_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 027 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 July 8, 2006 Assiniboine Wasasa/red berries moon Yuchi Wagakya/middle of summer moon Kiowa Tagunotal p'a san/little moon of deer horns dropping off Blackfeet niipoomahkatoyiiksistsikaa to's/summer big holy day 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, Frostys AmerIndian, NetRez-L and Native American Prisoner Network 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Native Americans and Alaskan Natives still have a long way to go in respect to homeownership to be on par with the rest of the country." __ Gary Gordon, Executive Director of the National American Indian Housing Council +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! The United States today celebrated one more anniversary of their declaration of independence from the taxation and religeous intolerance the so-called founding fathers of this country fled the British Isles and Europe to escape. Never mind there were already civilizations and beliefs in place on this continent. The Euro-centric view of our ancestors as souless daemons prevails even today. The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion, and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_history_of_the_United_States) Look around, carefully. Remembering that those refugees who settled in this country and established the government of the United States fled civil enforcement of religious intolerance, ask yourself if there is now a greater or lesser tolerance for beliefs that do not echo those of the right-wing conservatives that now hold political sway in the United States and Canada. Unless your head is thoroughly buried in the sands of denial, your answer must be, "There is far less tolerance." Where did the descendents of those who escaped intolerance and persecution lose steerage and become the oppressors? This is the question each and every person who casts a vote at the ballot box must ask and search their own conscience to determine if this is the nation they want nurturing their children and grandchildren. The clock is ticking. Time (especially the Euro-centric view of it) is waning. Decide wisely or you may have "Independence Day" only as a memory of what was and what could have been. 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 ----------- - Independence Day - JODI RAVE: Tribal Housing hurt for the Native Americans by HUD decision - Norton defends Griles - ARGUE: Past and Present amid Abramoff concerns Oppression in Canada - BIA agrees to delay - Harper inaccurately maligns Education Reorganization FN accountability - Senate panel restores - Indigenous peoples condemn Urban Indian Health Program Canada's betrayal - Senators get an earful - Government falling behind over Housing in Land Claims - Whiteclay Beer blockade - Caledonia and the case goes bust of the missing PM - Pine Ridge Tribal President - Minister expects more impeached Caledonia Standoffs - Tribal Curse haunts Launch Pad - UN overrides Canada - Senate bill would allow over Native Rights tax-exempt Tribal Bonds - Last Witness testifies - Support of Indian Land Claim at Ipperwash Inquiry withdrawn - Piikani under - Tribal Languages help deliver third party management anti-Meth Campaign - Zapatistas Challenge - YELLOW BIRD: the Sanctity of the Vote Tribes take their place in Nation - Ward Churchill responds - MONTEAU: Indians distrust to decision to fire him White Man's Policies - Navajo Nation Police - GIAGO: The bus keeps crackdown on Meth Dealers turning to the right - Native Prisoner - YELLOW BIRD: Stereotyping -- Last Call for NAPN beyond political correct - Rustywire: The Old Couple - GIAGO: Americans still - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: Fog of War the invaders in Iraq - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Independence Day for the Native Americans" --------- Date: Saturday, July 01, 2006 09:10 pm From: Dale Mitchell Subj: Fwd: Independence Day for the Native Americans ----- Forwarded Message ----- Date: Saturday, July 01, 2006 03:43 pm From: SANDI PERRY Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NORTON DEFENDS GRILES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/ article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_4801558%2C00.html Norton defends former aide Senate panel has questions about ties to Abramoff By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News June 26, 2006 WASHINGTON - Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton defended her one-time top deputy, J. Steven Griles, after a Senate committee reported it had unanswered questions about his contacts with embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Thursday released a report that said it found no evidence of any wrongdoing by Norton in its probe into Abramoff's lobbying on behalf of Indian tribes, including his attempts to influence Interior Department decisions. The report did cite lingering questions about Abramoff's claims to have cultivated a close working relationship with former Deputy Secretary Griles through the help of a woman named Italia Federici, who had known Norton since the mid-1990s in Colorado. Federici worked on Norton's unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1996, and then they teamed up again for a group now known as the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which tries to improve the GOP's image on environmental issues. Norton had to cut her ties to CREA once she was nominated to become Interior secretary. Still, Abramoff allegedly directed tribal clients to contribute an estimated $500,000 to the group at the same time he was asking Federici to help him arrange contacts with Griles or other Interior Department officials. Neither Griles nor Federici could be reached for comment. In testimony, both denied any wrongdoing and downplayed their contacts with Abramoff. In an e-mail response to questions from the Rocky Mountain News, Norton said she had no firsthand knowledge of CREA's interactions with Abramoff. And Norton dismissed what she called one "preposterous claim" reportedly made by Abramoff: that he had "interviewed Griles for his position at Interior and, in fact, helped him get his job there." "I worked with Steve during the Reagan administration," Norton wrote. "I had admired and respected him for over 15 years, and I did not need any outside influence to know I wanted Steve to be my deputy. Abramoff played no role, and this claim just shows how much he exaggerated his bragging." In his testimony, Griles acknowledged meetings with Abramoff. He adamantly denied taking any official actions to help Abramoff or his tribal clients, who sought favorable decisions from Interior on casinos, tribal compacts and other issues. The committee's report, available online at http://indian.senate.gov/ public/, cites conflicting testimony from Norton's former legal counselor, Michael Rossetti, who claimed that Griles attempted to interject himself into matters affecting Abramoff's clients. However, senators were left with unanswered questions about Griles' role. "Based on the information in its possession, the committee cannot definitively conclude what, if anything, Griles did to assist Abramoff's clients on matters then pending at Interior," the report states. Norton, who has not announced her own future career plans, said there's no evidence that Griles did anything for Abramoff. "I was in a position to see whether Steve influenced any decisions to favor Abramoff - and I did not see Steve take any step in that direction," Norton wrote to the News. "More broadly, Steve did not play any significant role in Indian gaming decisions." Copyright c. 2006 Rocky Mountain News - The E.W. Scripps Co. --------- "RE: BIA agrees to delay Education Reorganization" --------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:52:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDU REORG DELAYED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413204 Reorganization of education office delayed by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today June 26, 2006 RAPID CITY, S.D. - The reorganization of the Office of Indian Education Programs in the Plains region will be delayed until court procedures have taken place. The OIEP plan was to remove six education line officers and replace them with three that would be located in two offices in South Dakota and one in North Dakota. The tribal leaders of the Plains region opposed that plan and prepared a legal strategy that asks the federal court for a temporary restraining order. The federal government and the tribes have now agreed there is no immediate need for the restraining order because the defendants - the Department of Interior, BIA and the education office - agreed to delay any action on the reorganization until July 14. The delay will allow time for briefs and a hearing to take place in federal court. Personnel will not be hired, but the interview process may continue. Some personnel have been given Reduction in Force notices, but according to the federal officials those do not become effective before Aug. 1 for the education line officers and Aug. 14 for the support staff. The government will not be allowed to extend any offers of employment or enter into any lease agreements until after July 14. Congressional action has caused the need for a reduction in force for some special education coordinators and field education specialists; the notices have already been issued. The funds have been redirected to the Local Education Agency and the RIF notices are separate from the reorganization of the OIEP. They would take place without the reorganization. Part of the original complaint against Interior was to ask for a preliminary injunction. The government was to have filed their briefs on June 23 to respond to the injunction. A hearing date of July 7 was set in federal court to address the preliminary injunction. Plains tribal leaders have complained that proper consultation did not take place before the reorganization plan was agreed to by Interior. The removal of local, on-site line officers was one of the major complaints of the tribal leaders. The three officers, who will replace six line officers, will be located in areas that may be hundreds of miles away from the schools that will be affected. James Cason, deputy assistant secretary of Interior, said that the move is to upgrade the technical skills of the officers to better support the schools. He cited the fact that some schools in the Plains did not have good track records with the Adequate Yearly Progress reports and that more technical assistance for the schools could possibly improve that record and benefit the students. The three line officers would be higher-grade personnel, and support staff would also be more equipped to offer support to the staff of each school. Cason said the same number of personnel would be employed, but that the secretarial staff would be replaced with people who could work in a technical capacity. The Great Plains Tribal Leaders Association continues to argue the reorganization will cost too much, approximately $11 million more than the present plan, and that any additional money should be spent at the school level. Some tribal schools have had to reduce staff in order to survive financially. Cason said the money that would be needed for the reorganization does not come out of program funds. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Senate panel restores Urban Indian Health Program" --------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:37:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="URBAN HEALTH RESTORED BY SENATE" http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/014698.asp Senate panel restores urban Indian health program June 28, 2006 The campaign to save urban Indian health clinics won another key battle on Tuesday when a Senate panel restored $33 million to the program. Tribal and Indian organizations have been heavily lobbying Congress ever since President Bush eliminated the program in his fiscal year 2007 budget. They warned of reductions in service, as well as outright closures, among the 34 urban clinics across the nation. Although the fight isn't finished, the effort has seen cleared some big hurdles. In May, the House passed an Interior appropriations bill that restored the $33 million program. Yesterday, the Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee also acted in Indian Country's favor. In its version of the budget bill, the panel saved the urban health clinics from the cut that threatened their existence. "After several months of uncertainty and following the tireless efforts of Indian Country," said Geoffrey Roth, the executive director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health," urban Indian health care needs have been overwhelmingly acknowledged by both the Senate and the House." "The restoration of funds marks not only a huge victory for all urban Indian health programs, but also the ushering in of a new era of unity in Indian Country," he added, citing the joint lobbying effort by his organization, the urban clinics and other groups. The campaign was supported by members on both sides of the aisle. Republicans and Democrats alike criticized the Bush administration for failing to adequately justify the elimination of the urban Indian health program. In budget documents, the White House said urban Native Americans will be able to seek care at community health centers in metropolitan areas or return to their reservations to obtain tribal services. But key lawmakers said the reasoning was faulty, citing Census figures that show the majority of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in urban areas. Many Native people ended up in cities due to the federal government's relocation programs. Tribal and Indian health leaders also pointed out that reservation health facilities remain woefully underfunded and would not be able to deal with the influx of patients envisioned by the White House. