_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 040 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 October 7, 2006 Hopi Angaqmuyaw/long hair moon Mohawk Kentenha/moon of poverty Lakota Canwape Kasna Wi/moon when the wind strips the leaves Assiniboine Tasnaheja-hagikta/striped gopher looks back 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; Frostys AmerIndian, Chiapas95-En, Rez_Life and Native American Poetry 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Every sovereignty is recognized by its language, government, membership and established boundaries." "Who ceases to have any one of these will find termination." "Without the language you can't know 100 percent of the culture - in the language is the culture." "Are we doing enough to stop the erosion of the language?" __ Ron His Horse is Thunder, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! The lead article in this issue explores eroding tribal sovereignty, it's impact on the people of tribal nations, and contributing factors. Key points include the simple truth we must come together as one group. Old enemities must be put aside. There are just too few of us to withstand the attacks if we continue to allow ourselves to be divided for any reason. It does not matter what sort of terrible injustice your nation blames on another tribe when compared to the huge injustices visited on our people by the dominant society. Another key point is highlighted in this issue's quote. Ron His Horse is Thunder, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe makes the elloquent point, "Without the language you can't know 100 percent of the culture - in the language is the culture." That says it all. Learn to speak the tongue of your People if you don't already. It will actually alter your perception of some things, because translation and transliteration can only approximate the flavors of an idea expressed in the original tongue. More important, do everything you possibly can to get your children taught their native languages. Finally, listen to the wisdom of a grandmother and read what Doreen Yellow Bird has to say about Tribal Govenments in the opinion section. Do what you can to help your nation be all it can be. Strong nations bonded together will not only hold onto slipping sovereignty, but regain some of that which has eroded away. =========================================== - Warrior Moccasins Project seeks out your help Date: Sunday, September 24, 2006 02:10 pm From: Sherry Subj: Warrior Moccasins Project seeks out your help! Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Warrior Moccasin Project seeks out experienced beaders, moccasin makers and names for a pair of moccasins for their service in the military. Those interested in donationg Deer Hides, please email me so i can give you the name and address of where to ship it to. Deer hides CAN be donated to this project. To do so, you must first salt the hides with medium grade salt which can be purchased at any farm supply store. After salting the hide(s) ship them to the address i will give you following the laws as specified BY YOUR STATE. A copy of the possession tag which was issued by the game warden must be included for each hide being shipped. Any monetary donation to this project is also greatly appreciated. Each cost of the pair of moccasins is $32.00 (includes shipping/handling charge). Those serving in harms way and those who have returned state side are encouraged to get in touch with my via email. If you know of a native military troop member who you want to honor, please get a hold of me through my email. Thank you :) =========================================== Again, this winter this editorial section will feature groups or individuals who are helping those in need, primarily on reservations and especially those who aid children and elders. Urban help will not be excluded. I have lived in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis and been a guest in Lakota Housing in Rapid City and in Shiprock. The need to eat and be warm does not end because a person has left the rez. PLEASE forward contact information for all you know who help those less able to do so make it through the harsh winter months. ------ Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:15:49 +0300 From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" Subj: HYS WINTER 2006 Toys & Clothing Request Winter & Christmas 2006 - Toys and Clothing Request Winter will set in soon in many places of the world, but once again it will not be the same for all the children. Some are lucky and have everything they need, other children have much more than they need... and yet there are also the children who have very little - or nothing... They don't have the right clothes, and they have no toys. These children need warmth, and they need hope, and loving support. You can be there for these children, and make a difference in their lives. Even if the Northern Cheyenne Reservation is far away from you, toys, warm clothing and shoes can be sent to them directly on the reservation, where they will be distributed by trusted Northern Cheyenne contacts who have helped so much the previous years. There is a large need especially for new and good quality used warm items, as well as toys. During Montana winters, the temperature can drop to 30 or 40 degrees below zero so warm winter clothing and blankets can be lifesaving. These items will be distributed right away. The toys will be distributed during the Christmas give away. Here is a list