From gars@speakeasy.org Thu Apr 15 22:53:16 2004 Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 14:42:48 -0700 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.016 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 016 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2004 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island April 17, 2004 Pomo chidodapuk/flowers moon Blackfeet matsiyikkapisaii'somm/frog moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; ndn-aim, Netrez-L and Native American Poetry Mailing Lists; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- 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@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "We do face the sun and pray to God through the sun, asking for strength to complete the Sun Dance, and that our prayers will be heard...and in the sun we see visions." __ Frank Fools Crow, Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! An April 12, 2004 article by Judge David M. Arnot in the Toronto Star caught my attention. Titled "U.N. praises Saskatchewan anti-racism model" it makes me seriously wonder who the Special Rapporteur spoke to, and who Judge Arnot visualizes represents his reading audience. read it all at: (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081462212129&call_pageid=968256290204&col= 968350116795) The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Doudou Dienne, visited Canada last fall. He says despite feelings of "persistent discrimination" in many groups in Canada, there is a "readiness in the country to innovate, especially with regard to the implementation and elaboration of treaties with aboriginal communities." That all sounds promising. Where Mr. Dienne lost me is when he began to praise efforts in Saskatchewan for serving as a role model. "In the Saskatchewan example, an expanding and increasingly influential First Nations population is a fact of life. Our reality is that by 2045 First Nations people will make up 32 per cent of Saskatchewan's population. ... Saskatchewan is putting in place the educational foundation - a made- in-Saskatchewan model - that will provide the type of community understanding to eventually eradicate racism." Maybe the UN sent Mr. Dienne to a different Saskatchewan than the one where Aboriginals are beaten by police and left in the boondocks to freeze. Maybe Mr. Dienne wasn't made aware of officers urinating on Natives, or of pervasive bigotry throughout the province. I truly hope and pray there is dramatic improvement in the way Natives are treated in Saskatoon... or White Clay... or Shiprock. Right now I believe there's a lot more hope than reality in the Special Rapporteur's report. , , Gary Smith (*,*) gars@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Statement of Elouise Cobell - Search for Elder on Mediator Selection missing since November - Special Master Balaran resigns - Pikangikum: Ontario's ugly Secret - DOI request to dismiss Cobell Case - Martin plans meeting comes under fire with Aboriginal Leaders - Cobell: An Open Letter - Ontario gives $166M boost to Navajo Beneficiaries to Aboriginal Health - Court reverses dismissal - Aboriginal Health elective of Gas Royalties Suit at McMaster University - Navajo Leaders join Winslow rally - A Banker at Home in 2 Worlds - Hopi Vice-Chair: - Editorial: Peacekeepers: The Snow Bowl desecrates... Earning their Name - Medicine men speak out: - Kanesatake Police Chief Saving the Peaks fires Mohawk Officers - Navajo 'Off-Shore' banking Plan - New Police Chief barred - River Agreement from Kanesatake to protect Cultural Sites - Navajo equivalent of ACLU - Tribes study how to meet Monday to manage delisted Animals - Sac & Fox may help County - Cayuga Nation's plans for Land on Jail Construction worry Some - Native Prisoner - Oneida Nation `Dissidents' -- Prisoner makes a Stand plan Appeal - History: Carlisle Indian School - Wyandotte challenge Kansas' - Rustywire: Navajo Hour raid of Trust Land - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Choctaw Chief: No Laws broken - Walkingwater Poem: - Indian Children not protected Urban Beginnings in Gov. Schools - APTN viewing Audiences - Tribe seeks solution continue to grow to Juvenile Delinquency - Wisdom of the Elders - AIMHI gets huge Gift to premiere on NPR - YELLOW BIRD: - Bison Festival canceled Strong Women offer inspiration - Tennessee April Events --------- "RE: Statement of Elouise Cobell on Mediator Selection" --------- Date: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 08:51 pm From: Indian Trust ListServ Subj: Cobell v. Norton: STATEMENT OF LEAD PLAINTIFF ELOUISE COBELL ON THE SELECTION OF MEDIATORS IN COBELL V. NORTON ET. AL. BILLINGS, MONTANTA (April 6, 2004) -- We are very pleased with the selection of former federal judge and deputy U.S. Attorney General Charles Byron Renfrew and attorney John G. Bickerman as mediators for the Indian trust litigation. Judge Renfrew, in particular, is an attorney and former jurist whose reputation for fairness and equity is beyond reproach. While we are ever-hopeful of a fair and just resolution, I want to add a word of caution to the 500,000 Indian Trust beneficiaries across the nation. Our five previous attempts to settle our dispute out of court were unsuccessful because each administration believed that trust assets were properly managed. We hope that the Bush Administration has finally accepted what everybody has told Interior over the last few decades: billions of dollars in trust assets are lost and cannot be accounted for. Most sincerely, we hope that the Bush Administration is now willing to resolve this dispute in a fair and timely manner, but nothing in the Administration's recent actions have indicated that this is the case. Our many friends in Congress have urged us to take this step, and it has become clear to us that the Bush Administration will not settle this case without external pressure. We expect that congressional involvement will provide the necessary element to achieve a fair settlement of the case. But having won every victory on the merits in the courts, we will not settle for less than what we deserve. Thus, as lead plaintiff in Cobell vs. Norton, I want to renew a pledge I made when I filed the lawsuit in 1996: We will continue our difficult fight in court until final judgment or until a fair settlement is reached. Anything less would just continue a century of government abuse of Native Americans, our families and our neighbors. --------- "RE: Special Master Balaran resigns" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BALARAN RESIGNS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/040604_indian_monery.html Court officer in huge American Indian lawsuit vs. government resigns The Associated Press April 6, 2004 WASHINGTON - A court officer in a multibillion-dollar American Indian lawsuit against the Interior Department resigned his post, saying the government wanted him off the case after he unearthed evidence that energy companies got special treatment at the expense of impoverished Indians. Alan Balaran, the special master in the case, said the consequences of his findings could have cost the energy companies millions, and Interior Department officials with close ties to the energy companies could not let this happen, he wrote to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in a letter released Tuesday. "Justice has been much too long in coming for the hundreds of thousands of Native Americans. . . . Billions of dollars are at stake," he wrote, adding that he felt his continued role in the case would only be a distraction. The Interior Department had not seen Balaran's letter Tuesday morning and could not immediately comment. Balaran reported last August that private landowners near the Navajo Nation were being paid 20 times as much as Indian landowners by gas pipeline companies for rights to cross their land. He said he had also found gaping holes in the Interior Department's Internet security that could put hundreds of millions of dollars in Indian royalties at risk from computer hackers. To prove the point, Balaran, with the judge's blessing, repeatedly hacked the system and created an account in his own name. His findings have led to three separate shutdowns of the Interior Department's Internet connections. The 1996 class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians alleges that for more than a century the Interior Department has mismanaged, misplaced or stolen billions of dollars in oil, gas, timber and grazing royalties that the department, by law and treaty, was assigned to manage on the Indians' behalf. In 1999, Lamberth found that the department had breached its trust responsibility and ordered it to tally what the Indians are owed. A glimmer of hope emerged in the case, as the parties agreed late Friday to name two mediators - Charles Byron Renfrew, a former federal judge and Chevron Oil executive, and John G. Bickerman, a Washington attorney and professional mediator - to conduct nonbinding settlement negotiations. It is the first time in nearly three years that the sides have held talks and the first time they have agreed to mediators. Copyright c. 2004 Tucson Citizen, All rights reserved. -------- "RE: DOI request to dismiss Cobell Case comes under fire" -------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DOI WIGGLE DENOUNCED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4243 DOI request to dismiss Cobell case comes under fire "Does not pass the laugh test" WASHINGTON DC Sam Lewin April 8, 2004 A request from Interior Secretary Gale Norton to dismiss the Indian trust lawsuit is drawing criticism. In a letter to Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Norton outlines the progress Interior has made in providing an accounting of trust monies owed to thousands of Indian account holders and beefing up computer security. "The Department has aggressively addressed concerns regarding the potential risk of unauthorized access to Individual Indian trust data from the Internet. During the past three fiscal years, we have committed more than $80 million to improving security over our information technology systems with a particular emphasis on preventing unauthorized access from the Internet. We have installed sophisticated technologies, developed and adopted perimeter security standards, conducted monthly scanning to identify and mitigate potential system vulnerabilities, and trained tens of thousands of employees in system security responsibilities," Norton's letter states. The correspondence concludes with a request to dismiss the case. "Because the Government is no longer delaying in the performance of its accounting duties, we are asserting in the court of appeals that the jurisdiction of the court in Cobell has now ended. Our brief presents arguments, based on the Administrative Procedures Act and separation of powers, that the court has no further role to play unless and until a proper challenge is brought once the accountings are complete," Norton writes. South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle issued a statement opposed to Norton's request. "The submission yesterday of the Interior Department's brief in support of its motion to dismiss the Cobell case is the latest in a series of unprecedented maneuvers by the Department to avoid accountability for years of mismanagement of Indian trust assets. The Department's suggestion that it has the Indian trust management problem in hand, thereby rendering the Cobell lawsuit moot, does not pass the laugh test. The truth is that the Indian trust fund has been so grossly mismanaged for so long - by Administrations of both parties - that no one today has any idea how much should even be in the account, let alone who is owed what, leading U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to label the government's actions in the Cobell case 'fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form," Daschle said. "President Bush should direct the Interior Department to cease its obsession with derailing the Cobell case and get on with the job of crafting a consensus solution to the problem. If the Administration wants to end the litigation, it should do so by making a just settlement of the Cobell case a top priority, not by interfering with the constitutional right of Indian trust account holders to seek a fair hearing in a court of law." Officials with the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not return a call seeking comment In the past few days, two veterans jurists were picked to mediate the case, and court-appointed Special Master Alan Balaran, blaming political pressure from DOI, said he would resign from the case. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Cobell: An Open Letter to Navajo Beneficiaries" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL TO NAVAJO" http://www.indiancountry.com/?1081522267 Cobell: An open letter to Navajo beneficiaries The Cobell lawsuit and your Individual Trust Accounts April 9, 2004 by: Elouise Cobell I am happy to be back in beautiful Navajo country today to update you on the status of our lawsuit over the government's mishandling of your trust accounts. The case is once again at a crucial stage and I want you to be aware of the latest developments in Washington. Frankly, I must tell you that I fear is that our lawsuit is becoming something that the Navajo know all too well. It seems like our lawsuit has become yet another long walk that the federal government - the Interior Department, the Justice Department and the White House - is demanding Indian people take. Just as your people were tested in the 1860s by the famous long walk that decimated the Navajo, the government is bringing its enormous legal resources in an attempt to destroy our rights and our ability to enforce those rights through this lawsuit. As the government has done so often in controversies with Native people, it wants to divide us and make us so tired of fighting in court that we will be forced to settle for far less than we deserve - pennies on the dollar. The government has thought that it could simply outnumber us with scores of lawyers, baseless motions and bad-faith appeals, all paid with an endless supply of our tax dollars. The government has spent more than $100 million in defending their failure to honor the obligations it owes to you and other Native people. It has attempted to undermine our will to fight this terrible injustice by dividing and splitting Indian people whose money and land is at stake. Fortunately, for the eight years of this difficult litigation, the government has failed. As the Navajo and other Indian nations have shown, when Indian people are united they can do great things. We must not allow the government to divide us, especially now when we have won all the court battles on the merits. Justice is on our side, and we will prevail if we remain united and do not allow the government to intimidate us or compel us into settlements and compromises that undermine everything that we have fought so hard to protect. What we have sought from the outset is a full and complete accounting of what the federal government did with our monies and our lands from the inception of the Individual Indian Trust in 1887. This is the basic, absolute legal right every trust beneficiary has in America - whether Indian or non-Indian. All trustees, including the government, the smallest trust company in Arizona, and the largest trust company on Wall Street, are governed by the same standard. The Secretary of the Interior, who is responsible for the management of the Indian trust, is not free to continue to behave badly and otherwise act against your interests as a trust beneficiary. We have asked for a full accounting of our trust funds and trust lands. That right has been confirmed by federal courts. We have asked that the government fix its broken trust management system - something every trust beneficiary has a right to expect. We know from numerous studies dating back to the inception of the trust that the government did not handle our trust monies and our trust lands properly. The government has admitted this in court. Not once, but repeatedly. And the courts have agreed with us. Our victories Court orders come from both U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who for eight years has presided over our lawsuit, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Those decisions state clearly and firmly that we have a right to a full and complete accounting of our monies. Do not be fooled by some of the government's claims that a court decision that protects the Secretary from any punishment for lying to a federal judge in our case or that the courts have erased in any way the government's obligation to conduct a complete accounting and to fix the broken trust management system. Those victories remain intact and cannot be challenged. Having won those victories, we should not settle for less that we are entitled to. That would make us second-class citizens and would deny us constitutional right that every other American has. As the lead plaintiff in the Cobell vs. Norton lawsuit, I want to renew the pledge I made when I filed the lawsuit in 1996. We said then and we say again today we will not accept a settlement that is unfair and unjust to Indian people. We are continuing our difficult fight in court until final judgment or until a fair settlement is reached. However, no one knows how long this will take. Yet, we must not ever surrender or the government's abuse of us, our families, our neighbors, and our friends will never end. Recently, I'm sure you heard that Congress announced a "breakthrough" agreement that could settle our lawsuit out of court. No one wishes more than I do that a breakthrough has been reached. My friends, it is not a breakthrough. Not yet. What we have agreed with the government to do is to attempt to find someone who is able to help the parties resolve the legal issues without the need for further litigation. We have begun talking with the government about who could do this. This is the beginning of a long process that would proceed at the same time litigation continues. Why did we do this? Our many friends in Congress have urged us to take this step. They said that they prefer mediation as one way to resolve the issues. While it is clear to us that Secretary Gale Norton and Attorney General John Ashcroft will not settle the case without pressure, perhaps congressional involvement will provide the necessary element to achieve a fair settlement of the case. It is worth a try, particularly since Congress might try to impose a legislative settlement without the agreement of the beneficiaries, that could undermine our rights and court victories if we do not at least try and settle this case through mediation. That's why we have begun these talks. Many appeals I must tell you that we always have been misled by the government in our five previous efforts to settle this case out of court. After more than three months of talks in Washington, I am not optimistic as the government has done little but delay everything. The current administration is determined to appeal every decision of the District Court, even when it knows that its conduct harms you and other Native people. The bottom line is that so far it has proven that it is determined to deny us our fundamental rights. A mediator of stature and integrity We have said repeatedly that a key to successful mediation is to have the issues placed before an individual of high stature, a person of unquestionable integrity. In short, we want people of stature and integrity - like a Jimmy Carter and a Robert Dole - who have the stature and respect to convince the White House, the Interior Department, the Department of the Treasury that it is in this country's interest to resolve this case fairly and justly. Without a mediator of such stature and integrity, I fear that mediation will be yet another long diversion for Indian people, another long walk down a path that has no end. The Internet Let me tell you about the recent cutoff of the Internet. Judge Lamberth ordered it because the Interior Department refused to protect our trust records and trust funds from computer hackers. For years, the Court and the government have known that our trust records have been destroyed and corrupted by hackers, making it impossible to do an accurate accounting of our trust funds and putting our trust assets at great jeopardy of loss. We need security for our trust records and our trust funds - not a system like the one that exits where any high school kid with access to the Internet could hack into the system and destroy our trust records and steal our trust funds - without any trail. Unfortunately, an appeals court ended the Internet disconnection before adequate safeguards were put in place. But, we will continue to address this vital issue in the courts. Don't think for a moment that means our lawyers are not determined to win this case. We are absolutely right on the law and the facts. We believe that the only way to end this nightmare is to place the Individual Indian Trust in the hands of a receiver under the supervision of Judge Lamberth. The judge has said he has the authority to do this if the Interior Secretary will not act like a fit trustee. Receivership would not harm you; it would not affect your regular checks or reduce the amount of funds in your account. It would just mean that someone under the direct supervision of Judge Lamberth would oversee the trust reform, management and administration while reform was taking place. After eight years of litigation, I think most people in Indian country have come to realize that Judge Lamberth cares much more about our interests than the Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Based on the court record, we have said repeatedly Gale Norton does not deserve to be allowed to continue to control our money. Our court file is thick with details of the government's lying, misleading and deceiving the judge about what has happened to trust records and trust funds. Critical documents have been lost or destroyed intentionally; yet no one has been punished personally for this illegal conduct. It's no wonder that two Interior secretaries have been held in contempt by the courts. Interior Secretary Norton got an appeals court panel to remove her contempt conviction, but the evidence of her continuing abuse is clear and established. It seems that the court of appeals is willing to protect Gale Norton, even when the law demands that she be punished for lying to a federal judge. My friends, we will not allow our trust assets to be handled with such a callous attitude and flagrant disregard for the rights of Indian people as Secretary Norton has displayed. We will continue the fight to see that Secretary Norton and other Interior officials are punished for their continuing abuses even after they leave office, if necessary. The appeals court recently suggested that criminal contempt may be appropriate. We agree. You can help us continue this fight. Urge your members of Congress to tell the Bush administration to negotiate in good faith with us, to accept a mediator with sufficient stature and integrity who can bring this matter to a fair and just resolution. Tell them not to continue to harm us by attempting to break up the class by peeling off small groups of Indians for settlements of pennies on the dollar. There is another important point. Do not fall for the argument that some are making, that any settlement will force the government to curtail spending on existing Indian programs. Judge Lamberth has made it pointedly clear that the government must not do that. Most members of Congress from Indian country also agree that Indian people should not be punished because they want only what is theirs - their trust money! The government has a special fund that can fund any final settlement of our lawsuit. It is the "judgment fund." It was created to fund the payment of money that a court has decided the government owes, including trust funds. Therefore, no money must be taken from Indian programs to settle our case. Sen. John McCain of Arizona has said many times that if this were any other group other than American Indians, the national government would have resolved this issue years ago. That's why we must be united, why we must stand together to have this issue resolved for the good of all Indian people and the good of America. Thank you for your continued support. Remember, we are doing this for our ancestors, our children, our grandchildren and us. It is our money, after all. The government has stolen it long enough. ---- A member of the Blackfeet Nation, Elousie Cobell is the lead plaintiff in the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit, which has successfully challenged the government's mishandling of individual Indian trust lands and accounts. Cobell is the executive director of the Native American Community Development Corporation a non-profit affiliate of Native American Bank. She also served as chairperson for the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank located on an Indian reservation and owned by a Native American tribe. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Court reverses dismissal of Gas Royalties Suit" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GAS ROYALTIES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/~/4f9ec6b2dc4c4a2087256e6e008313ec.txt Court reverses dismissal of gas royalties suit By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press Writer Wednesday, April 07, 2004 April 7, 2004 CHEYENNE - A judge should not have dismissed a lawsuit alleging that an oil company underpaid gas royalties near the Wind River Indian Reservation, a federal appeals court ruled. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver held on Monday that Don Kennard and Harrold Wright are justified in suing Comstock Resources, Inc., and other companies because of Kennard's and Wright's firsthand familiarity with the case - and despite a similar lawsuit that preceded their lawsuit by a day. The case was sent back to the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. At the same time, the three-judge panel said they could not rule on the plaintiffs' claim that an attorney for one of the reservation's tribes stole information from them to file the first lawsuit. "We are constrained by the law as it is written," explained the ruling written by Judge Monroe McKay. Kennard and Wright sued under the False Claims Act after the operator on Wright's property sold its lease interests to Comstock and Wright's royalty payments dropped dramatically. Wright suspected Comstock was underpaying the tribe as well as himself. He consulted with Kennard, who researched public records and found that the American Indian leases might have expired. Wright and Kennard concluded that Comstock was knowingly underpaying royalties to the tribe. They worked with attorneys to draft a complaint and invited the tribe to join the lawsuit, but the tribe declined. On Oct. 21, 1998, the relators - the term for "plaintiffs" under the False Claims Act - sent a required disclosure statement to the federal government, which oversees royalty payments for American Indian tribes. Five days later, one of the attorneys who had been working with Kennard and Wright filed suit on behalf of the tribe. That pre-empted their lawsuit by a day. Federal law prohibits lawsuits to be based solely on information that has been made public, with the goal of preventing a lot of lawsuits on the same topic. The appeals court determined that the filing of the lawsuit on behalf of the tribe made the information public. Exceptions are made for lawsuits filed by an "original source" of information in a case or the U.S. attorney general. The appellate court determined that Kennard and Wright are original sources and may file suit. "Relators were not just assemblers of information. This case would not exist but for Relators sniffing it out," the ruling said. "Through discovery and deduction, Relators ferreted out the alleged fraud in this case and must, therefore, qualify as an original source." Copyright c. 2004 by the Casper Star-Tribune, published by Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Navajo Leaders join Winslow rally" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 17:07:37 -0600 From: "Karen Francis" Subj: PR: Navajo leaders join Winslow rally Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker Contact: Karen Francis, Public Information Officer (928) 871-6384 karenfrancis@navajo.org http://www.navajonationcouncil.