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico), a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations panel, is one of the lawmakers who opposed the urban health care cut. He said Indian programs "are some of the most important aspects of funding that the Department of Interior provides." "Health service is also included and if passed, will raise the amount of funding from the current level," he said yesterday after passage of the bill. Domenici also sits on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Domenici said the bill will now go before the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. It is likely to gain passage without major modifications to the Indian funding levels. Once the Senate passes the bill, it has to be reconciled with the House version. A joint conference committee will be convened to hammer out any differences before final passage and before being sent to President Bush for his signature. The Senate's version includes $3.2 billion for the Indian Health Service, $2.27 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and $217.8 million for the Office of the Special Trustee. More detailed amounts will be provided by the Senate after consideration on Thursday. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Senators get an earful over Housing" --------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:01:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MILLIONS IN GRANTS WITHHELD" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7968 Senators get an earful over housing controversy Millions in grants withheld due to court case Sam Lewin June 29, 2006 Senators on both sides of the aisle appeared sympathetic to concerns from Indian leaders that withholding millions in housing grants could cause major crises. The Department of Housing and Urban Administration-commonly known by the acronym HUD-has imposed a freeze due to a lawsuit over how the agency awards housing block grants. The case began when HUD, believing they paid out too much to the housing authority of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, sought to have the money returned. The controversy centered on the formula HUD uses to determine how much each tribe gets in housing grants. The Fort Peck balked and sued and the case is now tied up in court. HUD officials say because of the legal limbo, they must suspend the program. "...Until such a stay is granted, the Department is unable to process any further FY 2006" housing grants, HUD official Orlando Cabrera wrote in a letter to tribal leaders dated June 9. The letter generated fear, officials told a hearing of the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Most tribal and tribally designated housing entity recipients are depending on such funding to continue operating and providing service to their low-income members, and such disruption of funding could lead to some completely shutting down," Marty Shuravloff, chairman of the National American Indian Housing Council and executive director of the Kodiak Island Housing Authority in Alaska, told the committee. James Steele, the chairman of Montana's Confederated Salish and Kootenai said the court case could extend the crisis if "the appeal goes into the next fiscal year." The money contained in the suspended housing grants totals about $300-million. Also appearing before the committee, Cabrera acknowledged that the "implications of this are potentially far-reaching." Indian affairs committee members agreed the status quo is unacceptable. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the committee, said Congress could consider legislation to solve the problem and force the release of the housing grants. Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, the vice-chair of the committee, said the situation is "almost unforgivable." Indian Country housing has long been a point of concern. The Senate hearing came on the same day as the Massachusetts-based Mashpee Wampanoag tribe said their housing situation has become so dire that they are forming their own housing authority. The tribe, which was granted preliminary federal recognition in March and awaits a final determination next year, has many elders living in old, overcrowded homes and fearing foreclosure, said tribal chairman Glenn Marshall. "Taking care of our tribe's housing needs is a top priority," he said. "Being able to build homes, produce rentals, and develop recreation programs within our housing developments are all goals." You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Whiteclay Beer blockade goes bust" --------- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:29:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHITECLAY BLOCKADE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/06/29/news/local/news01.txt Beer blockade goes bust By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff; and Carson Walker, The Associated Press June 29, 2006 WHITECLAY, Neb. - It was nearly a typical day in Whiteclay, Neb., as a planned beer blockade fizzled. Instead, blockade organizers and Oglala Sioux Tribe officials agreed to try to find a way to stop the flow of beer onto Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which has banned alcohol for many years. At 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sheridan County Sheriff Terry Robbins stood with eight of his deputies in Whiteclay. The extra manpower had been brought into the small town because officials had believed a large demonstration was taking place. About a dozen people arrived midday for the rally and blockade. "We figured there would be large crowds because of news articles in the papers, but it was almost a normal day in Whiteclay," Robbins said. After arguing on a dusty road that serves as the Nebraska-South Dakota boundary, organizers of a proposed blockade and Oglala Sioux Tribe acting police chief James Twiss agreed to try to find ways to stop the flow of beer from Whiteclay to the reservation border north of town. The agreement halted a planned two-month blockade aimed at preventing tribal members and others from bringing packaged beer bought at four Whiteclay stores onto the reservation. Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who planned the blockade and Twiss said they would try to meet - possibly as early as today. Mark Vasina of Nebraskans for Peace, an activist group that has tried to end alcohol sales in the border town, said the day did not end like he expected it would but that he was pleased with the outcome. "I think this is a success because we got a commitment from (Twiss) to deal with the problems of illegal alcohol sales," Vasina said. Robbins said it was almost a normal day, except for the dozens of law enforcement officers from Nebraska Highway Patrol, Sheridan County in Nebraska, Shannon County in South Dakota and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, who patrolled the Nebraska-South Dakota boundary beginning about 8 a.m. "We were making sure that we were here to protect the public and see that no laws were broke," Robbins said. Although organizers and police went home buoyed by the day's events, two Whiteclay grocers suffered a bad day for business. VJ's Market and Whiteclay Grocery officials said they took as much as a $5,000 dip in sales when Pine Ridge shoppers opted to avoid the hassle at the proposed march and blockade. Two women stood at cash registers at Whiteclay Grocery, waiting for customers who didn't come. "This is what happens when there's a blockade: No one comes to buy groceries," a clerk said, looking at the empty aisles. V.J.'s Market owner, Victor Clarke, agreed. "And we don't even sell alcohol," Clarke said. Clarke employs eight people from Pine Ridge to manage and work at his store. He contributes to the Pine Ridge community and is a member of its chamber of commerce, but his business has been hurt by the recent marches as well as the four stores that sell beer and malt beverages. "It kills our business, but what aggravates me is the intimidation factor that my customers have to go through when they come to my store," he said. Clarke said that there are probably 500 alcohol outlets within five miles of the entire reservation. No one is looking at those border towns that frame the dry reservation, he said. Shutting down Whiteclay wouldn't stop the flow of alcohol onto the reservation, he said. "Everyone - regardless of race, religion, color or creed - has a right to make their own choices in regards to their own life and what they do. It's not up to the tribe, the Nebraskans for Peace or the police to make those choices," Clarke said. At the Nebraska-South Dakota border, Twiss told blockade organizer Duane Martin Sr. of the Strong Heart Civil Rights Movement that his officers could not allow the blockade because of safety concerns if a motorist chose not to stop. Twiss said it was not clear whether the blockade would violate the constitutional rights of people against illegal searches and seizures. "A person's vehicle is their property," Twiss told Martin. Allowing the blockade would invite liability issues, Twiss said. "I've just got to make sure that we're covered legally," he said. "If someone decides not to stop, we're going to be responsible." "Whose side are you guys on?" Martin asked Twiss. "Don't try to make me be the bad guy," Twiss said. Martin, who said he took on the blockade issue at the request of his people, kept pleading his case with Twiss, who grew up on the reservation and acknowledged that he drank illegally in Whiteclay as a teenager. For years, the police department has not done enough to go after bootleggers who buy large quantities of beer in Whiteclay and then distribute it on the reservation, Twiss said. He said his department doesn't have the money or manpower to do more. He vowed to work with Martin and others to find some way to ease the problem. The two talked at the state boundary with the Shannon County, S.D., sign only a few feet away. At least a dozen law enforcement vehicles were parked nearby. Tribal officers lined the gravel road, and just to the south, Nebraska State Patrol and Sheridan County officers stood by on the state highway going into Whiteclay. A tribal police officer gave cold water and sports drinks to the other officers, who were in the hot sun. It appeared that fewer than a dozen people showed up to support the blockade had it been carried out. More than a dozen reporters and photographers also were on hand. Blockade supporters had said they didn't plan to arrest anyone but would confiscate any beer bought in Whiteclay. The plan was to set up checkpoints inside the reservation. Volunteers in Whiteclay planned to use radios to tell checkpoint workers which vehicles should be stopped and searched for beer. Robbins said he doubted the blockade's legality, because even if alcohol is banned on the reservation, it is still illegal to take it from somebody else. And anyone in Whiteclay radioing the description of vehicles to people at a blockade would be considered aiding and abetting a theft, Robbins said. "It's still against the law to take anything from anybody," he said. Also at the scene was Indian activist and actor Russell Means, who pulled his pickup and trailer out from the road on the state line and stopped it across the road into the reservation, indicating that it had stalled. After an officer approached Means' pickup, there was some doubt it had mechanical problems. "I'm not starting anything. I've got trouble here," Means told a reporter. "I think it's overheated." Within a few minutes, someone brought jumper cables, and Means' pickup started. He then drove away. Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Pine Ridge Tribal President impeached" --------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:01:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABORTION ISSUE ENDS FIRE THUNDER'S WATCH" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/06/30/ap-state-mt/d8ii9pe80.txt Pine Ridge tribal president impeached for abortion support By CARSON WALKER June 30, 2006 PORCUPINE, S.D. - The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted 9-5 Thursday to impeach the tribal president for proposing an abortion clinic on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Cecelia Fire Thunder survived two earlier attempts to remove her from office since she was elected in November 2004 as the tribe's first female president. This time, the issue was over South Dakota's new abortion ban that does not include exceptions for rape or incest. After Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill, Fire Thunder vowed to work to open a Planned Parenthood clinic on the reservation, beyond the reach of state law. Will Peters, a tribal council member who filed the impeachment complaint, said Fire Thunder didn't have the tribal council's approval to pursue the project. "The bottom line is the Lakota people were adamantly opposed to abortion on our homelands. The president was involved in unauthorized political actions," he said after the vote, which came after two hours of private deliberation. Fire Thunder said the two tribal members who brought the complaint should not have voted on the impeachment and the council did not follow the proper procedure in bringing the action against her. "I'm OK," Fire Thunder said. "We're going to challenge it. "It's not about abortion. A lot of them have personal stuff toward me." Peters said the vote was over her stance on abortion and nothing else. "The council voted on the merits of the complaints," he said. The day of testimony, questioning and comments was filled with applause and hollers from Fire Thunder's supporters and detractors. After the vote, there was some confusion about whether the single action was final, which the lawyers concluded it was. "She's done. She's not president anymore," one tribal member told people in the audience, who then clapped. As council members cast their votes, some onlookers gasped at the no's _ indicating disapproval for that member's