the past and toward a "conservation first" principle built on the need to restore depleted runs. Similar strong resolve is being demonstrated by your tribal and state managers and I am optimistic that the progress we have seen over the past four years will continue. Saving salmon has everything to do with partnerships. Without partnerships, the salmon will be gone. For utilities to focus on overfishing, and fishers to point to dams, and irrigators and timber interests to point to hydropower and fishing - that will only guarantee the loss of salmon. Activities in every sector have caused declines in productivity - and activities in every sector will require adjustments. There is no other road map for recovery. With no less than the quality of life in Washington and the legacy for your children and grandchildren at risk, everyone is a stakeholder. The situation is particularly urgent in Eastern Washington, where steelhead in the Upper Columbia are already listed as endangered. Our goal is to see one of our country's most magnificent sports fish fighting again and to do so while also protecting the long-term integrity of the low-cost energy system. As we approach critical decisions next year, we look ahead to substantial engagement from Washington state at a policy level. A regional solution to the tough Columbia Basin issues as well as those facing Puget Sound must be found. The potential invocation of the Endangered Species Act will further promote long-term sustainability. This Act is both a powerful tool and a flexible tool - and it provides tremendous latitude in fashioning effective recovery strategies. But cooperative state and regional leadership are essential to every state's success. The issue here is not about heading off a federal listing, but about returning salmon to your rivers. I encourage you to draw on the vital leadership and citizenry that make Washington state so special. Produce initiatives that will accomplish as much as the Endangered Species Act, or more. I urge you to create a plan that will sustain the vibrancy of the Pacific Northwest. And I urge you to make that plan yours and soon. We will do everything possible to help. Terry D. Garcia is the U.S. Department of Commerce's assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere and deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These remarks are excerpted from his address at a Seattle Chamber of Commerce-sponsored leadership conference held last month in Vancouver, B.C. E-mail Comments to Editor : Opinion@seatimes.com The Seattle Times home page http://www.seattletimes.com/ Seattle Times: Table of Content http://www.seattletimes.com/news/ The Seattle Times: Search Archive http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/search.html The Seattle Times: Browse by date http://www.seattletimes.com/todaysnews/browse.html Permission requests and information http://www/seatimes.com/general/info.html Copyright (c) 1998 The Seattle Times Company http://www.seattletimes.com/news/general/copyright.html --------- "RE: California Passes Indian Gaming Measure" --------- From: MarthaET@aol.com Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 12:25:24 EST Subj: California Passes Indian Gaming Measure; lawsuit against it to be filed today Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu) Indian Gaming Measure Rolls to Easy Victory Tobacco tax in dead heat in late returns April Lynch, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, November 4, 1998 1998 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/04/MN43165.DTL California's Indian tribes won the right to keep casino gambling on their reservations, with voters backing Proposition 5, the Native American gambling initiative, by a wide margin. Many other measures, however, did not fare as well. Voters were almost evenly split on a new 50-cents-a-pack cigarette tax, and measures that ould make major changes to public schools and the state's electrical industry lost heavily. The big winner of the night was Proposition 5, a measure that broke all spending records as the most costly in state history. Both sides together spent about $100 million in the campaign, most of it on seemingly nonstop television advertising. The measure, backed by more than 80 of the state's 107 Indian tribes, would essentially legitimize gambling operations that 41 tribes already have in place. Most of those tribal casinos run video slot machines, and the fate of those moneymaking devices was at the heart of the measure. Federal law allows tribes to run casinos as long as they only offer types of gambling already legal in their state. If the tribes want to offer other types of gaming, they need the governor's approval. California tribes have been offering video slots for years, with the machines bringing in up to 80 percent of the revenue at many casinos. But state officials, saying the machines violate state law, want