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: Sunday, April 04, 2004 NAVAJO LEADERS JOIN WINSLOW RALLY WINSLOW, Ariz. - Speaker Morgan joined local leaders to support alcohol awareness with a march and a rally in Winslow, Ariz. Approximately 30 people joined the march which started at the Winslow post office at 10 a.m. and proceeded through the streets of downtown and ended at the Winslow Girl Scouts building. Navajo County Supervisor Jesse Thompson was the master of ceremonies for the rally that followed. Arizona State Senator Albert Hale, Hopi Tribe Vice Chairman Caleb Johnson, Winslow Mayor Jim Boles and Miss Navajo Nation Marla Billey also joined the rally, as did several candidates running for office in Winslow and Dilkon. Robert Carr, one of the organizers of the event, is running for mayor of Winslow as a write-in candidate. He was one of three candidates present at the rally, which drew a crowd of 60 people. Speaker Morgan spoke about how alcohol does not only affect an individual, but a whole family and community. He congratulated the people for calling attention to the disease and moving to begin addressing the problem. "Awareness is the key to acknowledging the problems of alcoholism. Talking about alcoholism can be a difficult thing, and what can be even more difficult is to do something about alcoholism," Morgan said. Senator Albert Hale advocated changing existing Navajo Nation law to allow alcohol on the reservation. "Our laws need to be examined so our laws don't contribute to immediate consumption of liquor . . . It [alcohol] is there. There's no sense in ignoring it. What is the next best alternative? To me, it is to regulate," Hale said. Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe Caleb Johnson said that Navajos and Hopis cannot depend on non-Indians for any kind of financial help. "We're going to have to have the two tribes put up the money [for a rehabilitation program in Winslow]," Johnson said. He said the Hopi Tribe may be willing to consider funding such a program. Actress Vanessa Brown thanked two street people who had joined the march in progress. "I thank you brothers for walking with us . . . Don't forget, we all come from a nation where we can't leave anyone behind," Brown said. The leaders and community reached out to the two men by sharing words of encouragement and a hot meal of mutton stew and ribs and fry bread. Speaker Morgan was especially encouraged with the diversity of leadership present at the rally. "It really speaks well of their commitment to solving the problem of alcoholism in Winslow. We saw this type of movement in Gallup when the Navajo Nation and Gallup finally joined to address alcohol problems there. When we begin these types of partnerships, we can be effective. I was very interested in attending this rally in Winslow to see if we can begin that type of partnership there, as well," Speaker Morgan said. --------- "RE: Hopi Vice-Chair:The Snow Bowl desecrates..." --------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOPI STAND AGAINST TOILET BOWL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/040804offshore.html Hopi Vice-Chair:The Snow Bowl desecrates, profanes, abuses the heart of Hopi religion. by Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau April 8, 2004 FORT DEFIANCE - The Dine' Medicine Men Association and the Save the Peaks Coalition will meet with Navajo tribal leaders at 10 a.m. today to host a press conference affirming the sacredness of the San Francisco Peaks. Leaders from Arizona and New Mexico tribes will state and submit their formal resolutions against the use of reclaimed wastewater for snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl, located on the sacred mountain. The leaders also plan to call for an extension of the Forest Service comment period on the proposed Snowbowl expansion project. The forest service released a draft study on the Snowbowl upgrade on Feb. 2, kicking off a 60 day comment period. The proposed expansion and improvements would occur within the 777-acre ski area which has been used for winter sports and recreation since 1938. Under the preferred alternative, a new chairlift and four surface lifts would be added and others realigned to create 74 acres of new ski runs. The plan also calls for creating snowmaking on 205 acres using reclaimed wastewater from the City of Flagstaff. Guest speakers for the press conference include: Robert Tohe, moderator, of Save the Peaks Coalition; Anthony Lee, president of Din Medicine Men Association (DMMA); Anna Frazier, Din Care (Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment); Lloyd Thompson, vice president of DMMA; Dr. David Begay, DMMA policy advisory; Sam Begay, DMMA board member; and Norman Brown, Din Bidziil Coalition. Dine' Care's Frazier said that in addition to the Peaks issue, the press conference will address matters "that are pressuring the Navajo people. It's generally the community members themselves that are opposed to all of these things impacting their way of life, and our government is not really paying that much attention, so that's where we can come in." Frazier will be speaking about oil and gas exploration and its impact on Navajoland. Three chapters in Eastern Navajo Counselor, Pueblo Pintado, and Huerfano and Din Care have filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management "because they did not do a good job of consulting with the Navajo people. There are a lot of cultural sites that they overlooked in developing their resource management plan," Frazier said. The press conference will be held in the Education Center auditorium in Window Rock. The auditorium is located less than a mile north of the intersection of state Highway 264 and N12. (Turn right at the light and look for the signs.) The San Francisco Peaks are known to the Navajo as Dok'o'sliid, the western member of the four sacred mountains. To the Hopi, Nuvateekia-ovi is home to the kachinas. The Peaks are home to gathering areas for sacred plants used by both Navajo and Hopi. The San Francisco Mountain is a Traditional Cultural Property. In July 2000, as part of the White Vulcan Mine Settlement, the mountain was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Not only is the San Francisco Mountain of traditional cultural significance to Hopi and Navajo, it also holds cultural significance to the Zuni, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai-Apache, Yavapai-Prescott, Tonto Apache, White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, San Juan Southern Paiute, Fort McDowell Mohave Apache, and Acoma. Hopi Vice Chairman Caleb Johnson, in a letter to The Independent, said, "We, the original people believe that the Peaks are a sacred place where the kachinas live. These mountains are their home and when they leave the Hopi villages, they come here. The plain fact is that the Snow Bowl desecrates, profanes, and abuses what is the heart of Hopi religion. "To say that this Snow Bowl provides recreation for people from Phoenix and that it will provide dollars toward the tourist economy in Flagstaff is a sacrilegious concept. It means that materialism is more important than spiritual beliefs." Johnson said he is concerned that if this trend continues, it will create a wall of distrust between the city and surrounding tribes, and have serious economic ramifications. "Natives will go to other places to shop. The Hopi Tribe may decide to get rid of the enterprises we have in the city. And Flagstaff may become an all-Anglo city with a reputation that it is against Native Americans who have lived for hundreds if not thousands of years here before Flagstaff was conceived." Some Navajos also have mentioned a boycott of Flagstaff as a form of economic sanctions if the city continues to support the Snowbowl expansion and use of reclaimed wastewater for snowmaking. Johnson said that just because the tribes permitted some Anglo traders to establish a homestead in Flagstaff does not mean that the land on which it sits is not part of Indian Country. "We have a right to say what will go on in Flagstaff, and this right was not given to us by Americans, but by the sacred and holy Creator who made us stewards of this land, which includes Flagstaff and the snow-capped Peaks. This is a covenant established long before Flagstaff was conceived and will continue into the future." Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Medicine men speak out: Saving the Peaks" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOW BOWL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/041004navajo.html Saving the Peaks Medicine men speak out By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau April 10, 2004 WINDOW ROCK - Saying their spiritual sovereignty is as important as their legal sovereignty, the Dine' (Navajo Nation) Medicine Men Association this week called for protection of the San Francisco Peaks from expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl and artificial snow-making with reclaimed water. During a press conference Thursday at the Education Center auditorium in Window Rock, the group also requested a 120-day extension of the public comment period that ends Monday on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which calls for using up to 552 acre feet of treated effluent to make artificial snow. "The San Francisco Peaks are as sacred to us as any church and we, the spiritual leaders of tribes, will fight to protect them," said Anthony Lee, president of the association. The medicine men are particularly concerned that the Forest Service has failed in its government-to-government relationship. Hearings on the Snowbowl project have not been accessible to tribal members throughout the southwest region that hold the Peaks sacred, the medicine men said. The also took issue with the fact that the Forest Service sent the various proposed development options to tribal members on CD-ROM, saying that many tribal members cannot use and do not have computers. Also, no translations of the various proposals were made available and the Forest Service had few hard copies. "Too many chapters and tribes don't know that the Forest Service wants to use reclaimed water on the Peaks,"said Robert Tohe, spokesman for Save the Peaks Coalition."That's because the proposals are only in English and the hearings are too far for most people to get to. Our grandmas and grandpas deserve to know what is going on." The San Francisco Peaks are sacred to over 13 southwestern tribes. The leaders of those tribes worry that reclaimed water contaminated with pharmaceuticals and other organic waste compounds will do permanent and irreversible damage to the Peaks. Coalition leaders say no further action should be taken until the Peaks are reviewed for designation as a Traditional Cultural Property and that the EIS should specifically address the use of reclaimed water on a sacred site. Apaches Vincent Randall, tribal councilman and Apache historian, in a letter of support to the medicine men on behalf of the Western Apache NAGPRA Working Group, which consists of traditional elders from White River, San Carlos, Payson, Camp Verde, and the Yavapai Apache Nation, wrote: "For the Western Apache people, the Peaks, known to us as Dzil Cho, are extremely important. ... Dzil Cho marks our place in this world and is the home of the Mountain Spirits (Gan) who bless our lives and anchor our understanding of what it means to be Apache. The Mountain supplies us with important medicines and other plants for our use. ... "For the people who own and control what happens on Dzil Cho the most sacred thing is money. We know money is important. We cannot raise our families in this world without it, but there is a line we cannot cross. The Sacred is not for sale,"he said."I would like to ask the Forest Service how they can ignore the convictions of over a quarter of a million Indian people for the benefit of a few skiers and businesses." The Dine' Medicine Men Association (DMMA) approved a resolution in opposition to the Snowbowl expansion project and supporting the DEIS' "No Action Alternative," stating that the development infringes and violates the First Amendment rights of the U.S. Constitution, American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, and Executive Order 13007, Indian Sacred Sites. DMMA's Lee said the May 20, 1983, court decision, Wilson vs. Block, indicated that Navajo, Apache and other indigenous nations had not been denied access to the Peaks,"but instead it permitted free entry onto the Peaks and did not interfere with the ceremonies. Therefore the Plaintiffs have not proven that expansion of the ski area will prevent them from performing ceremonies or collecting objects that can be performed or collected in the Snowbowl but nowhere else." But Lee disagreed. "They say we have no proof that the development of the ski area resort does in any way infringe upon our belief system. There is a language that is missing and this language is the sacred mountain bundles that all Din medicine man practitioners have. That is our burden of proof. We weren't given the Bible. We weren't given money. We were given these two energy sources. And today we are talking about this serious desecration of the San Francisco Peaks," which is an insult to the Din people, he said. Access Dr. David Begay, who also spoke at the press conference, said,"The federal government through the U.S. Forest Service is claiming that the Native Americans are currently given access to the San Francisco Peaks and therefore their religious rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution are not violated. "From a Native American traditional perspective, access isn't the underlying concern here. Rather the concerns are over the extreme desecration of the physical and spiritual integrity of the San Francisco Peaks. Development of the San Francisco Peaks with reclaimed sewer water would be considered a grossly profane act. It is an affront to spiritual Navajo beings and a violation of traditional Navajo beliefs." Begay said that Navajo traditional people believe that use of the four sacred mountains is indispensable and central to their way of life."The government or any one of us simply can't change their ancient beliefs, nor can we ask them to take out one of the four sacred mountains from their ancient belief system. Bad medicine Jones Benally, a traditional health practitioner and medicine man who works with the Winslow Indian Medical Center, waved a medicine bundle in the air, telling the group that the medicine bundle contained all of the herbs from the foot of the mountain all the way near the top of the San Francisco Peaks. Benally said that if the reclaimed water is used and sprayed on the mountain, it will affect his ability to practice his traditional medicine along with Western medical doctors, because all of those herbs are there to help heal his patients. "That is why he strongly objects to using reclaimed water in any of the developments on the San Francisco Peaks," Tohe translated. Many of those in attendance questioned Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr.'s stance on the Snowbowl issue. Cora Phillips of the president's office said Shirley could not attend the press conference due to a prior commitment. However, she said, the president has established a position on the San Francisco Peaks issue. "The Navajo Nation is very concerned that our sacred beliefs are continually being ignored once again through this new effort, which is using reclaimed water for recreational purposes on the Peaks. We pray that our words will be heard in a most respectful way. All Native Americans must stand together to hold sacred our beliefs and to continue to honor our beliefs and traditions. That is the statement of the Navajo Nation president," Phillips said. Norman Brown of Dine' Bidziil, who was unable to attend the press conference, said afterward that the first immigrants fled Europe to pursue their religion of choice. "How is our right to practice our way of life any different from the first immigrants' right to freedom of worship? ... Any defacement of what's sacred to Native people is a defacement of indigenous notions of humanity. Any act to exploit and deface sacred sites is an act of dehumanization and therefore a violation of our human rights," he said. Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Navajo 'Off-Shore' banking Plan" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OFF-SHORE BANKING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/040804offshore.html 'Off-shore' banking plan: $60M up front gets $30M a year profit by Jim Maniaci Dine' Bureau WINDOW ROCK - More was revealed about the secretive proposal to establish an off-shore banking haven in the country's largest Indian reservation when the Navajo Nation Council's Transportation-Community Development Committee met Tuesday. The revelations came, in a general presentation, because the panel refused to go behind closed doors as all previous committees had done. Proponents touted turning the Navajo Reservation into the world's newest Switzerland as an easy way to repay the proposed series of $452 million in bonds proposed by President Joe Shirley Jr. to give the poverty-stricken area an economic boon. During Tuesday's meeting, Fred Barrett of North Cove Management claimed his board of directors is loaded with millionaires and billionaires from around the world who wouldn't do anything illegal. His most important claim was that the Navajo Nation could set up its own banking laws without violating U.S. banking laws because it would be outside federal banking jurisdiction. The accounts, however, would not be available directly to Americans, including Indians. Legal opinions Barrett said information given to the committee includes legal opinions about how it can be done. Saying he was part Cherokee, the North Cove spokesman said the special nature of trust land would allow the tribe, at a 1,000-acre site he and tribal officials visited near the Grand Canyon, to build a world class destination resort and high-end residential village of 4,000 dwelling units because investors in the off-shore bank would want to have a prestigious home close to any economic development projects they would undertake on the Navajo Reservation. The off-shore presenter said a $60 million up-front investment in such a project would yield the tribe $30 million a year in profits just about the amount of money needed to pay back Shirley's originally proposed series of $507 million in bonds, which has now been trimmed back about 10 percent. Echoing the words of Shirley's predesessor, Kelsey Begaye, Barrett commented, "When you have economic development it takes care of all the other problems the Navajo Nation has. If you make a lot of money it supports all the other things on the nation." Begaye, with the concurrence of the other two branch chiefs, in 1999 signed a "Declaration of Guiding Principles," to which they attached eight priorities, topped by economic development. Attempting to turn around the negative view that such off-shore depositories aid criminals and terrorists, Barrett said, "I can assure you and the tribal council that this is not the way it appears to be. These banks are not full of drug money and terrorist money and (mob) laundered money. Congressman, senators and federal judges use them. The Rockefellers, Hunts, the Gettys, and the Kennedys use them. U.S. corporations use this same system." A cure for everything By having a post office box in Bermuda as the home office, "all the money they make overseas is tax-free as long as they don't bring it back in (to the U.S.)," he said. "All we're proposing here is to do the same thing, only in a reverse direction." Barrett said, "It is my belief this will cure everything that the Navajo Nation needs as far as through economic development. It creates your own banking system, to be able to access funds, build projects. As a result of that, the nation will become very successful financially and when it does that it can afford all the things your children and grandchildren need as far as scholarships and a college education." Economic Development Division Director Allan Begay also spoke to the committee, indicating that the tribe has always lacked the funds it wanted for development, which"takes a lot of money. Every project requires money and if you don't have it development is only at a trickle." He added that Barrett's memo of understanding (the lowest level of three for a government contract) merely paves the way "to allow us to procede to the next step, to share information and whatever else needs to happen to get a run at development of this off-shore banking." Begay also referred to the expected loss of $22 million to $25 million to the tribal treasurey from the pending loss of royalties and taxes paid by Peabody Energy when the Black Mesa Mine has to end production, because the Mohave Generating Station will be shut down for about four years for upgrading and installation of air pollution control equipment. (Peabody insists it will not end production.) Daring venture The division director called the proposal "daring... something outside the box." It also would mean the tribe could stop groveling before Congress every year for money, which is never enough to bring the country's second most-populous tribe up to U.S. standards. "It's about time we get independent. This is the way," he concluded. If the proposal is as lucrative as painted by the promoters, it would dwarf the profits the tribe could make from casino-style gambling. Barrett, Begay and Council Delegate Roy Dempsey (Oak Springs, St. Michaels Chapters) have been making the rounds of the 12 standing committees after being directed about a month ago by the Inter-government Relations Committee to that and to prepare a bill for the council's consideration to adopt the laws needed to set up the foreign depository. Claiming they need to protect the identities of depositors in a bank which does not exist yet, the proponents have asked for executive sessions with the committees. The first opposition to the closed-door gatherings came from the Education Committee's vice chair, but he was overruled. The "T-CDC" presentation was the first time the trio has been forced to go public, something they didn't want to do until the council approved the deal. The trio hopes by Monday to have met with all the committees. The proposal, however, will not be on the council's April 19-23 spring session agenda because the tribal law which went into effect Jan. 1 requires the Ethics-Rules Committee to place all legislation on the agenda at least 15 days before the session begins. Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: River Agreement to protect Cultural Sites" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MISSOURI RIVER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.yankton.net/stories/040904/new_20040409030.shtml Corps, Tribes Reach River Agreement Measures Will Protect Historic And Cultural Sites April 9, 2004 PIERRE (AP) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reached agreement with Indian tribes and agencies from four states to enhance the protection of historic and cultural sites along the Missouri River. Representatives of the corps, tribes and agencies from South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska are scheduled to sign the agreement Tuesday in a ceremony in Pierre. Col. Kurt F. Ubbelohde, commander of the corps' Omaha District, said the National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to explain how they will preserve historic properties and cultural resources on federal land. In a project that involves a number of states, such as operation of the Missouri River dams and reservoirs, an agreement with the various parties can improve the process, Ubbelohde said in a written statement. Jay D. Vogt, South Dakota State historic preservation officer, said the agreement outlines the procedures the corps will use to protect cultural and historic sites along the river. The corps will identify historic sites, monitor areas for erosion and vandalism, establish a law enforcement system, provide educational programs and signs, and protect sensitive information, Vogt said. The agreement also recognizes that the lowering and raising of the water level along the Missouri River is harmful to historic sites, Vogt said. "This programmatic agreement will provide a level of protection for cultural resources along the Missouri River that was absent under the previous protection agreement," Vogt said in a written statement. The agreement was the result of negotiations over a two-year period with two dozen tribal governments, state agencies and several federal agencies. Also involved in the agreement is the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department because it is managing recreation lands recently transferred from the corps to the state. Copyright c. 2004 Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. --------- "RE: Tribes study how to manage delisted Animals" --------- Date: Mon, Apr 5, 2004 06:40 pm From: mikola 18 Subj: "Tribes study how to manage delisted animals" Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/wyoming/60-wildlifemanagement.inc "Tribes study how to manage delisted animals" April 5, 2004 RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) - The state won't be the only entity in charge of managing wolves and grizzly bears if the animals are removed from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Responsibility for any wolves and grizzlies found on the 2.3 million- acre Wind River Reservation will fall to the Northern Arapaho and Shoshone tribes, which have started studying the issue. Using a $185,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant, the tribes plan to survey populations of both animals on the reservation, which covers a massive swath of the Owl Creek and Wind River mountains. "We want to be ready," Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game Department supervisor Ben Warren said. According to Warren, the survey will determine how many of the animals can be killed by reservation hunters once they are delisted. Removing grizzlies from federal protection could occur as early as 2005. Forest management plans, however, must be amended to include grizzly habitat criteria, and Fish and Wildlife needs to complete a population survey before that can happen. "We're a ways from delisting grizzly bears," said John Emmerich, assistant wildlife division chief for the state Game and Fish Department, "but everything is in place to address the last components needed for delisting to occur." Delisting wolves could take much longer now that Fish and Wildlife has rejected Wyoming's proposed management plan and the state is prepared to sue in federal court. Last week, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he planned to write the agency Monday, giving officials one last chance to change their position on Wyoming's management plan. The agency has seven to 10 days to respond. If the state doesn't get what it wants, a lawsuit will be filed, Freudenthal said. Copyright c. 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Cayuga Nation's plans for Land worry Some" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAYUGA LAND ACQUISITION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.syracuse.com/news/~/base/news-6/1081328341249671.xml Bingo Hall a Tough Call By Scott Rapp Staff writer April 7, 2004 The wind blew chilly off Cayuga Lake one morning this week, but opinions gusted hot and divided in Union Springs over the Cayuga Indian Nation's attempt to remodel a former village business - possibly into a Class II gambling hall - without local approval. "I think the majority of people certainly don't want them to put a bingo hall there. . . . I can tell you I won't go there and play bingo," said Martha Kalet, owner of Dre-Me Beauty Shop in the heart of the village. A few doors down, insurance salesman Martin Gardner, of the Gardner Agency, said he believes the bingo hall will be good for village merchants. "Any way to drum up some business for this area. This is a depressed area. To bring people into the area is a good idea, I think, for tourism or whatever," Gardner said. While they're entitled to their opinions, local residents won't settle the issue. The dispute is to be argued by lawyers for both sides today in federal court in Utica. The crucial legal issue centers on whether the former NAPA auto parts store on North Cayuga Street, now owned by the Cayugas, is Indian country. The Cayugas acquired the vacant single-story building last year and have indicated in court papers that they are considering converting the storefront into a high-stakes bingo hall. In opposing the move, the village says the Cayugas should have to follow its building and zoning regulations, which would preclude the opening of the bingo hall. The Cayugas say they have sovereign nation rights to do what they want with the building because it lies within their land-claim area of some 64, 000 acres of former reservation land around the northern tip of Cayuga Lake. In Union Springs on Monday, the dispute generated a confluence of opinions on the bingo hall, the issue of Indian sovereignty and the 23- year-old Cayuga Indian land claim, which is under appeal. "My thinking is that the government is wasting a lot of money doing stupid things fighting them. . . . They gave the property 200 years ago to us. If I sold my property to you and I came back 200 years later and said, 'Hey, I want my property back,' would you give it to me? No," said Penny Salls, a cook at Legends Tavern on South Cayuga Street. In 2001, U.S. District Judge Neal P. McCurn jointly awarded $247.9 million to the Cayugas and co-plaintiff, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, to settle their land claim. McCurn had previously ruled that the state had illegally acquired the land some 200 years ago and that the Oklahoma tribe has a legitimate claim to the land. Both sides are appealing the award and several of McCurn's rulings before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments last week. "I just feel nothing is settled as far as the (land claim), so how can they say they can have bingo on the place they're not even legally on yet?" asked Paula Lawrence, a lifetime village resident. The Seneca-Cayugas are in their own legal fight to build and operate a high-stakes bingo hall in Aurelius, five miles north of Union Springs. That dispute is before McCurn, who heard arguments last month but delayed making a decision. Both Indian nations are also trying to gain approval to build full-scale casinos in the state. Union Springs resident Dave Atwater believes the New York Cayugas will eventually win approval to build the bingo hall. "I think it's a done deal. You can play around in the courts just so much, but in the end, they wouldn't have (invested) this much into it if they didn't know the outcome," Atwater said. Even though four of the nine people interviewed said they favor the bingo hall, all but one of those interviewed said they oppose the concept of Indian sovereignty. They said they believe Indians should have to follow local and state laws, and pay property taxes. The Cayugas own the former NAPA building, a nearby carwash and combination gas station and convenience store, and a gas station and convenience store in Seneca Falls. They don't pay taxes on the properties. "We have to pay taxes. Why don't they have to pay taxes? I feel they should make some way of paying those taxes," said Nancy Trufant, the mother of village Mayor Ed Trufant. Genoa resident Anton Burkett said he believes Indians are entitled to sovereign nation rights. "We should honor the treaties we have with the Indian citizens of this country. I know that's kind of a controversial position, but I think one of the most depressed groups in this country are the Native Americans, and I think we should honor the treaties we have with them," Burkett said. Carol Delaney, of Scipio, said she opposes the bingo hall because she thinks it will hurt the fire department's bingo fund-raising nights. Nancy Schon, a bartender at Legends Tavern, sees the bingo hall drawing much-needed business to local merchants and said the village and county should work out an agreement with the Cayugas to make payments in lieu of taxes. "I think the county should take what they can now before they lose everything. There's got to be a way where everybody works it out and everybody wins," Schon said. Copyright c. 2004 The Post-Standard. Used with permission. --------- "RE: Oneida Nation `Dissidents' plan Appeal" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EVICTION BATTLE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4244 Oneida Nation "dissidents" plan appeal Face possibility of eviction ONEIDA NY Sam Lewin April 8, 2004 The attorney for "dissident" members of the Oneida Nation says the legal battle over eviction is not over with yet. Last week, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals refused to stop the eviction, becoming the latest court to deliver a blow to the dissidents. Four families filed suit against the tribe, claiming that Oneida leader Ray Halbritter is specifically targeting them because they are publicly opposed to his pro-gaming policies. Tribal officials, saying their homes are in an extreme state of neglect, are trying to evict them. Donald Daines, the lawyer for the families, said today that he is filing for a temporary restraining order. "I'm trying to keep people safe and not homeless," Daines told the Native American Times. "Halbritter is using casino money to hire non- Oneida lawyers to draft non-Oneida laws which are interpreted by non Oneida judges." Oneida spokesman Jerry Reed said Wednesday that tribal attorneys are reviewing the court decision, and that there is no timetable on an eviction date. The two sides have been at odds since the early 1990s, with the dissidents, or "traditionalists" as they call themselves, opposing Halbritter's pro-gaming policies. The upstate New York -based tribe runs the Turning Stone Casino, a gaming operation so profitable that it is believed to have already grossed several hundred millions of dollars in the past five years alone. The Grand Council of the Six Nation's Confederacy took Halbritter's power away in 1993. Halbritter ignored them, saying that each tribe is its own sovereign government. The dissidents supported the Grand Council's ruling, and do not recognize Halbritter as the tribe's leader. So far the courts and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have sided with the current Oneida government, and the appeals court's refusal to block the eviction is the latest setback. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Wyandotte challenge Kansas' raid of Trust Land" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KANSAS CITY RAID" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.kansascitykansan.com/articles/2004/04/06/news/local/news1.txt Tribe says rights violated By ANDRE RILEY Kansan staff writer April 7, 2004 The Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma could be forced to wait up to 20 days before a federal judge decides if Friday's raid and closure of their downtown casino by state and local law enforcement was lawful. The Wyandottes claim the decision is about far more than their modest local land holdings. "It's not about K.C. anymore, it's about Indian nations and their sovereign rights," said Jason Hodges, Wyandotte Nation governmental affairs director, on Monday. The Wyandotte Nation asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday to rule if Kline, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas City, Kan., police had the legal right to enter the tribe's land near Seventh Street and Ann Avenue and shut down their casino. Officers seized the tribe's 150 pull-tab bingo machines, business records and cash. Two arrest warrants were also issued for casino general manager Ellis Enyart, according to Nick Tomasic, Wyandotte County District Attorney. As of Monday, the casino remained closed. The legal challenge was transferred to the U.S. District Court in KCK for jurisdiction purposes. A court clerk said Monday the case will be held in Washington for 10 to 20 days before it is sent here. The delay is standard operating procedure. Hodges noted the case had not been assigned to a judge, further delaying a hearing. The raid and court case has caught the attention of Native American tribes across the nation. Hodges said it is one of the main topics of discussion at the National Indian Gaming Association conference, an organization for tribes with gaming facilities, being held this week. The local casino case could have ramifications for Indian tribes everywhere, said Hodges, because it could set a precedent regarding the ability to enter land considered sovereign by the federal government. The Shriner's tract in downtown KCK, which includes the old Shriner's Temple, was purchased by the Wyandottes as trust land from the federal government. The Wyandottes believe a ruling against them could lead to attorneys general throughout the country entering Indian land to enforce state laws. "If attorney generals can do what (Kansas attorney general) Phill Kline did, it could happen anywhere in the country," Hodges said. While the tribe doesn't believe Kline acted with malice, said Hodges, it believes his officers violated their rights by coming onto their land without permission. Hodges cites a case in Rhode Island where an attorney general entered the land of a Native American tribe to enforce his state's tobacco laws and arrested the chief. Hodges said the action was thrown out in federal court later because the tribe violated the tribe's sovereign rights. "I don't like the way a guy talks to his wife, but I can't go into his house and punch him out," said Hodges. "That's not my place." Copyright c. 2004 The Kansan, Kansas City, KS. --------- "RE: Choctaw Chief: No Laws broken" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 08:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MISSISSIPPI BAND LOBBYING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.clarionledger.com/~/20040409/NEWS01/404090363/1002 Choctaw chief: No laws broken - Tribe not informed of any lobbyist violations, he says The Associated Press April 9, 2004 Standing by the Washington lobbyist who represented his tribe on Capitol Hill, Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin is challenging what he says is misleading coverage by The Washington Post of the tribe's relationship with him. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., have called for a Senate investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with four Indian tribes - including Mississippi's Choctaws - after the Post reported in February that the four tribes paid Abramoff and a business associate over $45 million in three years. In a letter Martin wrote to Sen. Campbell on Wednesday, the Choctaw chief said he was unaware that any laws were violated. The Associated Press reviewed a copy of the letter. "I am aware of no violation of any lobbying or disclosure laws in connection with activities undertaken by or for our tribe," Martin wrote. "For the record, we have not told any member or representative of the United States Senate that we will not cooperate with any investigation." Washington Post reporter Sue Schmidt, who wrote the story to which Martin objected, could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday night. Martin said the tribe has not been apprised, either orally or in writing, of what documents or records the Senate wants or what questions the tribe must answer. He decried what he termed a "campaign of orchestrated leaks regarding our Tribe originating in the Senate." The letter notifies Campbell that the Mississippi Choctaws have retained New Mexico attorney C. Bryant Rogers as counsel. The Associated Press also obtained a copy of Martin's March 31 letter to the Washington Post editorial board. Martin's letter chastised the newspaper for the tone of its coverage, which he said challenged "the integrity and even the intelligence of tribal governments." "Jack Abramoff and his associates did a fantastic job guiding us," Martin wrote. "We would like to set the record straight on a couple of points. Our tribe's annual expenditures on public relations activities represents less than 3 percent of our gross annual revenues. Of that amount, about a third goes to lobbying." That amount does not include contributions to political campaigns and political organizations. The newspaper highlighted Abramoff's fundraising activity on behalf of Republican candidates. "At no time have we had Mr. Abramoff under a $180,000 a month retainer as reported in the Post articles," the letter added. Copies of Martin's letter to the newspaper were mailed to Campbell, McCain and U.S. Sens. Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, both R-Miss. Abramoff resigned in March from the Miami-based law firm Greenberg Traurig. A statement issued by Greenberg Traurig executive committee's Richard Rosenbaum said Abramoff "disclosed to the firm for the first time personal transactions and related conduct which are unacceptable to the firm." Abramoff denied the charge. Copyright c. 2004, The Clarion-Ledger. --------- "RE: Indian Children not protected in Gov. Schools" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UNSAFE SCHOOLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.beaufortgazette.com/24hour/politics/story/1273248p-8360832c.html Indian children not protected in government schools, report says By ROBERT GEHRKE, Associated Press April 7, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) - American Indian children at government-run schools were entrusted to workers who had been convicted of child endangerment and manslaughter, federal investigators say. The Bureau of Indian Affairs supports 187 schools, including 54 boarding schools and 14 dormitories that serve 48,000 children. The Interior Department's inspector general concluded BIA's "background investigation process is not sufficient to prevent Indian children from potentially being in danger." In one case, an assistant at a New Mexico dormitory had been convicted of 26 offenses, including battery and endangering the welfare of a child, but worked at the school for nearly two years before a background check was completed and the worker was fired. An education aide in New Mexico was on the job for seven months before an FBI check revealed battery and child endangerment convictions. "These cases and the other cases highlighted in this report show an unacceptable and potentially dangerous level of noncompliance with this background investigation process," Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Wednesday. Udall's district includes several Indian schools. Since the inspector general conducted its audit, the Interior Department has consolidated its education and security operations, wrote Woodrow Hopper, deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs, in the department's response to the report. He said the examples the inspector general cited happened between two and five years ago, and the department has made improvements since then, including wiping out a backlog of 800 security files awaiting adjudication and agreeing to run fingerprint checks within two weeks. The inspector general said the BIA has improved its screening of school employees since it did three audits on the Navajo reservation and in the Phoenix and Albuquerque area offices in 1998. Still, the BIA should strengthen its screening process, the IG said, laying out several specific changes that should be made. "When you're dealing with the safety of kids and having unsuitable people around kids, I think these recommendations should be carried out immediately, and I would underline 'immediately,'" Udall said. Few of the screenings uncover problems. Just 50 of the 7,664 employees screened were found to be unsuitable - less than 1 percent. But the BIA process allows applicants to be hired and work in the schools before the screening is complete. In Oklahoma, for example, a counselor technician was hired three months before being cleared by security officials, and in Arizona a teacher