of things that can be sent in support of these children: - warm clothing such as knitted items for children of all ages from babies to teenagers, children's jeans, coats and warm T-shirts - socks, gloves, boots, hats and scarves - blankets - toys for Christmas Other items that would also be appreciated: grooming supplies like toothpaste, tooth brushes, soaps and shampoos, combs, hair brushes, hair barrettes, rubber bands or other types of hair or pony tail holders. Last but not least : pampers diapers or pull-ups. Please make sure that the items sent are safe, and sensitive to the culture of the children and their People. When sending a box, it would be appreciated if you could send us a short email with your name or location, type of items sent ('toys', 'clothing', etc), approximate weight and shipping date, so that we can help our contacts by keeping a list of what is sent to them. Our aim is to always make sure that everything reaches the reservation. The priority of our group, "Honor your Spirit - Protect the Children" is to make sure all donations get to where they are supposed to and recognized. It is very important to us to make sure that everything is distributed fairly and to those in the greatest need. Our goal is to help the children of families unable to make ends meet due to the high unemployment rate, the difficult conditions and the extreme poverty on the reservation. These children need all the help and encouragement they can get, so if you can help, please contact us for more information. Contact Info: Dodie Finstead, USA dodie_finstead@yahoo.com JR Robertson, USA Jim_ Robertson@BarefootCreations.com Dominique Larrede, France d.larrede@wanadoo.fr Brigitte Thimiakis, Europe thimiakischool@the.forthnet.gr Respectfully, Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children "Your help makes a huge difference for those who have never received help. Your donations provide hope and encouragement to those who have never known these qualities. Your concern and solidarity can improve the lives of many children, elders, families, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. There is still a lot to do but all together you can help us make these dreams come true. Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it." Respectfully, Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho To learn more about the HYS projects, please visit: http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support ! <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o ==[This message may be forwarded under the condition that it is not altered in any way] == 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 ----------- Editorial Section: - Opinion: Native genocide Tribal Sovereignty and September 11, 2001 Warrior Moccasins - YELLOW BIRD: Stenehjem Winter needs should represent everyone - The future of Tribal Sovereignty - Cold war in Caledonia - Battle over Oil - Saskatchewan considers - American Indians funding On-reserve Housing await trial on Lawsuit - Indian assets loophole - Freeze comments frost delegates to be closed - Wyoming, Arapaho - Premier's appearance reach Social Services Deal at meeting a first - Oregon regulators vote - Canada risks its nice Image to remove Chiloquin Dam - Community facing real - Feds suggest Fish AIDS Infection Crisis get a lift around Dams - Colonists, stop fighting - 1906 showdown at Carlisle over our Land changed Football - Women Title Holders - Opinion: Indian Poverty to Arizona Border Rights not on American Radar - Colonists, obey your laws, - Cobell: Interior treat us as equals mishandles Indian Money too - Tijuana, La Otra - HARJO: 'N-word,' 'R-word,' comes to the Border Redmen and more macaca - Judges set higher bail - Editorial: for Indians Indian Education for all on track - Cherokee Athlete - PARISIAN: slain by Husband Why I blog about Indian Country - Native Prisoner - YELLOW BIRD: Tribes, -- S.D. Extradition Pacts Tribal Councils need reform - Rustywire: Faded Pictures - YELLOW BIRD: Time to get back - Lee Goins Poem: Break Free to `us,' not `me' - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Day --------- "RE: The future of Tribal Sovereignty" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:39:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FADING TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413721 The future of tribal sovereignty by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today September 25, 2006 BISMARCK, N.D. - Sovereignty may have been an inherent right for the many nations in the country for hundreds of years, but it now requires constant protection. Tribal sovereignty is inherent; according to traditional elders, it was given to the nations by the Creator. It is not uncommon at meetings to hear tribal leaders, attorneys and other officials speak of attempts by states, the federal government and internal forces to obliterate sovereignty. "We have to have a sustained national sovereignty effort. We must rekindle the [National Congress of American Indians'] effort to reaffirm sovereignty," said Tex Hall, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and former president of the NCAI. Recently in Congress, legislation that would have required tribes to ask permission from counties on gaming issues was determined to be an attack on sovereignty, tribal leaders agreed. That proposed legislation did not pass committee muster. Melanie Benjamin, chairman of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, said the erosion seen on the Mississippi