support of Fire Thunder. While making his case, Peters said Fire Thunder also solicited donations on behalf of the tribe and embarrassed it nationally. Lakota values teach that abortion is wrong and life is sacred, Peters told the tribal council and the dozens of others gathered in the community center, many of whom fanned themselves in the summer heat. "Abortion is what has drawn our tribe into the national spotlight," he said. "She basically took the whole tribe into this with her. "We sat back and it was like watching a train wreck." The council suspended Fire Thunder May 29 and also voted to ban abortions on the reservation. When she entered the room Thursday morning, she greeted people in the audience and some tribal council members with smiles, hugs and handshakes. Fire Thunder said there is no evidence to support removing her from office. She once worked part-time at a Planned Parenthood clinic in California that performed abortions and said her support for a clinic comes from concern for girls and women who are victims of rape and incest. "We have a lot of 14- and 15-year-olds getting pregnant and it did not happen by strangers," she said during her statements. Fire Thunder said she never asked for donations but people from around the country sent $14,463 without solicitation. That money is being returned, she said. Fire Thunder said she is being punished for her vision. "It was an idea. It was an opinion. Nothing is happening. There is no physical structure," she said. American Indians had 72 of the 814 induced abortions in the state in 2004, or about 9 percent, according to the state Health Department. That's about the same percentage of Indians as in the state's population. Alex White Plume, the tribal vice chairman, will serve as president until the November election. Some people in the audience applauded when he came into the room after the impeachment vote. Opponents of the state abortion ban have gathered enough signatures to put it to a statewide vote in November. Copyright c. 2006 Helena Independent Record; a division of Lee Enterprises --------- "RE: Tribal Curse haunts Launch Pad" --------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:52:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SLC-6 CURSED?" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71249-1.html Tribal Curse Haunts Launch Pad By Philip Chien| Also by this reporter June 27, 2006 Can a launch pad be cursed? Engineers laugh - but nervously. An Air Force launch site called SLC-6 (pronounced "Slick-6") at Vandenberg Air Force Base has become legendary in aerospace circles for an eerie history of failed programs and botched launches. Now on Tuesday, the Boeing Corporation will tempt fate and try to launch a new spy satellite from the unlucky site - 40 years after the Air Force built the pad over an Indian burial ground in a rocky stretch of California desert. "I wish them good luck and hope they have a good launch," says retired NASA astronaut Robert Crippen, who is well acquainted with the legend. "If I've got one disappointment in my career, it was I never had the chance to fly out of SLC-6." Construction on Space Launch Complex 6 began on March 12, 1966. The site was originally intended for the Titan III launch vehicle, and was to be part of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory, or MOL, program - a plan to put military astronauts in orbit to keep an eye on the Soviet Union. According to space historian Robert Ash, construction workers building the pad unearthed human remains from an ancient Chumash Indian burial ground. Members of the tribe asked the Air Force to study the area and move the remains to another location, but the military brass ignored the request and continued construction. Naturally this angered the Chumash tribe, and, according to local legends, a tribe leader put a curse on the site. The MOL program was cancelled soon after due to military priorities in Vietnam, and SLC-6 was mothballed. Crippen, who was training as one of the MOL astronauts (nicknamed "Mole Men"), found himself out of a job. "I was devastated - it was the end of the world," he recalls. "It was one of the worst points of my life." Within a couple of months many of the Mole Men, including Crippen, were recruited into NASA's astronaut program. But Crippen's fate would remain entwined with SLC-6. In the 1970s, the Air Force decided to reengineer the unused pad as an alternate California launch point for the Space Shuttle. Problems plagued the retrofitting effort, but after seven years of construction SLC-6 was declared operational, at a final cost of $2 billion. Crippen was scheduled to command the first Shuttle mission from Vandenberg, when the 1986 Challenger disaster caused NASA to abandon its plans for California launches, and SLC-6 was once again mothballed. Years later, Lockheed adapted SLC-6 for their Athena launch vehicle. On Aug. 15, 1995, SLC-6's first launch finally took place, 29 years after ground was first broken at the site. The payload was a small experimental communications relay satellite. The rocket's hydraulic system failed shortly after launch and the vehicle crashed. The curse of Slick-6 seemed to be broken by a successful launch on Aug. 23, 1997 of the Lewis spacecraft. But a design problem in the attitude control system caused it to enter a flat spin in orbit, cutting its solar panels off from the sun and returning it, the next month, to Earth's atmosphere and a fiery doom. SLC-6 had finally put something into orbit - but it was all for naught. The first commercial spy satellite, Ikonos, lifted off from the pad on April 27, 1999. The rocket's nose cone never separated and it ended up falling into the Pacific Ocean. One final Athena launch was scheduled for SLC-6: a duplicate of the Ikonos satellite that failed to reach orbit. This time instead of just crossing their fingers and hoping the curse would falter, the launch team decided to do something. According to Ash, the ground crew held a ceremony in which a Chumash priest, hired by Lockheed Martin, asked the gods for forgiveness and to remove the curse. (Lockheed denies such a ceremony took place.) On Sept. 24, 1999 an Athena successfully put the Ikonos satellite into orbit. But the Athena turned out to be a major marketing failure. Instead of the scores of launches planned, just a handful of rockets were sold, and the program was quietly cancelled. Since SLC-6 was built, the Air Force has changed its policies about construction over Indian artifacts. Whenever new facilities are erected at Vandenberg Air Force Base the local community and Chumash leaders are consulted in advance. The construction site is carefully scraped in inch- thick layers, and if any artifacts are found, historians and experts are called in to determine their nature, and to make the call on whether to move construction to another site. Whether the military's new sensitivity is enough to lift the SLC-6 curse remains to be seen. It's aerospace giant Boeing's turn to find out. The company has converted SLC-6 into a Delta IV launch pad, the fourth remaking of the site. The Delta IV is one of the largest rockets in the world, and the only one capable of launching giant multi-billion dollar spy satellites. The launch of the medium-size version of the rocket is scheduled for Tuesday, carrying a top secret relay satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. There's no word on whether Boeing has hired a Chumash priest to bless the site. But a company engineer working on the launch says she has an Indian feather on her desk - out of respect for the Chumash. Copyright c. 2006 Wired.com. --------- "RE: Senate bill would allow tax-exempt Tribal Bonds" --------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:52:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL BONDS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060627/pl_nm/financial_tribes_dc_1 Senate bill would allow tax-exempt tribal bonds June 26, 2006 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American Indian tribal governments would get limited ability to issue tax-exempt governmental bonds for projects such as infrastructure, housing and schools under a bill introduced on Monday by two members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. The "Tribal Government Tax-Exempt Bond Parity act of 2006" is being sponsored by Montana Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, and Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith (news, bio, voting record), a Republican member. The senators said in a press release that the 1982 law that governs federal tax affairs for tribal governments effectively excludes them from issuing tax exempt bonds because the "essential government functions" for which bonds must be issued are generally defined as projects of state and local governments only. Due to the difference, tribal bonds generally require a higher interest rate and prohibitive debt service, they said. "Tribal governments should have the same resources that states and cities have to build decent public schools and pave safe roads, and tax- exempt bonds are a useful tool to fund those essential projects," Baucus said in a statement. "Congress needs to pass this bill and show a commitment to equality for native communities," he added. The Internal Revenue Service in recent years has stepped up its audits of tax-exempt conduit bonds issued by states and other authorities on behalf of tribal governments, putting a cloud over the tribal financing market. The IRS has declared some of these borrowings for such projects as hotel and casino resort-related facilities as taxable. Last year, the IRS issued a memorandum stating that tax-exempt bonds could be used only to finance "essential government functions." Copyright c. 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Support of Indian Land Claim withdrawn" --------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:37:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ST. REGIS LAND CLAIM LOSES SUPPORT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.newswatch50.com/news/local/story.aspx? content_id=FA618755-88C7-46FE-892E-54E8C62F05AF St. Lawrence County withdraws support of Indian land claim settlement June 27, 2006 St. Lawrence County has officially withdrawn its support of the St. Regis Mohawk land claim settlement. According to the Watertown Daily Times, the County Legislature Finance Committee voted unanimously last night to follow Franklin County and the town of Brasher in withdrawing support from the deal based on recent court decisions against tribal land claims. The tribe's claim goes before a Federal judge this month. The tribe has been running a campaign to show how their claim differs from those of other tribes, focusing on the economic impact the reservation has had Copyright c. 2006 WWTI NewsWatch 50 - Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc. --------- "RE: Tribal Languages help deliver anti-Meth Campaign" --------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:01:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANTI-METH" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/06/30/ news/state/30-meth-paint.txt Students paint against meth By ED KEMMICK Of The Gazette Staff June 30, 2006 WORDEN - Students attending the Huntley Project Summer Migrant School are speaking with one voice, in four languages, in the campaign against methamphetamine. Twelve students in the summer school have been working on a 12-by-8-foot painting that will be their entry in the Montana Meth Project's "Paint the State" competition. In addition to the students' own design, the painting will include the meth project's main slogan -- "Meth: Not even once" -- in English, Spanish, Blackfeet and Crow, the languages spoken by the students. Mike Reiter, owner of the Project Merc in Worden, has agreed to let the students display their mural on the side of his store during the judging period, July 10-15. Teacher Kathy Wilkinson said she heard about the competition at a statewide migrant education convention, then talked to her students about it when the summer session began on June 5. The project sounded fun, and potentially lucrative. The Montana Meth Project, bankrolled by software billionaire Tom Siebel, is offering $3,000 to first-place winners in each Montana county, with a $10,000 "That got them a little excited," said Ron Scherry, director of the Worden migrant school. The stark painting, in black, white and bright green, says "Light up meth," then "Light up death" beneath it, next to a skull painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. Along the bottom is the "Not even once" message: "Meth ni una vez" in Spanish; "Saa-tsi-nits-inii" in Blackfeet; and "Xaa- -wiik-dia-saa-laa" in Crow. Entries in all 56 counties will be displayed July 10-15 and judged during that period by county commissioners. Livingston artist Russell Chatham will choose the statewide winner on Aug. 9. The Worden program is one of seven migrant schools in Montana, open to children whose parents move across borders, state and county lines or from one school district to another because they were working at a temporary or seasonal agricultural job. Scherry oversaw the program at McKinley Elementary in Billings for a couple of years and has been in Worden since 2000. He has 58 students in preschool through 12th grade attending the Summer Success program, which runs from June 5 to July 14. Scherry said some of the students hail from Mexico, but most are from other states or are part of Montana families that travel for farm work. Migrants do more than hoe beets in Eastern Montana and pick cherries at Flathead Lake. They also pick huckleberries, gather mushrooms, thin trees and engage in fencing, irrigating, shearing, branding and calving. Sheylin McKay, a 14-year-old Blackfeet who lives in Huntley, said one job her parents have held is picking and braiding sweetgrass. McKay said it's been fun to work with so many other people on the painting, and she's looking forward to having her family see it when it's on display at the Project Merc. Liz Maya, also 14, is from Billings. She said she was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when she was 7 or 8, when her parents came here to be migrant farmworkers. They opened a restaurant, Los Mayas, in Billings last year, but students can attend the migrant school for three years from the date of enrollment, regardless of changes to their family's status. Maya pointed out with some pride that she came up with the "Light up meth, light up death" slogan, but only after she and her fellow students concocted and considered dozens of slogans and possible designs. The students decided on their own to adorn the painting with messages in their four languages. Only those older than 13 at the school have been working on the painting; all needed to obtain their parents' permission. Wilkinson said the students have been enthusiastic about the project, telling their parents and siblings about it and devoting a lot of time to the work. One student works four days a week but has been coming in on her day off just to work on the painting, Wilkinson said. Contact Ed Kemmick at ekemmick@billingsgazette.com or 657-1293. Copyright c. 2006 The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Tribes take their place in Nation" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:57:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: FLAG WAVING" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/opinion/14962137.