was on the job 2 1/2 months before the clearance was granted. In a sample of cases, it took eight months for the law enforcement checks to be completed. And in some cases, it took months for employees who failed the background checks to be removed from their positions. In a New Mexico case, a school secretary remained on staff for nine months after her background check revealed that she had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Copyright c. 2004 The Beaufort Gazette. --------- "RE: Tribe seeks solution to Juvenile Delinquency" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JUVENILE DELINQUENCY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4234 Tribe Seeks Solution to Juvenile Delinquency "Fixing Columbine" Author Speaks at Forum NENAHNEZAD NM Jennifer Tedlock April 7, 2004 A host of professionals took part last week in a forum to discuss the problem of juvenile delinquency. The Tsilkei doo Ch'ikei Be'iina' Baa Sih Hasin Forum ("Hope for Our Children") focused on examining extremely risky behavior issues and the development of strategies to reduce those behaviors among Navajo youth in San Juan County. "We wanted people to come together," Marcella King-Ben told the Native American Times. Kings-Ben is a former Navajo Nation Supreme Court Justice and Assistant District Attorney in Farmington. She now works in Navajo President Joe Shirley's office. She and Nenahnezad Legislative Delegate George Arthur planned the forum to address juvenile delinquency. King-Ben said she had formerly prosecuted juveniles as Assistant DA. King-Ben told the Native American Times that while working on the Navajo Supreme Court, she noticed the problem while reading the quarterly reports. "There didn't seem to be anyone really addressing the problem in [Nenahnezad]," she said. The forum boasted a "Schools' Role and Response" panel which consisted of two students, among several education professionals, delegates, and the like. "The students were very articulate," King-Ben said. She said they pointed out small ways to change the larger situation. "It was very informative," she added. As part of the second-day wrap-up, the forum hosted a "Student, Parent, and Input Action Plan" to identify the major problems and to plan solutions. King-Ben said she hopes that the forum will meet again in a year's time to see if any change has been made. Doriane Lamblet Coleman, law professor at Duke University and author of "Fixing Columbine: The Challenge to American Liberalism", was a part of two sections of the forum. She took part on the "Schools' Roles" panel speaking from a legal and political point of view. She told the Native American Times that non-academic education in schools could help to reduce the problem of delinquency. Coleman also spoke at the luncheon on the second day of the event on "what parenting means" in both the larger sense and, more specifically, in Navajo cultures. She said she addressed the issue that a parent has to mean more than biology. Coleman said that, as a mother of two boys under age ten, she doesn't like to do much traveling, but that this forum was "worth leaving home for". Her specialty is in the area of children and the law, and she is the first to admit that she is no expert on Native American law. "I learned a lot while I was there," Coleman told the Native Times. She said she thinks that the people at the forum believe that parenting is a key issue in preventing delinquency. She said that there is a strong reliance on the extended family structure, with parents as active mentors, which allows children both moral growth and emotional health that is constantly monitored by adults who care for them. In today's society, she explained, a lot of children are left alone to take care of themselves. They become essentially latch-key kids and raise themselves in significant ways on their own. Coleman said it seemed to her that participants in the forum were convinced that the departure from tradition was creating a real problem. She cited one very big issue facing Indian Country today - methamphetamines. She said that the meth problem "exacerbated whatever level of juvenile delinquency that existed". Coleman told the Native American Times that she thinks these problems of substance abuse and inadequate parenting are much too embedded for a quick fix. She indicated that an ongoing dialog to encourage some traditional parenting approaches combined with some new approaches would certainly be a step in the right direction. "We need to rethink our concept of parenting," Coleman said. In her book "Fixing Columbine", Coleman said, the tragedy at the Colorado school is symbolic of the larger epidemic of childhood emotional dysfunction. She said that since World War II some instances of youth violence and youth suicide have risen a staggering 800 percent. "This is not an overnight fix by any stretch of the imagination," Coleman said, but she told the Native Times that there was no doubt that the people at the forum were committed to change. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: AIMHI gets huge Gift" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AIMHI GIFT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4238 AIMHI Gets Huge Gift EIC Inc. Donates 25,000 Shares TULSA OK Jennifer Tedlock April 7, 2004 AIMHI (American Indian & Minority Health, Inc.) has just received a major gift. EIC Inc. (Engaged IN Caring) donated 25,000 shares of its publicly traded stock. The distributing company has also agreed to pay AIMHI a royalty-type payment based on the Osage Tribe of Indian's regional distributorship of a product called "Skincare Naturally." Those payments should amount to over $1000 dollars per month with the potential to be even twice that amount. AIMHI is a non-profit organization designed to combat diabetes in Native Americans by promoting a more traditional diet. The organization collects and catalogs historical data about traditional Native American foods and analyzes their nutritional components. For more information about AIMHI visit traditionalhealth.org. Dick Eisenach, president and CEO of EIC, Inc. told the Native American Times that he first heard of AIMHI when he became involved with the Osage tribe. He learned more about the organization, about how AIMHI seeks to educate people about diabetes and how a return to traditional diets can have dramatic positive effects. "It made a lot of sense to us [EIC], "Eisenach said. That is when the company put together the endowment which, he says, will provide "very significant long-term benefits." "Skincare Naturally" is a cream used to treat and prevent ulcerated wounds, and the severely dry, cracked skin associated with diabetes. "We market it [Skincare Naturally] as a preventative," Eisenach told the Native American Times. The cream, when used correctly, can help prevent extremity amputation, he said. "Skincare Naturally" is a two-phase treatment, Eisenach told the Times. The first phase is a unique defoliant that has an adhesive quality unlike most defoliants, which use coarse materials to scrape away dead skin. The product is applied and allowed to dry, then gently massaged off, taking the dead skin cells with it. Eisenach calls it "probably the best exfoliating product on the market." Phase two is a stimulating moisturizer that creates a warming sensation that encourages blood flow where applied and lasts about 12 hours, Eisenach told the Native American Times. He said it is probably one of the best moisturizers on the market. For more information about AiMHI, go to their website: www.traditionalhealth.org Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Strong Women offer inspiration" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:31:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: INSPIRING TALES" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/opinion/8344933.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Tales of strong women offer the inspiration to carry on Many women are taught their life roles by great-grandmothers, grandmothers, mothers and older sisters. Some are taught they can be anything they strive to be. It's their choice. Some women, unfortunately, believe they are relegated to tagging along and being secondhand citizens. Recently, UND's Women Studies program, the UND Women's Center, the Community Violence Intervention Center and others produced an event called "That Takes Ovaries!" It was about those courageous and sometimes comical stories of women who believe they can and they do. That evening in the darkened and new "Loading Dock" hot spot in UND's Memorial Union, I listened to readings about and by women. Those readings were stories of courageous, bold and beautiful females. Young women - students at UND and community people - read selected stories. Incidentally, I read a piece written by Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She is a one of those courageous "warrior women." Some of the readings stunned me. One story was written by a woman who remembered her life as a child in a family with an abusive father. She recalls her walk down a railroad track, where her mother took her and her brother to wait for a train to end their lives. In the next life, the woman told the 6-year-old, we will have a better life. The young child kept her mother from killing herself and the children, but couldn't stop the beatings her mother received thereafter. The beatings ended with the death of the abuser. From journalist's notebooks and camera eyes, stories of women in the Middle East whose genitals were mutilated so the women never could be unfaithful to their husbands or enjoy sex. That, for us, is unreal and faraway world. There was the reading of an obese woman who finally saw beyond the fat and acquainted herself with her inner person. Then, there were readings of the young girls who took on dress codes, bullies and even the media that feeds them fashion trends. One after the other, young women and some community people stepped to the podium and read poignant accounts of these heroes. We listened and gleaned some wisdom in the stories they told. When every page had been turned and the lights were back on, I drove home with the ghosts of those women darting in and out of my thoughts. Louise Erdrich is one of those woman, I thought. She courageously carried her family through the awful trauma of suicide. Her mother and family taught her as a child that she could do and be anything she wanted. When she grew up, it was that same family who supported her through a very difficult time. Thursday, I interviewed Susan Geib, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Office. She is poised, confident and amazing. I asked if she found the corporate world cold and unresponsive to a woman in a man's world. No, she said. Her family and especially her father, who was an eye doctor for many years in Grand Forks, taught her she could do and be anything, and she believed she could. This world traveler and executive seems to know no boundaries. Family was important to these women. Philomena Little Sioux, my grandmother, was a warrior woman who lived during very dangerous and trying times. She wasn't taught that, as a female, her life's role was lesser than men. In fact, women have the power of life. They are sacred at different stages of their lives, she was told. They can stand supportively behind their companions or take the lead role in ceremony. So, it was amazing for me to read in journals that Indian women's roles were the drudgery of the village - they were secondary to men. From those non-Native early explorers, that may have been the way they looked at Indian women because that is how they saw the women in their societies. The "drudgery" of garden work, as those early explorers described it, wasn't drudgery to women. Most Native women knew the joy of bringing to life plants that would feed their family. In the book, "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden," Buffalo Bird Woman tells about the women singing to the plants. Scoff if you will, but the plants responded. History says they had amazing crops without the aid of insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers. For us - for all women - our role in society can be wondrous, exciting and worth the journey. But my grandmother would say women are neither more than nor less than the other gender. They are part of the balance - each with their strengths and weaknesses. And for women, "That Takes Ovaries!!" to maintain the balance. ---- Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at 780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Search for Elder missing since November" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TETLIN ELDER TABASSA GENE MISSING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2077448,00.html Volunteers to search in earnest for village elder missing since November By BETH IPSEN, Staff Writer April 11, 2004 The search for Tetlin Elder Tabessa Gene continues as volunteers will step up the efforts to find the 85-year-old woman as breakup begins. Gene's granddaughter and village health aid Marianne Young said some people have sporadically searched for her grandmother, who's been missing since Nov. 17. Elders and volunteers from neighboring villages will flock to the area Monday to help with the efforts. "Every day, ever since she's been gone, people have been out," Young said. "With the wind storms and all the drifts, it's been very hard." But now that breakup is here and the snow and ice are quickly melting, people from Tetlin and surrounding villages will pick up the efforts to find the elder who is described as a competent outdoorswoman who lived a subsistence lifestyle. Young said dogs will also be used in the search for Gene. Shortly after Gene was considered missing, volunteers flooded the village of about 130 people to locate the beloved grandmother. Young said she expects the same response this week. "Elders from Tanacross are planning on staying here throughout the whole week," Young said. But this time, people are expecting to find her body, she said. Young said the large group of searchers will also need supplies, such as food and gas, to sustain them through the week. They'll be sleeping in the tribal halls and the village school. Gene was last seen by a grandson who was on his way to school at about 8:30 a.m. He spotted his grandmother in front of her house making food for her dogs, Young said. "It's hard when she was first gone," Young said. "You just have to live with it day by day until we find her." Anyone who wants to volunteer or donate items for the search can