River is equivalent to the attempts to erode tribal sovereignty. "The courts are cutting away at tribal sovereignty, they chip away at it; it is an important topic," she said. Benjamin said the trend was to pit the states and federal government against the tribes in courts. "Sovereignty is rooted in federal law; some see it as a state flow- through from the federal government. "Ever since Indian self-determination and the Reagan administration, states' rights have taken priority. Now, with the Bush administration, there is more power going to the states," she said. "In the future, we may find ourselves in more courts." As the treaties become abrogated, sovereignty is weakened by the U.S. courts, said Ken Davis, chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He said the right to self governance lies directly with land, and that to expand sovereignty the land base has to be expanded. "To purchase land only from tribal members doesn't expand sovereignty." Davis recommended buying as much land as possible whether out of or within the reservation's boundaries. "We have to come to grasp with it and accommodate growth on the reservations," Davis said. "We are not as isolated and uneducated as we once were. We have lawyers; we have political rights and a special political status. No longer do we allow encroachment within our own boundaries," Davis said. Ron His Horse is Thunder, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, agreed with Davis and said the tribes must buy all the land within the boundaries and land outside the boundaries. When His Horse is Thunder was growing up, he heard that the Lakota got rights from the government. "The treaties are the recognition of tribal rights, not gifts." The Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa knows full well what treaty rights and sovereignty is about. In the late 1970s, fishing rights among many Ojibwe nations were challenged. When the tribes tried to exercise their treaty rights to fishing, they were confronted not only by local anti-Indian groups but by the courts. Mille Lacs won its case in 1979 but the fallout, Benjamin said, is still felt today. "Victory came at a price. Three anti-Indian groups have now been elected to the county board and they have tried to kick us off. We won't move. "The county continues to come after us and the government supports their actions," Benjamin said. "We may never win over those who run the county now, but in 100 years they will be dead and Mille Lacs will continue," she said. Central to sovereignty may lay the culture and the language, but without the language the culture suffers. His Horse is Thunder said he was told by his elders that government intervention in blood requirements will eventually lead to extinction of the tribes as well if only the blood of the parent is recognized. "Every sovereignty is recognized by its language, government, membership and established boundaries. "Who ceases to have any one of these will find termination," His Horse is Thunder said. "Without the language you can't know 100 percent of the culture - in the language is the culture," he said. "Are we doing enough to stop the erosion of the language?" One final point made by His Horse is Thunder was that the members or citizens must have faith in the tribal government. "There is an internal attack - Indian against Indian. If we don't protect sovereignty, we will see termination," His Horse is Thunder said. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Battle over Oil" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 06:57:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NO PAYMENTS TO NATIVE LANDOWNERS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650193413,00.html Battle over oil Landowners are fighting for payment By Lucinda Dillon Kinkead Deseret Morning News MONTEZUMA CREEK - It's just after sunrise, and in the pink of a new day, an oil pump is already doing its slow, rhythmic work. It is one of four wells on Mary Johnson's land, not far from where the old woman's home sits on a mesa at the northernmost tip of the massive Navajo Nation. Like the huge pieces of equipment that dot the landscape, Johnson is up and moving at dawn every day - before the sun gets beastly hot - to tend chickens and chores on this sacred Indian land where she was raised. One of the day's concerns is water. The natural springs on her land are ruined, and groundwater is 6,000 feet down, so someone has to make the 50-mile trip to fill tanks in town and haul them back. Maybe someday water will be carried across this land, but for now only oil makes its way over barren ground in a web of pipes and tubes. In the early morning quiet, you can hear them humming and vibrating. Water. Oil. It seems many of Johnson's 81 years have been spent watching the flow of these two fluid resources on the 160 acres given to her family generations ago. Watching each has caused her grief. Water is the reason her ancestors settled where they did, and it is gone now. Oil is the cause of a yearslong battle over payment for the resource pumped and transported across her land. "It has always been a fight," Johnson, who speaks only Navajo, says through a translator. "No one is representing us." In the past 50 years, oil companies have made billions off the oil in Montezuma Creek's Aneth field. Because of questionable conditions on old royalty agreements, lack of payment on others and environmental concerns, Johnson and her family have been in conflict half her life. "All those years, they