_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 031 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2005 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island July 30, 2005 Mohawk Ohiarihko:wa/moon of much ripening Western Cherokee Kuyegwona/ripe corn moon Anishnaabe Aabita-niibino-giizis/raspberry moon Cree Opaskwuwipizun/moon when ducks begin to molt +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from 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; Frostys AmerIndian, Native American Poetry and Chiapas95-English 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "Health care reality in Indian Country compared to the general population is: Our people still die due to accidents 204 percent greater then the rest of the population, 666 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, a preventable disease, [and] 318 percent more likely to die from diabetes." "The Surgeon General reports that Indian youth are dying at 3.1 times greater than the general population." "Our challenges are escalating." __ Rachel Joseph, Chairwoman of the Lone Paiute Shoshone Tribe of Calif. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Janet has a few well chosen comments about this issue's lead story. ---- When tribal sovereignty cannot even protect a nation's own members' rights as parents on the reservation when challenged, not by federal interests, but by a state government -- sovereignty is a meaningless word. This week in California, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the Elem Indian Community cannot intervene in an adoption proceeding on behalf of a member child's family. The court upheld the state's decision to approve an adoption of a child to a family outside the tribe. This in spite of provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The story appears below. The tribe, the child's parents and the National Indian Child Welfare Association are now considering whether to appeal this decision to the US Supreme Court -- a body that has been notably unreliable in its view of just what tribal sovereignty does mean. The district court indicated that Congress needed to clarify the state's position in regard to Indian child welfare. And perhaps Congress is where our Nations should be headed for a clear, unequivocal statement of just who they are in relation to the US government and the states where reservations are located. Undermining our Nations' ability to protect the wellbeing of our families and our children calls into question our very existence as meaningful governments. It's ony a short step from there to extermination as separate entities. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + ---- Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - State can terminate - Clanship finds ties that bind Indian Parental Rights - Students gather - No one should prejudge for an Education in Ownership Trust Settlement Figures - Cutting up Chickens - - Interior Official Thoughts on the Mascot Issue admits mischaracterization - ICT: The American Indian Rural - - Bill would settle Urban continuum Native American Suit - Calling home the Spirits of WW2 - NA Leaders issue statement - Manitoba lags Saskatchewan on McCain Trust Bill in TLE Payments - Indian Health Service - First Nation pressures to mark 50 Years Government for Edu Funds - American Indians - Canada offers Cash Prone to Heart Disease to help break Pipeline Impasse - Lawsuit alleges Racial Targeting - Supreme Court rejects - BIA strips 'Tribal College' Label Aboriginal Logging Claim - MSU Indian Student - NB Natives have role in Forestry Center site OK'd - Another Win for Me'tis Rights - Mashpee Wampanoag, - WALLERSTEIN: BIA nearing a deal The Zapatistas - Second Stage - Schaghticokes denied - Native Prisoner Historian's Research -- Study: Effect of National - Ute Trove appears OK and State Policies as Blazes rip S.W. Colorado - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Arizona Tribes - Rustywire: Sweeping Out the Dust seek Security Funding - Lee Goins Poem: - Descendants of U.S. Fur Trader Indian Summer Eclipses apologize - Tribal Elder recalls - Hopis, Navajo look to future Otoe Predecessors without Mohave - Program aims - Navajo Nation invited to preserve Navajo Language to Canadian Dene Gathering - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: State can terminate Indian Parental Rights" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE CHILD CUSTODY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.latimes.com/indian20jul20,1,4260023.story?coll=la-news-state State Can Terminate Indian Parental Rights, Court Says # California courts have jurisdiction in Native American child custody cases, U.S. panel rules. By Carla Rivera, Times Staff Writer July 20, 2005 In a significant case for Native Americans, a federal court in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that tribes cannot stop California courts from taking Indian children from their parents. The opinion in Doe vs. Mann by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is an attempt by the federal courts to determine how much control tribes retain over foster care and other child welfare issues. Tribes around the country have moved to assert more authority in recent years, arguing that Indian children are better off remaining within their tribes than being placed for adoption. They base their arguments on the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed by Congress in 1978, which gave tribes exclusive jurisdiction over custody proceedings involving children residing on reservations, "except where such jurisdiction is otherwise vested in the state under existing federal law." Some states, notably Wisconsin, have concluded that involuntary child custody proceedings lie outside state purview, while state courts in Washington and Idaho have deduced the opposite. The case stems from a 2001 Superior Court decision to terminate the parental rights of a Native American mother accused by child welfare authorities of failing to protect her daughter while both resided on the Elem Indian Colony in Northern California's Lake County. The child told her mother she had been sexually assaulted by a male cousin while staying at a relative's home. The mother called the state Department of Social Services, and the child was placed in a foster home. The Tribal Council later passed a resolution declaring that the child should be adopted by the mother's brother and sister-in-law. But the Superior Court approved an adoption petition by the girl's foster parents. The girl's mother filed a complaint in federal court challenging the Superior Court's jurisdiction. The mother's attorney, Jeff L. Bleich, said he had not talked with his client but was disappointed in the decision. "We obviously disagree with the conclusion the court reached and will have to consider whether to pursue the matter with the Supreme Court," he said. David Simmons, director of government affairs and advocacy at the National Indian Child Welfare Assn., which filed an amicus brief in the case, said the appeal underscores the fact that state court decisions in such matters are still subject to federal review and that tribes can apply for exclusive jurisdiction in individual cases under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Tuesday's appellate ruling hinged on an interpretation of so-called "Public Law 280," which gives some states, including California, broad jurisdiction over criminal and some civil offenses committed in Indian territory. The judges concluded that based on this law, those civil actions include dependency court proceedings. The panel noted that California has assumed authority over such child custody cases for years. And while a complete transition to tribal jurisdiction in these cases may be appropriate, the panel acknowledged, "we believe this is a judgment for Congress to make, not the courts." Copyright c. 2005 Los Angeles Times. --------- "RE: No one should prejudge Trust Settlement Figures" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 08:45:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LOUIS GRAY: TRUST FUND" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6729 No one should prejudge trust fund settlement figures Guest commentary Louis Gray July 18, 2005 There have any number of significant milestones in the Quixote-like battle Blackfeet Indian Elouise Cobell has waged against the Interior Department's mishandling of trust funds. But at this time, the crossroads are forming an inescapable collision of forces, which will no doubt bring this shameful episode to an end. Ten years into the effort to bring about settlement and reform to the trust fund debacle, last month key Indian leaders issued a list of 50 principles from the tribes' viewpoint. The list was all encompassing and put forth a settlement figure to consider for the settlement amount, otherwise known as the thing everyone wanted to know in the first place. This effort was created at the urging of congressional leaders. It was thoughtful, fair and exacting in professional approach. One of the most important figures in this convergence of energies, U.S. Senator John McCain (202-224-2235), has theorized the $27.5 billion recommended by Indian leaders is too high. Of course he never said it wasn't owed or that Native Americans aren't entitled to even more. McCain is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and should remember the days of the Savings and Loan crisis/theft/debacle of the 1980's. The federal government had a limited fiduciary role in that mess. It was a billion dollar set of problems created by greedy lenders and irresponsible loan practices. Innocent investors were going to lose billions of dollars. The downfall would have damaged the economies in hundreds of communities. Congress not only covered the insured amount; they covered all of it. They punished many of the guilty and reformed the system. If the government can do that for the S & L's of this country, they can do it for Native Americans. They can and should do no less. McCain is joined by Democratic leaders U.S. Senator Vice Chairman Byron L. Dorgan North Dakota (202) 224-2551. Dorgan has not come out and prejudged what his fellow Senators are prepared or not prepared to do at this early point. In this case, the federal government doesn't have a limited role they have a total responsibility. In truth many have surmised Native Americans are owed Billions of dollars more than the $27.5 suggested. There shouldn't be a rush to short-change the Indian; Native Americans should be given every consideration. Of course if you were to listen to Ross Swimmer the man who would say anything for a good job in government you'd come away believing the government is innocent. In an op-ed piece in the Sunday World (7/17/05) he suggests the error rate for underpayment is "likely" far less. Although despite the records piled to the heavens, he cannot prove his assessment. But, Swimmer is following the old "Big Lie" method of saying something incredible over and over until at least some believe him. He should be ashamed of himself. Swimmer is the Special Trustee for the Department of Interior over trust funds. The only thing special about him is his interpretation of the truth and trust. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has watched the government drag their feet, lie, distort and destroy evidence for the past 9 years. His words as of late have been particularly harsh. In a 34-page opinion he ordered the Interior Department to include notices to Indian land and account holders that the information they receive from them may not be credible. He did not mince words. "For those harboring hope that the stories of murder, dispossession, forced marches, assimilationist policy programs, and other incidents of cultural genocide against the Indians are merely the echoes of a horrible, bigoted government-past that has been sanitized by the good deeds of more recent history, this case serves as an appalling reminder of the evils that result when large numbers of the politically powerless are placed at the mercy of institutions engendered and controlled by a politically powerful few," Lamberth said in his opinion. These are not the words of a United States Judge who sits in judgment of the largest class action lawsuit in the history of the world. This country, which is quick to tell other countries to treat their indigenous people humanely and justly, can be cavalier in their historic indifference to this country's first citizens. The judge was more exacting. "As if they were somehow less than deserving of the respect that should be afforded to everyone in a society where all people are supposed to be equal," Lamberth said. Still the Interior Department is distorting the truth and dragging its feet like some silly knee jerk reaction. When there is a settlement, they will still say they were innocent. It is apparently just not in them to be honest and just. It looks like that will be the job of the most deliberate political body known on earth; the United States Senate. We appeal to their greatest goodness and deepest sense of justice to do what is proper. Moral absolutes for lawmakers are not much different than they are for everyone else; when we walk up to the crossroads we always have the choice to do the right thing. What do our higher ideas tell you? Republicans Pete Domenici New Mexico (202) 224-6621 Craig Thomas Wyoming (202) 224-6441 Gordon Smith Oregon (202) 224-3753 Lisa Murkowski Alaska (202) 224-6665 Michael D. Crapo Idaho (202) 224-6142 Richard Burr North Carolina (202) 224-3154 Tom Coburn Oklahoma (202) 224-5754 Democrats Daniel K. Inouye Hawaii (202) 224-3934 Kent Conrad North Dakota (202) 224-2043 Daniel K. Akaka Hawaii (202) 224-6361 Tim Johnson South Dakota (202) 224-5842 Maria Cantwell Washington (202) 224-3441 Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Interior Official admits mischaracterization" --------- Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 2:47 PM From: Bill McAllister [bmcallister@cox.net] Subj: SENIOR INTERIOR OFFICIAL ADMITS THAT GOVERNMENT MISCHARACTERIZED STATUS OF COMPUTERS From Cobell Litigation Team SENIOR INTERIOR OFFICIAL ADMITS THAT THE GOVERNMENT MISCHARACTERIZED STATUS OF COMPUTER SECURITY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WASHINGTON, July 20 - A senior Interior Department official whose testimony on computer security was crucial to a 2003 ruling in a lawsuit over the government's mismanagement of Indian Trust accounts has acknowledged that Department of Justice attorneys failed to accurately relay his views on computer security to an appeals court. In testimony in U.S. District Court yesterday, James Cason, a deputy associate Interior