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Tribes take their place in nation July 4, 2006 On July 4, 1776, a group of people boldly declared independence from Great Britain - then a gigantic nation where the sun never set. Two hundred and thirty years later, flags, fireworks and the colors red, white and blue cover almost every corner of this nation to celebrate this historic day. That declaration was written into a document so mighty and powerful it held this nation in its huge fist, like a Goliath that drove the nation forward to become one of the most powerful nations in the world. We live under this philosophy drafted by Thomas Jefferson those many years ago, but where the tenets of the Declaration of Independence seem to run amok is here: Was the document just for those brave souls who declared they were a nation? When I lived and worked in Washington, D.C., the Fourth of July was the holiday of holidays. It was patriotism personified with flags, colors and fireworks that exploded over the Washington Mall in downtown. As a family with three little children, we would drive to a lush green park across the Potomac River where we could see the Mall clearly. The fireworks display was held just as dusk turned to dark night. It must have lasted a couple of hours, and it was so spectacular that people would swoon at the noise and sparks. I remember the ending. It was an enormous, breathtaking American flag with stars and sparkles dripping down the flag. That kind of flag display didn't impress some American Indians. For them, the American flag too closely aggrandizes the awful history of the Native people - something many learned not to dwell on too long. Why are there some disgruntled feelings? The Declaration of Independence says "that all men were created equal and that all were endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" but it didn't seem to apply to many of the American Indians, blacks and other ethnic groups. Those disgruntled feelings are understandable. In my search for historical information about the glories of the Fourth of July, I came across an article written by Chris Mato Nunpa, Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, Minn. He gathered together many quotes and phrases of Presidents Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson and Van Buren that would cause some Native people to stump the ground. I, too, ran across many of these quotes as I was researching a book about the history of the Sahnish (Arikara) people. "There's a lot of rage, a lot of bitterness and a lot of suspicion and distrust" toward the federal government," Mato Nunpa says, based on some of the things said and done in early history. That is true. It is hard to stomach some of the things done to Native people in the name of that "get out of our way, we're coming through" philosophy. These recorded quotes and the philosophy of the early leaders are, however, part of our history that needs to be kept in perspective. It has been a slow and painful movement by Native people and other ethnic groups to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the nation, yet, we have made progress. There is recognition and agreement that what was done to the Native people, black slaves and other ethnic groups was hypocritical and wrong. Tribes have taken their place in the nation. We are in a tug of war with many churches over the culture and religion, but I can see, at least in this part of the country, the values of the culture and Native spirituality is taking hold. There are Native people in high places with attache cases full of law books looking at treaties and policies made about and for tribal nations. We are journaling and participating in the writing of our own history - and making changes to the odd perspective of the non-Native as they wrote about us many years ago. On reservations the flag will come into the arena of powwows and celebrations alongside tribal nation flags and the traditional eagle feather flags. The reason these flags stand side by side is because warriorship is symbolized by a flag, and for us, that is important. It says our men and women are brave, courageous and willing to lay down their lives for a good cause. Me and the flag? "I would prefer not to" as Herman Melville's Bartleby said. I prefer not to wave it. Although I respect the American flag, I prefer the sacred eagle feather as the symbol of our people. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: MONTEAU: Indians distrust White Man's Policies" --------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:01:10 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MONTEAU: WHITE MAN'S POLICIES" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413241 Mystery of why Indians still don't trust 'white men' resolved Or: Kemosabe, why do you make rules so Tonto never wins the race? by: Harold Monteau / Monteau & Peebles, LLP June 30, 2006 "Our [BIA] research revealed that most Native Americans view the white man as a deceitful, avaricious, exploitive mass murderer, just as their ancestors did. It remains unclear why, in an age when so much of their culture has been lost to time, this tradition remains as strong as ever." - James Cason, Interim Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs ("The Onion," May 4, 2006) Dear Assistant Secretary Cason: First of all, let me allay your fears that we all hate "white men." We don't. What we do hate are the policies and restrictions foisted upon us and our homelands by the lawmakers of the prevalent race of human beings in the United States, and that just happens to be people of the Anglo persuasion. Particularly, males of the species. I won't go over past sins. I will leave that to old AIM activists and our "thorn in the side" Indian humorists like Charley Hill, Drew Lachopa and Don Burnt Stick. (P.S. - if you don't know who these guys are - we have a cultural gap issue.) The pervasiveness of the attitude "revealed" in the above-referenced study is based not only on past treatment of Indians in this country, but by the way we are treated right up to today. "How's that," you ask? Well, let me tell you. The United States passes laws that are supposed to enhance the economic development of Indian tribes and Native Alaskans. A few of us use the laws to create corporations and go out and compete in the marketplace around the world, and someone says, "What's going on - we can't have these Indians and Natives making millions of dollars from these 'loopholes.' Let's change the law." What about the "loopholes" for private energy companies that reap "billions" in profits? Since when did economic recovery for Indians and Alaska Natives become a "loophole"? Yet Congress is ready to hold hearings and change the laws, just when we are realizing some success. The states were in a panic in 1988 because Indian tribes beat them in the U.S. Supreme Court and we are allowed to have "gaming" on our lands free from state restrictions. The private casino industry comes unglued and demands that Congress not allow the destruction of "their industry" and allow tribes to force "gambling" upon the states without the states having a say. It does not matter that Indian gaming will pay for schools, hospitals, health insurance, food, medicine, education, elderly care, youth programs, law enforcement, court systems and a myriad government services rather than to enrich individuals. Las Vegas and the states say, "Let's change the law so that Indians can't run gambling without the great white father looking over their shoulder and without the permission of the states." When Indian tribes beat the U.S. attorneys (our "trustee") in court and in 2002 the National Indian Gaming Commission adjusted its rules to comply with the court rulings, the Justice Department responds, "Let's change the rules to make it illegal or impossible for the Indians to use Class II machines or make a decent profit at it, even though the courts have said that's what Congress intended." The NIGC (our trustee) says it has to stand with its "Federal Family" and carry the Justice Department's water and change the rules so we lose, even though we won. The states are in a panic again. The Indians are "buying back America," they say. Be assured, we don't want most of it back because you screwed it up so badly. But maybe we should take it back, as we have acted more responsibly about such issues as water quality, air quality, conservation, global warming and historic/cultural preservation than the states have. So what do you do? Well, the states and counties want a law that makes it nearly impossible for Indians to recover even a small amount of their original homelands by placing requirements that allow the states and counties (and, in some cases, private do-gooders) to obfuscate the fee-to- trust process and in some cases "veto" the acquisition of what little of our former lands we can afford to purchase back. Then the Supreme Court "makes" a law that says, essentially, "If your land was stolen fair and square by the states and you didn't have the knowledge or wherewithal to start a claim within this amount of time, once the land came up missing and white people moved onto it (or you moved off it at the end of a bayonet), you can't expect us to right a wrong that is 'old' and based on 'old' treaties that our 'old' ancestors signed with your 'old' ancestors. (Didn't you know that you were sitting on your rights all this time? What did you think that pain in your behind was? You must have known you were getting the shaft, and you didn't do anything about it.) And oh, by the way, you can't get money damages anymore either, and you can't go back to buy a piece of the homelands we drug you off of because they are too far away from the reservation we put you on." Congress passes another law that says that tribes can take over services that were formerly provided by the government. Then Congress essentially says, "We expect you to serve an ever-increasing population with fewer dollars per head than we were spending when you took it over." And: "Oh, by the way, we can't give you the amount we know you need in order to maintain administrative capability in order to effectively run the programs, and you will have to spend tribal funds to make it up." And: "If you dip into program dollars to pay for administrative shortfalls, we will make you pay it back, penalize you and, possibly, send your leaders to jail." Then Congress asks, "Why aren't more tribes engaging in self- determination contracting and compacting?" Why would we want to let our trustee out of its responsibilities and then have to use tribal funds to make up for money Congress refuses to appropriate despite knowing we can't maintain adequate levels of services and, at the same time, maintain administrative capabilities to run services efficiently and competently? On top of it all, the president lets our Bureau of "Indian" Affairs and our National "Indian" Gaming Commission languish without permanent appointments because we can't be appointing Indians to watch the Indians. They might advocate on behalf of Indians, heaven forbid. The states are also up in arms because the federal government is "giving" tribal status to "groups" of Indians without consulting the states enough, even though the state may have recognized the tribes, as a matter of state law, for centuries. Our trustee, by its inaction, says, "Let's allow the states to spend million of taxpayer dollars to get the United States to declare certain Indian tribes dead and to prove that we killed them off a long time ago - they don't exist anymore and the state made a mistake in recognizing, as a matter of state law, that they still were a tribe." Isn't there some international law that prevents the singling out of an identifiable group and putting them under such circumstances that are designed to bring about their disappearance? I seem to recall something called the "Geneva Conventions against Committing and Complicity in Genocide." In fact, how much of state or federal policy has, as its goal or as a natural effect of its application, the disappeara nce of the Native groups of America? Perhaps Congress should filter every law it passes affecting Indian tribes and Native groups though a process that determines whether the law "places an identifiable group under such living conditions or circumstances that would facilitate their disappearance." Much of our present federal law and policy would fail to pass through that filter. Is it legal to spend state and federal taxpayer dollars for an illegal purpose that violates international and federal law? Looks legal in Connecticut and, apparently, Washington, D.C., as long as it facilitates the "final solution of a state's 'Indian problem."' Our fathers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers, fought wars on behalf of the United States in numbers far greater than our proportions in the general population. We fought a war against tyrants who would have annihilated the Jewish nation and who would have made all other peoples of the Earth servants of the "master race." Our young men and women are fighting and dying in a war to rid the world of yet another terrorist regime that believes that the destruction of the Jewish nation and other "infidels" is the sacred duty of all of Islam. Back home, Indian brothers and sisters are being attacked by state and federal politicians (some of them Jewish) and face annihilation by administrative fiat or legislation. Assimilation, elimination, annihilation, equalization - genocide has many euphemisms. I wish I had more space, but the editor thinks I'm long-winded as it is. Suffice it to say, in conclusion, that our "distrust" has as much to do with the present as it does with the past. Indian country, please excuse the tongue-in-cheek humor. If it weren't so damned true, it would be funny. --- Harold Monteau is a partner in the National Indian Law Firm of Monteau & Peebles, which practices federal Indian law, Indian law, Indian economic development and tribal sovereignty enhancement. He can be reached at www.ndnlaw.com. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: GIAGO: The bus keeps turning to the right" --------- Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2006 09:47:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: RIGHT WING FUNDAMENTALISM" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7970 Notes from Indian Country The bus keeps turning to the right Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. June 30, 2006 If an American listens almost entirely to radio show hosts from the far right, the opinions will enhance that person's knowledge, but that knowledge will be slanted to the right. The same would be true of anyone who puts all of their eggs into the basket of the far left. The bus needs to stay in the middle of the road. The influx of rightist radio shows bashing the media as "liberal," has had a profound impact on the people bombarded daily with this ridiculous accusation. Repeat a lie often enough and it will become truth. Bill O'Reilly is notorious for this. The abundance of rightwing radio shows has pushed the so-called "liberal" media off of the charts. Take the community of Rapid City, SD for example. Listeners have little choice in the programming stinking up the free airwaves. We get to hear Rush "Viagra" Limbaugh, Sean "WMD" Hannity, Bill "I Never Lie" O'Reilly, Laura "The Shrew" Ingraham and Michael "God's Little Acre" Medved, to name just a few. It has reached the point in this community that I listen to more CD's than I do to talk radio. We have reached the point of saturation from the far right and it has become increasingly clear that the mindset of the local population has made that sharp right turn in conjunction with the palaver they have drummed into their dear little ears on a daily basis. A good number of people out here believe that, according to their interpretation of the Bible, man lived along side of the dinosaurs and eventually killed them all. It is thinking like this that can set science back 1,000 years. South Dakota is fast becoming the home of the right wing nuts. When a community such as Sturgis, SD can approve a liquor license for a soon-to-be raucous beer joint within shouting distance of one of the most sacred holy places of the Lakota and other Plains Indian Tribes in order to draw larger crowds and make more money from the hideous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally held annually in the Sacred Black Hills of the Lakota, where do we draw the line? Would the city council of Sturgis approve a liquor license for an establishment to be built next to one of their churches or schools? Never! And yet they see no problem in building one next to the outdoor church of the Indian people. The decidedly right wing body of the South Dakota State Legislature, along with their right leaning Governor Mike Rounds, took it upon themselves to cross that line this year and introduce legislation in the guise of HB1215 that would make it a criminal act for a doctor to perform an abortion, even if that abortion was to terminate a pregnancy caused by rape or incest. Crowed a state legislator, "It doesn't matter how the pregnancy happened because all babies are sacred." Tell that to a woman or a girl that has been raped or has been the victim of incest. Another legislator attempted to describe the differences between a simple rape as opposed to a rape in general. Is there such a thing as a "simple rape?" The right wing politicians and believers preach that there is only one way and that is their way. The rights of women have been severely diminished in South Dakota and I cannot help but applaud those fearless people who took a petition across this state to get the abortion issue on the ballot for the November elections. Every one should know that abortion is always a bad choice, but one must also consider each case individually and the final decision, at least in my mind, should always be left to the woman and her doctor. Preventing teen pregnancy should be a top priority for those so vehemently opposed to abortion and yet these same individuals are dead set against allowing the teaching of a course in sex education in the schools. Don't they realize that if a pregnancy were prevented by birth control there would be no abortions? South Dakota got its name on the national calendar by passing legislation they knew would be challenged by its own citizens. Surely they also knew that it would have to go through many legal hoops before reaching the U. S. Supreme Court and the cost to the state would be enormous. One very serious citizen was willing to put up 1 million dollars to defend HB1215, and no single newspaper or radio station in this state was willing or able to find out the name of this Good Samaritan. Whoever he, she or it was, they hid under the veil of anonymity. And as this state tilts further to the right it also drags the wishy washy council of the Oglala Sioux Tribe along with it. With healthcare for women on the reservation seriously wanting and with homeless, abused and abandoned children far out of proportion to the population and teen pregnancy near epidemic on the Pine Ridge Reservation, this tribal council chose to walk lockstep with the white, rightwing South Dakota State legislators. With my choice of radio talk shows severely limited and my freedoms eroding one by one, I think it high time I took my retirement and moved to another state. South Dakota has been my home since birth and I never thought I would want to leave it, but I cannot stay in the middle of the road if the bus I am riding keeps taking right turns. But I won't leave because if I do, they win. --- 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: YELLOW BIRD: Stereotyping-beyond political correct" --------- Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 09:58:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: STEREOTYPING" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/opinion/14944976.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Stereotyping -- beyond political correctness July 1, 2006 I've always been reasonably sure that I don't stereotype groups of people - and I repeat the word, reasonably. But if you're a longtime reader, you'll know that one of my colleagues challenges my beliefs from time to time. In fact, we have heated conversations about many issues including stereotyping. And although we often wander far from a point of agreement, we usually concede the value of good and open conversation and debate. I would sooner have an open conversation with both points of view on the table than an insincere talk that closes with a nice smile and wave. If we stay away from personalities, debates can be insightful, telling and eye-opening. That said, I'll try to get my points about stereotyping past my colleague, who also happens to be my editor. Stereotyping, the dictionary says, is "a fixed or conventional notion or conception, as of a person, group, idea, etc., held by a number of people, and allowing for no individuality, critical judgment, etc." Another way to put it is: simplifying, exaggerating, distorting or generalizing selected cultural attributes as being "natural." As American Indians know, we are probably the "poster children" of stereotyping. True, many stereotyping comments come out of the mouths of people who are unaware of the culture and lifestyles of tribal nations, but sincerely want to learn, it must be said. They are good people who do not mean to offend and would be shocked to think they have offended. I have to smile at this point when I think about some of the questions and comments I heard in my travels around the nation. "Tell us about the teepees you live in." "Who is your medicine man?" And my favorite: "I have a relative who was a Indian princess." These may be stereotypes, but they also are from people who may be merely uninformed. I take such comments lightly. But words such as savage (or adding "Fighting" to the name of a tribal group), buck, squaw and papoose do not bring to mind the same images as do the words man, soldier or baby. Those, I do not take lightly. Another stereotype that acts on me like fingers dragging over slate is referring to Indians as "drunken Indians" - and unfortunately a common stereotype of Indian people. One day, I remember, my sister and I were in a tribal casino, and a young man with a bottle of Budweiser in his hand was commenting on Indians, casinos and alcohol problems. It was funny because I am strictly a water, juice and soda-pop drinker, but there we were, listening to him as he expounded on "Indians" through tangy, pungent beer-breath. So who is stereotyping here: the young man with the beer or the columnist? I raise my hand for that young man, but I realize that if I write in a way that suggests all young men drink Bud and make ill-informed comments, then I will have committed "stereotyping." Here's the example that started this nearly weeklong conversation about stereotyping. Recently, I wrote a column about methamphetamine . "I saw a car full of men whom I knew were outsiders," I wrote. And my assumption was that the men might be up to no good. They were not from the reservation. My sisters and I could tell from their dress and actions; plus, between us, we know most of the people in our community. We also are aware of the problems reservations are experiencing currently with meth and outside "visitors." So, that's not a stereotype, I argued. It is being aware of my surroundings. When I lived in Washington, I knew that women shouldn't walk alone in parts of the city. Knowing such things is part of being aware of your environment, protecting yourself and being streetwise. People on reservations tend to have low or modest incomes. Because of that, do we stereotype the rich and powerful? Maybe. Reservation environments aren't full of power brokers and rich people. So, perhaps, we do stereotype the wealthy because we have felt the control they've had over our lives and still do in many ways. It's a fact. It's only been a few years since reservations started being whistle-stop places for political campaigns. Why? Because we didn't vote in earlier years, so politicians could afford to ignore us. Many Indians separated themselves from outside politics. But today, our voting population is growing, and so are the number of visits from political candidates. And the stereotype of the rich has grown as fast as the stereotype of outsiders coming to the reservation to cook meth. Stereotyping can be hurtful and a negative power. It separates groups of people and makes them adversaries, taking them further and further from each other and allowing less and less intercommunication that can bring understanding. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Americans still the invaders in Iraq" --------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:52:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: UNDERSTANDING IRAQ" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7952 Notes from Indian Country Humiliating the Nation of Islam Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) June 26, 2006 Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. A terrible thing happened to two soldiers of the 101st Airborne 12 miles south of Baghdad last week. Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25, Madras, Ore., were tortured and killed by an al-Qaida insurgency group after they were kidnapped during a shootout. Any human being with an ounce of compassion finds this mindless act to be unforgivable. Perhaps it is impossible for most Americans to understand why such a thing could have happened. But it is not too hard for the Iraqi people to understand. Let's try to go into the mind of an Iraqi man. In America we have a very short attention span. What happened even six months ago is old news and already forgotten. Not so with people of the Muslim faith. The warring between the different factions, the Shiites, Kurds and Sunni, goes back centuries. The differences continue today because of those very long memories. Most Americans have nearly forgotten Abu Graib, the infamous prison in Baghdad. The Iraqi people have not, especially the Iraqi male. America was alerted to this horrendous situation when an article by Seymour Hersh appeared in the New Yorker Magazine describing it. CBS News then released the photos and the story on its Evening News and it grew from there. The images of Iraqi men standing nude with bags over their heads or piled into naked pyramids was utterly humiliating to the Iraqi men. And the fact that white American women were pointing fingers at their nudity and laughing was an outrage to all Iraqi citizens, but much more so for the men. It didn't matter to them if only one American soldier committed these acts of embarrassment and torture and for President George W. Bush to say publicly that it was only a few bad apples responsible for these acts shows a marked ignorance of the Muslim faith. The soldiers committing these atrocious acts were Americans and Iraqi men, in their humiliation and anger, did not distinguish between their rank or gender. They did not see just a "handful" of perpetrators. They saw the evil in all American soldiers. The most disgusting acts that could be dreamed up by a conquering army to humiliate a defeated people had just occurred at Abu Ghraib. To the Iraqi people it was like watching an American soldier pour salt into an open and bleeding wound. It was as bad or worse than raping an Iraqi mother in front of her husband and children. How many American soldiers participated in these acts was not important to the average Iraqi. If one is guilty all are guilty and that is the way it played out to them. An eye for an eye is taken much more seriously in some countries. Even more so in Muslim nations that have been at war for hundreds of years over such vile acts. Memories are long in the Middle East and vengeance can sometimes wait for 50 years or more before perceived justice is extracted. An American should know the Koran and try to understand that all people on this planet do not think as Americans think nor act like Americans act. Hadn't they noticed that the devout Muslim women covered themselves from the top of their heads to their feet? Didn't that give them a clue that the body is sacred? Now recall those pictures of Iraqi men standing naked while white American men women laughed and joked about their nudity. Could this have been worse or equal to forcing them to eat pork? By no means am I trying to make excuses for the way Menchaca and Tucker were tortured and killed. I merely want to point out the underlying hatred and unvarnished anger that still permeates the minds of so many Iraqi men and women. Revenge no matter how horrible is justifiable in the minds of those seeking it. Senators like John McCain warned that if the treatment of enemy prisoners did not improve and if the United States did not start to abide by the rules of the Geneva Convention, captured American soldiers could be treated in the same fashion or worse. The Iraqi people do not fear life and they certainly do not fear death. This is a concept that is not easily grasped by the Western mind. For more than 400 years the settlers and later the United States Army fought Native Americans and they were continuously amazed at the total lack of fear shown by the Indian warriors. It was the complete disregard of death that made the Indians such brave and ferocious fighters. The American army is considered the invader and no matter the reasons for being in Iraq, they are still the enemy and so many of the mindless and humiliating actions carried out against the Iraqi population by that army have become battle cries of hatred and revenge by the Nation of Islam. Abu Ghraib was an embarrassment to America, but it was a case of total humiliation and degradation to not only the Iraqi people, but to all Muslims throughout the Middle East. By desecrating the bodies of the Iraqi prisoners, the American soldiers spit on the Sacred Scriptures of Islam. And while the terrible photos of the Iraqi prisoners disappeared from the screens of American television, they played over and over on Arab television. When the insurgents posted the news of the deaths of the two Americans on the Internet, they were referred to as "crusaders." This word means little to most Americans but it means everything to Islam. --- 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: JODI RAVE: Tribal Housing hurt by HUD decision" --------- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:29:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: HUD DECISION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/06/29/jodirave/rave15.txt Feds plan to freeze tribal housing grant funds By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian June 29, 2006 Federal housing officials intend to freeze millions of dollars - possibly $300 million - in tribal housing block grant money until a court challenge is resolved. But it could takes months or years to settle the litigation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Chairman James Steele told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Wednesday. And that could jeopardize efforts to provide affordable housing on reservations nationwide. "What will happen if the appeal goes into the next fiscal year?" Steele asked. "Will all tribes that receive block grant funds have their grants frozen for next year?" Tribal leaders and representatives of the National American Indian Housing Council implored U.S. senators and Department of Housing and Urban Development officials to ensure that $300 million - about half of all 2006 Native American Housing Block Grant funds - would be delivered to 189 tribes. Steele joined four others on the Senate panel to discuss matters of safe, decent and affordable housing for Native people around the country. Block grants comprise the bulk of the money used by tribal housing programs. Fannie Mae recently reported homeownership among Natives to be 41 percent. Overall, homeownership in the United States is about 69 percent. "Native Americans and Alaskan Natives still have a long way to go in respect to homeownership to be on par with the rest of the country," said Gary Gordon, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council. Principal Chief of the Muscogee A.E. Ellis told the Senate committee his tribe has a housing waiting list of between 500 and 700 people, so desperately needs the block grant funding - without delay. The Senate oversight hearing came on the heels of proposed budget cuts to Indian housing programs, including the National American Indian Housing Council based in Washington, D.C. Also looming large was a federal judge's ruling last month. In a May 25 order, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch, District of Colorado, said the Department of Housing and Urban Development had been unfairly determining federal appropriations for Indian housing block grants. The decision arose after the Fort Peck Housing Authority, an agency of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Montana, filed suit against HUD for demanding repayment of earlier grants made to the tribes. Colorado attorney John Fredericks argued the department had violated laws in support of tribal housing programs. Also, tribes that included bought-and- sold homes among its housing inventory were being excluded from block grant money. "What HUD has been doing with Fort Peck, and other tribes with large homeownership programs, has been unfair," said Fredericks. Matsch agreed. He determined HUD's interpretation of a federal statute was unreasonable, resulting in haphazard funding allocations "with reductions to some tribes and windfalls to others - based on factors that are not related to tribal housing needs." The court ruling prompted HUD Assistant Secretary Orlando Cabrera to send a letter to tribal leaders on June 9. He warned tribes the Fort Peck case could affect current, past and future block grants awarded under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996. HUD may be confounding its own legal difficulties by withholding housing block grant money that tribes are qualified to receive, Gordon, the NAIHC executive director, said in a June 28 letter to Cabrera. Marty Shuravloff, NAIHC chair, said every tribe in the country could be affected by the freeze on block grant funds. "It seems unfair that they're restricting funding to all tribes because of one suit by the Fort Peck Tribes, which is something most of us would support," said Susan Hammer, executive director of the Ute Indian Housing Authority in Fort Duschesne, Utah. Reporter Jodi Rave can be reached at (406) 523-5299 or at jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: ARGUE: Past and Present Oppression in Canada" --------- Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2006 09:47:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARGUE: CANADIAN OPPRESSION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=7346 Past and Present Oppression in Canada SooNews Wire -- SooNews.ca Special to SooNews by Reginald Angus Argue July 1, 2006 Erasmus Darwin once stated, "He who allows oppression shares in the crime." There have been many instances in Canadian history against Aboroginal people. From these enormous miscarriages of justice there have been an environments created in which a gigantic void has been allowed to silence so many of these once proud and independent people. Past Biological Warfare Against Aboriginals The evidence of oppression against the Aboriginals has existed since the seven-year war in 1760s within North America. It first started when the British feared the Aboriginal population was going to join with the French and throw them out of Canada. To solve this problem, the British gave the Aboriginal Tribes gifts such as blankets. Yet, the British failed to tell the Aboriginals that these blankets were from a hospital in Britain that was contaminated with small pox. These actions of bio warfare, overnight gave the British the advantage in numbers over the French and the Aboriginals. (see http://www.ualberta.ca/~pimohte/ClashofWorlds.html) Genocide of Beothuks Chains of this genocide continue to be seen in other parts of Canada, as people are pulled through time and space. In one particular case, which involved a Tribal group of Aboriginals from New Foundland called Beothuk. The Beothuks were hunted down and used as slaves or "shot on sight by the English." These actions continued until this group of Aboriginals no longer existed, as they were wiped off the earth. The last surviving person in this Aboriginal Tribe, who died in 1829, was called 'Shanawdihit.' Before Shanawiddihit death people were able to learn a little of her language and culture. No longer will the little children be running around and playing. Now we only have memories of a lost tribe and questions of what great mysteries or secrets that this Tribe will forever hold silent. (see http://www.native-languages.org/beothuk.htm) Residential Schools In 1857 a church-inspired legislation called "the Gradual Civilization Act" was passed in Upper Canada, which defined aboriginal culture as inferior, stripped native people of citizenship and subordinated them in a separate legal category from non-Indians. Shortly, after Confederation of Canada, in 1874 this first Gradual Civilization Act was used as a foundation to draw from and was used as an excuse to establish Residential Schools. It included "the legal definition of an Indian as, an uncivilized person, destitute of the knowledge of God and of any fixed and clear belief in religion" (Revised Statues of British Columbia 1960). (See http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/canada.html) With this official view of the Aboriginals in these miss guided people's heart, and with the excuse that "conversion of any surviving native people to Christianity" came the creation of Residential School in 1890 that lasted until 1984. The reason for the creation of these schools, which were modeled off of the Industrial Schools out of the United States, was to assimilate the Aboriginals (who were viewed as being savages at that time) into society. In order to permit the churches from taking the children from their parents, the Canadian Federal Government passed laws, which legally allowed the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to enter in Aboriginal Reservations and take the children. The children were then taken to Residential Schools, where in the period of existence of these schools over "50,000 corpses have literally and officially gone missing." One witnessed reported to say that, "No one came to check in on us." This ideology of not knowing, not seeing created an environment where pedophiles flourished unopposed in. In addition reports of torturing, medical experiments, and even sterilization in some of these Aboriginal children showed that some considered these children to be second-class citizens and below them. Submitted are five different quotes that come from Nexus: Canadian Holocaust (http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/canada.html), which will unfold to people examples of how Aboriginal children were treated: Mary Anne Nakogee-Davis of Thunder Bay, Ontario, was tortured in an electric chair by nuns at the Catholic Spanish residential school in 1963 when she was eight years old. She states: "The nuns used it as a weapon. It was done on me on more than one occasion. They would strap your arms to the metal armrests, and it would jolt you and go through your system. I don't know what I did that was bad enough to have that done to me" (from The London Free Press, London Ontario, October 22, 1996). A recurring and regular torture at the residential schools themselves was operating on children's teeth without using any form of anesthesia or painkiller. Two separate victims of this torture at the Alberni School describe being subjected to it by different dentists, decades apart. Harriett Nahanee was brutalized in that manner in 1946, while Dennis Tallio was "worked on by a sick old guy who never gave me painkiller" at the same school in 1965. "...this aim was genocidal, for it planned and carried out the destruction of a religions and ethnic group: all those aboriginal people who would not convert to Christianity and be culturally extinguished. Non- Christian natives were the declared targets of the residential schools, which practiced wholesale ethnic cleansing under the guise of education." Legislation permitting the sterilization of any residential school inmate was passed in BC in 1933 and in Alberta in 1928 (see "Sterilization Victims Urged to Come Forward" by Sabrina Whyatt, Windspeaker, August 1998). The Sexual Sterlization Act of BC allowed a school principal to permit the sterilization of any native person under his charge. As their legal guardian, the principal could thus have any native child sterilized. Frequently, these sterilizations occurred to whole groups of native children when they reached puberty, in institutions like the Provincial Training School in Red Deer, Alberta, and the Ponoka Mental Hospital. (Former nurse Pat Taylor to Kevin Annett, January 13 2000). Expressing the 'virtues' of genocide ,principal of the Untied Church school in Ahousat on Vancouver Island's west coast, wrote in 1938: "The problems with the Indians is one of morality and religion. They lack the basic fundamentals of civilized thought and spirit, which explains their child-like nature and behavior. At our school we strive to turn them into mature Christians who will learn how to behave in the world and surrender their barbaric way of life and their treaty rights which keep them trapped on their land and in a primitive existence. Only then will the Indian problem in our country be solved" (Rev. A. E. Caldwell to Indian Agent P.D. Ashbridge, Ahousat, BC, November 12, 1938). Presently, there are an estimated 87,500 adult Aboriginals who are still alive that went through these Residential schools. 