were never honest with her," said her daughter, Susie Philemon. She is furious at the oil companies. "I hope to God they suck out every last drop of the oil so they can get the hell out of here." Johnson was one of 13 children born in a hogan that still stands just down the rise. One day in late summer she takes a visitor there. Through a translator the soft-spoken woman says there used to be three fresh springs within a short walk of the hogan. "We would take a bucket and get water," she said. Her hands dance like the gurgling spring she is describing. "It bubbled up right here. It was warm in the winter, and there was good vegetation for the animals." She tended corn, watermelon and squash near the spring. But the oil wells went in about a quarter-mile away, and the pipelines to carry the resource crossed through the area, heating up and buzzing and clicking. "All that vegetation is burned now," Johnson said. "Once I went to the spring and there was a film on the top of it. That's how they destroyed our drinking water. All the springs are gone now." The worth of the land and the impact of pulling oil from the ground here in Indian Country is something the Johnson family knows is difficult to understand. "My ancestors settled here because of the water. There was a flow in the creek and it was just beautiful. Now it is totally destroyed." There is no fresh water, the natural springs are decimated and the companies have left the trashy remnants of their projects behind. Indeed, down a rutted dirt road, a tangle of rusted pipes lines the roadway. "These oil companies came and destroyed the most important thing in life, the water and the land," Johnson said. "They just took the oil out of the ground, and they don't come back to help clean up." Johnson's homesite is thousands of miles and a world away from Washington, D.C., where a battle continues over billions of dollars owed to American Indian landowners like Johnson because of gross government mismanagement of their trust accounts. One Montana Indian woman has spent a decade trying to rectify the issue in a class action lawsuit named in her honor. Lawyers for Eloise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, say Indian landowners are owed at least $100 billion in royalties tied to farming, grazing, mining, logging and other activities on tribal lands. Johnson is one of about 500,000 plaintiffs. Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe of Montana, operates a working cattle ranch with her husband and is active in local agriculture and environmental issues. Ten years ago, she led the lawsuit in an effort to correct a century of problems, and the legal action has dragged on with one delay after another. "We have to continue fighting for justice and accounting," Cobell said last week from her Montana office. "If we can't win this one, there is something really, really wrong with this country." Bill McAllister covered Indian issues for the Washington Post for 10 years and now works for Cobell's organization. There are few advocates for American Indians in their concerns over mismanagement by government and oil companies, he said. "Eloise was one of the first ones to successfully make the government accountable." During the litigation, lawyers have found corruption, fraud, horrible mismanagement and gaping holes in the accounting system by which Indians were paid for oil on their land, Cobell said. "What's wrong with this picture when we have someone who is living in a shack and they have four oil wells pumping on their land?" she asked. "They should be living in a mansion." But 75 percent of leases weren't recorded properly, according to the lawsuit. Oil money was accumulating in federal accounts, but because federal records weren't clear on who had rights to the money, funds went elsewhere. The impact has been profound on American Indians, Cobell said. "We would have had a totally different quality of life," she said. "If this trust was set up properly since 1887, if it had served the beneficiaries that own it, you would have seen a totally different economic condition in Indian communities." Johnson has been a spokeswoman for the thousands of other American Indians in her circumstances. Johnson remembers a monthly check for $1,200 once, but mostly smaller payouts of $350 or $400 every month. All the while, the oil pumps have been working near her southeastern Utah home. In 2005, Johnson was in Washington, D.C., with Cobell to testify before Congress about the unfair income she has received for the oil on her land. Last spring she went back to march in support of the lawsuit. Cobell's efforts drew media attention last week when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blasted a Bush administration official for "incomprehensible" inaction on a settlement to the case. McCain, a Republican, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, are both on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Weeks ago, the two met with U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and laid out what McCain called a reasonable solution to the lawsuit. Lawyers for the plaintiffs have said they may be owed as much as $27.5 billion. The Senate bill proposes settling for $8 billion. In a committee meeting last week, McCain verbally spanked Bush and federal official Carl Artman, who McCain said should have had adequate time to consider the settlement proposal and respond. Artman is a nominee to be assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Department of the