_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 013 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2006 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island April 1, 2006 Kiowa aiden p'a/leaf moon Yuchi Wadaa/big summer moon Algonquin Suquanni kesos/moon when they set Indian corn Anishnaabe Iskigamizige-giizis(oog)/broken snowshoe moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People 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; Chiapas95-En, Iron Natives and Frostys AmerIndian Mailing Lists; UUCP Mail 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 Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases." __Chief Joseph, Nimiputimt (Nez Perce) (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain) +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Sister! If your neighbor called and told you two other houses in the neighborhood were in flames, and embers were flying all over, you'd go out and do what you could to protect your home from becoming part of the inferno. If you were on a vessel at sea that was taking water and about to sink, you'd get yourself and loved ones in a lifeboat. Anytime you are warned by anyone near a disaster that steps must be taken to avert or, at the very least, diminish the impact of that event in order to protect your home, family, loved ones and way of life, it is imperative you do so, or find yourself face-to-face with the devil you elected to ignore. The miners kept a caged canary with them to alert them to dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide and other silent killers. All of us have such a canary, and for purely reasons of power and greed our leaders and others throughout the globe are blithely ignoring it. The Inuit, Gwich'in and other native peoples living on or near the arctic have been warning us the arctic is polluted and, even worse, melting at an alarming rate. Sunday, March 19 the CBS program `60 Minutes' featured a reknowned scientist employed in a government agency who produced reams of scientific data that absolutely confirm the warnings of the Inuit and others. Instead of having his findings lauded and rewarded, the Bush Administration has censured him. By the way, the administration official responsible for the gag order and large marking pen used to delete "sensitive" remarks is not a scientist. He is a journalist who "earned" his position by writing glowing reports about his new boss. You, too, can ignore the canary. After all, you won't be around to pay the consequences. Your grandchildren and, quite possibly, your children will. 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 ----------- - Inuit See Signs in Arctic Thaw - Guest Column: - Urban Indians fear Oneidas need to provide Answers loss of Health Clinics - AFN Special Chiefs - Wampanoags await decision Assembly on Renewal on Tribal Recognition - Open Letter to Minister/ - Blumenthal seeks Intervener Status Indian & Northern Affairs in Appeal - Halt called - Coal Company to Industrial Development harming Navajo-Hopi Aquifer - Funding: Local Program faces Axe - Colvilles reject - Six Nations Blood Bath averted Mine development proposal - First Nations - Tribes, State focus on Water want review on Baby Death - Tribe deserves equal treatment - Eliminate Canada-U.S. Border - South Dakota Tribe for Natives hopes for Economic push - Native Protesters - CNO Chief calls for occupying Construction Site an 'Indian' Nation by Blood - Counterinsurgency in Chiapas - Creek Freedmen see opening - A Year of Deaths in Citizenzhip dispute on the Arizona Desert - Enrollment Commission - Audience challenges charged with improprieties probe of Croud Death - Chairman wants to - Native Prisoner re-examine Membership -- Pen Pal Requests - Tribe Membership beyond Minnesota - Rustywire: First Thunder - Civil Rights for Native Americans - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: 30 Years Later The Narragansett Indians - Lawmaker seeks - New Experiences created to certify Indian Art through old Tribal Stories - Border Artifacts, Cultural Sites - The Race to Preserve are in danger a Dying Language - Students play Scrabble - Gardener cultivates in Dakota Language Native American Corn Variety - GIAGO: Book for all Seasons, - Upcoming Events challenge to a Governor --------- "RE: Inuit See Signs in Arctic Thaw" --------- Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:41:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CLIMATE CHANGES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/article/2006/03/21/AR2006032101722.html Inuit See Signs In Arctic Thaw String of Warm Winters Alarms 'Sentries for the Rest of the World' By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service March 22, 2006 PANGNIRTUNG, Canada - Thirty miles from the Arctic Circle, hunter Noah Metuq feels the Arctic changing. Its frozen grip is loosening; the people and animals who depend on its icy reign are experiencing a historic reshaping of their world. Fish and wildlife are following the retreating ice caps northward. Polar bears are losing the floes they need for hunting. Seals, unable to find stable ice, are hauling up on islands to give birth. Robins and barn owls and hornets, previously unknown so far north, are arriving in Arctic villages. The global warming felt by wildlife and increasingly documented by scientists is hitting first and hardest here, in the Arctic where the Inuit people make their home. The hardy Inuit - described by one of their leaders as "sentries for the rest of the world" - say this winter was the worst in a series of warm winters, replete with alarms of the quickening transformation that many scientists expect will spread from the north to the rest of the globe. The Inuit - with homelands in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and northern Russia - saw the signs of change everywhere. Metuq hauled his fishing shack onto the ice of Cumberland Sound last month, as he has every winter, confident it would stay there for three months. Three days later, he was astonished to see the ice break up, sweeping away his shack and $6,000 of turbot fishing gear. In Nain, Labrador, hunter Simon Kohlmeister, 48, drove his snowmobile onto ocean ice where he had hunted safely for 20 years. The ice flexed. The machine started sinking. He said he was "lucky to get off" and grab his rifle as the expensive machine was lost. "Someday we won't have any snow," he said. "We won't be Eskimos." In Resolute Bay, Inuit people insisted that the dark arctic night was lighter. Wayne Davidson, a longtime weather station operator, finally figured out that a warmer layer of air was reflecting light from the sun over the horizon. "It's getting very strange up here," he said. "There's more warm air, more massive and more uniform." Villagers say the shrinking ice floes mean they see hungry polar bears more frequently. In the Hudson Bay village of Ivujivik, Lydia Angyiou, a slight woman of 41, was walking in front of her 7-year-old boy last month when she turned to see a polar bear stalking the child. To save him, she charged with her fists into the 700-pound bear, which slapped her twice to the ground before a hunter shot it, according to the Nunatsiaq News. In the Russian northernmost territory of Chukotka, the Inuit have drilled wells for water because there is so little snow to melt. Reykjavik, Iceland, had its warmest February in 41 years. In Alaska, water normally sealed by ice is now open, brewing winter storms that lash coastal and river villages. Federal officials say two dozen native villages are threatened. In Pangnirtung, residents were startled by thunder, rain showers and a temperature of 48 degrees in February, a time when their world normally is locked and silent at minus-20 degrees. "We were just standing around in our shorts, stunned and amazed, trying to make sense of it," said one resident, Donald Mearns. "These are things that all of our old oral history has never mentioned," said Enosik Nashalik, 87, the eldest of male elders in this Inuit village. "We cannot pass on our traditional knowledge, because it is no longer reliable. Before, I could look at cloud patterns or the wind, or even what stars are twinkling, and predict the weather. Now, everything is changed." The Inuit alarms, once passed off as odd stories, are earning confirmation from science. Canada's federal weather service said this month that the country had experienced its warmest winter since measurements began in 1948. Nationwide, average temperatures this winter were 7 degrees above normal. Some of the larger temperature increases were in the arctic north. "That is entirely consistent with the long-range forecasts that indicate the effects of global warming will be most felt in the north," said Douglas Bancroft, director of Oceanography and Climate Science for Canada's federal fisheries department. "What we see is very clear. We are going to see a reduction in the overall arctic ice. It doesn't mean it goes away. But it brings profound changes," he said by telephone from Ottawa, the Canadian capital. "Weather will get stormier because the more open water you have, the easier it is for storms to brew up." Bancroft said there would also be significant changes in the region's ecosystems. "You have species that adapted over 40,000 years to a certain regime," he said. "Some will make it, and some won't." Satellites at NASA have measured a meltdown of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica in the past decade. With other NASA data, scientists in Boulder, Colo., say the retreat of the ice caps in 2006 may be as large as last year's, which they say was likely the biggest in a century. Earth's average surface temperatures last year tied those of 1998, the highest in more than a century, NASA says. In this month's issue of the journal Science, a team of U.S. and Canadian researchers said the Bering Sea was warming so much it was experiencing "a change from arctic to subarctic conditions." Gray whales are heading north and walruses are starving, adrift on ice floes in water too deep for feeding. Warmer-water fish such as pollock and salmon are coming in, the researchers reported. Off the coast of Nova Scotia, ice on Northumberland Strait was so thin and unstable this winter that thousands of gray seals crawled on unaccustomed islands to give birth. Storms and high tides washed 1,500 newborn seal pups out to sea, said Jerry Conway, a marine mammal expert for the federal fisheries department in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. "We are seeing dramatic changes in the weather systems," Conway said. "To be honest, we don't really understand what are the potential impacts. If you look back in history, there have been warming periods that have gotten back to normal. But we don't know if that will happen this time." Metuq, the hunter, fears the worst. "The world is slowly disintegrating," he said, inside his heated house in Pangnirtung, a community of 1,200 perched on a dramatic union of mountain and fjord on Baffin Island. Seal skins stretched on canvas dried outside his home. The town remained treacherous. Rain in February had frozen solid, and there had been almost no snow to cover it. "They call it climate change," he said. "But we just call it breaking up." The troubles for the Inuit are ominous for everyone, says Sheila Watt- Cloutier, head of the International Circumpolar Conference, an organization for the 155,000 Inuit worldwide. "People have become disconnected from their environment. But the Inuit have remained through this whole dilemma, remained extremely connected to its environment and wildlife," she said. "They are the early warning. They see what's happening to the planet, and give the message to the rest of the world." Copyright c. 1996-2006 The Washington Post Company. --------- "RE: Urban Indians fear loss of Health Clinics" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:33:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="URBAN HEALTH CLINICS UNDER BUSH BUDGET AX" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.journalstar.com/nebraska/doc4425bd647e18a739901253.txt Urban Indians fear loss of health clinics under Bush budget By ANGIE WAGNER / The Associated Press March 25, 2006 When Jennifer Carter moved from her reservation to Pierre, S.D., a few years ago, she went from seeing Indians like her every day to barely seeing any. But the first time she visited the South Dakota Urban Indian Health clinic, she knew she had found her place. There, she met Indians just like her, people she could relate to and who made her feel comfortable. They were from various tribes. They no longer, or never did, live on a reservation. "When you all get together, it's like home," said Carter, a single mother of four who used to live on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Eagle Butte. "It makes me feel like home." To urban Indians, that connection to their culture often means as much as the medicine they are prescribed. But now that relationship is threatened by President Bush's 2007 budget proposal to zero out the $33 million allocation for urban Indian health clinics. At least 17 of the 34 clinics across the country may have to close their doors, while the rest would be forced to cut services. In Nebraska, the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition is on the list. Its Web site says it serves three Indians in three communities: Omaha, Lincoln and Sioux City, Iowa. Listed services include behavioral health, primary health care, transportation, domestic violence intervention and drug education. Some 60 percent of American Indians and Alaska natives live in urban areas, according to the Census Bureau. And for years - decades in some cities - they have been receiving health care at clinics in or near the cities where they live. Providing health care to all Indians has been part of the government's trust responsibility. "Many tribes are viewing this as an assault on trust responsibility," said Geoffrey Roth, executive director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., noted during a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing last month that even though the proposed cuts could be restored, "I think some of these cuts ... clearly sends out the wrong signal to Indian Country as to what our belief and our fulfillment of our obligation to Native Americans is all about." Urban Indian health care clinics, located in 21 states, are funded by the Indian Health Service, but operate as private clinics under contract with the government. Whether a city has an urban clinic depends on the population, health status and poverty level of Indians. They are located in cities as large as New York and as small as Butte, Mont. Clinics differ in their