them shut off, and federal judges have agreed. Proposition 5's passage means that the slots can stay, and also hands the tribes a major victory in their decade-long battle with the state and Governor Pete Wilson. Even with only a handful of votes counted, the ``Yes on 5'' campaign started its victory parties early in the evening. "I feel like I'm on Cloud Nine," said Priscilla Hunter, tribal chairwoman of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. "We're ready to go forth and do the things we need to do now to make life better for our people." "This is a tremendous vindication for the tribes," said Lanny Davis, a prominent attorney who represents California tribes and has also worked for President Clinton. "This is also a tremendous rejection of the vindictive politics of Governor Pete Wilson." But a broad coalition of opponents, largely financed by Nevada casinos fearful of competition, have vowed to take the measure to court. The "No on 5" forces warned that the measure would lead to an explosion in gambling across the state and leave casino employees and people living nearby without any rights or legal protection. A lawsuit declaring Proposition 5 unconstitutional will be filed in Sacramento today, according to the "No on 5" campaign. "There is a feeling of great sadness that the tribes pumped more than $70 million into something . . . where the real losers will be casino workers and the surrounding communities," said Shum Preston, a campaign spokesman. "Clearly, Prop. 5 is unconstitutional. We're filing (the suit) tomorrow. We expect to win." --------- "RE: Nisga Propaganda Tour" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 00:38:53 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Canada sends Nisga'a propaganda tour to Europe :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NISGA'A NEGOTIATION GETS GLOBAL ATTENTION National Post, Oct. 30, 1998, by Stewart Bell [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] The Nisga'a treaty in northwest British Columbia has become a global curiosity, according to government and tribal officials who say they are being deluged with calls from foreign diplomats, academics, parliamentarians, and journalists. International interest in the treaty - which grants the Nisga'a tribe land and an unprecedented level of autonomy - has been so great that Ottawa is sending the tribal chief who negotiated it on a European speaking tour next month. Joseph Gosnell, leader of the 6,000-member Nisga'a Tribal Council, will speak in London, Cambridge, Frankfurt, Vienna, Bonn, and The Hague during a Nov. 10-22 tour funded by the federal government, as well as the tribe and industry. One federal official said that while the interest is due in part to a "fascination" with the art and culture of native Indians, other countries also want to learn how Canada has managed to resolve the grievances of its aboriginal people peacefully. "I think people are intrigued that we deal with these very important kinds of issues with negotiations," said Peter Baird of the Federal Treaty Negotiation Office in Vancouver. "We negotiate and we resolve these things in a peaceful manner and a civilized manner and I think that's a great positive about Canada's approach." The Nisga'a treaty is BC's first modern day land claim settlement and the first in Canada to include broad self-government powers, such as the right to run tribal courts. The tribe also gets $190-million and 2,000 square kilometres of land in the Nass Valley in northwest BC. The tribe votes on the treaty Nov.6 and 7. If it passes, it will then go to the provincial and federal governments to become law. But it has met opposition in BC. Gordon Campbell, leader of the opposition Liberals, has launched a court action to force a province wide referendum on the deal. The world took notice of the treaty when it was signed in August, generating front-page headlines in The New York Times as well as coverage in the Japanese Asahi Shinbun and the BBC World Service. Editorials were generally favourable. Later Mr. Gosnell spoke to Vancouver's consular corps, and several invited him to visit their countries to explain the treaty. Visiting delegations of senior officials and politicians from countries such as New Zealand, France, and the US have also been to BC in recent months to learn about the treaty. And there have been many speaking invitations. "I think people are interested in human rights," is how Mr. Gosnell explains the global interest in the treaty. He says he plans to tell his overseas audiences that "Canada is addressing the issue with aboriginal groups, albeit very slowly." :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: THE NISGA'A TRICK-OR-TREATY: MOVING TO A HIGHER STAGE OF NEO-COLONIALISM "The purpose of the BC treaty process is to legitimize the theft of our lands." -- Elder Lavina White, Haida Nation Union of BC Indian Chiefs opposes