13,000 individual claimants have sought compensation within the court system and alternative dispute resolution projects (As of November 2, 2004; See http://www.irsr- rqpa.gc.ca/English/statistics.html). At this time, that is 14.8% of the Aboriginals, who attended Residential Schools that are still alive. Quoting the words from Harriett Nahanee, "The residential schools created two kinds of Indians: slaves and sell-outs. And the sellouts are still in charge. The rest of us do what we're told. The band council chiefs have been telling everyone on our reserve not to talk to the Tribunal and have been threatening to cut our benefits if we do" (Harriet Nahanee to Kevin Annett, June 12, 1996). (See http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/canada.html) The Quest for Justice and Equality On September 22, 2004 then Prime Minister Paul Martin called for specific United Nations rules for early intervention to protect people. In this article, Mr. Martin was quoted as saying, "Our common humanity should be a powerful enough argument and that is precisely what is missing. Put simply, there is still no explicit provision in international law for intervention on humanitarian grounds." Where is the humanity in how Canadian churches, corporations, and even members within past federal governments have been legally able to get away with the genocide against the Aboriginals in Canada? We must properly address the situation with the Aboriginals in Canada. Copyright c. 2006 Soonews.ca All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Harper inaccurately maligns FN accountability" --------- Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 09:49:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FONTAINE: HARPER MALIGNS FIRST NATIONS ACCOUNTABILITY" http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060623fontaine Harper inaccurately maligns First Nations accountability - Fontaine - Media release by Assembly of First Nations National Chief 23 June, 2006 Prime Minister Harper's comments on yesterday's Mike Duffy Live, in which he inaccurately conflated First Nations accountability and First Nation women's rights, are disingenuous at best and malicious at worst. It appears that Conservative strategists are deliberately attempting to undermine the legitimacy of First Nation governments by falsely claiming that we are not true governments and that we are unaccountable to our citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether Conservatives want to admit it or not, First Nations are the true and real founding Nations of this country, and we still possess our own governments and legal rights which are enshrined and protected by international law, our Treaties and the Constitution of Canada, whether they will admit it or not. First Nations are committed to accountability. We have worked with the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Auditor General and officials from other federal departments over the last two years to develop accountability initiatives for First Nations, including discussions about a First Nations Auditor General and First Nations ombudsperson to increase the accountability to their own citizens. Most Canadians agree with the Auditor General that the problem is in the accountability relationship the federal government has constructed, not with First Nations leadership. What we do not believe in are imposed solutions that do not account for the diversity of First Nation experiences in this country. That was at the root of our opposition to both the First Nations Governance legislation and including First Nations in the current accountability legislation. Canadians know that less money is spent per capita on First Nations than on the average Canadian citizen. In addition, returning to the idea of a nine billion dollar budget obscures the fact that the bulk of that money is spent on departmental administration instead of programs for First Nations and other Aboriginal people. We also believe that Matrimonial Real Property provisions need to be overhauled. We welcomed the appointment of Wendy Grant-John as Special Ministerial Representative on the issue earlier this week. We caution, however, that any real change will only come from widespread consultation with First Nations. The current problems with Matrimonial Real Property stem from flaws in unilaterally developed federal legislation, like the Indian Act. It is inaccurate to equate First Nations women's issues like Matrimonial Real Property with accountability, or to say that the Opposition parties are "aligned against" accountability by not supporting Bill C-2 in full. The fact is, the vast majority of Members of Parliament is opposed to imposing further burdens on First Nations and wants to see concrete action to improve the lives of First Nation citizens by introducing real measures to close the poverty gap. Instead of working to drive a wedge in public opinion between First Nations and the rest of Canada by maligning First Nations accountability, I invite the Prime Minister to work with us to build a better and more inclusive Canada for all Canadians, including First Nations. Copyright c. 2006 First Perspective. --------- "RE: Indigenous peoples condemn Canada's betrayal" --------- Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 04:39 am From: Don Subj: Indigenous peoples condemn Canada's 'betrayal' Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian --------- Forwarded Message --------- From: Rarihokwats Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 5:05 PM http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1672477.htm Indigenous peoples condemn Canada's 'betrayal' ABC Online June 27, 2006 A coalition of Indigenous peoples from around the world has accused Canada of betrayal by campaigning to block a United Nations (UN) declaration asserting their rights after backing it for years. The declaration has been in negotiation for the past 24 years and is backed by many European, Latin American and Asian states. It is up for approval in the next few days by the UN's new Human Rights Council. But Canada's new conservative government announced last week it wanted a delay for at least two years. It said the document could violate its constitution and wreck talks with its native population over control of land and resources. It has presented a resolution to the 47-member council, calling for further consultations "to achieve the broadest possible agreement". Australian stance A leading negotiator with governments on the declaration's text for 20 years, Mohawk Kenneth Deer, says Canada is acting as a "surrogate" in the council for the US, Australia and New Zealand. Mr Deer says the three countries and Russia, which is also seeking a delay, see in the declaration a threat to government control of mineral, oil and other resources. An Australian group says Canada has been actively lobbying governments around the world to oppose the declaration, especially those in poorer countries. The claim has been backed by groups from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Russia. The US, Australia and New Zealand did not seek election to the 47-nation council, which replaces the old Human Rights Commission, but both Canada and Russia are members. The UN special expert on human rights and indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen of Mexico, has urged the council to approve the declaration. "The adoption of the draft declaration ... would signal ... to all peoples of the world that the members of the Human Rights Council share with them a comprehensive, positive and constructive view of human rights, " he said in a statement. If approved, the declaration would go to the UN General Assembly in New York for approval. It would not be legally binding but the coalition says it would aid indigenous peoples to ensure their rights are observed. Copyright c. 2006 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. --------- "RE: Government falling behind in Land Claims" --------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:37:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND CLAIMS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2006/06/27/land-claims.html Government falling behind in land claims CBC News June 27, 2006 The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs hasn't addressed all of the 750 unresolved native land claims because of a lack of resources, information obtained by CBC News shows. Briefing notes to Minister Jim Prentice show that per-capita spending for services like housing and clean drinking water on reserves has gone down by six per cent over the last decade. During the same time period, however, the department's spending has gone up by 36 per cent. The department has been hampered by the cost of resolving land claims, which have tripled in the last 15 years. It spent $536 million negotiating and implementing land claims during the fiscal year ended in 2005. Prentice said he will spend a part of the summer addressing the rising costs of settling land claims. "The Liberals left 750 specific claims backlogged in the system," he said. "That's not acceptable and we have to deal with it." Negotiating costs soar The lengthy process of negotiating land claims has sent costs skyrocketing. It took more than 30 years to negotiate the Carcross Tagish self- government and land-claim agreement in the Yukon. The First Nation received a settlement package of $44 million over 15 years. Carcross Chief Mark Wedge said his community had to take out nearly $3 million in loans to cover its cost to negotiate the deal. "It would be great if Canada would consider forgiving, or redirecting or reinvesting payments back into the First Nation when there is such a large requirement for resources in the communities," Wedge said. Prentice has said the government will not forgive loans because it's not fair to other communities that have paid off borrowed money. Copyright c. CBC. --------- "RE: Caledonia and the case of the missing PM" --------- Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 09:58:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHY HAS CALDONIA TAKEN ON MORE AND MORE OF AN OKA LOOK" http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060627pm Caledonia and the case of the missing prime minister by John Zemanovich June 26, 2006 Lets face it. Everyone has had enough of this Caledonia issue. Natives want their land claims addressed. The non-native Caledonians want peace and quiet in their community. The OPP would rather not be in the position of having to use violence to secure the peace and Dalton McGuinty wants someone else to start wearing the bull's eye someone painted on his forehead while he took a nap. The federal government, representing the citizens of Canada, has created a mess and failed to deal with it. Historically, the federal strategy for dealing with native issues has been akin to standing in a leaking boat and putting all one's resources into bailing water. Wouldn't it be simpler to locate the leak and plug it? The federal government is directly responsible for native issues and the land claims process, as well as the mistreatment of natives over more than a century since Confederation. That mistreatment has included tainted water supplies, the destruction of language and culture, the residential schools policy and numerous others. Expecting the Ontario Provincial Police to use force to settle this issue is unreasonable and will only lead to increased violence and confrontation in the future. The federal strategy of allowing blame to fall on the shoulders of Dalton McGuinty may be astute politically but is morally reprehensible. Violent actions have only hurt the cause of natives, as they detract from the inherent truth of a just cause. Numerous organizations, including the United Nations, have attested that aboriginal peoples have not been treated with respect and have suffered greatly at the hands of many governments. Their lands have been stolen and treaties and other agreements have not been respected or adhered to by various governments - of all political stripes - in Canada. There is enough blame for all political parties to share. Of course, Canadians haven't paid much attention of late. They expected their government was dealing with this problem. The federal government created a land claims process to deal with land alienated from native peoples. Unfortunately, the process is flawed and woefully inadequate. Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine pointed out on May 23, 2006: "Under the current process, Canada acts as judge and jury in claims against itself." "There are approximately 1,000 specific claims before Canada, 300 of which have been validated and must work their way through the claims process. Yet it takes on average 10 years to resolve a legitimate, specific claim. This is much too long. (A recent) report by the Auditor General of Canada noted that six comprehensive claims agreements have been concluded since 2001 and it has taken on average 29 years to finalize these claims. This is unacceptable. This is an agonizingly slow pace for First Nations, for whom land is central to our cultures and our economies. It creates frustration and anger on the ground and can erode trust." The Caledonia land claim must be addressed. According to Phil Monture, a Six Nations land claim researcher, this particular claim has been in dispute for well over 100 years. "In 1890, they (Six Nations) went back to The Hague and Six Nations put an offer on the table saying they'd appoint their representative, Britain would appoint theirs and Canada would appoint theirs," Monture said in the native publication Windspeaker this month. "Britain agreed but Canada reneged and refused to be party to it. They have no one to blame but themselves. Buy time, hopefully the next election will come or the minister will get shifted and we'll have to start again and the game goes on." Is there a black-and-white answer to this land claim? No. Both sides lack definitive evidence of land ownership. When asked about that, Monture's statement in Windspeaker demonstrates the flexibility of the native position. "I can't say that because we still have to sit down and go through the process. That's what a claim is. You put your claim in and then you sit down and to and fro with the facts and you work yourself to a stage of agreed upon facts and that's something that hasn't been done yet." The prime minister isn't the only one who should take leadership. The warriors also need to change their tactics. The recent escalation of violence at Caledonia is unacceptable. Individuals who steal cars and try to run over police officers should be held accountable for their actions. The individuals responsible for such behaviour have done a great disservice to the native cause, as it damages the progress being made in negotiations and ultimately lessens the odds of achieving a peaceful resolution. These youthful warriors would be wise to learn from the story of Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear). Big Bear sought peaceful means of resolving problems, including aggressive negotiations with the Canadian government, because he was wise enough to understand that violence would not help his people. His former warriors, led by his son Ayimisis (Little Bad Man) and the war chief, Kapapamahchakwew (Wandering Spirit) effectively ignored his advice and undermined his authority. Such actions ensured the accelerated suffering of their people and the weakening of their cause. Some would argue that the warriors in Caledonia today are effectively repeating this mistake by not heeding the wise counsel of the elders who ask that they refrain from needless violence. If these warriors truly wish to defend their people as is their mandate, they should be courageous and surrender to the Canadian law enforcement agencies to answer for their actions. They should not ask their brothers to turn them over. They should do it themselves despite their brothers' protection. There is no weakness or shame in taking responsibility for one's actions in order to serve your family. Doing so is honorable. The sad irony of this situation is that both the natives and non-natives in Caledonia have a common problem: the federal government. Our government has not dealt with claims in a timely manner and, given the First Nations experience with governmental processes, suspicions abound within the community that there is no political will to truly settle outstanding issues. Can we honestly blame them? Where is Prime Minister Stephen Harper? Caledonia is a wakeup call for the federal government. By neglecting its responsibilities to effectively and efficiently deal with land claims, it has not only empowered those with extremist political views on both sides of the issue, it has effectively ensured that more confrontations will occur and that more Canadians will experience conflict with aboriginals. Prime Minister Harper: The buck stops at your desk. Get on with it. Leadership means getting things done. --- John Zemanovich lives in Mansfield, Ont., and is a non-status Indian of Cree heritage and the former CEO of Raven Investment Management Ltd. This story originally appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on Monday, June 26, 2006. Copyright c. 2006 First Perspective. --------- "RE: Minister expects more Caledonia Standoffs" --------- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:29:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND CLAIMS BACKLOG" http://www.canada.com/cityguides/hamilton/story.html ?id=17327b42-0840-4c17-8e66-daab33523611&k=48077 Minister expects more Caledonia standoffs Backlog of claims fans frustration: Prentice Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press June 28, 2006 OTTAWA - More Caledonia-type conflicts are brewing as the number of native land claims nears 800 and the average wait time for settlements tops nine years. The most complicated cases take longer. It's not unusual for the federal justice department to take five years to draft a legal opinion on a claim's basic merits. Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice says he plans a major "retooling" of a badly flawed system that critics blame for rising tensions and stunted development. "The backlog is not acceptable and we're working on it," Prentice said in an interview. "Claims vary in complexity. But by any measure, the current system is not working effectively." A three-day conference of experts starting today in Gatineau, Que., will consider ways to push for improvements. Prentice says he's considering increased mediation, more skilled negotiators and other ways to simplify a notoriously cumbersome process. More money may also be needed for a system that cost Ottawa $536 million in 2004-05 to negotiate, settle and implement land claims. Prentice led more than 50 public inquiries into such cases as co- chairman of the federal Indian Claims Commission. He says he appreciates that "there's frustration out there." It most recently erupted in Caledonia, near Hamilton, in a series of nasty confrontations over a subdivision on land reclaimed by Six Nations members. In Manitoba, a half dozen bands threatened this week to block rail lines around the province as part of a 24-hour protest over delayed land claims. Prentice blames the former Liberal government for letting the number of unsettled specific claims soar from about 200 to more than 750 over the last 13 years. Copyright c. The Windsor Star 2006. --------- "RE: UN overrides Canada over Native Rights" --------- Date: Thursday, June 29, 2006 06:37 pm From: Don Bain Subj: UN overrides Canada over native rights Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html ?id=2c51f850-9f36-4691-b2c7-57574169ece9&k=34650 UN overrides Canada over native rights Associated Press June 29, 2006 GENEVA - The new UN Human Rights Council on Thursday overrode Canadian and Russian objections and passed a declaration to protect the rights of native peoples around the world, including an assertion that they have a possible right to restitution for land and resources taken from them. By 30-2 vote, the body approved the declaration that said indigenous people should be free from discrimination and that they have a right "to consider themselves different and to be respected as such." A dozen countries abstained and three were absent. A coalition of indigenous people who had been campaigning heavily in favour of passage had complained that Canada, a former supporter of the declaration, had switched sides after the Conservative party ousted the Liberals earlier this year. They said Canada thus joined the United States, Australia and New Zealand - all countries with significant native populations - in opposing the declaration. The U.S., Australia and New Zealand, however, have no vote because they are not members of the 47-nation council, which began its first session last week. The council replaced the widely discredited 53-country UN Human Rights Commission. Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Last Witness testifies at Ipperwash Inquiry" --------- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:29:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="IPPERWASH INQUIRY" http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060628/ ipperwash_inquiry_060628 Last witness testifies at Ipperwash inquiry Canadian Press June 28, 2006 FOREST, Ont. - After two years and some 140 witnesses, testimony at an often confrontational and controversial inquiry into the 1995 shooting death of Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park came to an end Wednesday. And while closing arguments are still two months away and final recommendations not expected before the end of the year, experts say the inquiry will likely establish new credibility for the aboriginal claim that started the standoff in the first place. "I think that there will probably be very strong indications that the land belongs to the aboriginal community," said Tammy Landau, a professor at Ryerson University's School of Criminal Justice in Toronto. The standoff in Ipperwash began in 1993 when a group of aboriginals occupied an army camp on a block of land seized by Ottawa under the War Measures Act in 1942. In 1995, they moved to the adjacent Ipperwash Provincial Park, citing the presence of a burial ground. Under cover of night on Sept. 6, 1995, George was shot and killed by Ontario police Acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane as officers clad in riot gear marched on the occupation. Deane, who died earlier this year in a car accident, was convicted of criminal negligence in George's death, but his trial offered only partial closure to the George family, said Landau, who specializes in aboriginal justice issues. "It really didn't allow all the facts (of the standoff) to come out _ who owned the land, what were the more broader systemic problems between (police) and the aboriginal community," Landau said. "I think for the community, they also want (the inquiry) for their claims to be vindicated and substantiated." Many blamed the Ontario government of former premier Mike Harris, who was accused by critics of helping to direct the police action that led to George's death. In addition to several former cabinet ministers, the inquiry heard testimony from Harris himself, who denied that he ever exerted any influence over police. The land, which has never officially been turned over to the First Nations, remains closed to the general public. Ontario's current Liberal government has been dealing with a tense and occasionally violent aboriginal land claim dispute in Caledonia, Ont., south of Hamilton, where First Nations members have occupied a housing development site since the end of February, claiming ownership of land they claim is rightly theirs. Police on the scene have been criticized for inaction, which many observers have attributed to lingering political fears of another Ipperwash-style confrontation. Sam George said the tense standoff reminded him of the confrontation that claimed his brother Dudley's more than 10 years ago. Most of the George family was present Wednesday for the final day of testimony at the Ipperwash inquiry, said family spokesman and lawyer Murray Klippenstein, who added they felt the hearing has done a good job on most issues of bringing out the facts. "They feel like they're getting the truth about the death of their brother, the truth about mistakes that were made, the truth about possible political interference," said Klippenstein. "They think they can start to heal." Klippenstein said he believes the inquiry has left a sense among many First Nations people that someone is finally listening to their concerns. "(There's) a sense that the powerful people and powerful institutions that usually aren't accountable to them had a degree of accountability now," he said. Justice Sidney Linden, who presided over the inquiry, said the hearings provided an opportunity for witnesses to share their view of events in 1995, some for the first time, but also acknowledged the situation was emotional. "I was always aware of the fact that revisiting events that took place over 10 years ago may re-open wounds and rekindle feelings and tensions," Linden wrote in a statement. "But I was always also hopeful, that through this process, the inquiry might leave the communities and individuals affected a little "better" than they were when we began." Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Aug. 21, with Linden's recommendations expected by year's end, and whatever they are, there's reason for optimism, Klippenstein said. "But I think that there's ground for some hope and there's grounds for steps forward." Copyright c. 2006 CTV Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Piikani under third party management" --------- Date: Saturday, July 01, 2006 07:54 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Piikani under third party management Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Piikani under third party management By Jocelyn Mercer June 30, 2006 Pincher Creek Echo ? The dire state of governance on the Piikani reserve took a turn for the worse last Friday after council failed to produce a quorum to approve an agreement, which would have seen the band continue under financial co-management. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada had given council until 4:30 p.m. last Friday to have a co-management agreement in place or face third party management. The failure to produce the agreement meant that as of