Interior. "It's incomprehensible that the administration has not been able to come up with at least a response to what is the product of years of effort on the part of this committee and the interested parties," McCain said. Administration officials have said they need more time. "I think 11 years is enough time," responded Cobell. "They use any little excuse to stall it out." The Arizona Republic reported that Artman, a former chief counsel and member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, said resolution of the case is critical. "The sooner this litigation ends, the sooner we improve our relationship with tribes, and the sooner we increase for Indians and Alaska natives the benefits of that relationship," Artman said. Hurry up, Cobell said. Hurry up. In 10 years, Cobell has met many of the plaintiffs and sees them regularly at updates held in Indian Country throughout the nation. "The saddest part of it is that I look out into the audiences sometimes and there are elders missing, and you know what's happened," she said. "There are thousands of people like Mary Johnson who have been waiting for justice. It's very emotional." For Johnson, the Cobell lawsuit is just one piece of the long battle over payment for oil pumped and transported across her land. Half her life has been spent fighting a variety of injustices related to rights of way, mineral leases and royalties on the 160 acres. Johnson's father died in 1950, which put her mother in a position to negotiate lease and other agreements on the family land. But her mother spoke only Navajo, and Johnson's family alleges she did not have an impartial translator. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs used another resident of Montezuma Creek to witness the agreement, and that man ended up with 25 percent of royalties on oil produced on Johnson's land, her family says. To this day, according to Johnson's family, the children of that witness get 25 percent of oil pumped from the Aneth Field Unit project on Johnson's land. Johnson's family is appealing the terms of this contract to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Shell and Texaco oil companies, which both have operated on Johnson's land, never have provided accurate figures about how much oil was pumped there, which makes it impossible for the family to determine exactly what Johnson is owed. In one recent case, an oil company paid $20 for a 20-year oil pipeline right of way. Johnson's family has tried to negotiate new right-of-way agreements based on how many barrels go through the pipes a day, but there is no way to do that. The BIA does the appraisals and will not release documents to Johnson's family. Tribal restrictions and complicated government records make it difficult to determine how much oil comes from Johnson's wells. Officials at Resolute Natural Resources, which operates with Navajo Oil on the northern Aneth oil field, say 10,000 barrels come out of the area every day but that the life of the oil field is coming to an end. Now oil officials are drilling again. They will shoot carbon dioxide into the old wells again and try to shake out a little more crude. Rights of way for the carbon dioxide will have to be negotiated with Indians again. Recently, Resolute offered Johnson $128 for a 20-year right of way. No way, her family answered. "If they want to poison us," Philemon said. "They have to pay us money to do it." E-mail: lucy@desnews.com Copyright c. 2006 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company. --------- "RE: American Indians await trial on Lawsuit" --------- Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:46:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="USDA ALLEGED TO EMPLOY RACIST PRACTICES" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060928/ap_on_re_us/indian_farmers_lawsuit_1 American Indians await trial on lawsuit By JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press Writer September 28, 2006 MANDAREE, N.D. - American Indian rancher Keith Mandan says he could double the size of his black Angus herd if he had the money - or if he were white. Mandan, 53, and his wife, Claryca, 52, say they've struggled financially to keep their ranch in North Dakota's Badlands since the late 1970s because of a pattern of discrimination by the federal government. The Mandans are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses the U.S. Department of Agriculture of discriminating against American Indians in the granting of loans since 1981. During that time, Claryca Mandan said, the federal government "wiped out a whole generation of Indian farmers and ranchers because of racism." USDA officials refused to respond to specific questions from The Associated Press about the allegations. In a statement, J. Michael Kelly, an attorney for the USDA, said the case is still ongoing and the agency is working to provide documentation requested by the Indians' attorneys. Earlier this month, attorneys for the American Indian ranchers and farmers filed a motion to bring the case to trial next year - eight years after the lawsuit was filed. A hearing on their motion is set for Thursday. Keith Mandan said if he could get the financing, he'd buy about 300 more cows and build a calving barn and a machine shed to keep his cattle and farm implements protected from the harsh North Dakota winters. Instead, Mandan uses a heavily wooded gulch for calving. His machinery is exposed to the elements. "My white counterparts across the road don't have the problems we have," he