Nisga'a deal: "Treaties and their certainty provisions are really about 'TAKING - OUT' (extinguishing) the Indian Nations. Changing Nations to mere delegated village council or federal municipalities. In some parts of the world it is now called "ethnic cleansing". It is practised to a much more subtle level upon our people but it is still genocide." -- Chief Saul Terry, UBCIC President http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/aug98nis.html Interior Alliance denounces Nisga'a "template": "From our point of view the Nisga'a model is a gross violation of the Nisga'a's human rights as peoples within the meaning of international law... I have no doubt we will see great harm come from them on the sad journey into the future the Nisga'a are now being told to embark on by the federal and provincial governments, and by some of their own leaders." -- Chief Arthur Manuel, Chairman, Shuswap Nation Tribal Council; Spokesperson, Interior Alliance http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/aug0398bnis.html Native Youth Movement on BC Treaty Commission: "The government is now making treaties because it wants to end all legal challenges to its legitimacy and authority. Its aim was, and always has been, to destroy us as sovereign nations, to dismantle our societies, to kill our spiritual ways. From genocidal wars to the Indian Act, from the band council system to the residential schools, from the theft of Native children to the use of military/police force against our peoples, to this - the treaty process - the government has attempted to assimilate us into a system that offers nothing to us but despair, suicide, prostitution, cocaine, poverty and hopelessness." http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/jan3198bctc.html BC Treaty Process: Trick or Treaty? A legal opinion by Janice Switlo: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/switlo.html More information on the BC Treaty Commission and the Nisga'a deal: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/BCgovt.html :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: Wilma Mankiller" --------- Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 12:45:16 -0500 (CDT) From: arachel@okstate.edu Subj: Wilma Mankiller Article featured on the "Second Front Page" of the Daily O'Collegian of Oklahoma State University: (They did fairly well, the O'Colly is known for misquotes...for example, when we had a podium set up last year on Columbus day, and one of our officers told the reporter we were not protesting Columbus Day, but showing we are proud that we survived his landing and trying to make people aware that not everyone sees Columbus as a hero, the next day the headlines on the front page read "Native American Students Protest Columbus Day".) MANKILLER SAYS SOCIETY NEEDS BALANCE RECEPTION HONORS FORMER CHIEF OF CHEROKEE NATION By Lisa Sibenaller, Multicultural Reporter ----------- Oklahoma State University's Native American Month festivities began Tuesday night with a reception for Wilma Mankiller, former principle chief of the Cherokee Nation. Mankiller, along with 11 other Native American and Hawaiian women, is featured in the "Native Women of Hope" photo exhibit on display in the Student Union Basement through Dec.11. The exhibit, created by ATLATL, a national organization for Native American arts, honors women who represent artists and leaders of the Indian nations, said Geri Wisner-Foley, president of the Native American Student Association. Wisner-Foley said this is the first time the exhibit has been displayed outside of its location in Arizona. Mankiller, an Oklahoma native, said the exhibit is special to her because she knows and is friends with all the women involved. "I love this exhibit and was honored to be asked to participate," she said. She said the photograph is especially significant to her because it was taken at a difficult time in her life. Mankiller was diagnosed with lymphoma, cancer of the lymph system, and was in the middle of chemotherapy at the time of the photo. She said it is the only photo she has allowed to be taken of her while wearing traditional Cherokee turtle shells. Mankiller spoke of the need to return to a sense of "balance" in relations between men and women in today's society. The Cherokee tribe has a history of important women leaders, and she said this balance between men and women is an integral part of life. "The hope for the future lies in women," she said. "When I look at society in general today and see only men making decisions...it makes me think things are terribly out of balance." She also offered her thoughts on current challenges affecting Native Americans. "The biggest challenge we face today is how to retain a sense of who we are as native people," she said. She said a sense of community and interdependence is something that is common to all tribes, and problems can be overcome by being "of good