secretary, said he would have placed qualifications on what Justice told the appeals court about Interior's computer security problems. In the brief, Justice lawyers quoted Cason as saying that Interior was "bulletproof" and that it had "driven the vulnerabilities down close to zero for our perimeter security at the department overall." However, evidence produced in court shows that two days before Cason's 2003 testimony, he received an e-mail indicating that almost 150 potentially catastrophic vulnerabilities had infected over 100 different Interior networks. The hearings on computer security before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, now in their 52nd day, have produced evidence that Interior was facing serious computer problems and is far from the "bulletproof" condition that Cason spoke of in testimony two years ago. The issue of how safe are Interior's computers is a critical issue in the nine-year-old lawsuit over the government's handling of individual Indian Trust accounts. As a result of Cason's testimony, the appeals court directed Lamberth to re-examine the department computer security. "If Mr. Cason had not allowed Justice to send his incomplete statements to the Court of Appeals, we could have avoided this entire hearing and the trust data would now be secure. Instead, Inspector General reports show that the systems continue to be easily hacked and the government still pretends as if nothing is wrong," said Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit over Indian trust accounts. She added: "This once again proves what the record makes clear - that Cason and others will say anything to continue to deny justice to Indian beneficiaries." Computer consultants hired by Interior's Inspector General have testified that they easily penetrated Interior's computers and, in some cases, remained there for weeks without being detected. One hacker went so far as to cross into NASA's program where he testified that he could have easily downloaded personal information on the astronauts. All this came after assurances from Cason that the department's security program was making much progress. Lawyers for the Indians in a class action lawsuit over individual Indian Trust accounts have told Lamberth that the problems with computer security are catastrophic and have been so for more than 20 years. That means there is no way that the department can assure Indian Trust beneficiaries that their listed account balances are accurate, they have pointed out. Apparently Lamberth agreed. Last week he ordered Interior to disseminate a notice to all class members that their trust information is unreliable. The computer security hearings are expected to conclude at the end of the month. Bill McAllister --------- "RE: Bill would settle Native American Suit" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MCCAIN INTRODUCES SETTLEMENT BILL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2974460,00.html Bill would settle Native American suit By Jennifer Talhelm Associated Press June 20, 2005 WASHINGTON - Arizona Sen. John McCain on Wednesday introduced a bill he hopes will resolve the almost decade-old lawsuit in which Native Americans accuse the Interior Department of cheating them out of billions of dollars in royalties. McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., offered the Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005 Wednesday evening, calling it a "starting point" for discussion to resolve the lawsuit. If it passes, it could end the nine-year court battle in which Native Americans claim the Interior Department mismanaged oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties from their lands dating back to 1887. The Native Americans have said they are owed more than $100 billion, though last month, they offered to settle for $27.5 billion. The bill does not offer an exact dollar amount but would create a settlement fund and overhaul the Native American trust asset management system. The Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the lawsuit next week, and members will discuss the settlement further with both sides. "The bill we offer today is a starting point for discussion in the effort to resolve the difficult issues in the ... case," McCain said in a statement. Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said officials look forward to resolving the lawsuit. "Any legislative effort to bring this long and protracted case and the complex issues that surround the case to a solution would be welcome," he said. A spokesman for the plaintiffs said they were glad McCain called the bill a starting point. Keith Harper, a lawyer representing the Native Americans, said they have a number of concerns about the bill, including that the settlement amount was left blank. The Native Americans believe the $27.5 billion is a discount for the government, he said. The Native Americans agreed to the amount after McCain and others in Congress asked for guidelines to help them draft a bill to settle the case. McCain said last week that he thought Congress would never agree to that amount. Harper said the government shouldn't be allowed to determine the settlement, however. "It's that high because of the government's mismanagement," Harper said. Blackfeet Indian Elouise Cobell and others filed the suit in 1996 to force the government to account for billions of dollars belonging to about 500,000 Indians. In the ensuing court fight, the federal judge in the case has held both Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her Clinton administration predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, in contempt of court and has routinely criticized the department for its failure to correct problems with accounting and records. DuBray, the Interior Department spokesman, said that the department's preliminary accounting has found "no evidence of any fraud or error of the scale that has been alleged by plaintiffs in the case." But McCain said in a statement for the Congressional Record that the case "has shown is that the United States has not lived up to its duty as a fiduciary to the thousands of Indian beneficiaries." McCain's and Dorgan's bill would provide a lump sum settlement of the claims and establish a settlement fund administered by the Treasury Department. The bill suggests a number of changes to the way Native American trusts are managed and would require an annual audit of Native American trust funds by the Government Accountability Office. It also would reorganize the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians under a newly created office within the Interior Department, an Under Secretary for Indian Affairs. The issue of who would administer the settlement likely will be argued fiercely. Harper, the Native Americans' lawyer, said it's unlikely the plaintiffs would want the federal government which they say mismanaged their trust accounts to handle the settlement. Copyright c. 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2005 Los Angeles Newspaper Group. --------- "RE: NA Leaders issue statement on McCain Trust Bill" --------- Date: Thursday, July 21, 2005 4:54 PM From: Chokshi, Parag [pchokshi@webershandwick.com] Subj: Prominent Native American Leaders Issue Statement on Legislation Introduced Yesterday by Sen. McCain (R-AZ) Prominent Native American Leaders Issue Statement on Legislation Introduced Yesterday by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) Washington, DC - Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the Cobell v. Norton case, Tex G. Hall ("Red Tipped Arrow"), president of The National Congress of American Indians and chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation and Jim Gray, chairman of the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association, and principal chief of the Osage Nation, issued the following statement today: Almost six months ago, Senator McCain asked us to work with Indian Country to reach a consensus on finding a solution to one of America's last, great injustices: the mismanagement of Indian Trusts. Over the course of many months, Native American leaders from all across this great country consulted and agreed on 50 trust principles, a roadmap to resolution of this national shame. We continue to share an interest in an equitable legislative solution to this century-old scandal. We are disappointed that most of the 50 trust principles that Indian Country put forth to the Committee are not incorporated in the draft legislation. However, we look forward to working with Chairman McCain and Vice-Chairman Dorgan and the members of the Committee on Indian Affairs to implement the trust principles that we submitted in June. Those principles are the views of Indian Country. Any legislation that has a hope of gaining the support of Indian Country has to strongly reflect those views. This is a historic issue that all of Indian Country has rallied behind. Historic issues require historic solutions. We have a long way to go, but we are confident that the Committee shares our view that we have to end up with a bill that all of Indian Country can support. Moreover, the bill is not in accord with important judicial rulings made over the nine years of Cobell litigation. An equitable settlement must honor and reflect the judicial decisions from the many hard fought victories won in the District Court and United States Court of Appeals. For nine years, Native American owners of individual trust lands have sought justice in the courts. For nine years, they have won victory after victory on the merits of their case. For nine years, government lawyers have subverted justice with a strategy of obstruction, delay, and misrepresentation. For their misdeeds, government officials - both Democrats and Republicans - have been routinely and repeatedly sanctioned and held in contempt of court. Moreover, the government has spent over a billion dollars on bogus fixes to the system and their own lawyers. The district court has already ruled that plaintiffs are likely to prevail in this litigation - a string of unqualified victories on the merits makes this a certainty. However, it might take years to reach a resolution if the government continues its policy of obstruction and delay. Too many generations have already died without justice. Members of the Committee asked Indian leaders to come together behind a unified set of principles reflecting the concerns of Indian Country. After five months of consultations and deliberations taking into account decades of hard experience, we delivered on that request. The degree of unity reflected in these principles is without precedent. We look forward to the public hearings and to vigorous and constructive participation in the legislative process. We also look forward to the anticipated involvement of the House of Representatives Committee on Resources, which has been dealing with these issues as well. Contacts: Bill McAllister for Elouise Cobell 703-385-6996 (office, home) 202-257-5385 (mobile) bmcallister@cox.net Wilson Pipestem for Chief Jim Gray Inter-Tribal Monitoring Assoc. wkpipestem@ietan.com, 703-980-2262 (mobile) Chris Stearns for Tex G. Hall National Congress of American Indians cstearns@hsdwdc.com, 202-257-6428 (mobile) --------- "RE: Indian Health Service to mark 50 Years" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="IHS ANNIVERSARY" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/009371.asp Indian Health Service to mark 50 years since transfer July 19, 2005 It was 50 years ago this month that the Indian Health Service underwent a dramatic change that forever altered the way Native Americans receive health care. In July 1955, the IHS was taken out of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and transferred to the then-Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The move was authorized by Congress a year earlier in what is commonly known as the Transfer Act, or Public Law 83-568. Coming at the height of the termination era, the proposal was viewed with extreme skepticism among tribal leaders. They feared it was part of the federal government's wholesale dismantling of its trust and treaty responsibilities. Even the Public Health Service and former president Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration opposed the move. They argued it wasn't cost- effective and wouldn't improve the delivery of health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. But history proved otherwise. Fifty years later, the IHS is alive and thriving, an agency with a $3 billion budget that provides critical services to more than 1 million Native Americans through its own programs and those operated by tribes. "This month, July 2005, marks the 50th anniversary of the Transfer Act," Dr. Charles Grim, the current director of the IHS and a member of the Cherokee Nation, said at a Senate hearing last Thursday. "This transfer was more appropriate to the federal government in addressing the health care needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives," he said. "Since the Transfer Act, the health status of Indians has improved significantly." To mark the occasion, the IHS will be hosting a program and reception next Tuesday, July 26, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. Dr. Grim, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and Dr. Everett R. Rhoades, the first American to serve as the IHS director, will speak about the agency's history and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. There are many, tribal leaders noted last week. Citing decades of inadequate funding and substandard services, they said the U.S. government has a long way to go to meet its trust and treaty responsibilities. "Health care reality in Indian Country compared to the general population is: Our people still die due to accidents 204 percent greater then the rest of the population, 666 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, a preventable disease, [and] 318 percent more likely to die from diabetes," said Rachel Joseph, the chairwoman of the Lone Paiute Shoshone Tribe of California. "The Surgeon General reports that Indian youth are dying at 3.1 times greater than the general population," she added. "Our challenges are escalating." The IHS anniversary comes at a critical time. For the past two years, key members of Congress have been trying to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, first passed in 1976. They agree with tribal leaders that the measure will improve services in Indian Country. "This act is long overdue," said Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee "I think we have a bona fide emergency in health care on Indian reservations," Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the committee's vice chairman, said. The Transfer Act and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act aren't the only important pieces of legislation in IHS history. The landmark Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 ushered in an era where tribes began to exercise greater control of their own affairs. The law came after Congress repudiated the termination policy that contributed to the IHS transfer. "It appears that every 20 to 40 years a pendulum swings, the pendulum of public sentiment and federal policy, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said last year in Senate testimony. "At one extreme, this sentiment and policy is hostile to American Indian tribes. At the other end of that swing, it allows tribes to determine their own destiny." Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: American Indians Prone to Heart Disease" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEART PROBLEMS" http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=958939&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 American Indians Prone to Heart Disease American Indians Face Higher Death Rates From Heart Disease, Government Says The Associated Press July 20, 2005 American Indians face higher death rates from heart disease, and the death rate in South Dakota is worse than other states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indian Health Service. "We see that many of the counties within South Dakota fall within the highest rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives," CDC report author Michelle Casper said. Higher rates in South Dakota can be linked to a lack of prevention programs and to too many risk factors, experts say. Many agree that using traditional culture in combination with modern medicine and increasing prevention programs can reduce risk factors. South Dakota counties with higher heart disease death rates include reservation counties such as Shannon, home to the Oglala Lakota Tribe, and Todd, home to the Rosebud Tribe. Those are in stark contrast to changes seen in the general population, in which heart disease is the leading cause of death, although the rate is falling. "The improvements nationwide have been huge ... a fall in the (death) rate," said Jack Williams, dean of the division of health services at the University of South Dakota. "It's fairly flat in the Indian population." The numbers for heart disease and stroke death rates come from 1996 to 2000 data comparisons, Casper said. Risk factors, compiled in 2003, are self-reported for those 18 and older. South Dakota has a high number of American Indians with diabetes as well as a growing number of smokers and obese people, according to the report. Treatment for the diseases should reflect Indian culture, Williams said. "We tend too often to treat the disease and not the spirit," Williams said. And it helps if family members are involved in treatment, he said. At Rapid City Regional Hospital, which sees between 50 and 70 American Indian patients a day, there are many programs in place to incorporate their traditional ways with today's medicine. That helps ease the anxiety of many American Indians who may be fearful of going to a hospital, said nurse Cathey Ducheneaux, who works as a liaison for the Native American and medical communities. "Years back, people didn't want to come to Regional," Ducheneaux said. "What we're seeing now is people really want to come here." Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com Copyright c. 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures. --------- "RE: Lawsuit alleges Racial Targeting" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:43:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RACIAL PROFILING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.rapidcityjournal.com//2005/07/22/news/local/top/news01.txt Lawsuit alleges racial targeting By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer July 22, 2005 Years before the Iowa attorney general filed a consumer-fraud lawsuit against a network of car dealerships owned by Rapid City native Dan Nelson, a local car lot owned by Nelson family members was targeting American Indians with fraudulent sales and financing practices, a legal complaint by former customers alleges. Rapid City lawyer Mark Koehn is the lead lawyer in a 4-year-old lawsuit against the former J.D. Byrider lot and several members of the Nelson family. Koehn said Friday that his clients suffered the same types of deceptive sales techniques, excessive interest rates, inflated vehicle prices and unfulfilled warranty promises that were alleged in the Iowa lawsuit filed last January. That lawsuit was a key factor in the financial fall of Dan Nelson Automotive Group, which operated car lots in Rapid City and Sioux Falls in South Dakota and Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Des Moines in Iowa. The company is bankrupt, and all the dealerships recently closed. Koehn also said that the majority of clients served by the Rapid City dealership, which began in the mid-1990s as a J.D. Byrider franchise before going through a succession of name changes, were American Indians - many with poor credit ratings who were already struggling financially. The Nelson operation promised to provide vehicles and financing and help rebuild the credit rating and financial status of its customers but often left them in worse shape financially, Koehn said. "They certainly did go after the Native American population. But, to be fair, I'm sure a lot of the Native American population had a heck of a time buying a car anywhere else," Koehn said. "The end result was that 50 percent to 80 percent of their clientele was Native American." Like the complaint filed by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Koehn's complaint alleges that the buy-here, pay-here car dealership sold defective vehicles at inflated prices with excessive interest rates, then often failed to meet warranty obligations. In their legal complaint, former customers also allege that the dealership "made racially motivated distinctions between Native American customers and Caucasian customers." Those distinctions included charging higher interest rates and requiring payroll deductions from Indian customers, the complaint alleges. John Shaw, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and his wife, Jackie, of Rapid City are among the current group of plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They said Thursday that they bought a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am from the Nelson lot in Rapid City last September for what they believed was a sales price of $7,000. But they learned later that the actual payoff would be more than $11,000. The Shaws said they immediately had trouble with the vehicle and believed repairs would be covered by an extended warranty. But the dealership balked at making needed repairs and claimed to have made repairs it didn't, Jackie Shaw said. Jackie is out of work after a stroke last year. John is an unemployed construction worker who needs a vehicle to look for work. They live primarily on Jackie's disability check. The Grand Am quit recently. It sits at Nate's Towing in Rapid City, where assistant manager John Taylor tries to work on it when he can, as cheaply as he can, to save the Shaws money. Meanwhile, they walk or seek rides from friends. John Shaw said the Nelsons' lot was one of their few options because of their limited finances and bad credit rating. John said that he believed salesmen at the lot when they told him they would help the Shaws fix their credit. "They told us this would help our credit. It didn't," John said. "I wish we'd have gone someplace else." Koehn filed the original lawsuit against Prairie Auto Group and its financing company in August of 2001 in 7th Circuit Court in Pennington County. He amended the complaint in 2004 and also filed in Cheyenne River Tribal Court in Eagle Butte. Next week, he will file a similar complaint in Oglala Tribal Court in Pine Ridge. When Koehn amended the suit last year, he added Dan Nelson to the list of defendants that already included Nelson's brothers, Tim and Jon, and their father, Allen Nelson, a Rapid City lawyer. Neither Allen Nelson nor lawyers who have represented the Nelson family in the case responded to Journal requests for comment on Thursday. And officials in the Pennington County Clerk of Court Office said they had to review the defendant's answers to the complaints on file there before releasing them to the Journal. Koehn said Friday that he had originally filed the lawsuit on behalf of six clients but that the list had grown to more than 25. The dealership in question began as J.D. Byrider and Prairie Auto Group but later operated under other names, including Dan Nelson Isuzu, Dan Nelson Hyundai and, at the time it closed earlier this month, Family Hyundai. At the time of that name change, Dan Nelson relinquished control of the network to his partner, Chris Tapken. Nelson has not answered requests for interviews or made public statements since then. Nelson's friendship with and past financial support for Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., have become a side issue in the bankruptcy proceedings. Between his three terms in the U.S. House and his election victory over Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in November, Thune served on the audit committee and board of directors of an Iowa-based bank that was the lender in a package of almost $30 million in loans to Nelson and his auto network. Past supporters and staffers of Daschle's have questioned whether Thune used his position with MetaBank to influence the loan process, a charge that the senator denied. Thune said the bank had been loaning money to Nelson for years before he joined the board and that he didn't know of his friend's serious financial problems until recently. Koehn said Nelson's bankruptcy wouldn't deter his clients' lawsuit, which was aimed as much at the business practices of the auto network as it was in finding relief for individual plaintiffs. "It (bankruptcy) certainly affects our chances of receiving very much," Koehn said. "But what we're really suing is the business plan, a way of doing business." Koehn said the general structure of the car lots in Nelson's network had the potential to help poor people struggling with bad credit and a need for transportation. Instead, it often ended up manipulating people and making their situations worse, he said. "I try to understand the Byrider idea. And what I think you had there was a good idea," Koehn said. "But because it was motivated by how much you could squeeze out of it, the effect was that they went over the line." Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2005 The Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: BIA strips 'Tribal College' Label" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FOND DU LAC GETS SI TANKA/HURON RIP FROM FEDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.cloquetmn.com/journal/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=205470 FDLTCC loses $1 million in federal funds BIA strips 'Tribal College' label Scott Stein The Pine Journal July 20, 2005 Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) is facing the loss of $1 million in federal funding due to a change in government policy. The change also means the institution will no longer be listed as a tribal college. College President Don Day said the issue is how the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is now interpreting one of the criteria tribal colleges must meet to receive federal funds. The criteria states the tribal college's enrollment must be 51 percent of the total enrollment. Until June of this year, FDLTCC (as other tribal colleges did) counted all tribal students as part of the tribal college, meaning their enrollment was 100 percent. Non-Native students were enrolled in the Community College. We had them accredited together," Day said. "That was the way we had always done it. But now they're saying that we have to accredit them separately." With the new interpretation, only 21 percent of FDLTTC students are Native American, putting the college out of compliance with federal guidelines. Thus, FDLTCC will lose $1 million in federal funding next year. "That's a big hit for us," Day said. "Our budget is only about $8 million." Solving that budget problem is forcing the college to be creative. Day said the college is exploring a $1 million loan option with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU), which the college would repay over a four-year period. That may help next year's crunch, but it is a loan and the loss of the federal funds will mean the college is in for a few lean years financially. "It's the difference from ending the year with a $250,000 reserve to a $750,000 deficit," Day said. The good news in all of this is that the college continues to grow. In fact, Native American students have increased from 290 to 470 students over the past two years and enrollment is up 12 percent over the same time last year. "This doesn't have anything to do with the education students are getting here," Day said. "We're still doing all the things a tribal college is supposed to do. We're still in a good position. We have a growing number students, revenues and a great college." All of that should help the accreditation process, which is likely to take one to two years. The accreditation process is meant to ensure the college's curriculum and staff are at a high enough level to be able to transfer credits between colleges and universities. It's a cumbersome and labor-intensive process. The college didn't have much time to try to solve the problem. Day said he received a call from the BIA on April 14 requesting a site visit. They spent three days at the college just a few weeks later and then informed the college in early June that they were losing funding. The abrupt change of policy left the college without time to even attempt to accredit the colleges separately. Even the area's congressional delegation has promised to help appeal the decision. Day said Congressman Jim Oberstar has promised to help restore funding and U.S. Senators Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman have also said they'd advocate for the college. But for now, at least, the college is anticipating some tighter financial budgets. Copyright c. 1998-2005 The Pine Journal, Cloquet, MN - Multi-Media Interactive. --------- "RE: MSU Indian Student Center site OK'd" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:43:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NA STUDENT CENTER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com//2005/07/22/build/state/85-student-center.inc