services - some offer primary care, others just referrals - but most have programs vital to Indians. Many offer comprehensive medical care ranging from dental and vision to mental health. Most have alcohol addiction and diabetes programs, because of the prevalence of those diseases among Indians. The amount patients pay for services varies from clinic to clinic. Some are free; others have a sliding fee schedule. Last year, the clinics treated more than 106,000 Indians. Compared to the U.S. population as a whole, urban Indians have a 178 percent higher death rate from alcohol abuse and a 54 percent higher death rate from diabetes, according to a 2004 study by the Seattle Indian Health Board's Urban Indian Health Institute. At the Hunter Health Clinic in Wichita, Kan., outreach workers who help diabetics with exercise, diet and foot care would lose their jobs, and mental health and alcohol and substance abuse programs would be cut, said Susette Schwartz, clinic chief executive officer. Isabelle Gyongyossy, a 78-year-old Oglala Sioux patient at the Hunter clinic, has diabetes and heart disease. She takes eight pills a day, uses a walker and isn't sure how she will cope if she can no longer use the clinic's programs. "If they take the funding away, I'll have to pay for a lot of things. I won't have any food," she said. Urban clinics also offer services many other clinics don't, such as transporting patients to and from appointments, something many older patients need. In Bush's 2007 budget proposal, it is suggested that urban Indians can go to community health centers instead, since those centers are slated to receive a $181 million increase that would build or expand 300 sites. Alex Conant, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, noted the increase and said: "Urban Indians, like all Americans, continue to benefit from the president's initiatives to make health care more affordable and available." But clinic directors and urban Indians say increasing community health center funding doesn't solve the problem. Urban Indians may be reluctant to seek care from a non-Indian clinic. Instead, those patients will likely wait to receive medical attention until their condition deteriorates, and then they will fill emergency rooms. Many urban Indians are too far away from reservations to return there for medical care through the Indian Health Service. "They just won't get primary care because they're not going to drive those kinds of miles," Schwartz said. "They don't have money for gas. A lot of them are disabled and unable to get around." Community health centers are already "stretched to the limit," said Amy Simmons, spokeswoman for the National Association for Community Health Centers. The proposed program expansion isn't designed to meet the needs of urban Indians, Daniel Hawkins, the association's vice president for federal, state and public affairs, said in a recent letter to Bush. "My fear is losing our Indian identity," said Schwartz, the Wichita clinic CEO. "We would be able to stay open, but would lose our Native American programs." At the Wichita clinic, which also operates as a community health clinic, urban Indians receive free services and prescriptions. Some 2,700 Indians visited the clinic last year. If the funding is dropped, urban Indians there could get health care from the community clinic. But they would miss the cultural connection they enjoy now because most Indian workers would lose their jobs, Schwartz said. "We have so many people who don't know exactly why they're so messed up and out drinking and abusing until they talk to someone who understands Indian history. There's generations of anger that only someone who understands can connect the dots," Schwartz said. Marjorie Bear Don't Walk, executive director of the Indian Health Board of Billings, Mont., said if Bush's proposal is approved, her clinic will be out of business. "We don't turn away anybody. All of the chairs are filled in the lobby and we only have clinic from 1 to 5," she said. "Most of them will have nowhere to go." Cynthia Jurosek, who is both a patient and a temporary employee at the Billings clinic, wonders what will happen to all the people who rely on the clinic for transportation, and to the patients in mental health and substance abuse programs. "All these urban clinics, they belong to the Indians," said Jurosek, a Crow Indian. "It's where they can go and feel good about themselves. They're treated with respect. And that's what I will lose here. "I will lose people who are truly interested in helping me get well." Urban Indian health clinics President Bush has proposed in his 2007 budget eliminating the $33 million that goes to these 34 urban Indian health clinics. At least 17 will most likely have to close if the funding is eliminated. ARIZONA: Native Americans for Community Action - Flagstaff Native American Community Health Center - Phoenix Tucson Indian Center CALIFORNIA: American Indian Health & Services Corp. - Santa Barbara American Indian Health Project - Bakersfield Fresno Native American Health Center Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley - San Jose Native American Health Center - Oakland Sacramento Native American Health Center San Diego American Indian Health Center United American Indian Involvement - Los Angeles COLORADO: Denver Indian Health and Family Services ILLINOIS: American Indian Health Service of Chicago KANSAS: Hunter Health Clinic - Wichita MASSACHUSETTS: North American Indian Center of Boston - Jamaica Plain MICHIGAN: American Indian Health and Family Services of SE Michigan - Detroit MINNESOTA: Indian Health Board of Minneapolis MONTANA: Helena Indian Alliance Indian Family Health Clinic - Great Falls Indian Health Board of Billings Missoula Indian Center North American Indian Alliance - Butte NEBRASKA: Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition - Omaha NEVADA: Nevada Urban Indians - Reno NEW MEXICO: First Nations Community Healthsource - Albuquerque NEW YORK: American Indian Community House - New York OREGON: Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest - Portland SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota Urban Indian Health - Pierre TEXAS: Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas - Dallas UTAH: Indian Walk-In Center - Salt Lake City WASHINGTON: N.A.T.I.V.E. Project - Spokane Seattle Indian Health Board WISCONSIN: Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center - Milwaukee United Amerindian Health Center - Green Bay Copyright c. 2002-2006, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Wampanoags await decision on Tribal Recognition" --------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:53:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MASHPEE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4667722 Wampanoags await decision on tribal recognition March 22, 2006 WASHINGTON - The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe expects a decision from the federal government by month's end on its three-decade-old fight to win formal recognition. "We're playing the part of expectant parents," said Glenn Marshall, chairman of the tribe's council. "We've been waiting for the birth of a sovereign nation, even though we've been operating as one since the Europeans landed here." The decision comes after a long and sometimes bitter fight for federal recognition that was begun in 1975 by the 1,468-member Cape Cod tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is expected to announce its preliminary decision on March 31, Marshall said. After a one-year probationary period, a final decision on the tribe's status would be made in March 2007. If the BIA formally recognizes the Wampanoags, Marshall said, it would pave the way for the tribe to receive much-needed federal funding for vital needs such as health care, housing and education. Tribal officials have also said they would consider building a casino if they win federal recognition. Such a move would likely spur a battle in the Massachusetts Legislature. "It's well within the list of things the tribe might consider should the state ever allow gaming," said Scott Ferson, a tribal spokesman. The only federally recognized tribe in Massachusetts is the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head-Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard, which has also expressed interest in possibly developing a gaming facility. The Mashpee Wampanoags must meet seven criteria to win federal recognition, including whether it has kept up its political and cultural identity during its history. "We've got documentation all the way back to the 1600s," said Marshall, noting his tribal ancestors greeted the Pilgrims and helped them survive early hardships. If the BIA rules that the Wampanoags fall short in any of the seven categories, the tribe would have 30 days to address the problem areas, Marshall said. "You're always a little bit suspect because it is a government bureau," he said. "It is awful tough for us to be real confident or real excited." The tribe sued the Department of Interior in 2001 to speed the government's review process. The government agreed in court last year to deliver its preliminary ruling on the Wampanoags by the end of this month. "Justice delayed is justice denied," said Marshall. "We believe the we should be taking our rightful place in history with this decision." There were concerns among some tribal members that the Wampanoags' past ties to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff could undermine their push for federal recognition. During 2003 and 2004, the tribe paid $50,000 to Abramoff's firm for help lobbying for federal recognition. Unlike some other tribes, the Wampanoags were satisfied with the lobbying firm's work, according to Ferson, who characterized the issue as mostly a distraction. Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2006 WFSB. --------- "RE: Blumenthal seeks Intervener Status in Appeal" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:33:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE APPEAL" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412709 Blumenthal seeks intervener status in Schaghticoke appeal by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today March 27, 2006 HARTFORD, Conn. - State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is seeking intervener status in an appeal filed by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation that asks a federal court judge to restore the tribe's federal acknowledgement. Blumenthal filed a motion March 20 with U.S. District Court Judge Peter Dorsey, who has overseen the tribal nation's federal recognition process for almost two decades. The STN filed a 32-page administration appeal Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court in New Haven, naming as defendants the Department of the Interior, recently resigned Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason, the BIA, the Office of Federal Acknowledgement and the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. The appeal cites violations of due process and improper political influence by Connecticut politicians in overturning the BIA's recognition decision. The appeal alleges that the defendants breached their federal trust obligation to the tribe, "violated their own regulations, disregarded prior precedent, ignored evidence submitted by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, and allowed their decisions to be based on political influences from state and federal government officials and others rather than solely on the administrative record." The STN gained federal recognition in January 2004 under the tenure of former Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. But in an unprecedented action, the BIA reversed its decision in a reconsidered final determination on Columbus Day last October, saying the tribe now failed to meet some of the criteria for federal recognition that it had previously fulfilled. The decision to reverse the tribe's federal status was made by the current non-Native associate deputy secretary, who notified the tribe of his decision by fax. Blumenthal, who has often accused unnamed BIA officials of acting illegally by succumbing to political pressure and the federal recognition process of being "fatally flawed and corrupt," said in a March 20 press release that the Indian agency and his office are now allies. "Our goal in intervening is to buttress the BIA's ruling. The Schaghticoke application was fatally flawed, falling far short of federal criteria for tribal recognition ... For the first time, the federal government is an ally, not an adversary, in this fight to uphold federal rules on Indian tribal recognition," Blumenthal said. Blumenthal accused the BIA of violating its own rules when it granted the tribe federal acknowledgement in 2004. In his release, however, Blumenthal said, "My office asks only that the BIA be required to adhere to its own rules, which it did in denying the Schaghticoke petition." The attorney general's motion is basely largely on the claim that the state is entitled to intervene because its "interest may be impaired" if the court restores the tribe's federal acknowledgement. If that were to happen, the tribe would be entitled to the privileges and rights of a federally recognized sovereign nation, including the right to pursue land claims filed in 1998 for the restoration of approximately 2,200 acres of mostly undeveloped land abutting its 400-acre reservation on Schaghticoke Mountain in Kent. The colonial government set aside 2,500 acres for the Schaghticoke in 1736. The land claims, filed under the 1790 Non- Intercourse Act, assert that the property was illegally sold. The attorney general's motion was filed collectively on behalf of defendants in the land claims - the town of Kent, the private Kent School and Connecticut Light & Power Co., which flooded a tribal cemetery during construction of a hydroelectric facility in the early 20th century, according to documents filed with the BIA. Eric Wiechmann, the tribal nation's attorney, said the tribe will definitely respond to the attorney general's motion within the required 21-day period with a motion arguing either to deny the state's request for intervention or to restrict the intervention in a way to prevent the interveners from delaying a decision. "Since our appeal was based on how the agency handled our petition, I'm not sure what their relevance is here. What we do not want is to delay this thing by having any of these parties rehash all the point they made before. That would be unfair to the tribe," Wiechmann said. The court is not likely to allow that to happen, he said. "You have to remember that this all