call the Tetlin Village Council at 324-2130. Copyright c. 1999-2004 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: Pikangikum: Ontario's ugly Secret" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 08:49:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STARVING INTO SUBMISSION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/04/12/417664.html Pikangikum: Ontario's ugly secret CHRISTINA BLIZZARD, Special to The Free Press April 12, 2004 PIKANGIKUM -- It's this province's shameful, ugly secret -- a place critics call Ontario's own Davis Inlet. In this remote Ojibway community, most homes have no sewers, there's no road out and the community has a shocking suicide rate among its young people. Living conditions are so appalling, even the London-based "Indian agent" paid to financially manage the reserve calls them "Third World." The native band council has repeatedly asked the agent, consultant Alan Morrison, who has written the band's cheques the last three years, to check out the poor conditions for himself. Morrison refused, saying the band wouldn't guarantee his health and safety. "It's worse than Davis Inlet," said Stan Beardy, grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, comparing the place to a Labrador native settlement made infamous when its high rate of alcoholism and gasoline-sniffing by children flared up in the national news. "Davis Inlet was caused by circumstance," said Beardy. "This was deliberately done by the Department of Indian Affairs. "They are starving them from their claim to natural resources," he said. The only buildings with indoor toilets are government agencies -- the school and the police and nursing stations. While the community plans to build 15 new homes this summer, there's a critical housing shortage. As many as 18 people jam into two- and three-bedroom homes. Band Chief Paddy Peters blamed the desperate conditions on federal bureaucratic bungling. "It's criminal what is happening here," Peters said. Few of the 2,000 residents of this aboriginal community on the Berens River, about 250 kilometres north of Dryden, have running water. Most have only outhouses as toilets, a terrible hardship for the elderly and young children in a far northern community where temperatures can dip to -30 C. When I visited last week, Children waded knee-deep in puddles in a schoolyard awash in mud. The only playground equipment was a skipping rope and a battered hockey net. Nearby, six wooden, windowless portables housed some classes, while Ottawa has put on hold plans to build a new school for about 600 children. In the portable kindergarten class, built 40 years ago, exposed electrical wiring hung from the wall and there was no hot water. The dilapidated hut is so overrun by ants in summer children are scared to go to school. Some days, it's so cold the little ones have to wear coats in class. Peters blames problems on a three-year-old edict from the federal government that forced the band into so-called "third-party management," which costs the community $17,000 a month. The agent disputes that figure and says he gets $10,000 a month to manage their books. Indian Affairs would not disclose the exact amount paid to the agent, but confirmed the pay range for third-party managers for native communities is $10,000 to $20,000 a month, which comes from band support funds. The third-party management order gives a company more than 1,500 kilometres away in Southwestern Ontario control over band spending. Peters says the band council has repeatedly asked London-based Morrison to visit the community to witness the appalling living conditions. Morrison refused, saying the band wouldn't guarantee his health and safety. The band says that's not something it can do, especially considering the harsh realities of life in the north. Snowmobiles regularly go through ice and there is only a dirt runway at the tiny airport. Morrison said the $10,000 a month he's paid to manage the books for the community is "roughly one per cent of the budget. In this case, the budget is around $14 million." Morrison agreed conditions in the community are appalling. "It's Third World. I know that," he said. "I deal with a lot of First Nations and I have been up north many, many times." Though he hasn't visited Pikangikum, "I have been through there several times. "They (the band council) made a point of bringing this up, that I have never set foot in the place," he said. "Well, I offered several times to come up and negotiate. They said they could not guarantee my health and safety," he said. Morrison said he feared what might happen if he went to the community. "I fully expected there could be violence. They could drag me off the plane and into the community centre and place four or five hundred angry band members in front of me. "They have a police force. Why couldn't they have guaranteed my safety and health?" he asked. Besides, he said, he can manage the finances without visiting the community. "Does your financial adviser come to your home?" All the same, he admits he never has had a problem with the band. "Their audit last year was fine. They had a surplus. This year will be fine, they will have another surplus." Morrison said he's no longer responsible for the reserve's management, since his contract expired March 31. Since the community was forced into third-party management, a plan to connect the community to the electricity grid has stalled. That means after the new houses are built this summer, the diesel generator that now supplies them with electricity will be inadequate for their needs. Morrison claims the band is responsible for some of its problems and said it mismanaged the plan to put it on the electricity grid and spent money allocated for that purpose on other items. A year-round road is also on hold, meaning food and supplies from the outside cost twice as much as they do in southern Ontario. At the Northern Store in the closest community, Poplar Hill, a two-litre carton of milk was $5.49, potatoes were $7.39 for a five-pound bag, a small, wilting bunch of grapes was almost $10, tomatoes were $7.69 a kilogram and a one- kilo bag of McIntosh apples cost $6.99. Gas cost close to $2 a litre. Poor quality, high-priced food contributes to the serious health problems that plague aboriginal people. Diabetes rates are soaring in the north. While Pikangikum has a nursing station, it is difficult to keep it staffed. A doctor flies in every few weeks. Residents rarely see a dentist. Health Canada statistics show the rate of suicide among native youth is three times the national average. In the last 15 years, 41 young people have committed suicide in Pikangikum. That figure could be on the low side, since many deaths go unreported and some may occur outside the community. As recently as last month, a teen from the community in the care of a child-welfare agency died in Sioux Lookout -- a suspected suicide. Between January 2001 and September 2002, Health Canada recorded nine suicides and between July 2002 and April 2003 there were 19 documented suicide attempts. Suicides often occur in clusters. Youth counsellors say the grief following a suicide is so intense, some young people see shadows of the dead people beckoning to them. They may interpret this as the person calling them to join them in death. A First Nations youth at risk program has been put in place to deal with the suicides and with issues such as solvent and substance abuse. Gasoline sniffing also causes major problems. Peters said he believes the third-party management order is linked to the band's plan to develop natural resource management within an area bounded by its traditional traplines. He said multinational corporations want access to the resource riches on their traditional lands. "We were in a good financial position when they called in what we call an Indian agent," Peters said. "The only thing we can figure out is that we were in the way of the government plan." The band has its own plan, the Whitefeather Forestry Initiative, which would provide employment for the Ojibway community. Native groups complain big companies with unionized workforces often exclude aboriginals from their workforce. Peters says if the land is developed, he wants jobs for his people. When the band was first placed under third-party management in 2001, about 300 band members staged a peaceful march to Winnipeg in a last-ditch attempt to stave off what they perceived as federal meddling and paternalism. They called the march "We-chee-he-tee-win" in Ojibway, which means, "helping ourselves." They feared having their business dealings turned over to an Indian agent 1,500 kilometres away would mean the band council would lose control. A spokesperson for Indian Affairs in Thunder Bay, which oversees management of the band, said the government is aware of the desperate living conditions on the reserve and is working with the band council to resolve some issues. "We have had meetings with them concerning the situation and we have scheduled a meeting with them in the near future," Susan Bertrand said. Copyright c. The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003. --------- "RE: Martin plans meeting with Aboriginal Leaders" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MEET WITH PM PLANNED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/search/~4644-8118-953235c7ef12&disp=e&end Paul Martin plans major meeting with aboriginal leaders, ministers SUE BAILEY Canadian Press April 7, 2004 OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin will host in coming weeks an aboriginal summit aimed at easing the social miseries of Canada's first peoples. Leaders of all five major native groups representing those on and off reserve, as well as the Inuit, are to be included. Indian Affairs Minister Andy Mitchell and Privy Council President Denis Coderre, responsible for Metis issues, will be among ministers in attendance, sources said. It's all part of Martin's bid to ease what his government has called "shameful" aboriginal poverty. "The meeting will be focused on areas that make a tangible difference in peoples' lives," said a government source close to the planning who did not wish to be named. No date or place have been confirmed, but the gathering is tentatively planned for mid-April. Talks will include lagging health, education and employment standards for aboriginal people, sources said. "It's establishing, as the prime minister has said, a new direction and priorities in the aboriginal file," said one official. "We want to set a new direction and strengthen the relationship." The full-day meeting follows up on Martin's gathering March 11 with leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Metis National Council, said the source. Left out were the country's two other major related groups - the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, representing off-reserve people, and the Native Women's Association of Canada. Their leaders were upset at the exclusion. The planned gathering is a rare chance for all five groups to meet with a sitting prime minister, said a senior government source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "At the end of the day, it's going to be a new direction, new priorities." The meeting will come even though Martin's own aides have advised him against such politically unpopular initiatives before an expected election. The prime minister has repeatedly declared his desire to chip away at a rock-face of colossal problems confronting aboriginals that have stymied successive governments. "We've got to start focusing on some of these hard issues," said an aboriginal leader who didn't wish to be named. The challenges include a decaying and often moulding native housing stock that is now also being investigated for cancer-causing asbestos. Lagging native education and health standards are also expected to be discussed. Copyright c. 2004 The Canadian Press. --------- "RE: Ontario gives $166M boost to Aboriginal Health" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="$166M BOOSTER SHOT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thestar.com/~968256289824&col=968342212737 Ontario gives $166M boost to aboriginal health CANADIAN PRESS April 7, 2004 The Ontario government is spending $166.5 million over five years to continue a program that improves the health of aboriginals. "We are renewing the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy because it works," Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello said at a news conference today. "The investment is more than paying for itself in improved health and stronger family life in aboriginal communities in Ontario." The program, which began in 1994, is a partnership between the province and 15 aboriginal organizations and First Nations. It combines traditional and contemporary health services for aboriginals on reserves and in urban areas. Pupatello said more 90 per cent of participants feel their overall health and family situations improved because of the program. Patricia Baxter, who helps head the program, says it "blends aboriginal medicine-wheel concepts addressing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs with contemporary health and healing practices." "We are working with the government to improve the health and healing of our people," said Baxter, the program's aboriginal co-chair. The money will be used for shelters for women and kids fleeing violence; crisis intervention programs in 47 remote northern First Nations to address youth suicide and family violence; Aboriginal Health Access Centres providing a range of health services; community wellness programs; healing lodges that use traditional healing approaches to treat sexual assault, addictions and family dysfunction; and treatment centres for aboriginal youth with addiction problems Copyright c. 2004 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. --------- "RE: Aboriginal Health elective at McMaster University" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABORIGINAL HEALTH STUDIES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.canada.com/search/~4ba6-9bb5-42d9b9ca1df7&disp=e&end Aboriginal health elective at McMaster University med school first of its kind NEENA CHOWDHURY Canadian Press April 8, 2004 TORONTO (CP) - Medical students at Hamilton's McMaster University have wrapped up the first year of an in-depth course that's being called the first of its kind in Canada. This past fall, the Ontario university launched a five-month aboriginal health elective, created by both aboriginal and non-aboriginal medical students and