said. "We just don't receive the subsidies that non-Indian farmers and ranchers do." The USDA's Farm Service Agency lends to farmers and ranchers who can't get credit from commercial lenders. The agency, known as the lender of last resort, is the largest agricultural lender in North Dakota. Mandan believes the USDA has denied and delayed loans to American Indians to squeeze them out of business. "They just want to close you out and take the land and put it in their inventory," he said. The lawsuit was granted class-action status in 2001 but the case has floundered in federal court since. Attorneys estimate the number of Indian farmer and rancher plaintiffs could be in the tens of thousands. A settlement figure has not been calculated, but would likely be in the "hundreds of millions," said Joe Sellers, the American Indians' lead attorney in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit mirrors a civil rights case brought by black farmers in 1997 that settled two years later. The federal government has paid out about $930 million to about 14,000 black farmers so far, said Anurag Varma, a Washington, D.C., attorney who helped represent the farmers and is involved in the American Indians' lawsuit. "The underlying bad acts by the defendants are virtually identical," Varma said. Sellers accuses the government of delaying resolution of the lawsuit filed by the American Indian ranchers and farmers. "They have employed every tactical maneuver I can conceive of to postpone the day of judgment," he said. But government attorneys said the case has been delayed in part by their appeal of the class action decision. "We do take exception that we are dragging our feet," said Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, which is representing USDA. Meanwhile, Sellers said, the USDA continues to foreclose on Indian property. "They have accelerated debt collection," Sellers said. "It seems to me it's an effort to drive the final nail in the coffin." Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall, who also is a rancher, calls it economic racism. "It's illegal, racist and discriminatory," Hall said. "Every day this continues, we lose another native farmer or rancher." Copyright c. 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Freeze comments frost delegates" --------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:55:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BENNETT FREEZE THAW HAS CRITICISM" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/sept/092806kh_frzcmnts.html Freeze comments frost delegates Trio defends its vote on compact following president's statements By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau September 28, 2006 WINDOW ROCK - The three Navajo Nation Council delegates who voted Tuesday against the proposed intergovernmental compact between the Nation and the Hopi Tribe say they are not happy with statements made Wednesday by President Joe Shirley Jr. on KTNN Radio. Delegates Leonard Chee, Amos Johnson and Hope MacDonald-Lone Tree said in a joint press release that President Shirley incorrectly told the Navajo people that they do not support lifting the Bennett Freeze because of their vote. "President Shirley is wrong on his position on the Bennett Freeze compact and he is wrong again on Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald- Lone Tree's vote. Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald-Lone Tree want the freeze to be lifted, but not at the cost of individual and human rights of our people," they said. The delegates emphasized that they support lifting the Bennett Freeze. "However, because President Shirley did not consult with Navajo people impacted by the Bennett Freeze when his administration drafted the still secret settlement, and because the settlement was not conducted in good faith, Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald-Lone Tree cannot support the secret settlement of the Bennett Freeze." The delegates said the concerns they attempted to raise before council were on several of the compact's provisions. "The compact, as it is currently written, is restrictive and greatly accommodates the Hopi claims as opposed to what rightfully belongs to Navajo people," they said, citing an amendment offered by Johnson regarding religious rights. Religious freedom Language in the compact states, "The Navajo Nation and the Hopi tribe are federally recognized sovereign nations that desire to live in harmony and mutual respect for each other and further desire to resolve the 'Navajo-Hopi land dispute' insofar as it relates to the freedom of the Navajo and Hopi people to practice their traditional religions, and related issues." Johnson's amendment would have accommodated traditional religions, "other religious beliefs," and related issues. Attorneys for the Nation told Council that the legislation needed to be approved without amendments, otherwise it would have to go back to the Hopi Tribe for its approval, after which council defeated the amendment. Regardless of amendments, the compact still must go back to the Hopi Tribe for its approval because the compact language approved in January is different than that approved by the Hopi Tribal Council in 2004. "Wise amendments from the council could have easily addressed the concerns of the people and would have protected Navajo rights and the integrity of the Navajo Nation," the delegates said. During debate on Johnson's amendment, Delegate Tom Lapahe said it doesn't matter whether it's written in the compact