goes back to a ruling by Judge Dorsey when he said the Interior Department was not living up to its duties for a timely process of determination of our petition and, therefore, he was going to take over our petition in connection with the three land claims in Kent. So, they are parties to the land claims; but that's not what's being decided at this state. "What we're talking about is whether we're federally recognized; and once we're federally recognized then we'll go on to the second part, which is the land that we owned in 1790, which was illegally transferred away from the tribe," Wiechmann said. The judge does not have to respond to the tribe's next motion within a specific time frame, but Wiechmann said he believes Dorsey's decision will come "fairly quickly since there are certain issues that have to be addressed, including when the BIA is going to release to us the record or database their used in deciding the Schaghticoke decision." A Freedom of Information Act complaint has been filed against the BIA for denying access to the documents. Copyright c. 1998-2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Coal Company harming Navajo-Hopi Aquifer" --------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:53:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GROUP DENOUNCES PEABODY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/411f376a51caaa1f87257139005e948f.txt Environmental group says coal company harming Navajo-Hopi aquifer By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press Writer March 22, 2006 PHOENIX (AP) - Groundwater pumping by the operator of the Black Mesa coal mine in northeastern Arizona threatens the water supply for the Navajo and Hopi tribes more than the government admits and a new federal permit should be denied, an environmental group says. The Natural Resources Defense Council says a review of federal monitoring data shows that the aquifer under the Navajo Nation is being damaged by pumping of the Peabody Western Coal Co. Wells levels are dropping, springs are drying up, and there are signs that water is being contaminated, said David Beckman, a senior attorney with the NRDC. Peabody also is asking for permission to greatly increase the amount of water it pumps from the aquifer, the NRDC said. "Not only has Peabody's water use been massive by any stretch of the imagination, but in their application they are applying to use even more water," Beckman said. But a spokeswoman for Peabody disputed the findings, saying extensive studies over more than 30 years have shown that the aquifer is "healthy and robust." Beth Sutton also said the application for a so-called life- of-mine permit only asks to use the water on an interim basis, until another supply can be secured. "The claims have long been refuted by long term studies," she said of the NRDC study. "The issues are mainly moot." Regardless, the mine, the power company it supplies and the leaders of the Indian tribes where it sits all agree that a new water source is needed and have been working for years to secure it, Sutton said. The mine, in the heart of the Navajo Nation, provides coal to Southern California Edison's massive Mohave Generating Station near Laughlin, Nev. The plant, the mine and a 273-mile pipeline that carries coal slurry between the two has been shut down since Jan. 1 because SCE did not upgrade its pollution control devices as required by the 1999 settlement of a lawsuit brought by consortium of environment groups. The NRDC was not a party. Most of the water is used to transport the coal. It is ground up, mixed with pumped groundwater and then sent from northeast Arizona to the plant. The Navajo Nation wants the water use stopped too, and has told the mine that repeatedly. But it also has worked with Peabody on studies on another supply, said George Hardeen, a tribal spokesman. "The preliminary hydrology reports show there is plenty of water for that use," Hardeen said of the alternative supply. "So when the plant goes back on line, there is a very good chance that the water supply will be a different one." Beckman said there are no assurances of that. Copyright c. 1995-2006 Casper Tribune - Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Colvilles reject Mine development proposal" --------- Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:46:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COLVILLE INDIANS REJECT MINE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.kxly.com/index.php?sect_rank=2§ion_id=560&story_id=1251 Colvilles reject mine development proposal Associated Press March 24th, 2006 NESPELEM, WASH. - Colville Indians have voted to reject a proposal to build a molybdenum mine on Mount Tolman on the tribes' Eastern Washington reservation. Results certified Thursday show 1,254 enrolled members voted to keep a 1995 mining moratorium in place, while 847 voted for the proposed mine on the mountain some consider sacred. Proponents said the proposed mine would employ about 450 people and bring as much as $240 Million a year in royalties to the tribe. But Tribal Chairman Harvey Moses Jr. says members were more concerned with the environment and the tribes' culture and traditions. Moses says he believes the proposal failed because of mining's reputation on the reservation, which was cut in half after gold was discovered in northern Okanogan County in the late 1800s. The Colvilles have gone on record in opposition to a proposed gold mine on Buckhorn Mountain near the Canadian border in Okanogan County and have feuded with a Canadian company over smelter pollution in the Columbia River. Tribal member Sonny George of Inchelium says he opposed the molybdenum proposal because the large-scale project would have negative impacts on surrounding communities, yet few of the high-paying technical jobs would have gone to tribal members. Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 KXLY. --------- "RE: Tribes, State focus on Water" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:33:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WYOMING WATER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.casperstartribune.net/4c85f8b6a3e0a3ee8725713b0001c519.txt Tribes, state focus on water By BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent March 25, 2006 LANDER - Negotiations over the 500,000 acre feet of senior water rights annually belonging to the Wind River Indian Reservation tribes are well under way, although tribal and state leaders aren't revealing much. The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone won that water right in a titanic legal struggle that was finally resolved in the U.S. Supreme Court. Much of the water has long been used by irrigation districts in Fremont County. At a question-and-answer session this week in Fort Washakie, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he was looking for state and federal involvement in contributing money to put the tribes' water rights to work. The key is whether negotiations can wind up with something to benefit the tribes and other Fremont County users. "It has to be to the benefit of all, or it will be too easy to kill," Freudenthal said. The governor said he'd like to see the federal government pay for water improvements and projects that benefit the tribes, while the state could pay for projects to benefit the non-Indian irrigation districts. Discussions have addressed a range of issues, including instream water flows to re-establish the Wind River fishery, drinking water systems for the reservation, storage reservoirs and improvements to irrigation systems to maximize conservation and efficiency. Freudenthal said he was more than content to let the locals iron out all the details. Earlier, the governor said the tribes had "the best water rights in the state," and asked for patience as the negotiations proceed, because the outcome will be critically important to Wyoming. "I'm convinced that our future will revolve around water," Freudenthal said. On Friday, the Legislature's Select Committee on Tribal Relations received a wide range of information about water issues and concerns during hearings in Lander. Cassel Weeks of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council said the tribes are concerned that the "clock is ticking and solutions are becoming more expensive" regarding water projects in the Wind River drainage. Weeks complained that the antiquated irrigation system on the reservation is in terrible shape, with massive water losses n up to 60 percent n in unlined ditches. Such losses have created wetlands that have damaged otherwise good agricultural lands with both seepage and alkaline contamination, Weeks said. "There's no point in building dams if we can't deliver the water," he said. Weeks said there also has to be recognition that drinking water and recreation, as well as irrigation, are important uses. Weeks also noted that Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs off of the reservation often have nice recreation facilities, but that reservation reservoirs don't. Weeks added that the reservation sees little or no benefits from Bureau of Reclamation or from Bureau of Indian Affairs water management projects. He complained that the operations and maintenance fees collected by the BIA are largely spent on paperwork and salaries, not on irrigation system improvements. Help may be on the way, thanks to state and federal programs focused in upgrading the irrigation systems on the reservation. Mike Besson, director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, said rehab work will start in the fall on the reservation's irrigation systems. He said construction costs have risen drastically, but added the work would dramatically increase the system's efficiency and conserve water. "When you replace a open ditch with pipe, your operations and maintenance costs go way down," Besson said. As soon as the irrigation season stops, work will begin on the diversion gates, he said. Mitch Cottenoir, water chairman for the Eastern Shoshone, said the tribal water engineer's office will take the lead. Everything will be coordinated through the state, BIA and the tribal water office, he said. Cottenoir said it has been three years since money for the project was appropriated, with another $1.75 million coming for construction. "This is an ongoing process," he said. Cottenoir expressed the hope that the Legislature and the state's congressional delegation would keep the money coming. Copyright c. 2006 Casper Star-Tribune. --------- "RE: Tribe deserves equal treatment" --------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:53:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TREAT GUN LAKE EQUALLY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailypress.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=1383 Tribe deserves equal treatment By George Weeks March 22, 2006 DETROIT - In its long quest for equal treatment in Lansing on gaming, the Kalamazoo-area Gun Lake Tribe, smallest of the state's 12 federally- recognized tribes, has faced opposing firepower from some top guns of the Michigan GOP. Among them: presumptive gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVos - who earlier signed on as an opponent but is not currently trumpeting the issue - and assorted GOP congressmen and senatorial hopefuls. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, wavering as she tends to do on some controversial issues, reserves judgment on whether she'll sign a legislatively-approved Gun Lake compact for a casino that Republican Gov. John Engler (citing a personal conflict because some of his buddies were pushing it) declined to sign as he had for the other tribes. Formally, the Gun Lake Tribe is the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, named after a 1700s Great Lakes regional chief/war lord. His name meant a feared, powerful bird - although he was dubbed "bad bird" by the feds for fighting their ill-advised removal efforts to relocate his people out west via the Trail of Tears. (Though many sources spell the name of similar tribes "Potawatomi," Gun Lake uses the spelling "Pottawatomi.") Gun Lake Chairman D.K. Sprague, a 62-year-old retired railroad worker who steered the 305-member tribe to federal recognition, is hardly a powerful bird in 21st century politics. Big bucks are against him. But Sprague, in his low key way, is slogging around the state talking to newspaper editorial boards and others who will hear his pitch to counter arguments of such groups as "23 Is Enough" - dubbed to reflect combined number of Michigan's Indian and Detroit casinos. Says Sprague, whom I interviewed last week at the Grand Traverse Resort near Traverse City (owned by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians): "Although 23 Is Enough is used to getting their way in west Michigan, they will not succeed in denying the tribe its sovereign rights which are protected by federal law and are not dependent on political contributions." He's right. Facts are, as Granholm and ex-Engler administration officials say privately, under terms of federal recognition and gaming regulations, the horse is out of the barn; one way or another Gun Lakers will have a casino; and it makes sense for the state to negotiate a compact that produces revenue for the state and communities surrounding the casino as casinos do, big time. This is far from the biggest issues pending in Lansing. But it's worthy of note in aftermath of the Washington scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose ripped-off clients included the Mt. Pleasant-based Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe that paid him a reported $14 million to use his levers in Congress and the Bush administration to, among other things, fight the Gun Lake bid. According to Sprague, the Saginaw tribe under current leadership, as well as other Michigan tribes with casinos, now support Gun Lake's bid. As Chairman Frank Ettawa-geshik of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians told me Friday, there should be "a level playing field" in Lansing for Gun Lake, whose bid for a state compact is strongly endorsed by the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce. Among vocal opponents of Gun Lake casino is U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R- Holland, who in 1993 succeeded in getting the "just and equitable treatment" that he said the Manistee-based Little River Band of Ottawa Indians deserved for federal recognition. In 2002, Hoekstra told the Grand Rapids Press "we need to put up roadblocks" to Gun Lake's casino bid. As of this writing, Hoekstra's office had no comment on how he views the Manistee band's casino, other than to say he's "consistently opposed" gambling. But when he testified in 1993 to add the Manistee band to those tribes that already had recognition - and casinos - he surely knew there was a casino around the Little River's bend. Gun Lake's opponents say enough is enough. I'd say fair is fair. Copyright c. 2006 - The Daily Press. --------- "RE: South Dakota Tribe hopes for Economic push" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:33:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEFENSE CONTRACT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/14186438.htm South Dakota tribe hopes for economic push from defense contract JENNY MICHAEL Associated Press March 25, 20060 MISSION, S.D. - It's the sort of operation one could easily overlook in a big city: 15 to 30 people making and testing circuit boards for a Defense Department contractor. But for the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, home to some of the poorest people in America and a staggering unemployment rate, the planned facility could be the seed that blooms into economic development and new opportunities for the young. The project to create the Advanced Electronics Rosebud Integration Center received $1.8 million in the defense spending bill President Bush signed Dec. 30. The Rosebud reservation is being helped by a partnership with an Alabama company and federal rules that favor disadvantaged businesses. "It's an exciting time for us, and I just hope that it'll work," said Rodney Bordeaux, tribal president. "I'm pretty optimistic that it will work." Todd County, home of much of the south-central South Dakota reservation, has long been considered one of the nation's poorest counties. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly half the people in Todd County live in poverty. Phil Two Eagle, director of the tribe's Resource Development Office, estimates that 80 percent of the members on the reservation are unemployed. School officials estimate that about 15 percent of each freshman class drops out of high school. The push for the center began in 2004, when Barth Robinson, a tribal member who works for Radiance Technologies of Huntsville, Ala., contacted Two Eagle. Robinson, who is the son of a diplomat and grew up overseas, is now the project manager. He said that for him it was "just time to migrate back" to the land where his mother was raised. But at the same time Radiance, which produces a variety of defense and computing products and has several Defense Department contracts, was looking for small or disadvantaged businesses to work with, said George Clark, president of Radiance. Federal regulations require large government contractors to work with such businesses as partners or subcontractors. Several tribes have businesses involved in government contracting because of the rules, including Nebraska's Winnebago Tribe and North Dakota's Spirit Lake Nation. Clark said his fast-growing company expects to fall under those rules soon, and added that Pentagon contractors also get financial incentives for partnering with tribal businesses. The tribal council and South Dakota's congressional delegation gave their support to the partnership and helped push the legislation through, although at less than the $3 million funding originally proposed. Work at the center will begin when a building and staff are in place, Robinson said. He expects the building to be finished by summer's end, and staff training will begin once the building is completed. Robinson said he thinks the tribal-owned firm eventually will expand from defense to commercial work. Two Eagle said he expects to see 100 jobs at the plant within three years, adding to tribal businesses that include a casino, a truck stop, a 30-megawatt wind farm, a bottled-water company, a lumber company and a buffalo ranch. Because of the skills necessary to work at the center, Robinson anticipates that the tribe will hold a job fair to recruit workers from outside the reservation at first. But the company also hopes to find and train employees from within the tribe, he said. The 2000 U.S. Census reported that there were 11,310 Rosebud Sioux Tribe members living on the reservation, but tribal officials say the population is much higher. Sinte Gleska University, the tribal college, will be involved with training tribal members to work at the center, and plans to develop a school of engineering, said Shawn Bordeaux, business and economic development officer for the college. The facility, whose employees will earn at least $15 an hour, could give young people on the reservation the motivation they need to continue their education, said Shawn Bordeaux, a relative of the tribal president. Shawn Bordeaux, who used to work for Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic division of Nebraska's Winnebago Tribe, remembers Ho-Chunk's CEO flaunting his Porsche around town so young tribal members could see something to work toward. He said Ho-Chunk has made around $100 million a year for the tribe by running businesses, including a gas company, and several Internet businesses, and that he envisions Rosebud's six-year-old economic arm, the Rosebud Economic Development Company, giving his tribe a similar future. "The big story is making these dreams come true in front of the kids," he said. "Anything we can get that's concrete, physical, that they can see themselves is going to do wonders for them." Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald - Knight Ridder, Inc. --------- "RE: CNO Chief calls for an 'Indian' Nation by Blood" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHEROKEE CHIEF RESPONDS TO FREEDMEN RULING" http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/013060.asp Cherokee chief calls for an 'Indian' Nation by blood March 20, 2006 An Indian nation should be composed of people who are Indian by blood, the leader of the second largest tribe in the U.S. said last week. During his State of the Nation address, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith criticized the tribe's highest court for engaging in what he considers to be judicial activism. He said the Judicial Appeals Tribunal, in a 2-1 decision on March 7, overturned the will of the Cherokee people by opening up the tribal rolls to the Freedmen, the descendants of African slaves who were made citizens of the tribe after the Civil War. In response to the ruling, the Cherokee Nation began accepting applications from Freedmen whose ancestors appeared on the Dawes Roll, the document used to establish tribal citizenship. Although tens of thousands may be eligible, only 10 applied as of last week, The Oklahoman reported. But in Smith's view, none of them should qualify because they do not have Cherokee Indian blood. He said Cherokee voters barred Freedmen from citizenship when they approved a new tribal constitution in 1975. "Many Cherokees, including those who wrote the constitution in 1975, believed that Cherokee voters understood that a vote to approve the 1975 constitution would exclude Freedmen from citizenship," Smith said in his address made to the tribal council on March 13. "Many of those voting to exclude the Freedmen believe that an Indian nation should be composed of Indians." Smith said he wasn't excluding anyone - African-American or otherwise - who can demonstrate he or she has Indian blood as recorded by the Dawes Roll. "They're unquestionably entitled to Cherokee Nation citizenship," he told the council. Freedmen without Indian blood aren't in the same class because they were "compensated" with allotments after the Civil War, he argued. "Some Cherokees believe the Freedmen who did not help rebuild the Cherokee Nation in the last 100 years should not reap the benefits that the Cherokees have earned," he said. Smith's line of though runs counter to the court decision. The two Smith-appointed judges said Article III of the constitution, the section dealing with citizenship, doesn't include a blood requirement and doesn't include any restrictions on the Freedmen. The constitution, however, does include Shawnee Indians and Delaware Indians, who were also made citizens of the tribe after the Civil War. "There is no ambiguity to resolve," Justice Stacy L. Leeds wrote. "The words 'by blood' or 'Cherokee by blood' do not appear." Any changes in Cherokee citizenship must be done "in the open," the court added. "It cannot be accomplished by silence," the decision stated. The court left open the possibility that Cherokee voters, sometime in the future, could rewrite the rules. Seizing on that language, Smith advocated a constitutional convention or a referendum vote in order to resolve the issue. That call drew opposition from Marilyn Vann, a Freedman descendant who traces her citizenship to the Dawes Roll. She attended last week's council meeting and was appalled by Smith's comments. "Is the Cherokee nation a 'race' or a 'nation'?" she said. "The federal government does not have government to government relationships with 'races' but with nations." With over 200,000 on the rolls, the Cherokee Nation is the second largest in the country in terms of membership. And since the constitution doesn't contain a blood quantum requirement, any Dawes Roll descendant is entitled to citizenship regardless of how far removed from that Indian ancestor. The system prompted Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), during his Senate campaign against former Congressman Brad Carson, a member of the Cherokee Nation, to joke that the "the average Cherokee [blood] quantum is 1/512." But as part of its requirements, the Cherokee Nation requires applicants to obtain a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, or CDIB, from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That means the Freedmen, whose blood quantum was not recorded on the Dawes Roll, were unable to vote and receive other tribal benefits until the court decision earlier this month. The Cherokee Nation isn't the only tribe in Oklahoma dealing with Freedmen issues. The Seminole Nation made headlines in 2002 after tribal voters adopted a constitution that explicitly removed African-American descendants from the rolls unless they could demonstrate Indian blood. The BIA refused to approve the constitution, sending the tribe into a leadership dispute that lasted several months. The tribe was eventually forced to reinstate the Freedmen. The Creek Nation is the target of a lawsuit filed by one of its Freedmen. A federal judge held a four-week trial last fall and is expected to rule in the coming months. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Creek Freedmen see opening in Citizenzhip dispute" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CREEK FREEDMEN LOOK TO CHEROKEE DECISION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://newsok.com/article/1792983/ Tribal court ruling may establish standard for membership claims By The Associated Press March 21, 2006 OKMULGEE - A Muscogee (Creek) Nation tribal court issued a ruling that attorneys say could pave the way for future claims allowing some descendants of freed slaves to become citizens of the 55,000-member tribe. While the decision does not completely clarify whether all black freedmen descendants will be allowed into the tribe, it could set a precedent for future claims, attorney Damario Solomon Simmons said Monday. Simmons said the decision was "a narrow one" that nonetheless gave a basis that other freedmen seeking enrollment in the tribe could use. "No Creek constitutional or treaty questions that we brought up were addressed," Simmons said. "The judge basically said the applications of Mr. Graham and Mr. Johnson should have been processed." Due process denied, plaintiffs say The two plaintiffs in the case - Fred Johnson of Tulsa and Ron Graham of Okmulgee - claimed they were denied due process of their enrollment applications when they sought citizenship in the Creek Nation nearly 20 years ago, according to tribal court documents. They claimed that not only were they denied a fair process, but that they both qualified for citizenship because their ancestors' blood status was changed to freedmen status as a matter of office procedures of the time. In his five-page decision, Creek Nation Judge Patrick Moore noted that both plaintiffs had received more than one denial to their citizenship claims. He cited a 2001 tribal law that changed the approval for citizenship by creating a citizenship board to oversee enrollment applications. The 2001 law restricted citizenship determination only to the Creek rolls and prohibited the use of earlier documents to prove Creek descendancy. Moore said both Graham and Johnson sought citizenship prior to that law's amendment. As a result, they were entitled to have their enrollment applications reviewed based on the requirements of earlier laws. Applications sent back to board Moore ordered Graham's and Johnson's applications back to the Creek Nation citizenship board so it could comply with the tribe's citizenship laws that were in effect when both plaintiffs initially applied for enrollment. "By not considering and failing to apply the laws of the Muscogee Nation that were in effect when plaintiffs application for enrollment were initially presented, the citizenship board acted contrary to the law and in an arbitrary and capricious manner," Moore said. The Creek Constitution stipulates that citizens must be of Creek blood descent. The decision affirming Graham's and Johnson's citizenship claim comes in the wake of the Cherokee Nation's Judicial Appeals Tribunal decision earlier this month which expanded tribal citizenship to include freedmen descendants. Copyright c. 2006 The Oklahoman/News 9, Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: Enrollment Commission charged with improprieties" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="THLOPTHLOCCO CREEK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7675 Man charges tribe's enrollment commission with improprieties Says unauthorized standards violate constitution Sam Lewin March 20, 2006 A former official with an Oklahoma tribal town is charging that his tribe's election commission is fudging rules on enrollment, allowing the membership to almost double in less than a year. "The majority of us around here have known each other since birth and most all of us know each other by name," David Yargee, a member of the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, tells the Native American Times. "Nowadays we don't know who any of the other members are." While historically affiliated with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the tribal town has independent federal recognition and sovereignty. The Thlopthloccos are located a few miles outside of the town of Okemah. Like many tribes, the Thlopthlocco trace tribal membership maternally. At least until recently, Yargee said. "Our enrollment has ballooned to six hundred people," he said. "We don't have that many people." Yargee says he was appointed to the election commission last year, but shortly afterwards saw that he was ignored when it came to being informed of future meetings and other tribal business. The job of the enrollment commission is to receive applications from potential members, review their lineage, and authorize or turn down their inclusion in the tribe. Yargee said the current commission has been allowing in members that can only prove paternal lineage. According to Yargee, the reason for the relaxed standards is "for the sake of federal dollars... but it's against our constitution." Yargee said he has asked Mekko George Scott, the current leader of the Thlopthloccos, for an explanation. "I wanted to know what the procedures and polices were. They never responded to me," he said. Contacted by this newspaper, Joe Harjocee, a former member of the election commission, said he has heard that commissioners were allowing in unauthorized members but has not seen any proof, adding that he is in ill health and has not recently been able to leave his home as much as he would like. He also said Scott "changes his story around too much on things." Yargee also said that Thlopthlocco administrators have not been forthcoming about recent trouble involving federal investigators. The tribe operates a casino containing several hundred slot machines. In 2003 the National Indian Gaming Commission told the Thlopthloccos that they were in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act for not filing audits for the casino between 2000 through 2002. According to federal law, an outside audit, to be conducted annually, is required and a copy of the results must be submitted to the NIGC. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Chairman wants to re-examine Membership" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BOIS FORTE BAND OF CHIPPEWA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/14149119.htm The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa chairman wants to re-examine membership eligibility BY STEVE KUCHERA March 21, 2006 There was a time when North America wasn't crisscrossed with state and national boundaries. With that in mind Kevin Leecy, chairman of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, wants the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to reconsider who is eligible for tribal membership. The tribe's constitution requires members to have at least one-quarter Minnesota Chippewa Indian blood and prohibits people enrolled in other tribes or people who aren't American citizens. "At one time we were one nation - the Ojibwe nation," Leecy said. "As we broke off into bands from Michigan to Montana and into Canada we were separated. We need to realize that these are imaginary borders to our people. We have relatives on each side of the border." Leecy's proposal would keep the one-quarter blood quantum requirement, but not limit it to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe - which comprises the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, and White Earth bands. "We're proposing including other Ojibwe blood, including members of Ojibwe tribes in North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Michigan and the First Nation Ojibwe tribes in Canada," Leecy said. Leecy's isn't the first effort to change the tribe's membership requirements, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Executive Director Gary Frazer said. There have been sugges- tions to lower the one-quarter blood quantum requirement or allow adoptions into the tribe. There also have been suggestions to make membership requirements more stringent. The tribe's executive committee has never agreed on a proposal. "Hopefully someone like Kevin will take the bull by the horns and address it," Frazer said. Leecy plans to present his proposal to the tribe's legislative committee in the coming weeks. Amending the tribe's constitution would require the approval of tribal members. If the proposal gets as far as a membership vote, White Earth Band members probably would decide its fate. The band accounts for about half of the tribe's 40,000 members. "I commend Chairman Leecy for putting it on the table," White Earth Chairwoman Erma Vizenor said. "We need to make changes in the membership. We're self-terminating by the blood quantum criteria we have at the present time." Vizenor said she thinks Leecy's proposal, while good, doesn't go far enough for White Earth. "I know we are a part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, but we're also independent nations," she said. "An independent nation like White Earth should have the authority to determine who our members are. If there are any changes to the constitution, that's what I would push for." The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is not the only tribe examining the issue of membership eligibility. "This is a big problem throughout Indian County," said Gary Johnson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Superior's First Nation Center. "We just went through a big battle down on my reservation (Lac Courte Oreilles) about changing this." Lac Courte Oreilles went to a compromise combining family lineage with a lower blood quantum requirement. The one-quarter blood quantum requirement was pushed onto tribes decades ago by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a way to reduce the services it was providing to Indians, Leecy said. "It's about time to do things on our terms instead of things that were put on us by the BIA and the federal government," Leecy said. "People don't always marry within their own tribe. As people intermarry, the blood quantum gets thinner. At some point we need to address this." The BIA no longer sets membership criteria for tribes, BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling said. "We used to handle membership for tribes, but that is now a function they handle themselves," she said. Proposals to change membership eligibility can be controversial. Three years ago the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana voted not to change their one-quarter blood quantum rule. Supporters of changing the requirement to one of family lineage noted that blood quantum requirements can divide families into tribal members and nonmembers. Some opponents of the proposal worried that eliminating the blood quantum requirement would increase the demand for tribal services. One problem with many attempts to change membership rules, Johnson said, is that they are motivated by economic self-interest rather than concern about Indian culture. "One of the things people don't talk about is what makes an Indian person," he said, noting that a full-blooded Indian may not interact with his or her tribe while someone ineligible for membership can be highly active in the community. "It's not a fair system," Johnson said. "I think with your membership comes certain responsibilities to attend ceremonies, to participate in elections, to participate in the community itself. I think what the tribes need to do is take a look at what it means to be a member of the tribe." Copyright c. 2006 Duluth Superior. --------- "RE: Tribe Membership beyond Minnesota" --------- Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:46:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OJIBWE ENROLLMENT WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL BORDERS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/local/14173589.htm RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA: 'Tribe membership' beyond Minnesota Proposal would make North Dakota Ojibwe eligible; White Earth vote ultimately could be deciding factor By Steve Kuchera Duluth News Tribune March 24, 2006 There was a time when North America wasn't crisscrossed with state and national boundaries. With that in mind, Kevin Leecy, chairman of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, wants the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to reconsider who is eligible for tribal membership. The tribe's constitution requires members to have at least one-quarter Minnesota Chippewa Indian blood and prohibits people enrolled in other tribes or people who aren't American citizens. "At one time we were one nation - the Ojibwe nation," Leecy said. "As we broke off into bands from Michigan to Montana and into Canada, we were separated. We need to realize that these are imaginary borders to our people. We have relatives on each side of the border." One-quarter Leecy's proposal would keep the one-quarter blood quantum requirement but not limit it to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe - composed of the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth bands. "We're proposing including other Ojibwe blood, including members of Ojibwe tribes in North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Michigan and the First Nation Ojibwe tribes in Canada," Leecy said. Leecy's isn't the first effort to change the tribe's membership requirements, MCT Executive Director Gary Frazer said. There have been suggestions to lower the one-quarter blood-quantum requirement or allow adoptions into the tribe. There also have been suggestions to make membership requirements more stringent. The tribe's executive committee never has agreed on a proposal. "Hopefully, someone like Kevin will take the bull by the horns and address it," Frazer said. Leecy plans to present his proposal to the tribe's legislative committee within the coming weeks. Amending the tribe's constitution would require the approval of tribal members. Fate may be up to White Earth If the proposal gets as far as a membership vote, White Earth Band members likely would decide its fate. The band accounts for about half of the tribe's 40,000 members. "I commend Chairman Leecy for putting it on the table," White Earth Chairwoman Erma Vizenor said. "We need to make changes in the membership." Leecy's proposal, while good, doesn't go far enough for White Earth, Vizenor said. "I know we are a part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, but we're also independent nations," she said. "An independent nation like White Earth should have the authority to determine who our members are. If there are any changes to the constitution, that's what I would push for." The one-quarter bloodquantum requirement was pushed onto tribes decades ago by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs as a way to reduce the services it was providing to Indians, Leecy said. "It's about time to do things on our terms instead of things that were put on us by the BIA and the federal government," Leecy said. "People don't always marry within their own tribe. As people intermarry, the blood quantum gets thinner. At some point, we need to address this." The BIA no longer sets membership criteria for tribes, BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling said. "We used to handle membership for tribes, but that is now a function they handle themselves," she said. Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald - Knight Ridder, Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Civil Rights for Native Americans 30 Years Later" --------- Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:41:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FARMINGTON, NM" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.daily-times.com/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210309/1001 Study: Native rights have improved Yet, Native Americans have not served on city council By Erny Zah The Daily Times March 21, 2006 Editor's note: The United States Commission on Civil Rights released a report earlier this year entitled, "The Farmington Report: Civil Rights for Native Americans 30 Years Later." The report gave the city of Farmington accolades for making improvements in race relations with Native Americans, but also cited areas in which the city could improve. This is the first installment in a five-part series examining the report's findings. --- FARMINGTON - Despite a local population nearing 20 percent, a Native American has yet to sit on the Farmington city council, according to a civil rights report released in January. The United States Commission on Civil Rights report, "The Farmington Report: Civil Rights for Native Americans 30 Years Later" stated that "there has been a marked improvement in social relations and civil rights in the Farmington community from three decades ago." Some of the improvements include a better working relationship between the city and the Native American population. But since there is not, nor has there ever been, a Native American serving on the city council, the New Mexico Advisory Committee, the group that penned the report, recommended "the city carefully study its city council election structure, to facilitate the potential election of a Native American to Farmington's city council." The city did reestablish its council districts in 2001, but redistricting wasn't based on ethic population pockets, but population size, said Farmington City Clerk Gina Morris. But redistricting, even if it could be implemented, wouldn't necessarily ensure the election of a Native American to the city council. "One of the major problems is that Native Americans are scattered among all the precincts," said Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock. "When it comes to voting, there is no voting block for Navajos." Additionally, voter turnout in municipal elections has been low in recent years. In the last municipal election Farmington had a 25 percent voter turnout. Of that number it is unknown how many Native Americans voted because when registering to vote, ethnicity isn't required information. Also, some experts contend that lack of knowledge about the political process keeps many Native Americans away from the polls. "In the legacy of our history, that wasn't an option," said Laura Harris, executive director of Americans for Indian Opportunity in Albuquerque. "It takes years to overcome a legacy of not being a part of the political process. Native Americans, as well as non-Indians, we have to see ourselves as having something to offer," she said. "The American political system needs our cultural values and world view." A key component in overcoming historical exclusion is voter education, including information about how to run for office, said Albuquerque community activist Bineshi Albert. "There's a bit of learning curve," said Albert of the process of running for city council. Albert was one of the organizers of the Native American Voter Alliance state conference held in Albuquerque last week. She added that Albuquerque Indians are grappling with the same issues regarding representation on city council. "I think for a lot of people it's a big difficult thing," she noted. That sentiment is shared by one local official who pointed to the significant differences between municipal government and tribal government. "The process is real different than what the Navajo people are used to with chapter and tribal government," said Shiprock Chapter President Duane "Chili" Yazzie, who noted that getting a Native American elected to city council will be challenging. "It's never been done, so the first time is always the hardest time," he said. "It's a learning process. Something that will take time." In an effort to help the process along, Shiprock officials say they hope to bring the Native American Voters Alliance to San Juan County "to help encourage and empower Native Americans to have a voice in city government." In the mean time, Mayor Bill Standley said the lack of Native-American representation on city council has not deterred him from giving careful consideration to Native American opinions and issues. "We have made great progress in the last 30 years and in the last 10 years," he said. He added that he has committed himself to understanding Native American culture so he can better serve the city's Native Americans and meet their needs. But as for getting Native Americans on the city council, he said, "I wish I knew the answer that would give us some idea (of how) to fix that problem." Copyright c. 2005 Farmington Daily Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper. --------- "RE: Lawmaker seeks to certify Indian Art" --------- Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:46:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STOPPING FAKE INDIAN ART" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_4567370,00.html Lawmaker seeks to certify Indian art By Associated Press March 24, 2006 A bid to stop counterfeit merchandise from infiltrating the American Indian arts and crafts market in New Mexico has hit a roadblock, but one lawmaker is continuing to push for a certification stamp she hopes will protect Indian artists. Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, a Gallup Democrat, represents an area that thrives on tourism and the Indian art market. Her hometown is a hub for collectible jewelry made by artists from nearby Zuni Pueblo, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi reservation in eastern Arizona. For years, she has heard complaints about imitation art sold in Gallup and elsewhere in New Mexico. But her plan to set aside $70,000 for the state to study and propose rules to establish a certification stamp for arts and crafts made by Indians in New Mexico was shot down by Gov. Bill Richardson, who vetoed the money from a budget bill. "It just really bothers me," Lundstrom said. "Of all things to veto for goodness sake, particularly as prominent as Indian art is to this state." Richardson's top budget adviser, Department of Finance and Administration Secretary James Jimenez, said the governor was generally supportive of the idea. But, Jimenez added: "The governor had to make some very hard decisions in balancing the budget. Unfortunately, that was just one appropriation out of many that had to be sacrificed at that point in time to balance the budget." State and federal laws already prohibit misrepresenting fake Indian art or jewelry as authentic, but Lundstrom said those laws aren't enough. The Gallup Democrat wants to create a board made up of federal officials who oversee the Indian arts and crafts industry, trade representatives and others who would work with the state to design a certification mark and develop a plan for implementing it. Based on the board's recommendations, Lundstrom would introduce legislation in 2007 to put the program in place. One other state, Alaska, sponsors a similar program guaranteeing buyers that items bearing a "Silver Hand" seal are handcrafted by an Alaska Eskimo, Aleut or other Indian artist. Copyright c. 2006 The Albuquerque Tribune. --------- "RE: Border Artifacts, Cultural Sites are in danger" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CULTURAL ARTIFACTS BEING DESTROYED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0321sacred-damage0321.html Border artifacts, cultural sites are in danger Billy House Republic Washington Bureau March 21, 2006 WASHINGTON - Archaeological and historical sites along the U.S. border with Mexico and other valuable cultural resources are being destroyed, including areas held sacred by Native Americans, according to a new report from a presidential advisory panel. The culprits: dynamic population growth and urbanization in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California, combined with increased cross-border traffic and illegal immigration through the region and related border enforcement. Unless many of these cultural and natural resources along the U.S.- Mexican border are better protected, and soon, they will not be available for future generations, the panel warns. "It's impossible to preserve everything," said Paul Ganster, chairman of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, a committee of academics and representatives of local governments, non-profit groups, tribes and federal agencies that advises the White House and Congress about issues along the border. But, Ganster said, "we should want to preserve for future generations the opportunities we've had to enjoy these areas that remind us of our historical and cultural past and (that) relate to who we are and where we've come from." "Once changed, they are obliterated forever," he added. For example, the volunteer Arizona Site Steward Program documented more than 50 acts of vandalism to sites in southern Arizona during 2005, the board said, including pothunting, surface collection of artifacts, illegal dumping of trash, removal of petroglyphs, fence-cutting and damage from off-road vehicles. In El Paso County, Texas, vandals at the Hueco Tanks Historic Site have defaced pictographs (rock paintings) in the past 15 years, causing what the report calls "irreparable destruction." Increasing awareness The advisory panel's recommendations have no force. But they are being distributed to government officials, landowners and others to help increase awareness of the problems and to generate coordinated public and private efforts to preserve the historic sites and lands. The "border region" is defined in the report as areas in the four states that are within 60 miles of the U.S.-Mexican line. In the almost 10,000 years of settlement in the region, the report says, there are archaeological sites and cultural areas that include Native American villages, historic mission churches and Mexican and U.S. territorial-era ranches, as well as historic mining districts, frontier towns, and early railroads, roads and trails. Among the panel's recommendations: - Increase monitoring activities at archaeological sites. - Increase partnerships among preservation groups, governments and private groups to buy sensitive land with valuable cultural and natural resources and to manage growth. - Create more incentive programs and funding to encourage private landowners and developers to voluntarily protect cultural resources. - Increase public attention to the effects of illegal immigration across tribal lands and give greater attention to the special practices and activities linked to locations of cultural significance. - Minimize off-road driving and creation of new roads by the U.S. Border Patrol, and increase "training of Border Patrol personnel in cultural sensitivity and appreciation of the border region's diverse cultural heritage." Call for exemptions The report also calls for reconsidering exemptions from federal environmental laws given to some border-security projects. For example, the report points out that a border-fence project in the San Diego-Tijuana area was exempted from such laws. "This large triple-fencing, approximately 30 miles long, will destroy or cover an (ancient) archaeological site, and will affect several endangered plant species," the report states. As for vandalism, the potential for financial gain combined with the low probability of getting caught keeps looters active despite federal and state laws that include civil and criminal penalties. "In many cases, numerous aspects of daily life, from spiritual practices, to daily diet, to creation of handcrafted objects from local materials, are affected," the report states. But the damage goes beyond looting. The changing land uses also threaten Native Americans whose dependence on natural resources for cultural practices goes beyond economics. Many of the committee's conclusions were influenced by the 27-member board's field visit in October to the Tohono O'odham Nation, which shares 75 miles of border with Mexico. In all, there are 26 Native American tribes in the border region of the four states. 'Lack of understanding' Tohono O'odham Vice Chairman Ned Norris Jr., a member of the advisory panel, said he believes there has been "a lack of concerted understanding about tribes and tribal governments and, more particularly, how border issues impact tribes." That's why Norris invited his board colleagues to Arizona so that they could see the results of increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants crossing tribal lands, coupled with the federal government's increased border-security efforts. His tribe estimates that as many as 1,500 undocumented migrants cross its lands each day, leaving about 6 tons of trash, including backpacks, blankets, water bottles, plastic sheeting and even automobiles. The increase in human activity also has led to creation of unofficial roads, trails and paths, and increased damage to culturally important natural areas and vegetation and sacred sites. One area cited by Norris, and in the committee's report, is the Baboquivari Peak area, which he said "is, in fact, sacred to our people." "We believe our creator lives in this mountain," he said, adding that pilgrimages are made there for spiritual purification and strengthening. Collaborative planning Some areas could be declared National Heritage Areas, which are designated by Congress as containing natural, cultural and recreational resources that are nationally distinctive and significant. Such a designation is intended to encourage collaborative planning and preservation of cultural resources that also can stimulate economic growth. Once designated, an area is eligible to receive up to $10 million in 50 percent matching funds over 15 years. Only one exists in the border region: the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. Overall, the advisory panel's report says that the full extent of destruction to historical and cultural sites is unknown because of the vast and remote areas of the border region and because of the lack of resources for exhaustive monitoring. It notes, for example, that there are 3,984 known archaeological sites known in Pima County, butonly 12 percent of the land there has been investigated. Similarly, staffers from the 1.7 million-acre Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona estimate that only 10 percent of that forest has been surveyed. Mary Estes, a resource protection specialist with Arizona's Office of Historic Preservation, part of the Parks Department, said the state and other public-land managers are working to make people more aware and get them involved in cultural-resource preservation through stronger public education. Copyright c. 2006, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Students play Scrabble in Dakota Language" --------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:33:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DAKOTA SCRABBLE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/14186739.htm Reservation students play Scrabble in Dakota language Associated Press March 25, 2006 HANKINSON, N.D. - Teams from Sioux reservation schools in North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba have been competing in Scrabble, using the Dakota Sioux language. The tournament made its debut Friday at the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe's Dakota Magic Casino pavilion near Hankinson. The game is part of the tribe's campaign to revitalize the Dakota language, now spoken fluently by a dwindling number of elders. One survey predicted the last fluent Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota speaker would die in 2025. "With these efforts, we'll try to prolong that," Darell DeCoteau, a school board member of the Enemy Swim Day School, said as he gestured to a nearby Scrabble board. "This will probably push that back a little bit." "Start in the middle," David Seaboy told a group of middle-school students from the Enemy Swim Day School at Waubay, S.D. "Everybody help somebody make a word." The first word to take shape was sa, pronounced "shah" - the color red. After a few minutes of frantic consultation with "The Official Dakotah Scrabble Dictionary, a team built on the base to form the word sapa, pronounced "shah-pa," or dirty, a word worth seven points. "This is a good stimulant for the mind," said Seaboy, 63, one of a group of Sisseton-Wahpeton elders, all fluent in the language, who wrote the 207-page Dakota dictionary. The Dakota Scrabble initiative was authorized by Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble, and supported financially by the company's chairman, Alan Hassenfeld. Hasbro gave permission for 30 educational versions of the game. Each set was hand crafted by tribal members. The tiles were made of stone mined from a quarry near Milbank, S.D. Unable to find a maker of a leather board, the creators settled on a vinyl version made in Fargo. Otherwise, all the materials are natural and native to the area. Project organizers got permission from Hasbro to make up to 500 home versions of Dakota Scrabble, Tammy DeCoteau said. There has been much interest in the game on reservations, she said. Seaboy, who grew up with Dakota as his first language, was pleased by what he saw Friday. The Scrabble tournament was the culmination of a scholastic Dakota language bowl, now in its fourth year. "What strikes me is the reaction of the kids," he said, "how hungry they are to learn and understand their native language." Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald - Knight Ridder, Inc.. --------- "RE: Book for all Seasons, challenge to a Governor" --------- Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:41:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: TILLER BOOK, WOMENS' RIGHTS CHALLENGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7669 A book for all seasons and a challenge to a governor Notes from Indian Country Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. March 20, 2006 What weighs nine pounds and is red all over? No, it's not a very large Indian baby. The question is always "spoken" so the sound "read" comes out "red." Of course, we all knew the answer to that question while still in elementary school. What's black and white and read all over? A newspaper, of course. But the book that weighs nine pounds is a hefty, 1,120 pages book named "Tiller's Guide to Indian Country" and if you haven't seen it yet you really don't know what you are missing. The book was first published in 1996, but with the fast changes taking place in Indian country the second and expanded version came out in 2005. It was edited and compiled by Veronica Tiller, PhD, and a member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe of New Mexico. Using websites and shoe leather, Tiller set out to publish the most comprehensive list of Indian tribes, nations, villages, pueblos, and rancherias ever put into one book. In the foreword Tiller wrote, "In addition to the research and inquiries conducted from our offices, we also dispatched a small army of field researchers made up almost exclusively of my sisters and nieces to visit more than 220 reservations and Indian communities in the `Lower 48' states. From treaty fishing grounds at the very mouth of the Klamath River in Oregon to the bottom of the Grand Canyon; from the Las Vegas-style Indian casinos of San Diego County to the tribal bison herds on the high plains of Montana and the Dakotas; and from the Florida Everglades to the island chain of the Penobscot River in Maine, we `kicked the tires' of Indian country USA for this 2005 edition of Tiller's Guide." I love this book because when Tiller gave it the name "Guide," she knew exactly what the book was about. It is a guide through Indian Country like no other. Pick any tribe in the United States or Alaska and if you want to know the size of the tribe, how many of its members have college degrees, what are its main sources of economy or what its basic language is, you will find it all in Tiller's "Guide to Indian Country." As a publisher of a newspaper for many years I found this book to be the bible of my business. Just helping my writers find the correct spelling of an Indian tribe can be most difficult because many of the tribes spell out their names in their own language. Every Indian nation is pinpointed on a map showing where it is located within the state. The Guide will tell you the total land area of the tribe, the population and total enrollment and even how many people are in the workforce. Does the tribe have a casino? Does it have a high school? How about an Indian college? The answers to all of these questions are explained in detail. Oh yes, and the book is also beautifully illustrated. I seldom tout any book or product unless I find it to be essential to Indian country. This book fills that bill. I would highly recommend it to anyone working in Indian affairs, to every high school and college on and off the Indian reservations of America, and to all public libraries. BowArrow Publishing Company of Albuquerque, NM publishes this book. South Dakota's abortion law When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother's life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state. Napoli suggested that if it was a case of "simple rape," there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli's description of rape as "simple." He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by "simple rape." The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women. "To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," she said to me last week. "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction." Strong words from a very strong lady. I hope Ms. Fire Thunder challenges Gov. Rounds and the state legislators on this law that is an affront to all independent women. --- Tim Giago is the president of the Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc., and the publisher of Indian Education Today Magazine. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com or by writing him at 2050 W. Main St., Suite 5, Rapid City, SD. He was also the founder and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Guest Column: Oneidas need to provide Answers" --------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:56:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WISCONSIN ONEIDA CHALLENGED TO PROVIDE ANSWERS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/20060321/GPG07/603210439/1273/GPGsports Guest column: Oneidas need to provide answers March 21, 2006 Oneida Nation Chairman Gerald Danforth has it right. He stated in his March 15 Green Bay Press-Gazette guest column that, "There are many questions that need to be answered and explained, far more then [sic] can be addressed in this column." The fact that the Oneidas defaulted on the $137,065 service agreement payment, which was due Hobart as per the Oneida Tribe-village of Hobart service agreement, went unaddressed in Mr. Danforth's piece. The fact that, as of March 16, the Oneidas had not yet paid Hobart a one-time $100,000 special payment, as agreed to in the same service agreement and voluntarily dedicated by the village to reconstruct specific roads used almost exclusively by tribal residents, went unaddressed. The fact that the Oneidas have asserted control over the abandoned railroad right-of-way that traverses Hobart from end to end and have not paid property taxes - not just to the village, but to the school districts, the county, and to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College - went unaddressed. If, however, the Oneidas do not own the abandoned railroad bed, then they need to explain to adjacent tax-paying law-abiding property owners - as well as to the village of Hobart, to Wisconsin Public Service Corp., to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to name but a few - why they should not be held liable for damages incurred. The village's resources and funds don't even approach the magnitude and depth of those of the Oneida Tribe. Nonetheless, we will continue to be available for any discussions or meetings that the tribe may request. The current Village Board has bent over backwards during the last two years in our attempts to collaborate with the Oneida Tribe with a first-ever service agreement - with which the village has faithfully complied; with monthly bi-lateral meetings; and with village officials attending tribal governmental functions. However, as I have personally stated to Chairman Danforth, Vice- Chairwoman Kathie Hughes, Business Committee member Trish King, and other tribal officials, with respect to the inexplicable denial of simple utility easements to legitimate property owners, "It doesn't matter what race or what creed you are. People don't treat other people like this." I hold everyone to the same standard to which I hold my own family, my own friends, my fellow citizens and myself. The citizens of the village of Hobart can go to the bank with my pledge that I will hold the Oneidas - indeed everyone - accountable for their actions. That's the way it should be; that's the way it will be. To set the record straight, the issue of the abandoned railroad and associated rights-of-way has been an agenda item on countless occasions at countless meetings. That this is some kind of a surprise to the Oneidas is, well, surprising. Yes, there are many questions that need answers and the current Village Board is sparing no effort at getting those answers. Be it known to the tribe that they have a standing invitation to provide answers at any time. Richard Heidel is president of the village of Hobart. Copyright c. Green Bay Press-Gazette, a Gannett Company. --------- "RE: AFN Special Chiefs Assembly on Renewal" --------- Date: Thursday, March 23, 2006 11:21 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Attention News Editors: Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Attention News Editors: Media advisory - Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly on renewal to be held in Gatineau, Quebec from March 27-29, 2006 OTTAWA, March 23 /CNW Telbec/ - First Nations leaders from across the country will gather in Ottawa, ON next week for the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly on AFN Renewal. The Assembly is an opportunity for First Nations to examine recommendations that stem from the AFN's Renewal Commission report - "A Treaty Among Ourselves" - and discuss potential changes to the national organization. Discussions will focus on Accountability; Universal Vote; New Structures; Relationships; and Administrative Improvements and Efficiencies. The Assembly will be held at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec from March 27-29, 2006. Event: Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly on Renewal Date: Monday, March 27 - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Location: Hilton Lac-Leamy (3 boul. du Casino, Gatineau, Quebec) Media Opportunities: Monday, March 27 at 9:45 am Opening Address by AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine Foyer A, Hilton Lac-Leamy Monday, March 27 at 12 noon Press Conference with AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine (on-site, room tba) Tuesday, March 28 at 10:30 am Press Conference to launch the AFN's Non-insured Health Benefits Booklet with National Chief Phil Fontaine, AFN Regional Chief for Ontario Angus Toulouse and AFN Regional Chief for the Northwest Territories Bill Erasmus (on-site, room tba) Federal Minister of Indian Affairs Jim Prentice has been invited to address the Chiefs during the Special Assembly and details will be provided once confirmed. Media can register on-site with valid identification. There is no cost for media to attend this event. The Special Chiefs Assembly will be webcast live on the AFN's website at www.afn.ca. The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada. For further information: Don Kelly, AFN Communications, Director, (613) 241-6789 ext. 320 or cell (613) 292-2787; Ian McLeod, AFN Bilingual Communications Officer, (613) 241-6789 ext. 336 or cell (613) 859-4335 --------- "RE: Open Letter to Minister/Indian & Northern Affairs" --------- Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:24 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Open Letter to Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jim Prentice Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian March 22, 2006 The Honourable Jim Prentice, P.C., M.P. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Me'tis and Non-Status Indians Room 407, Confederation Building House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Dear Minister: A series of recent media reports leave the impression that you may doubt whether the previous Liberal government actually committed the money that would be necessary just over $5 billion over five years to implement the "Kelowna Accords" with respect to Canada's Aboriginal peoples. This commitment is so fundamental, it is vital to dispel any such doubt. As the federal Minister of Finance at the time of the Kelowna First Ministers' Meeting involving the Prime Minister, all provincial/territorial Premiers and the leaders of five national Aboriginal organizations, I can confirm that as of that meeting (November 24th, 2005) the fiscal framework of the Government of Canada included a total of $5.096 billion to address obligations arising from what came to be known as the "Kelowna Accords". The Kelowna meeting was the culmination of more than 18 months of hard work led by former Prime Minister Martin in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations and all provincial and territorial governments to put together a serious plan to bridge unacceptable socio-economic gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. The resulting Accords focused on issues related to health, education, housing and water, economic development and governance. In the government's 2005 Economic and Fiscal Update, issued on November 14th, the importance of the then-upcoming Kelowna meeting was specifically mentioned, together with an undertaking to provide the needed financing. There was more than enough unused fiscal room in our framework to accommodate the expected sum. When the Kelowna meeting actually took place (10 days later), the money was booked - $5.096 billion. The fiscal treatment of the Kelowna Accords was quite similar to how we handled special federal funding of $755 million to help grain and oilseed producers in the farm sector. In both cases, formal announcements were not ready to be made at the time of the November 14th Fiscal Update, but both were signalled in that Update and flexibility was built into our framework to cover the anticipated expenses. By November 24th, both initiatives had become ready to go, announcements were made, and the money for both was booked. I am pleased that your government has proceeded with our $755 million commitment to help farmers. In that same spirit, it is important that you also follow through on our parallel commitment to Aboriginal peoples delivering the funding that was most certainly set aside for this compelling purpose on November 24th. Thank you for your attention. Yours sincerely, Ralph Goodale --------- "RE: Halt called to Industrial Development" --------- Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 04:05 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Halt called to industrial development Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Halt called to industrial development Tb News Source March 20, 2006 Regional Aboriginal leaders are demanding the province put a halt to all industrial development in Northern Ontario's Boreal forest. The group wants the province to enforce a moratorium until a meaningful consultation agreement between industry and First Nation groups is in place. Spokesman John Cutfeet says the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the First Nation's position that they must be consulted before any development takes place. And he says now it's up to the province to follow through, regardless of the cost. A lawyer with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund says if the government doesn't rectify the situation, legal action is a possibility. Cutfeet says the aboriginal way of life must be protected and it's time first nations people receive the benefits of their traditional lands, that have been enjoyed by industry for the last hundred years. The group is hoping Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay will have some answers for them Tuesday when he meets with NAN