Indian student center site OK'd MSU News Service July 22, 2005 BOZEMAN - Montana State University plans to build an $8 million Native American Student Center on the eastern edge of the school's Centennial Mall, the university facilities committee has announced. "Because American Indians place a great deal of emphasis on cardinal directions, the building will sit on the eastern side of campus," said Henrietta Mann, special assistant to MSU President Geoff Gamble and professor emeritus of Native American Studies. She called it "a sacred position" and added that ceremonial lodges always open to the east. The location, she said, "just felt right," especially after it served as the site of a tepee encampment during this year's MSU powwow. Sara Jayne Steen, dean of MSU's College of Letters and Science, says the university will begin raising private donations to fund the 12,000- to 15,000-square-foot center. "What we plan is a wonderful, inclusive building that will be different from other buildings on campus," Steen said. "It will be beautiful and unique and a place to welcome Native students as well as bring to our non-Indian students a sense of the wonders of native culture." Walter Fleming, head of MSU's Department of Native American Studies, said MSU has about 275 American Indian students. The current American Indian Student Center is in the basement of Wilson Hall. The current meeting room "was built in the mid-'70s when Wilson Hall was built and when there were fewer than 25 Indian students," Fleming said. "It has to be one of the most-used spots on campus." Steen said while the Montana Board of Regents approved construction of the building, it will be funded entirely by private donations. Impetus for building was provided by Bozeman-area artist Jim Dolan and architect Dennis Sun Rhodes, a principal of AmerIndian architecture firm in Minneapolis. Dolan and Sun Rhodes, MSU graduates who met while students on campus, are helping spearhead the project. Sun Rhodes will assist with the design, and Dolan will donate the first piece of art for the building's planned sculpture garden. "It's a very worthy goal," Mann said. "We will create a beautiful building that will pay tribute to the ancestors and the spirits of the land, especially those who first lived in this valley which we now call home." Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Mashpee Wampanoag, BIA nearing a deal" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 08:45:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MASHPEE WAMPANOAG RECOGNITION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/tribebureau19.htm Tribe, bureau nearing a deal By SEAN GONSALVES STAFF WRITER July 19, 2005 MASHPEE - A proposed decision on the Mashpee Wampanoag petition for federal recognition could be handed down next spring with a final determination made by March 2007, according to court documents obtained by the Times. In the summer of 2001, tribal attorneys filed a suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The complaint asked U.S. District Judge James Robertson to order the bureau to make a final decision on the tribe's petition in a timely manner, after the petition had been collecting dust on the bureau's "ready for active consideration" list since 1996. Robertson ruled in favor of the tribe and ordered the bureau to issue a proposed finding by December 2001 and a final ruling by June 2002. Interior department attorneys successfully appealed the order. An appellate court ruled that Robertson could not order the bureau to make a finding by a specific date but could monitor the progress of the bureau's handling of the petition. According to a legal brief filed with the court in June, bureau officials and tribal attorneys have been trying to negotiate a settlement, with discussions taking place between April 2 and May 26. A deal was not immediately reached "despite both parties closely approaching mutually agreeable terms." Tribal leaders declined to comment yesterday. The brief, filed by F. Lee Fleming, the bureau's director of the Office of Federal Acknowledgement, details the staffing problems that have slowed the recognition process in recent years. "The projected schedule ... should allow the department to start the review and evaluation for Mashpee's proposed finding in October 2005," the brief reads. The court brief states that the actual proposed finding would be issued in April 2006 for public comment, and a final determination would follow by late March 2007. "This projected schedule represents significant change from the schedule filed in February 2005.... The changes in the projected schedules are possible because of recent developments on other petitions that are on active consideration," the brief reads. If the Mashpee tribe is granted federal recognition, it will establish the 1,400-member tribe as a quasi-sovereign entity with a "government-to- government" relationship. Federal recognition also provides tribes access to federal money for housing, education and health care programs. Federally recognized tribes are exempt from local and state authority on tribal lands and such status also opens the door to Indian gaming operations. Mashpee tribal leaders have said that while they would consider pursuing a gaming facility off-Cape, they would not seek to build a casino on Cape Cod. Local critics of federal recognition are wary of how federal recognition will impact local property values and question whether tribal leaders are being open about their gaming intentions. Of particular concern are recent revelations of Mashpee ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom Delay. Abramoff and Scanlon are at the center of an ethics and criminal probe, investigating allegations that the two bilked tribal clients of $82 million and also manipulated tribal elections for personal gain. In 2003 and 2004, the Mashpee tribe paid Abramoff's former lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, $40,000 to lobby on behalf of the tribe in their pursuit of federal recognition, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Glenn Marshall told the Times in May. Tribe officials have never had any direct dealings with Abramoff, he said, though Greenberg Traurig did pro bono work on behalf of the tribe for eight months in 2003 before collecting $40,000 in fees. Sean Gonsalves can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com. Copyright c. 2005 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Schaghticokes denied Historian's Research" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GENEALOGICAL RECORDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.courant.com//hc-kentsqueeze.artjul21,0,7040269.story?&track=rss Kent Tribe Is Denied Historian's Research Schaghticokes Want Genealogical Records By RICK GREEN, Courant Staff Writer July 21, 2005 KENT - In the fierce battle over this town's long history, the woman who literally knows where the bodies are buried isn't giving ground, especially to an Indian tribe and its casino investor. But as the bitter fight over their bid for federal recognition drags on, the Schaghticoke Indians are trying to push Francelia C. Johnson to tell what she knows about Indian families who have lived in Kent for generations. Johnson, an amateur genealogist and president of the local historical society with stacks of loose-leaf notebooks detailing her research, isn't budging. "It's got me ticked off, to tell you the truth," said Johnson, a woman the tribe feels may have documents that could shed light on the Schaghticokes during the 19th century. "I think it's a fishing trip." Fishing or not, the Schaghticokes are hustling to produce more evidence that shows that the tribe did not fade away, particularly in the mid-1800s. In a "notice of deposition" delivered to her last week, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation requested that Johnson appear today for an "oral examination" at the offices of the Institute of American Indian Studies in the nearby town of Washington. Wednesday, Kent town attorney Jeff Sienkiewicz, who is representing Johnson at the request of the board of selectmen, got her appearance postponed, although she still may be compelled to respond to the Schaghticoke questions about her knowledge of Indian history at a later date. Johnson - who has been known to assist strangers trying to find ancestors in local graveyards - said she has little interest in providing any information. The Schaghticokes' July 16 request, which was not a court-ordered subpoena, tells Johnson to bring "any and all books, records, notebooks, loose-leaf notebooks, notes, ledgers, birth certificates, cemetery sketches, obituaries, genealogical trees, marriage licenses ... or other information in your possession or custody or under your control relative to any Schaghticoke Indian." The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is scheduled to make a final decision on the Schaghticokes this fall in the aftermath of a decision this May that overturned the tribe's recognition and sent it back for further review. The BIA recently said it was willing to accept a limited amount of new material on Indian-to-Indian marriages in the 1800s, evidence that could prove the Schaghticokes were surviving as a tribe and not merely a collection of families with Indian roots. The Schaghticokes have long maintained that the town of Kent has been less than helpful with their requests to look over historical records, perhaps even concealing some documents - charges that town officials deny. During the last year, as an outspoken and aggressive anti-Schaghticoke local group known as the Town Action to Save Kent (TASK) has grown more active, the tribe has become more suspicious. Two years ago, for example, tribal researchers say they were denied access to some Kent historical records, an accusation that local officials dispute. Johnson, the author of a thick self-published book detailing Kent family genealogies between 1739 and 1999, has fanned the flames by saying she may have information about the Schaghticokes, which she isn't interested in disclosing to anyone. "She has got nothing more than what is already available to anyone anywhere," said First Selectwoman Dolores Schiesel, who directed Kent's town attorney to assist Johnson. "She is very clearly saying, `I am not going to be employed by these people.' She isn't working for anybody. If you know her, you know that nobody buys her off." Schiesel herself was called to a deposition Wednesday in a different, but related Schaghticoke matter. Under an order approved by U.S. District Judge Peter Dorsey, the tribe has subpoenaed local elected officials to try to learn whether they have colluded with TASK and sought to influence the federal government's decision on whether to recognize the Schaghticokes. Dorsey has prohibited parties involved with the recognition case from lobbying the federal Department of Interior. The Schaghticokes are seeking information from Johnson through a different court case, however - a long-running dispute between the tribe and its investor, Subway Restaurants founder Fred DeLuca. DeLuca has poured more than $12 million into the tribe's recognition effort and hopes to help the Schaghticokes develop a Bridgeport casino. "The tribe has for a long time sought information about its history. Here's another source," said Benjamin Engel, a Hartford-based lawyer for the Schaghticokes. "We have to make sure our investor understands the need to pursue this information," Engel said. "We have to show our investor the need for this historical research." Around Kent many take a dim view of the Schaghticokes, a tribe that has lived in Kent since at least the 1700s, well before wealthy New York "weekenders" discovered the community's green hills and fresh air. "People are saying, `Why are they picking on Fran?'" said Susi Williams, a former president of the historical society who is active in the fight against the Schaghticokes' recognition. "What is this, the McCarthy era? It's just an invasion of her privacy," Williams said. The Schaghticokes, she said, "are just too lazy to look for whatever Fran has found." Copyright c. 2005 The Hartford Courant. --------- "RE: Ute Trove appears OK as Blazes rip S.W. Colorado" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARTIFACT APPEARS TO BE SAFE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.denverpost.com/ci_2878031?rss Ute trove appears OK as blazes rip S.W. Colo. By Electa Draper Denver Post Staff Writer Hesperus - Air surveillance at a 200-acre fire on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation showed that a world-class archaeological preserve appears to be largely intact, tribal officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, a grass fire Wednesday southeast of Denver in Elbert County had burned 800 acres and forced the evacuation of up to 50 homes near Kiowa as of 7 p.m. In southwestern Colorado, the Dwelling fire on the Ute reservation was 75 percent contained as of Wednesday evening, said Susan Zornek, spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Area Incident Command. Any fire damage to cliff dwellings and artifacts will not be known until a ground survey can be done. Tribal officials who flew over the area late Tuesday said they could see that picnic tables, small shelters, portable toilets and other features of the North Lion Canyon trailhead were destroyed. Fire had consumed vegetation around the Lion House ruin. The fire also had destroyed a wooden ladder providing access to an Ancestral Puebloan site known as She House in South Lion Canyon. The ancient dwellings at risk in the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park have the visual impact and archaeological importance of Mesa Verde's famous cliff dwellings. But they are far more pristine than those of the national park to the north. The Ute park, opened to the public in 1981, is open only to those who arrange guided tours with the tribe. The Utes host a few thousand visitors a year, compared with a few hundred thousand annual visitors to Mesa Verde. "It was just a matter of time before fire would occur in the North and South Lion Canyon. The area is thick with (pinon, juniper), grasses and various scrubs," tribal park director Veronica Cuthair said in a release. Lion Canyon was too steep for ground and engine crews, fire managers said. Instead, they launched a quick aerial attack on the flames when they flared late Monday afternoon. They were able to quickly divert crews and resources working the nearby 2,318-acre Trail East fire. The Trail East fire was about 85 percent contained by Wednesday evening, with full containment expected by late today, Zornek said. The fire has cost almost $1.8 million to suppress. The Dwelling fire so far has cost almost $330,000. Fire managers were kept busy Wednesday tracking new fires around hot, dry southwestern Colorado. Two small fires were sparked southeast of Pagosa Springs, not far from where the month-old, 1,200-acre Rio Blanco fire still smolders. Crews will suppress the new fires, Forest Service spokeswoman Pamella Wilson said. About 20 miles north of Durango, along a ridge of mixed conifers southeast of Electra Lake, a blaze was spotted at midday Wednesday. It was contained fairly quickly, and the exclusive residential enclave at the lake was not threatened. Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com. Copyright c. 2005 The Denver Post. --------- "RE: Arizona Tribes seek Security Funding" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOMELAND SECURITY SHORTFALL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic//0721indiantownhall.html Ariz. tribes seek security funding Homeland allocations fall short Judy Nichols The Arizona Republic July 21, 2005 Arizona tribes, which say they are not getting their fair share of homeland-security funding, want the money sent to them directly from the federal government rather than funneled through state officials. The recommendation is one of many in a report of the 25th Arizona Indian Town Hall, which was released this week. "Going through the state is just another step, another requirement for tribes," said Jack C. Jackson Jr., executive director of the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs, which hosted the Town Hall. advertisement Some of the money is funneled through county governments, creating yet another level of negotiations for tribes. Some counties and tribes have good working relationships; others do not. "Tribes have a trust relationship with the federal government and would like direct funding for any federal programs," Jackson said. "They should be able to decide for themselves how to spend the money." About 100 participants, including tribal leaders and state, local and federal representatives, attended the Town Hall last month in Sedona and discussed homeland security and emergency preparedness. Nearly $4 billion has been allocated to state governments through the Homeland Security Act, but none has been given directly to tribes, according to the report. Of the $158.7 million given to Arizona since 2001, about $2.5 million has gone to tribes in all, according to the Arizona Department of Homeland Security. The allocation has increased each year, reaching $2 million in 2004. The 2005 amount has not yet been set. Frank Navarette, Arizona's director of homeland security, said tribes are better represented than ever through regional advisory councils his office has created. And he has hired a full-time tribal liaison. But according to the report, the Tohono O'odham Nation, which straddles the Arizona-Mexico border and controls 75 miles of the U.S. border, spends $7 million from its tribal budget each year to deal with security and the destruction caused by illegal border crossers and drug smugglers. The money spent to secure the border is money not spent on the tribe's pressing social needs, such as health care, housing and education. The federal government should not rely on tribes to fund national security needs, the report states. The report also says that some tribal communities are not well informed about security issues, federal requirements for funding or even threat levels. "That came up again and again," Jackson said. "A lot of tribes weren't aware of services, programs, where to turn, who to turn to. "It was the first time we had federal, local, state and tribal officials all in one place and we were able to provide a lot of that information." The report recommends that tribes be more proactive, appointing tribal emergency managers and participating in local and regional committees, such as the regional councils. And Arizona tribes want to explore the Homeland Security Task Force of the National Congress of American Indians and meet with the U.S. attorney to make sure they are getting their fair share of funds. In addition to concerns about terrorism, tribes discussed emergency situations such as the "Rodeo-Chediski" fire, which burned more than 460, 000 acres in 2002, about 60 percent of it on the Fort Apache Reservation in eastern Arizona. The report concludes that tribes need to be better prepared for wildfires, floods and winter storms. They need emergency plans that address special needs, such as people with limited English or museums with irreplaceable cultural objects. Among the problems are a lack of compatibility in communication systems and large "dead zones" where wireless communications including radios or cellphones do not work. The report also calls for the commission to meet with the Arizona attorney general about prosecuting non-Indians for identity theft on tribal lands. Currently, the law does not allow tribes to take non-Indians into custody, so there is no mechanism for detaining non-Indian offenders. Copyright c. 2005 azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Descendants of U.S. Fur Trader apologize" --------- Date: Monday, July 18, 2005 12:21 PM From: frostyca2000 [frosty@ipermitmail.com] Subj: Descendants of U.S. fur trader apologize to natives near Tofino Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian http://www.mytelus.com/news/article=community_home&articleID=1982360 Descendants of U.S. fur trader apologize to natives near Tofino TOFINO, B.C. (CP) - Descendants of a U.S. fur trader who burned a native village and kidnapped the son of a local chief 200 years ago have apologized for their forefather's actions. This weekend, William Twombly, a direct descendant of Capt. Robert Gray, forged a new relationship with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations by just saying sorry. The apology took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon, aboard the Lady Washington, about one kilometre off Tofino's MacKenzie Beach, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. There, the Lady Washington - carrying Twombly family members visiting from London, England, Texas, New Hampshire and Massachusetts - pulled alongside three cedar canoes, carrying local chiefs. "We are sorry for the abduction and insult to your chief and his great family and for the burning of Opitsaht," said Twombly, of Corvallis, Ore. "We have heard your words and accept," answered Barney Williams Jr., the band's chief councillor and beach keeper. "I feel relieved," said Twombly after the apology. "It's actually hard to put into words. I feel excited. I feel honoured." Tla-o-qui-aht canoeists then led the Lady Washington to Opitsaht, past Tofino's harbour, packed with tourists, and a Canadian Coast Guard vessel shooting its water cannons. The sombre encounter was in direct contrast to events of more than 200 years ago. In the late 1780s and early 1790s, U.S. Captains Gray and Kendrick sailed the Columbia Rediviva and the Lady Washington into Clayoquot Sound to trade for furs from natives. While Kendrick maintained good relations with local natives, Gray did not. John Boit, a member of Gray's second expedition, described in his journal six violent encounters between explorers and natives. Some historians believe Gray, mistakenly fearing an attack from First Nations, ordered Boit and several crew members to destroy 200 homes in the deserted village of Opitsaht during his second visit in 1791- 1792. Gray's expedition had also kidnapped a son of Chief Wickaninnish. "I think it's brought closure to something that's been a part of our history for a long time," said Williams of the apology. "I think it went a long way to provide some healing for a lot of people." So important was the apology to the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation that the band turned the sombre event into a major cultural celebration. About 100 band members, including traditional dancers, greeted the Twombly family who landed on Opitsaht's beach by dug-out cedar canoes. Band members then led the Twombly family and guests onto the village's sports field to a stage. There five hereditary chiefs honoured and entertained as many as 500 guests, including the areas member of Parliament, member of the legislative assembly and William Kendrick Strong - a Glendale, Ariz., resident and descendant of Capt. Kendrick - with traditional dances. One by one, each hereditary chief invited members of the Twombly family up to the stage, shook hands and handed out gifts of money. They also presented William Twombly with two hand-carved canoe paddles. In return, the Twombly family presented hereditary chiefs and Tla-o- qui-aht dignitaries with a cowboy hat, coin collections, knitted clothing and reproductions of 200-year-old prints, depicting encounters between Gray and the Tla-o-qui-aht. But before the band treated guests to a feast, Strong took the stage and told all about the positive trading relationship his ancestor had with natives. Robert Twombly, father of William Twombly and a retired English professor from Austin, Texas, said this event was his second voyage of reconciliation. He said he participated in Martin Luther King Jr.'s march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965. As a child he heard stories about Gray's expedition, and he hoped his three grandchildren who were present would remember this event. "My wish is at the end of their lifespan their grandchildren will tell of the same honour and generosity you have shown us," he said. "There's not much you can say," said Williams, "except that what happened today speaks for itself. "There's an understanding on both sides, yes, this did happen." He said he was moved by Strong's words. "Kendrick was a really honourable man, and he was well received by us. And he made it his business to learn the customs and language of our people." "It's really a special day." "I think relationships have been built and connections have been made," added William Twombly. "My sense of things is its something to be built on. "My hope is that this will be an example for other such events." Copyright c. The Canadian Press, 2005. --------- "RE: Hopis, Navajo look to future without Mohave" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GENERATING PLANT SHUT DOWN" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096411236 Hopis, Navajo look to future without Mohave July 15, 2005 by: Tanya Lee FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Mohave Generating Station - from which both the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation derive significant income - may be in serious trouble. The plant's majority owner, Southern California Edison, filed its monthly report on Mohave with the California Public Utilities Commission updating progress on coal and water negotiations, C-aquifer studies, and an alternatives investigation. The 35-year-old 1,580 megawatt coal-fired plant, one of the biggest air pollution emitters in the country, uses Navajo and Hopi coal mined on Black Mesa by Peabody Coal. The coal goes to the generating station via a coal slurry pipeline that uses more than 4,000 acre-feet a year of potable water pumped from the N-aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for the Hopi Tribe and the Navajos living on Black Mesa. On Dec. 2, 2004, the CPUC decided not to authorize the installation of the pollution control equipment required by a 1999 federal consent decree resulting from a lawsuit brought against Mohave by environmental groups. According to the decree, Mohave must shut down at the end of 2005 if the pollution control equipment is not in place. The CPUC decision concluded a two-year proceeding that involved hundreds of comments from Black Mesa residents and arguments from the grassroots organizations Black Mesa Trust and To' Nizhoni Ani, as well as other interveners, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. The principal stakeholders were the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, Peabody Coal, and Mohave owners. In addition to installing $1.1 billion worth of pollution control equipment, upgrading the failing coal slurry pipeline and retrofitting the power plant, the CPUC decision focused on two other critical points. The first was the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation's resolve that Peabody stop using the N-aquifer as a source of water for the coal slurry. The second was that royalties from Black Mesa Mine - the sole supplier of coal to Mohave, which in turn is the mine's only customer - provide a substantial portion of the revenues on which the Hopi and Navajo governments depend. The Hopi Tribe stands to lose one-third of its budget, or roughly $7 million, when the power plant shuts down. The CPUC decision required SCE to commission a study of the C-aquifer underlying a large part of northern Arizona as a source of water for the coal slurry and authorized a study of alternative sources of power generation to replace Mohave-generated electricity and to help the tribes recoup some of their financial losses from the plant's closure. The C-aquifer The C-aquifer study is, after some initial difficulties, now moving forward. The report read: "All data obtained from the C-Aquifer test pumping has now been compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. From the USGS's preliminary report on the test data, SCE understands that the C- aquifer water in the proposed Canyon Diablo well-field area [on land purchased by the tribes] is expected to be of adequate quality, and the wells are expected to be capable of producing at an adequate rate, for the proposed project." The USGS model of the C-aquifer has run into some calibration difficulties, which it is resolving. A "flow model" of the C-aquifer is being conducted by SS Papadopulos & Associates and is expected by this fall. Three points of contention have been raised regarding the studies. The most thorny point is that the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns part of Navajo Generating Station in Page, Ariz., was in charge of drilling the test wells and collecting the pumping data. Since NGS also gets its coal from a Peabody mine on Black Mesa, critics suggest that Reclamation has an interest in keeping those mines open and therefore should not have conducted any part of the C-aquifer study. The second point of disagreement is whether the models being used by USGS are accurate, even leaving aside the issue of calibration. And the third is that the studies do not take into account the impact of pumping the C-aquifer for mining - and the roughly 5,500 acre-feet per year that the tribes want for municipal use from the well field - will have on other users of the aquifer, which include