mind" and focusing on the positive. "While we are doing all of the other things that are important, like producing Ph.D.s and better education, let's remember what the fight is about and continue to move forward," Mankiller said. NASA has several other activities planned for the month, including a visit by Joy Harjo, Native American poet and member of the Muscogee tribe. A reception for Harjo will be 7 p.m. Friday in 045 Student Union. Activities also include the Fall Benefit Pow-wow Saturday from 3-11 p.m. in the Center for International Trade Development building. "Many different tribes will be represented in the pow-wow and for people who are not familiar with it, it is a window for what is going on in your own backyard in Oklahoma," Wisner-Foley said. Rachel Allen, coordinator for Native American Heritage Month, said non-perishable food and clothing will be collected at the pow-wow as well as throughout the month. The goods can be dropped off at 320 Student Union or 112 Life Sciences East and will be donated to tribal shelters and women's rehabilitation centers in the nearby area, she said. Also, Native American actress Elaine Miles will visit OSU during NASA's "High School Weekend" Nov. 14, 15, and 16. Miles is best known for her role as Marilyn on the television show "Northern Exposure." --------- "RE: Jury Refused for Tsuu T'ina Inquiry" --------- Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 00:38:01 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Jury refused for Tsuu T'ina Inquiry :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NO JURY FOR RESERVE SHOOTING INQUIRY Calgary Herald, October 29, 1998, by Mark Lowey [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] Calgary - Alberta Justice Minister Jon Havelock has ruled out a jury for a public inquiry into the shooting deaths of an aboriginal woman and her nine-year-old son on the Tsuu T'ina reserve near Calgary. An RCMP corporal has been cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting. Some native people are demanding not only a jury, but that the jury be all-native. Havelock is satisfied, however, that provincial court Judge Thomas Goodson doesn't need a jury's help to conduct a fair and open fatality inquiry, said Alberta Justice spokesperson Jean Olynyk. "The minister has... indicated that he's satisfied that Judge Goodson will conduct an independent and impartial inquiry, and consequently there would not be a jury appointment," she said. Peter Manywounds, speaking for the Tsuu T'ina First Nation, said the tribal council will respond to Havelock after a council meeting scheduled this morning. Phil Fontaine, grand chief of the national Assembly of First Nations, which represents more than 630 First Nations in Canada, had supported the Tsuu T'ina's call for an all-aboriginal jury. "He (Fontaine) will be disappointed... this is obviously not what he expected to see," said Jean LaRose, speaking for the Assembly of First Nations. Connie Jacobs, 37, and her nine-year-old son Ty died March 22 on the Tsuu T'ina reserve, on the city's southwest boundary, in a shootout with the RCMP. An independent review conducted by the British Columbia attorney general's office, and endorsed by a former Alberta justice, cleared Cpl. Dave Voller, a 17-year veteran of the RCMP, of any wrongdoing in the deaths. The review found no evidence to indicate racial bias played a role in the shooting. Members of Jacobs' family and aboriginal leaders condemned the decision and immediately called for an all-native jury to participate in the upcoming provincial fatality inquiry. It can probe a death, but not assign blame. Havelock has written to Tsuu T'ina Chief Roy Whitney notifying him of the decision. Manywounds said the Tsuu T'ina still expect the fatality inquiry will be held on the reserve, after the chief and council offered their council chambers in the tribe's administration building. Goodson, Alberta's first aboriginal judge, has scheduled Nov. 16 for an initial hearing at provincial court in Calgary to allow the public and interested parties to apply to take part in the fatality inquiry. Dates and a location for the inquiry, expected to begin in the new year, will be confirmed at the Nov. 16 hearing, Olynyk said. Goodson will make the final call on whether to hold the inquiry on the Tsuu T'ina reserve, she added. Jacobs and her son were shot after police were called to a domestic complaint on the sprawling reserve. Voller, who was a constable at the time, went to the home after a band social worker and tribal police officer said Jacobs threatened them with a rifle. They were trying to remove her four children and two grandchildren from the condemned house in which they lived, following a domestic dispute between Jacobs and her husband. Voller says he fired in self-defence after Jacobs shot at him. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html --------- "RE: What is an Indian" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:09:15 EDT From: Treva Key Subj: WHAT IS AN INDIAN? Copied from TURTLE TRACKS, newsletter of the Nause Warwash Tribe of Maryland (Eastern Shore.) It might explain how some of us feel.: It is quite long but please bear with me and read to the end. WHAT IS AN INDIAN? This question was asked of a group of American Indian Children at Aderson Elementary School in Minneapolis. Their answers were quite interesting and very disturbing. In this circle of black, brown and blondish hair...of black, brown, green, blue and hazel eyes...of wiry curly, kinky and straight hair...they were very percent-of-blood oriented. From 15/32 to 1/4 to 1/2 they were calling out their individual percents- that is until they began to laugh. Yes, it is ridiculous, especially when one child was asked to point to the half of him that was Indian and the half that wasn't! Is this form of identifying our identity shared by other peoples? When did we ever hear a Jew state he was half jewish? What makes a Jew a Jew is his religion. American Indian authors Walter Peek and Thomas Sanders explain it this way:"To define the American Indian is as impossible as it is to define the Jew--for many of the same reasons. Ajew knows he is a Jew because he recognizes himself within the framework of a historical-cultural setting that allows him identity. The Native American,, the Indian, the Navajo- call him what you will-knows he is an Indian because of the mystic tie to the land, th dim memory of his people's literature that has been denied him, the awareness of his relationship to Sakoiatisan, Manitou, Huaca, Wakan, Tanka (depending on his being Iroquois, Algonquian, Inca or Sioux) somehow all manifest themselves within him and consistently call him back to his ancestors." Bill Charfield, elder teacher and historian, agrees with this philosophy. "My cultural identity makes me what I am. It is my beliefs that make me Indian." This brings up an interesting point. Can an individual be Jewish and Catholic at the same time? Can an Indian According to Bell, an individual's sacred regard for language, his concept of the Creation and his desire to live in harmony with the natural world need be applied when seeking to define an Indian. While addressing a college audience, LaDonna Harris was asked to define an Indian. LaDonna replied, "I can't define the Indian anymore than you can define what you are. Different governmental agencies define him by the amount of blood. I had a Comanche mother and an Irish father. But, I am Comanche, I'm not Irish. And I'm not Indian first. I'm Comanche first, Indian second. When a Comanche took in someone, he became Comanche. He wasn't part this, part that. He was all Comanche or he wasn't Comanche at all. Blood runs the heart. The heart knows what it is." Elizabeth Hallmark, an Ojibwa and director of the Minneapolis American indian Center thinks along these traditional lines:"Just because an individual has a tribal enrollment number entitling him to certain services, does not, in my mind, define this person as an Indian. It is the heart of this person that speaks to me. That's where my Indianness is - in my heart." One of the great Sioux holy men of our time was John Fire-Lame Deer. He associated Indianness with the heart also. His beliefs in the concepts symbolized in the Pipe identified him as an Indian. He recollected a time in his life when the meaning of the Pipe filled his senses. He stated that at the moment he realized that to truly understand what it meant to be an Indian was to understand the Pipe. He went on to say that even as an old man he was still learning. We must ask ourselves then; What bureaucrat has the right to say who is and who isn't an Indian? Or who is more of an Indian? To be an Indian is a way of life, a looking within and feeling a part of all life, an allegiance to and love for, this earth. Historically, we did not judge individuals by the color of their eyes or the color of their hair, but how they conducted and lived their lives. To debase our identity by reducing us to percents of blood is another version of genocide. To deny our tribal nations the right to traditionally adopt and naturalize citizens is relinquishing our tribal sovereignty. The last time some of us were required to show papers for proof of blood was when we wanted to breed dogs or horses. The confusion of attempting to define what is Indian will persist in the governmental bureaucracies, but will not be shared by many American Indians who know what they are. For many of us, to be Indian is not a heritage granted by legislation, percents of blood of bureaucratic studies, or even by a community's consideration. It comes from the heart and the hear knows what it is. One of the ways it learned was listening to the oral and written nature literature of the past. Contained within this literature are the values