officials in Thunder Bay. --------- "RE: Funding: Local Program faces Axe" --------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:53:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FUNDS NOT FORTHCOMING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.parrysoundnorthstar.com/1143063410/ Local program faces axe by Sarah Bissonette March 22, 2006 WASAUKSING - In two months, the funding for a much-needed support group for eight former Indian residential school students in Wasauksing is scheduled to end. It's a deadline for which program co-ordinator Roberta Judge-Clements has been preparing the clients in the last couple of meetings. Getting nervous "They are getting really nervous with May coming. I tell them I may not be working here, but I will still be at the First Nation office. I tell them they can still come and talk to me," said Ms Judge-Clements, who feels that the program is helping the former students. Ms Judge-Clements took on the co-ordinator job last June. The program, called Pshe genda gok Miikaans, or Sacred Pathways, was started in 2004 as a two-year initiative with a $221,000 grant from the federal government's Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF). Funding for the program is only scheduled to continue until May 31, but Ms Judge-Clements said that they are looking for additional funding. Major new funding The closing of the program should be averted by implementation of a settlement package on which the Assembly of First Nations and the federal government agreed in principle late last year, because the package includes major new funding for the AHF. However, it is not clear whether the agreed timeline for implementation of the agreement will be met, averting the shutdown of support groups such as the one in Wasauksing, because of the uncertainties arising from the presence of a new federal government in Ottawa. Anishinabek Nation Grand Chief John Beaucage has told the North Star that several days ago Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a commitment to the Assembly of First Nations that the agreement will be honoured, including $125 million in new funding for the AHF. But what is not yet known is when this will happen, or whether the government will provide interim funding for the AHF if necessary to prevent disruption of programs. There are no other programs of this kind operating currently at a local First Nation community. Healing processes The Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) is a not-for-profit organization created in 1998 by the federal government as part of Gathering Strength, the policy established by the government for dealing with aboriginal issues. Part of the foundation's mandate, as stated on its website is "to encourage and support Aboriginal people in building and reinforcing sustainable healing processes that address the legacy of physical abuse and sexual abuse in the Residential School system, including intergenerational impacts." The foundation was started with a $350 million budget. It funds community projects that address the impact of Indian residential schools through such approaches as counseling programs or documenting the stories of former students. The AHF received an additional $40 million last year. Foundation spokesperson Wayne Spear said that all the money has been allocated for multi-year projects. The last ones are set to end on March 31, 2007, at which time the AHF could be closed. In a settlement package for former students that was accepted in principle and signed by the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations last November, the AHF is allocated $125 million over five years. When the agreement in principle was signed, a timeline was established under which it was to be approved by cabinet and submitted to the courts for approval by May 1, with payments to start rolling out later this year. But, with a new federal government having come to power after the January 23 election, there is a chance that this timeline may not be met. Across Canada the AHF has funded 1,345 programs worth just over $377 million, out of 4,612 proposals that were submitted. Some of the approved programs have been completed already. With the foundation still receiving requests for funding, it is directing interested community groups to alternative funding agencies that they can contact, such as the United Church Healing Fund. "We have to plan based on what we know. We anticipate there will be money, but we have to plan with what we know," said Mr. Spear, the AHF spokesman. In Wasauksing, there are eight female former Indian residential students taking part in Sacred Pathways. The youngest member is 66 years old. The group meets twice a month at the Wasauksing Youth Building, where they feel comfortable. The participants also leave the reserve for events such as language seminars, women's workshops at the Friendship Centre in Parry Sound, or visiting former schools. "The language workshops help them to relearn their language and give them the courage to speak it, and just affirm their native language. Some workshops have a healing circle. There, they tell what happened to them and it helps them, and there are also counselors present," said Ms Judge- Clements. She said that the prevailing emotion of the group's members is anger. "When you think about it, really, they are still living in their childhood, because in their childhoods they were not allowed to laugh and play," she said. "That's what I focus on when they get angry at me, make silly requests or get angry at each other. I think, `they can't help it, this is how they were taught at residential schools.'" She said that the group members open up about their experiences when they go on outings, such as a trip they took last year to the former Mohawk residential school in Brantford. "We had three survivors in the group who attended there as kids," she said. "It took them almost an hour to get inside. They sat outside and worked up to going inside. That's when they started talking." Ms Judge-Clements, a trained counselor, said that "if I didn't have that counseling background, I probably would have left after the first meeting. I'm dealing with eight different personalities on a daily basis." The counselor also has a personal connection to the residential schools. At the second meeting with the group, she was told by one of her clients that her own mother had been in a residential school. While the group members struggle to regain their language and culture, they also have to contend with being shunned by some members of the community. It is the same sentiment some faced when trying to return to the reserve after leaving the schools, when they were thought to be outsiders. "From what I see in the community, they do feel resentment towards the survivors, because they are getting all the money direct from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation," said Ms Judge-Clements. `They don't understand what the survivors went through. That's why we've had community workshops and meetings at the Wasauksing Community Complex, to present the residential school students' stories to the community so that they do have the understanding." Residential schools, for First Nations children between the ages of five and 16, were in operation in Canada before Confederation in 1867. From 1874 to 1969, the schools were funded by the federal government but run by church organizations. After the federal government took over responsibility for the operation of the schools in 1969, many were closed in the mid-1970s, but the last one wasn't shut down until 1996. In the federal government's 1998 Statement of Reconciliation, it acknowledges that the schools were operated during a time when "attitudes of racial and cultural superiority led to a suppression of Aboriginal culture and values." While abuse in the former Indian residential schools has been acknowledged through civil and criminal court cases, and through an alternative dispute resolution process put in place to settle cases outside of courtrooms, not all students were physically or sexually abused. One survivor of the residential schools, a member of the Shawanaga First Nation who did not wish to be named because he has a civil lawsuit before the courts and has been advised by counsel not to discuss details, is not pleased with the AHF. While he had been contacted by the North Star previously, it wasn't until this series of articles began to be published at the start of this month that he consented to be interviewed, "because the AHF is not set up to help the survivors." This survivor told the North Star that he and other former Indian residential school students met in Ottawa in the 1990s to lay out a framework for the AHF. He said that this framework was not used. He told the North Star that in his view grant funds were wasted at the start of the AHF program, when counselors spent more time talking about their own issues than listening to those they were supposed to help, and the survivors were not being involved. "The criteria were they were supposed to have four gatherings a year and make inroads with the residential school survivors. So, me and my cousin, who were really in a residential school, we knew about it, but we were never approached," he said. Anishinabek Nation Grand Chief John Beaucage said the AHF is both for former students and for their families, because the impacts of the schools started more than a century ago and span generations. The impact on the last generation of survivors and their children is due, in part, to a lack of parenting skills as a result of being taken away from their own families. In his view, the programs funded by the foundation are working. "You have a hundred years of residential schools and we're trying to fix that in 10 years," said Mr. Beaucage. Additional money for the AHF is just one aspect of the settlement package on which agreement in principle was reached last year. The package also includes a common experience payment, which is a $10,000 base amount for the first year a student was in one of the residential schools, plus an additional $3,000 for each subsequent year; the future creation of a $60 million truth and reconciliation commission, including the establishment of a national archive and research centre; $20 million for commemorative events; and an independent assessment process for former students who claim that they experienced sexual or physical abuse while attending the schools. Today, there are about 87,000 former residential school students still alive across Canada, down from 107,000 in 1998. An estimated 20 former residential students die every week, said the AHF's Mr. Spear. The declining number of former students, and the time it has taken for a settlement so far, has some former students wondering if the government is waiting for them to die off. Under the agreement in principle, the common experience payment is to be available for all former students who were alive as of May 31, 2005. If a former student died after May 2005, the payment could be paid out to third parties in accordance with the deceased's will or with provincial or federal regulations. Mr. Spear said that if the agreed funding for the AHF does come through, that would enable the foundation to continue its work until 2012. For more information on the Agreement in Principle call 1-800-816-7293. The National Survivors Support Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-866-925-4419. Copyright c. 2006 North Star Publishing. --------- "RE: Six Nations Blood Bath averted" --------- Date: Saturday, March 25, 2006 04:15 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: SIX NATIONS BLOOD BATH AVERTED Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian SIX NATIONS BLOOD BATH AVERTED THANKS TO POPULAR SUPPORT MNN. March 23, 2006. It was a victory for the power of the people! It was a victory for Indigenous land rights. It was a victory for all those struggling for recognition of Indigenous jurisdiction. Since mid-February the Rotinoshon'non:we/Iroquois have been protesting the construction of a luxury residential subdivision on their land called "Douglas Estates" near Caledonia Ontario. With the Canadian and provincial governments intent on ignoring our rights, there were no options. We had to stop the construction ourselves. Our people braved freezing rain, snow, sleet and ankle deep mud. Many slept in tents and cars to keep the barricades manned. Supporters carried in pots of food and truckloads of firewood. We're in it for the long haul! We are continuing the fight that our grandparents and great-grandparents fought and that our children and grandchildren are prepared to continue if the colonization doesn't stop. Henco Industries, the developer that is squatting on our land, went to court and got an injunction. Judge David Marshall of the Ontario Provincial Court thought he had a fool proof plan to get rid of the people protesting Ontario's persistent violation of Six Nations Territory. On March 16 he issued a strange convoluted order. He announced that at 2:00 on Wednesday, March 22nd, the Ontario Provincial Police OPP would come in. They would read the order to us. Anyone who didn't leave immediately would be arrested and taken to the police station where they would be photographed, fingerprinted and released. He also ordered that anyone who returned would be charged and placed on probation for a year. The trouble is he seemed to have forgotten about due process and the honor of the Crown. He didn't mention a hearing or a trial. Neither Ontario nor Henco was required to prove they owned the land in question. This may have something to do with the report that Judge Marshall and the Crown Prosecutor, Owen Young, both claim parts of our land themselves. The people weren't frightened by Marshall's attempt to bully us with his bogus order. We've seen it all before. Everyone rallied to support us. By 2:00 on Wednesday hundreds of people had converged at Douglas Estates. The Women locked arms together on the front line. It's our duty under our constitution, the Kaianereh'ko:wa/Great Law, to protect the land for our future generations. We were going to do our best. We weren't alone. All across Turtle Island from the Dene of the Northwest Territories, the Western chiefs of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, natives and non-natives alike bombarded everybody they could with the message: "Stop the OPP bloodbath". It did not happen because as 2:00 came and went people continued to arrive to stand with us. We lead ourselves, which we had every right to do. That's autonomy and freedom of expression. We found out that we all follow the same philosophy. We all want to protect the natural world and to liv