several towns and cities. The report also states, as did the five prior reports, that confidential post-2005 coal and water supply negotiations among the tribes, Peabody, and Mohave owners are continuing. Office of Surface Mining Peabody has submitted a new mining plan for Black Mesa Mine, asking the Office of Surface Mining to combine the two mines under one permit. Black Mesa has been operating on a "temporary" permit for more than two decades, largely because the issue of using N-aquifer water for the coal slurry has been in contention ever since the mine opened. Many Hopi elders maintain that the village leaders never gave permission for the sale of coal and water; therefore, the leases are invalid. The validity of the leases were further impugned with the discovery that the attorney who represented the Hopi Tribe in the original 1960s lease negotiations was working for Peabody at the same time. This report also stated that OSM will have a draft environmental impact statement on the Peabody application by January or February of next year, less than one year since public scoping meetings were held on the reservations and in Flagstaff. The firm of Sargent & Lundy has been retained by SCE to conduct the Mohave Alternatives/Complements Study process. One of the two major forces working against reopening Mohave regards the consent decree. All along, Peabody and the tribes have maintained their confidence that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit - Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust and National Parks and Conservation Association - would agree to extend the Dec. 31 deadline for installing the pollution control equipment. SCE informed the commission that in a May 25 letter, the plaintiffs informed Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. that they do not support changing any aspect of the decree, including the deadline. Secondly, Peabody has informed SCE that it will begin "ramping down" its activities at Black Mesa Mine in October because there is sufficient coal stored at Mohave and "in the works" to keep the power plant fueled until the end of the year. Peabody anticipates that it will send out the first termination notices to mine workers at the beginning of August. Lobbyist worked with Jack Abramoff In addition to the energy generation alternatives study ordered by the CPCU and commissioned by SCE, the tribes themselves have been looking at other power generation options, including wind, solar and coal. A May 26 Hopi tribal press release described the tribe's meetings with Headwaters Corp. officials John Baird and John Ward, and the Department of Energy, to look at the possibility of constructing a coal liquefaction plant and electric generating plant "on ranch lands own by the tribe." For the past eight years, the tribe has been using federal money awarded as part of the settlement of its land dispute with the Navajo Nation to purchase land in Flagstaff, ranch land south of Interstate 40 near Canyon Diablo and farm land near Yuma, Ariz. The release read: "'We want to brief Energy Department officials on the proposed [memorandum of understanding] with Headwaters and find out what, if any funding might be available for clean coal technology projects on Indian lands,' said Kevin Ring, an attorney for Barnes & Thornburg and Hopi's Capitol Hill lobbyist." (The Energy Policy Act of 2005, versions of which have been passed by both the House and the Senate, has in it money for clean coal technology development and for the development of power generation facilities on Indian lands. Whether these provisions will survive the reconciliation process and final passage of the bill remains to be seen.) Less than a week later, the tribe announced that its relationship with Ring was terminated. The move came after Ring declined to answer questions put to him by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee during a hearing June 22, the third hearing held as part of the committee's investigation into the alleged fraud perpetrated on several Indian tribes by high-powered Washington lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon. According to the Hopi chairman's office, Ring was a lobbyist for the tribe for five years, which would be roughly from mid-1999 to mid-2005. During this period, the tribe, with the help of an unnamed lobbyist, entered into discussions with Reliant Energy to build a coal-fired power plant on Black Mesa. On March 22, 2002 the tribal council passed a resolution approving a joint development agreement with Reliant to explore the possibility of developing an electric generating plant on Hopi land. In a KUYI Hopi radio forum on May 14, 2002, Taylor said, in response to a question about why Reliant was chosen to partner with the tribe on this project: "Reliant Energy worked with same lobbyist we did in the state of Arizona. Our lobbyists know we have coal resources, and they were the ones who introduced us to Reliant." Neither former Vice Chairman Elgean Joshevama nor former Vice Chairman Caleb Johnson can confirm that Ring was the lobbyist with whom the tribe worked on the Reliant project; Johnson did say that the law firm involved was Greenberg Traurig, which has an office in Phoenix, and Ring worked for Greenberg Traurig in 2002. The tribe pulled out of the Reliant partnership later in May 2002 due to public pressure and "internal troubles" the company was experiencing as a result of the 2001 California energy crisis. Ring worked with Jack Abramoff at Preston Gates and then, beginning in 2002, at Greenberg Traurig. From 1998 - 2004, the Hopi Tribe paid Greenberg Traurig $700,000 - more than half of its total lobbying costs for that period, according to records on The Center for Public Integrity's Web site. Ring left Greenberg Traurig and moved to Barnes & Thornburg early in 2004. The June 22 hearing focused on the lobbyists' dealing with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The committee reiterated that the Choctaw were victims of fraud and were not accused of any wrongdoing. Ring invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in response to questioning by Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. Some of those questions related Ring's club dues, were discussed in this exchange of e-mails: Ring to Abramoff: April 24, 2001; Subject: help: "Remember I talked to you about getting some help from a client to subsidize me joining a club. Well, I looked around and want to do the University Club. I already know some people there and they all think it is good for business. "I know I can bill expenses I incur there, etc, but how can I get help with the $800 initiation fee? We are trying to join asap. Thanks." Abramoff to Ring [and others]: "Rodney, please cut Kevin a check from me for $800." Ring to Abramoff: "Really? There is no way to bury this in Choctaw or SGMA bill?" Abramoff to Ring: "Perhaps, but I want to make sure you get this ..." Committee Vice Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., described "Team Abramoff's" dealings with the tribe as "deception and greed that even by Washington standards are breathtaking." Copyright c. 2005 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Navajo Nation invited to Canadian Dene Gathering" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DENE GATHERING 2005" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/~SectionID=41&ArticleID=4107&TM=39861.56 Navajo Nation invited to Canadian Dene Gathering By Joshua Lavar Butler The Observer July 21, 2005 ALBERTA, CANADA - The Dene Gathering 2005 will be held starting this weekend July 22-31 and is being hosted by the Tsuu T'ina Nation of Alberta, Canada. This event will be a celebration of the Dene culture and heritage of the Tsuu T'ina Nation, which is a First Nation in Canada. The Tsuu T'ina language belongs in the Athabaskan language family, a subset of the Na-dene language group, which also includes the Navajo/Dine and the Apaches of the far south and the Dene and Chipewyan of the far north. The Dene are the first people to settle in what is now the Northwest Territories. Today, the Tsuu T'ina Nation have approximately 1,456 members and have a reservation that is 108 square miles, which makes it the seventh largest reserve in Canada. The word Tsuu T'ina is translated as 'a great number of people' and often the term is interchangeable in translation as 'The People, which is particularly interesting to know, since the Navajo/Dine also refer to themselves as 'The People as well. According to Karen Francis, the Public Information Officer with the Navajo Nation Office of the Speaker, the Navajo Nation was formally invited on July 12 to this Canadian gathering. In Francis' press release, she stated that Chief Sandford Big Plume is requesting that all Athabascan-speaking tribes of North America meet during this gathering to address some common goals of the Dene peoples. Chief Big Plume met with Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan (Iyanbito/Pinedale) and Council delegate Omer Begay (Cornfields/Greasewood Springs/Klagetoh/Wide Ruins) the morning of July 12 at the speaker's office to personally invite the speaker to the gathering according to Francis' press release. Chief Big Plume said he would like for a Dene Proclamation to be signed by the leaders of the nations and tribes on Monday July 25. The proposed proclamation states in part: "I declare that I will harmonize and protect the Dene values and laws for my people. I will put my differences aside and put the interests of the unity to the forefront. I will form my own government. I will continue to protect my identity. I will bring my political matters to the international stage" stated Plum in Francis' press release. Big Plume and council delegate Begay emphasized that the two sovereign nations could be of some assistance to one another in regards to the current international discussion on the rights and policies of indigenous peoples. Delegate Begay also attended the United Nations work session on the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples in North America, according to Francis' press release. The gathering includes daily conferences which cover various topics, such as presentations about the Dene Proclamation, the Dene heritage, the language, their origin, their traditional stories, their reunification and the current Dene economy. The event will feature several traditional displays of Dene culture through song and dance, games and ceremonies in hopes to bridge the generation gap between the young and the old. Today, more than ever, the Tsuu T'ina Nation is experiencing a dramatic decline and practice of the native language as well as the cultural and traditional ways of life. This just comes to show that this dilemma is prevalent everywhere in the world and not just in United States. There are only 50 tribal members that speak the Tsuu T'ina native language and this has prompted many Tsuu T'ina tribal officials and school teachers to do something to help preserve and teach the language. In recent years, the Navajo Nation has taken a leadership role and has acted as a template for other nations across the world. Navajo schools have been successful in preserving the Navajo language and culture and the successes of their intricate Navajo language program reflect the growing number of Navajo speaking people in the last few decades. Many dedicated Navajo school teachers and administrators are heavily credited for the Navajo Nation's success and its role as the front runners in this effort to save the indigenous languages and cultures. Most notable long time educators such as Elsie Carr and Susie Store of the Tuba City Unified School District and Marjorie Grandma' Thomas of Chinle, for example, have been pioneers in this concerted effort to preserve the Navajo way of life. Francis stated in her press release that the conference will end with the Tsuu T'ina Annual Powwow and Rodeo, which is the largest in western Canada according to Chief Big Plume who said that two world champion drummers will host the powwow this year. He also noted that the rodeo draws Navajo participants each year. "This year we put everything up a notch in honor of the Dene Gathering," Chief Big Plume said. The Tsuu T'ina Reserve is situated just south of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In fact, its east side boundary is adjacent to the southwest city limits of Calgary. The Dene groups are generally situated in the Artic regions of Canada. The Tsuu T'ina people were formerly referred to as the Sarsi or rather Sarcee which is a Blackfoot word that means hardiness and boldness. There is generally five main groups that comprise the Dene, these groups include the: Chipewyan (Denesuline) from east of Great Slave Lake; Tli Cho (Dogrib) from Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes area; Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), formerly living north of Great Slave Lake, and now absorbed into the Chipewyan; Slavey (Deh Gah Got'ine) from along the Mackenzie River; Sahtu (Sahtu' T'ine) and the Locheux, Nahanni, and Bear Lake peoples from the southwestern North West Territory. The Dene gathering is certainly an educational event to attend and most importantly it gives other distant relatives of the Tsuu T'ina an opportunity to network and share ideas to improve social conditions within their communities. According to Francis, Speaker Morgan had to decline Chief Big Plume's personal invitation to the gathering in Canada because of the Speaker's prior commitments and duties to chair the Navajo Nation Council's summer session and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Budget Advisory Committee meeting. According to Francis' press release, Chief Big Plume was presented with a bolo tie in appreciation for his visit and for his personal invitation. Plans to send a representative to the Navajo Nation were not confirmed by Francis or the Speaker's office. Attempts to reach the Speaker's office before press time were unsuccessful. -- The conference registration fee is $150. Contact Coreen Onespot directly at 403-281-5142, Bruce Starlight at 403-281-4455, Raymond Yakeleya 780- 455-1711, Shirley Lamalice 867-874-6701, Paul Tokekai 719-588-1884 and Cline Griggs 928-338-1791. -- Please mail registration form with payment to: Dene Gathering 2005, 9911 Chiila Boulevard, Tsuu T'ina, Alberta, T2W 6H6. -- There will also be an arts & crafts fair held July 23-27, craft tables are available for five days during the conference. Vendor tables are $100 per day or $450 for the five days. There are 15 booths/tables available upon full payment. -- For vending, contact Lonetta R. Starlight at 403-251-3547 or e-mail her at denegathering@yahoo.com. Starlight will not be