faculty, said third-year student Todd Young. Young said he saw the need for such a course through his years working as an outpost nurse in aboriginal communities and through research he conducted with fellow students. "We looked at undergraduate medical programs - there are 16 in Canada - and we looked at various aspects of aboriginal issues throughout all those programs," Young said by phone from his home in Guelph, Ont. The group found that about 75 per cent of Canada's medical school programs offered a couple of lectures or clinical placements, but "none of them had a formal aboriginal health elective that used all the tools of learning to instruct their medical students," he said. "So this is unique in that it brings together experts in a lecture format, it provides problem-based learning, it involves community visits to local health clinics, as well as to Six Nations (an aboriginal community near Hamilton)." Young said the 30 students enrolled in the course also met both aboriginal and non-aboriginal health-care workers who have worked in native communities for years. Dr. Cornelia Wieman, director of native students health sciences for McMaster's health sciences faculty, said her office helped the medical students with creating the elective, in part by providing input from an aboriginal perspective. "My own sense of this elective is this is just one step in the right direction, but it's a step that I feel very positive about," Wieman said from her home near Hamilton. "There are over one million First Nations people in this country and probably many more when you include the other groups, such as the Metis people and the Inuit people," said Wieman, one of only three aboriginal psychiatrists in Canada. "And our reality right now (is) that the majority of health-care services are provided to us by non-aboriginal health professionals simply because we don't have that many practising aboriginal physicians." Young said the goal of McMaster's aboriginal course is to meet three key needs: "The first need is most importantly to meet the needs of aboriginal people and communities in Canada," Young said. The second is to fulfil the educational needs of medical students. "And part of that education is to have the tools to become sensitive, culturally competent health-care providers," he said. Lastly, the course is aimed at meeting the obligation of social accountability to Canada's aboriginal people. The students have been given feedback throughout the course, and Young said one student described a recent visit to the Six Nations community as the best experience of medical school, so far. "And I think the reason for that is sometimes we can get caught up in the biology and the pathophysiology of illness," he said. "But social factors have a huge impact on the health of people, and so students are very excited that they're being given the opportunity to become aware of some of those social factors affecting aboriginal people." Wieman said there are still a "significant number" of aboriginals who have a different perspective of health-care services. They may have a preference for traditional healing practices, to which medical students trained in the western health-care system may have had little or no exposure. She cited the example of "smudging," which involves burning a small amount of herbs, sage or sweetgrass; it can alarm those unfamiliar with the ceremony because people are lighting fires in hospital rooms. Wieman said this can lead to misunderstandings between aboriginal patients - who may see the ceremony as promoting healing - and their doctors. McMaster's elective teaches some traditional healing ceremonies, along with some aboriginal history, with the aim of increasing understanding between doctor and patient, she said. "The hope is that with greater awareness comes greater cultural sensitivity in delivering health care." Copyright c. 2004 The Canadian Press. --------- "RE: A Banker at Home in 2 Worlds" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MOHAWK BANKER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/business/yourmoney/11prof.html A Banker at Home in 2 Worlds By BERNARD SIMON April 11, 2004 Toronto A prominent Canadian Mohawk chief once described Ronald L. Jamieson as having a moccasin in one community and a black dress shoe in another. Mr. Jamieson is a Mohawk who lives on the Six Nations reserve west of Hamilton, Ontario, the steel-making center. His sister is the elected chief of the reserve. But Mr. Jamieson usually gets home only on weekends; during the week, he is at his desk at the Bank of Montreal in Toronto, where he is a senior vice president and in charge of the bank's aboriginal banking unit. Canadian financial institutions are paying more attention to the nation's 980,000 native people, defined as North American Indians; Metis, or people of mixed blood; and Inuit, also known to Americans as Eskimos. With help from billions of dollars in land-claim settlements and joint ventures with established corporations, these groups are starting more businesses in Canada. According to Mr. Jamieson, the Bank of Montreal's loans-and-deposits business with native communities has shown "double- digit compound growth, and we see this continuing." Mr. Jamieson, 55, said there were many naysayers when he arrived at the Bank of Montreal in 1992 to set up its aboriginal unit. Many of Canada's 600 native communities are in remote areas, accessible only by plane or boat. Most are mired in poverty, with towering unemployment and wrenching social problems, including high rates of alcoholism and suicide. Part of the job is dealing with outsiders' misperceptions. The stereotype "of Indians being a lazy lot who can't look after their money just doesn't hold up," Mr. Jamieson said. Financial institutions face an obstacle in the form of the Indian Act, the law governing native communities and their relations with outsiders. Under the act, people living on reserves are not permitted to pledge their homes or other assets as collateral for loans. Furthermore, few native people are willing to incorporate their businesses because, under the law, they would lose their exemption from income taxes by doing so. But for Canada's big banks, these drawbacks are gradually being overshadowed by an awareness of the potential market. The native population grew 4.1 percent a year, on average, in the five years ending in 2001, five times the national average. More than two-thirds of native people now live outside reserves, and education and income levels are rising. Several communities have also gained financial muscle as a result of payments by the federal government to settle claims over ancestral lands. These payments so far total 1.6 billion Canadian dollars ($1.2 billion) and have spawned a number of sizable businesses, including airlines, construction companies and hotels. Brian Gibbings, an investment management consultant in Toronto whose clients include the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, said that aboriginal groups "are much better advised now than 15 or 20 years ago." "They're a match for the banks and the oil companies when it comes to negotiating," Mr. Gibbings said. Typically, the land-claims settlements also grant communities a measure of self-government and part of the royalties from mines and oil and gas wells. Mining and energy companies operating in or near native communities are increasingly sourcing out work to local contractors. BHP Billiton Diamonds, which operates a large diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, estimates that it placed orders worth 123.6 million Canadian dollars with native businesses in 2002, an increase of almost 17 percent from the previous year. Reflecting a more assertive approach among a new generation of leaders, Bernd Christmas, chief executive of the Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia, said that "the reliance on government dollars can't occur anymore." "We were once self-sufficient and self-governing, and there's no reason why we can't continue to do that in modern times," Mr. Christmas said. The Membertou band employs 370 people in businesses that include fish processing, civil engineering and catering. The band has run a surplus on its budget since 1999. Joseph Tokwiro Norton, grand chief of the Kahnawake band south of Montreal, said his community increasingly needed the banks and other financial institutions as partners for business projects, which include a company providing software for Internet gambling, a campus for technology businesses and plans for a port on the St. Lawrence River. According to the latest national census, 27,000 businesses, 28 percent more than in 1996, were owned by native people in 2001. The number who were self-employed grew by 5.5 percent a year from 1998 to 2001, or 10 times the rate among other Canadians. Mr. Christmas said the Bank of Montreal was "way ahead in the beginning" in spotting the potential of the market. Mr. Jamieson, he said, "explained to people how to bridge the gap between their communities and Bay Street," referring to Toronto's equivalent of Wall Street. Jocelyne Soulodre, president of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, which promotes greater involvement in the mainstream economy, said that the Bank of Montreal's commitment "goes back to a time when it was fairly unusual." Mr. Jamieson, who is the council's co-chairman, "saw this organization through some pretty rough times," Ms. Soulodre said. "He stuck it out." The bank, which is the smallest of Canada's big five banks and owns Harris Bank of Chicago, has opened 17 branches on Indian reserves. Sometimes, its chairman and chief executive, F. Anthony Comper, attends the opening ceremonies. To overcome the Indian Act's ban on direct mortgage lending, the bank has negotiated deals with 19 communities for their band councils to act as its agents. As Mr. Jamieson describes the arrangement, the councils "agree to assist us in collecting on our loans." So far, Mr. Jamieson said, the bank had advanced close to 50 million Canadian dollars in housing loans without one foreclosure. The proportion of write-offs on loans to native-owned businesses is less than half the bank's overall bad-debt record, he said. All of Canada's major banks, as well as Quebec's caisses populaires, or credit unions, now offer similar services through aboriginal banking divisions. The Toronto-Dominion Bank has set up a separate subsidiary, known as First Nations Bank of Canada, in partnership with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. In spite of the successes, Mr. Jamieson said that "the reviews would be mixed" on the record of aboriginal businesses. He said that many enterprises remained undercapitalized and that their owners were often disadvantaged by a lack of financial expertise and their remote locations. True success, he said he told a former chairman of the bank, would come "when you don't need Ron Jamieson here." Copyright c. 2004 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Editorial: Peacekeepers: Earning their Name" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 08:16:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PEACEKEEPERS" http://www.easterndoor.com/editorial.htm Peacekeepers: Earning Their Name By: Kenneth Deer Volume 13, Number 10, March 26, 2004 Never has the name Peacekeepers been more appropriate with the Kahnawake Peacekeepers patrolling Kanehsatake. After the violence of January 12 and 13 with the Kanehsatake police station surrounded by demonstrators and the house of Grand Chief James Gabriel burned to the ground, the actions by the Kahnawake Peacekeepers to defuse the situation and bring peace to the community is quite remarkable. Kanehsatake community members have high praise for their work and professionalism. From arresting DWIs to putting out house fires, the community is pleasantly surprised at their versatility and skills. The community also knows that this kind of service is coming to an end. If there is no extension of the Peacekeepers' mandate, they will leave on March 31. And who and what will take their place is not clear at this time. The powers that be should take careful consideration of the current peaceful situation in Kanehsatake. The Mohawk Council of Kanehsatake, the governments of Canada and Quebec should be watching how the community is being policed, how the community respects their presence and how the peace is being kept. If the peace is not broken, don't do anything to break it. It is true that the Kahnawake Peacekeepers cannot stay there indefinitely, but asking them to leave overnight will leave a very big vacuum. They should be withdrawn over a length of time, which will allow the new policing agreement to be implemented in a reasonable way. Rushing the new agreement, possibly with a new police chief and new officers on April 1, can lead to chaos, confusion and animosity from the very community in which they are supposed to keep the peace. It is possible that some of the potential new officers are the ones that were surrounded in the police station in January. Are they able to keep their emotions in check or will there be payback? Will the new police officers move in immediately on April 1 and forcefully impose themselves on the community? Brute force is not the answer. The Kahnawake Peacekeepers proved that. They are able to carry out their work with the support of the community, not in spite of the community. They did their investigation of the arson on James Gabriel's house and turned the file over to the Crown Prosecutor. If there are no arrests on that case, it is because the Crown is dragging its feet. Is the Crown delaying the warrants until the Peacekeepers leave so that the warrants will be executed under the new policing agreement? Would the Crown Prosecutor be playing politics with arsonists? We hope not. But it is in the realm of possibility. Grand Chief James Gabriel and the two governments are playing a dangerous game. If they are careful and play their cards right, it could be a peaceful transition. But, if they make a mistake, or if they are too hasty, it could lead to confrontation, violence and maybe bloodshed. The men, women and children of Kanehsatake are not criminals and they deserve a peaceful community. They have had peace for over two months now. Don't take that peace away for the sake of petty politics and payback. Copyright c. 1997-2000 The Eastern Door. --------- "RE: Kanesatake Police Chief fires Mohawk Officers" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:52:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FI