accepting registration for the conference or for vending spaces after July 24. There will be no food concessions. Copyright 2005 c. 2005 Navajo Hopi Observer, Inc. --------- "RE: Clanship finds ties that bind" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:43:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO CLANS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.newsok.com/article/1558238/?template=news/main Clanship finds ties that bind By Judy Gibbs Robinson The Oklahoman July 22, 2005 NORMAN - On her first trip to Oklahoma, 650 miles from home, Verrica Livingston discovered two sisters, an aunt and a grandmother she never knew she had. And she found them in her own University of Oklahoma dormitory. The 17-year-old new high school graduate from Twin Lakes, N.M., has been studying math, science and communication at OU through the eight-week Headlands Indian Health Careers Program. Eighteen students from across the country are enrolled in the intensive college-preparatory program, designed to lure young American Indians into health professions and help them succeed. Seven of them, including Livingston, are Navajo. Although they didn't know each other before arriving in Norman last month, the Navajo students have discovered among themselves new family members based on their tribe's complicated kinship system, which can make close relatives of people with little or no shared blood. "I found four of them. It's amazing," Livingston said recently after doing her best to explain the Navajo clan system to other Headlands students. "I have two new sisters, an aunt and a grandmother." Since the Headlands program began 30 years ago, Indian students have been required to make 5- to 10-minute presentations about some cultural aspect of their tribe. The assignment meshes with the program's goal of helping students learn to communicate orally and in writing. But program director Tom Hardy said it does something more. "Our major goal is to get the students into a health career. But we also have a goal of trying to get them to go back to their reservation or tribal community and provide health care for their people," Hardy said. Understanding culture Studies show that the more students understand their culture and the more they share their culture with others, the more likely they are to do that, he said. "We try to make them as proud as possible of who they are. That's going to lend itself to them going back to work with their people," Hardy said. The cultural presentations also help Indian students overcome prejudices they may have about other tribes. "Once the students meet other students from tribes they've heard bad things about and get to know more about that tribe, they realize they're not that different," Hardy said. For her talk on the Navajo clan system, Livingston wore moccasins, a conch belt and turquoise jewelry and swept her long black hair into a traditional Navajo bun. Then she used tape to stick drop-down, multi- colored charts to the walls to show how a Navajo newborn inherits four clans from her mother, father, maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather. "Without the clan system, we would be lost. It helps us identify who we are and where we're from and who our relatives are," Livingston explained. According to tradition, Navajos cannot marry someone from either of their first two clans, Livingston said. "That's why I don't have a boyfriend - because everyone's related to me," she said. Midway through Livingston's presentation, 18-year-old Kimberly Begay, a Navajo from Claremore, leaned over and whispered in the ear of communications teacher Anna Wong Lowe: "That's my sister." On the Navajo's 17.5 million-acre reservation in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, people meeting each other for the first time exchange clan membership, not names, Livingston said. If they discover connections, there is immediate joy. "They would be so happy. They would say, 'You're my daughter.' 'You're my grandmother,'" said Livingston, who wants to become a pediatrician. A young grandparent Terri Lester, 18, a future nursing student from Indian Wells, Ariz., did not seem upset to learn that despite her young years, she is Livingston's grandmother according to Navajo tradition. But she admits she is not ready to meet the full obligations of being a grandparent. "I can't give her money - yet," Lester laughed. She didn't fully learn her own clan identity until she was in high school and got tired of being in the dark. "I'd go to my grandmother's house and I'd be lost because people would come up to me and call me their granddaughter and their aunt. I got tired of it," Lester said. "Now I know and I'm glad I know," Lester said. "I know how to greet them and it's not embarrassing." Lester and Livingston estimate only half of young Navajos know their clans and some who do don't want to admit it. "It's mainly our elders and our parents that keep it," Livingston said. "In the younger generation, it's dying out because they're embarrassed and they think it's hard to understand." -------------------------- Navajo Clans Each member of the Navajo Nation belongs to four clans inherited from mother, father, maternal grandmother and fraternal grandfather. Navajos vcannot marry a member of either of their first two clans, even though clans may include people with no blood connection. Through the clan system, Navajos always are among relatives. When a Navajo is in strange surroundings, it is not uncommon for relatives to take responsibility for his food, housing and welfare. The clan system also served in the past to fuse scattered Navajo bands. Source: The Navajo Intranet, www.lapahie.com Copyright c. 2005 The Oklahoman/NewsOK9 - Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: Students gather for an Education in Ownership" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 08:45:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSINESS SKILLS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/allheadlines/84750.php American Indian students gather for an education in ownership Camp's focus is business skills By Andrea Kelly ARIZONA DAILY STAR July 19, 2005 American Indian high school students from around the state are spending this week in Tucson learning how to start their own businesses. Fourteen teenagers are learning business lessons that range from making eye contact while speaking to writing full-scale business plans at the Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp, hosted by the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy at the University of Arizona. The annual camp exposes the 15- to 17-year-old students to successful Indian business owners and gives students a chance to make a profit at a Youth Marketplace on Thursday, while they plan and write proposals for businesses they would like to open. "We're learning how to plan a business, what kind of obstacles you'll face," said Eugenia Taschquinth, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation and Pima Indian Tribe from Sells. Taschquinth is working on a plan to start a barrel-racing clinic, where people could go to learn technique and train for barrel racing in rodeos, she said. Without the help of the camp, the 16-year-old said, she wouldn't be thinking about starting a business. "I needed something to push me, help me," she said. The students visited other Indian businesses Monday at the San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Road. Ophelia Campillo was working at Wiwpul Du'ag, a jewelry and collectibles store at the mission, when the students arrived to interview her about her work experience. "Nowadays children have more opportunity than in the past. I know we didn't have camps, didn't have the experience," Campillo said. "They have to realize it's a bigger world out there. This makes them think about what they want to do, instead of ending (their education) at high school." Beyond learning the process for starting a business, Jessica Garcia, a Pascua Yaqui Tribe member from Tucson, said she's learning more about the contributions Indians make to the state. "We're small, but I guess we do a lot," said Garcia, 17. She is sharing a UA dorm room with Crystal Lee, also 17, who drove six hours from Kayenta, in the Navajo Nation, to attend the camp. "This camp is really good; it opened my mind to questions you never thought about," Lee said. She is not sure if she will ever open her own business, but she said she wanted to come to the camp to gain more insight into the business world. Lee plans to go to college in California and eventually become a lawyer. Garcia said she would like to start a newspaper for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe that is geared toward community events and provides a forum for Yaquis. She said she is enjoying learning how to present herself confidently and professionally. "They teach you how to be well-rounded," Garcia said. Math is also a key to the business world, and the students are not getting through the week without a little practice. One of the lessons was on bargaining. "We had to play a game, talking down the price. You actually have to know your math before you buy," Garcia said. The camp, sponsored in part by the Arizona Daily Star, began Sunday and ends Friday. Contact reporter Andrea Kelly at 307-0773 or akelly@azstarnet.com. Copyright c. 1999-2005 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services. --------- "RE: Cutting up Chickens-Thoughts on the Mascot Issue" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:43:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JOHNNY P FLYNN: MASCOT ISSUE" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6745 Cutting up chickens-thoughts on the mascot issue Guest commentary INDIANAPOLIS IN Johnny P. Flynn July 21, 2005 Some years ago I was working for a small Indian Center located in San Luis Obispo County California. Among the projects we were working on was the development of Title IV Indian Education projects in the school districts in Central California. We were having a lot of trouble convincing the school administrators to do the student count and apply for the funds to develop the programs. About the same time, I went to an Indian Education conference in Sacramento and happened to speak with an Indian educator about our difficulties. She told me a story about a study that had been done a few years before about Indian students and their performance in public schools. The study, she said, had shown that Indian students did as well or better than non-Indian students until they reached the third grade. After the third grade, the grades and test scores of Native American students took a nose dive and all of us know the rest of that story; high drop out rates, low grades, difficulties getting into college, and so on. The sponsors of the study wondered, why third grade? Turns out, that is when they began teaching history. Through the years I have looked for that study and have not been able to find it, but know from personal experience that it is true. I went to a small Catholic school in Kansas and vividly recall my initial lessons in American history. Sister Ancilla was teaching the class and since the first lessons were about Indians, I was interested. I remember one of the first stories was about how those "savages" had attacked and burned the wagons of the "innocent women and children" whose only intent was to settle on farms and "tame the wilderness." The nun gave rather graphic details about Indian scalping and slaughter and I went home with those pictures in my mind. There at home, in the kitchen as I did my homework, was one of those same savages and she was wielding a butcher knife, cutting up some chickens for supper. Now, I knew I was Indian, my family was Indian, but for some reason it stuck in my head that my mama was a "real Indian." And she had a knife. And she was rather skilled with the intricacies of slicing apart some innocent chickens. I recall wondering if she had the same facility or desire when it came to defenseless white settlers. As I tried to focus on my homework, I kept one eye on my dear old mama as she flipped the chicken this way and that. There was a moment when she laid one of the legs down and whacked it clean through the joint in one hard stroke. I jumped. My own scalp tingled at the thought that my mama and her relatives in the past had done that very same thing to innocent women and children. I have long since grown out of that fear and the end of that particular day of sidelong glances at my mother and her skill with a knife at cutting up chickens and settlers ended on an emotional note. I told her what Sister Ancilla had said. She cried. My mama cried for what she had experienced in hearing those powerful and hurtful words in her own life. She cried also that her own son would be made afraid of his mother on the basis of a word, some lies told in defense of Manifest Destiny, a term she never, ever, understood. Near where my mother grew up is Tecumseh, Oklahoma and the name of their high school team, their mascot, is the Savages. When I lived near there, I would often see Indian people wearing t-shirts and hats which carried the name of the team. The local tribes, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, and my own tribe, the Potawatomi, do nothing to change the name of that team or the dozens of others throughout the state. There are Indians across the United States who think that working to change the names of these mascots is a trivial issue and not worth our time and effort. Yes, health care is important, but so is education. And the mascot issue is not so much about the names of teams. For me, it is about the fear and ignorance engendered by the use of those names. It is about being eight years old and hearing the word savage and then going home and finding one, with a knife, slicing up a chicken to feed her kids. Those words are lies and Indian people who want to wear lies as a banner of pride must remember that they just might scare the self-respect right out of their own children. I was lucky. My mama and I talked about it and I can still remember her holding me as she cried about the ignorance of a society that treats us something less than human. And I still remember her words. "Oh Johnny," she said softly, "I am not a savage." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: ICT: The American Indian Rural - Urban continuum" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ICT EDITORIAL: RURAL/URBAN" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411229 Editorial: The American Indian rural - urban continuum July 14, 2005 by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today American Indians have been "urban" for a long time. The oldest, settled communities in North America are the large southwestern villages of the Pueblo peoples. There was also, of course, Tenochtitlan in central Mexico, larger than most European cities of its time; there was Tikal in Central America; and on the high Andes, there was Cuzco and other great cities of the Incan country of Tewantinsuyo. Even the so-called nomadic or semi- nomadic tribes sustained long-standing community bonds, and managed residential areas throughout long months and years. The Iroquois had permanent towns and the Mississippi River Valley sustained very large populations for long periods of history prior to the invasions from Europe. Through colonial and early America, individual Indian families settled in Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Albany, and later in Albuquerque and other frontier towns. In New York, the wall that would become Wall Street was initially intended to keep Indians out of the neighborhood. In the Twin Cities, urban sprawl enveloped and sometimes displaced Indian river shore settlements. Trade at first, and later destitution and the search for economic opportunity, took many Indians to the cities. The trend to urbanization runs parallel to the general history of our times. Fifty to one hundred thousand Indians served the World War II effort, both in the battlefront and in production and factory support work. Many got GI Bill benefits and went off to college while others took factory work. The Depression, World War II and increasingly effective education programs raised the percentage of Indians in urban areas from 10 percent in 1930 to around half in 1990. While improved economies in the past decade have drawn many Indians back into homeland roles, the ratio of Indians living in urban areas continues to grow: and today urban Indians are counted at more than 1.5 million. In the 20th century, the urbanization impetus was also prodded by misguided government-run relocation programs that attracted and drove Indians away from their home territories and to the urban landscape. Every Indian urban community has its own history. Like any good blend of foods and medicines, the various family and tribal bases mix and intermix with local and regional cultures. Community identity grows. The Phoenix Indian Center came first, in 1947, followed by Chicago and Oakland. California cities coalesce a range of tribes, from the Plains and Northwestern states, which in Los Angeles combine with a steady migration from Arizona and New Mexico. Chicago gathers Indians from all over, initially mostly from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, founded in 1974 as an Indian-controlled, nonprofit corporation, "operates with the singular purpose of serving the health care needs of American Indians in central Oklahoma." It began small but since 1995 has managed a major facility that serves over 15,000 patients from more than 220 federally recognized tribes. In Minnesota, the 190-member Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1986 in the Twin Cities, "seeks to develop business and employment opportunities for Native firms and entrepreneurs." Check out this list of partners of the Portland Indian Center, which gives a very good idea of the range of approaches, in many ways typical of centers across the country: Native People's Circle of Hope, Native American Parents of Students with Disabilities, Northwest Indian Veteran's Association, Natural Way, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network, Native American Youth Association, National Indian Child Welfare Association, Title VII Indian Education, Portland Public Schools and Northwest Regional Education District. Long Island Shinnecocks, New Jersey Ramapoughs, upstate Mohawks and other eastern tribes were pillars of New York City's American Indian Community House that now represents at least 60,000 American Indians originating from nearly every tribe in the Northern Hemisphere. The Mohawks came in largely as ironworkers and their families put up the high steel that built New York. Throughout North American cities, Native families from a variety of tribes and regional bases in cities and other non-reservation communities have come together via community centers and other programs dedicated to sustaining culture and assisting in the education and health of the American Indian communities. We are happy in this issue to call attention to several communities in cities and other metropolitan areas, featuring only a few sites but intending to highlight some of the important realities and issues of urban Indian life as much as possible. The main issue of gaining access to resources that can provide for a variety of human services - from health care, housing and job training to coping assistance, as well as social and legal advocacy - is severely needed by an urban population suffering from dislocation, alienation, poverty and, all too often, police disdain and brutality. Given that urban Indians receive proportionally a minimal ratio of the national health care resources allocated for Indian Health, the response to these needs by the various urban Indian centers is quite impressive. It is also true that in some circumstances the urban Indian population is materially better off than their reservation counterparts. When well- organized, urban groups have realized success. In most American cities, professionally and technically trained Indians work at a variety of industries, projects and small businesses. On urban campuses, young Native leaders are achieving superlative goals and sharpening their skills. Urban Indian leaders have often been the catalyst for change in the Indian world. We can't forget the motivation of urban Indian activists - which greatly assisted the American Indian social and economic movements of the past several decades. The fact of urban Indian life is now inscribed in the national culture, with an exhibit on the American Indian Center of Chicago at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. It well should be. With an annual pow wow and many other activities, this is an organization committed to providing "space for Native American families removed by the federal relocation program to continue to practice cultural traditions, provide cultural awareness and build a Native community" out of the 32,000 American Indians from over 100 tribes in Chicago. In its museum representation, the Chicago AIC symbolizes the tremendous job such institutions are doing in over four dozen cities. Core factors of American Indian cultural and social survival, they represent strong familial and nation-building linkages both for their own communities and for their territories and reservations of origin. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., among others, has recognized the huge strategic importance of building new and better relations between reservation and urban Indian institutions. Perhaps it is time to retire Indian country's own subjective dichotomy that establishes a division between on-territory and off-territory American Indians, and embrace the more comprehensive understanding that America is Indian country. Even as individuals and single families extend far from their ancestral lands, Native people tend to link with their places and peoples of origin. Even as people have formed communities in the big cities and metropolitan areas of the country, from Portland to New York City and from Minneapolis to Albuquerque, the roots of identity in the land and culture remain extremely strong. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Calling home the Spirits of WW2" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:20:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FIRST NATION VETS JOURNEY TO EUROPE" http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2005/07/20/1139009-sun.html Calling home the spirits of WW2 By 24 hours news services July 20, 2005 Aboriginal veterans will journey back to the battlefields of Europe this fall for a special ceremony to honour their fallen comrades. Veterans Affairs Minister Albina Guarnieri announced yesterday that spiritual leaders from across Canada will conduct a "Calling Home Ceremony. " Twenty First Nations, Metis and Inuit Second World War veterans will join 13 aboriginal youth representatives on the October trip that will include visits to Ypres, Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach. "For the veterans who did not return home after the war, we feel they should be given the traditional burial, calling spirits back home," said Ray Rogers, chairman of the First Nations Veterans of Canada. He hopes the event will cast new light on the wartime participation and sacrifices of aboriginals from across Canada. Copyright c. 2005 Canoe Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Manitoba lags Saskatchewan in TLE Payments" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:32:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TREATY LAND ENTITLEMENTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=treaty-land050720&ref=rss Manitoba lags Sask. in TLE payments, chiefs say CBC News July 20, 2005 The Southern Chiefs Organization in Manitoba is calling on the federal and provincial government to help First Nations get the land they are owed. The province owes more than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land to 27 First Nations, but less than 2,500 hectares of land has been converted to reserve land so far. The Southern Chiefs issued a report Tuesday comparing Manitoba's track record on settling treaty land entitlements (TLEs) with Saskatchewan's record. Saskatchewan, the report says, is "much more efficient" at settling claims, noting that more than half First Nations with treaty entitlements in that province have obtained the land owed to them. Grand Chief Chris Henderson said the process in this province is being dragged down by bureaucracy and a lack of political will. "Shortly after I assumed office, I made it a top priority to address this critical issue of implementing these various TLE agreements that have been signed by our six First Nations," Henderson told CBC News. First Nations prosperity depends on settling those claims, he said, because once they're settled, the reserves have economic development options, such as the creation of urban reserves. Manitoba's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Oscar Lathlin, said the province agrees it's taking too long. He said he's added staff to deal with the backlog. -------------------------- Treaty Land Entitlements Manitoba is constitutionally obligated to set aside unoccupied Crown land to fulfill its outstanding land entitlements to First Nations in treaties dating back to 1871. Manitoba is required to provide the land, and the federal government covers survey costs and provides funds for acquisition of land. A total of 27 First Nations are eligible to select more than 400,000 hectares of land. Less than 2,500 hectares have been converted into reserve land so far. Source: Province of Manitoba Copyright c. CBC 2005. --------- "RE: First Nation pressures Government for Edu Funds" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:43:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YUKON FN SEEKS EDUCATION FUNDING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=na-cho-school21072005&ref=rss First Nation pressures government for education funds CBC News July 21, 2005 A First Nations group in the central Yukon is giving the territorial government some deadlines to transfer education money and control. The Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation is demanding the Yukon government meet with its representatives next month as a first step to opening a school in Mayo by September 2006. A spokesman for the Na-cho Nyak Dun, Dudley Morgan, says his community wants to manage its own schools in the same way some other First Nations in other provinces and territories already do. "We want to be able to impart our language, the values and cultural traditions to future leaders by making it part of the school curriculum," said Morgan. Morgan says the push for an independent educational authority has been building for a few years. A report commissioned two years ago by the Na- cho Nyak Dun said the current education system is racist and it doesn't work for aboriginal students. Working committees have been formed and a meeting has been set for next month. Na-cho Nyak Dun has asked representatives from the federal and territorial governments to attend. Morgan says he's not sure if anybody has replied yet but he expects the discussion will go ahead. "We don't have a decision in mind right now as to what would happen if they say 'no,' because that would not be a fair play way to deal with another level of government. So, the only expectation we have is that they would become part of the process." Neither the federal government nor the Yukon Department of Education could be reached for comment. Copyright c. CBC 2005. --------- "RE: Canada offers Cash to help break Pipeline Impasse" --------- Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:05 AM From: frostyca2000 [frosty@ipermitmail.com] Subj: Canada offers cash to help break pipeline impasse Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Canada offers cash to help break pipeline impasse By David Ljunggren July 19, 2005 OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's government says it has reached an agreement with five northern aboriginal bands to help solve social problems that are holding up development of a planned C$7 billion ($5.7 billion) Arctic gas pipeline. In a statement released just before midnight (0400 GMT) on Monday, Ottawa said it was ready to provide C$500 million over the next 10 years to help the groups deal with the impact of the pipeline. The bands' demands for more infrastructure such as hospitals and schools are just one of many problems dogging the Mackenzie project. Imperial Oil Ltd. and its partners in the pipeline halted most work on the 1,350 km (840 mile) line in April, in part because of spiraling cash demands from native groups in exchange for access to their lands. The government statement said the deal with the five bands was "an important step in the collective effort to move the Mackenzie Gas Project forward." It added: "All participants at the meeting (to strike the deal) ... acknowledged that all parties involved in the project must continue to work in good faith in order to resolve outstanding issues." Last week the Deh Cho First Nations, whose lands make up 40 percent of the proposed route, dropped two lawsuits against Ottawa when the government agreed to give them a larger role in the regulatory review of the project as well as millions of dollars fo