or not, that there are people on the Hopi Reservation who practice Native American Church and Christianity. "So we shouldn't worry whether it's written in either of these documents," he said. The three delegates also said that new maps outlining where the Hopi sacred sites and corridors are located were not reviewed by council. "There may be several sites and corridors located in areas that will restrict Navajo people's human rights to the land," they said. "Navajo people have yet to be informed on the exact location of the sites and corridors, and the exact impact those sites and corridors have on Navajo people who may be negatively impacted by the secret settlement," they said. During a press conference following the vote, Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said that the Hopi people who use the religious sites know where they are located, and that per the agreement, in order to protect the sacred sites and shrines, only those tribal officials with a need to know were being given that information. The three delegates said that as conveyed Tuesday during MacDonald-Lone Tree's comments to council, the compact legislation "has far reaching, precedent-setting and irreversible affects on our Navajo people, our land, and the integrity our Navajo Nation." "Navajo community resolutions respectfully requested that more time be devoted to informing Navajo people on the compact before a vote was taken. Sadly, this did not occur." Also, they said, it was not disclosed the amount of Navajo land that is being conceded to the Hopi. Trading freezes? During an impassioned speech to council, MacDonald-Lone Tree pleaded with delegates to vote "No" on the legislation, saying the Navajo people deserve a clear understanding of how it might affect the 1934 reservation. "If we are agreeing in this compact that we will not make any improvements or build any structures within the designated Hopi religious sites, then we are just trading one freeze for another," she said. "Even if there is no relocation, our Navajo people are being restricted from using their land as they had used it before it being designated Hopi religious sites and corridors. "As opposed to the original Bennett Freeze imposed by the Secretary of Interior and Congress, this new freeze will be imposed on our own people by their own government the Navajo Nation," she said. "At least the Bennett Freeze can be changed by congressional action and litigation. But according to the new freeze, it is forever. Our children, their children and future generations cannot make changes to the compact they are irrevocably bound to it and there is no recourse." Nothing in the compact states that the Bennett Freeze will be lifted, she said. "All that it states is that the Hopi 'promises' not to object when Navajo asks Congress to repeal the Bennett Freeze in Article 7.6." She questioned what would happen if the Hopi did not follow through, saying there is no language to protect the Navajo Nation if the Hopis do not honor their promise. According to the compact, the Navajo Nation is agreeing to give the Hopi Tribe "50 percent of all royalties income coal, powerlines, pipelines, natural gas lines, and other rights-of-way derived from the Bennett Freeze since 1966," she said. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Bennett Freeze is not a joint use area. By what right is Hopi entitled to half of the Bennett Freeze area income?" Waiver of claims "Even more horrendous," she said, is the language in Article 7. "We are waiving all claims and litigation against the Hopi and agreeing that the Secretary of Interior's approval of the compact does not create any new claim against the United States for monetary damages." "The Navajo Nation, essentially, has let the United States off the hook for any legal claims that may arise from the loss of land, resources, and Navajo rights," according to Chee, Johnson and MacDonald-Lone Tree. "Don't we want to sue the feds and/or Hopi for damages and harm done to our people? Why would we just walk away and leave our people to suffer on their own?" MacDonald-Lone Tree asked. Delegates said their concern is that "this poorly drafted provision will forever tie the Navajo Nation hands behind its back," by not allowing them to seek redress for the wrongs done to the Navajo people. "Is this something we really want to forfeit?" Also, they said, under the compact the Navajo Nation agrees to waive the fair market value of property rights. They questioned this waiver, saying, it was not explained to council or the Navajo people why the Nation "would agree to waive the fair market value of property rights and possibly allow the Hopi Tribe or the federal government to determine what they feel is the right price for our land or property." The Nation's leadership "should not threaten the Navajo people with threats that 'The Bennett Freeze will never be resolved if the compact is not approved,' or with threats that 'Litigation is a loser,' delegates said. "Those remarks are inappropriate and extort approval from the people through fear." Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald Lone Tree did not support the compact, they said, because they believed "in protecting the individual and human rights of Navajo people, the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation, and they believe in truthfully informing the Navajo people." Copyright c. 2006 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Wyoming, Arapaho reach Social Services Deal" --------- Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:31:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ADREEMENT REACHED WITH NORTHERN ARAPAHO" http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/09/27/ news/wyoming/6d25eb76fbce1900872571f500800fa2.txt State, tribe reach deal By BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent September 27, 2006 ETHETE - Social service programs for the Northern Arapaho Tribe will receive an $800,000 boost because of settlement of a long-standing dispute between the tribe and the state of Wyoming. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Richard Brannan signed a contract Tuesday morning which releases $800,000 to the tribe's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. The contract had been hung up for two years over a disagreement between the tribe and the state over tribal sovereignty. The contract was based on compromise contract language offered by Brannan to break the logjam over which court - federal, state or tribal - would resolve any disagreement arising from state/tribal contracts. Brannan's language - based on an approach taken in Montana - sidesteps the contentious sovereignty issue by specifying mediation as the first step in conflict resolution between the two governments. "We've had 200 years of confused jurisdiction (between states and tribes) which has led to a series of problems," the governor said. Problems between the state and tribes over sovereignty issues have made "a lot of money for lawyers," but have not resulted in problem resolution. This new approach, according to both Freudenthal and Brannan, allows the state and Northern Arapaho to retain full sovereignty and deliver social services to people who are both Wyoming citizens and tribal members. If a dispute arises, mediation will be tried first before either side resorts to lawyers. If that doesn't work, disputes will be submitted to "a court of competent jurisdiction." Determining which court will be "up to the lawyers," the governor said. In the past, the state has insisted on contract language that would give state courts jurisdiction over contract disputes between the state and Northern Arapaho. The tribe had previously countered that contract disputes be resolved by binding arbitration and that state courts simply enforce that arbitration. State Rep. Patrick Goggles, D-Ethete, thanked both the chairman and the governor. "I want to commend them for doing the right thing," he said, adding that it took political courage on the part of Freudenthal to come to the Wind River Indian Reservation and sign the contract. Brannan thanked his fellow business council members for their support. He said the contract represented the start of a "new, positive partnership" between the state and the tribe. Brannan said reservation residents face huge medical and social needs. He said Northern Arapaho members average one person a day diagnosed with diabetes, while methamphetamine abuse continues to be a "scourge" for the tribe. Brannan thanked the governor and presented him with an American Indian- design wool blanket as a sign of friendship. Freudenthal admired the gift, then quipped that he didn't expect to see it much in the future, predicting that his wife, Nancy, would latch onto it. Copyright c. 1995-2006 Casper Star-Tribune, Lee Enterprises a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises Incorporated. --------- "RE: Oregon regulators vote to remove Chiloquin Dam" --------- Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 12:16 am From: Peter Webster Subj: Sweet News for once! Mailing List: Rez_Life Oregon regulators vote to remove Chiloquin Dam The Associated Press September 26, 2006 CHILOQUIN, Ore. (AP) - Officials have decided to remove the Chiloquin dam, which blocks the passage of endangered Lost River and short-nosed suckers to spawning areas up the Sprague River. The Modoc Point Irrigation District voted to remove the structure last week and met Monday to ratify the vote. Removing the dam was identified as a key project for helping endangered suckers after the Endangered Species Act forced irrigation water to be shut off to most of the 1,000 farms on the Klamath Reclamation Project during a 2001 drought. The move was intended to maintain water levels in Upper Klamath Lake - the project's main reservoir and the primary habitat of the suckers. The U.S. Department of the Interior will pay for removal of the 92-year- old dam. The agency also will pay to install a new pumping station, and will give the district a $2.4-million to create a fund to pay for operation and maintenance of the pump station. "We're excited," said Irrigation district board member Pete Bourdet. "This is what we've worked for. I personally have spent the last two years working on this." Bourdet said proponents of dam removal were confident the vote would go their way, although he expressed relief that the issue has finally been decided. John Richardson, a landowner and member of the irrigation district, said having federal funds to do the job was too good a chance to pass up. "Why would you want to be driving a 1932 Ford if you could have a Cadillac?" he said. "I think it's time for the district to get into the 21st century." Bureau of Indian Affairs officials who studied the dam considered upgrading fish ladders to help endangered fish species. However, they decided removing the dam was the most efficient plan. The Klamath Tribes once depended on the fish as a primary source of food, and each spring they hold a ceremony to assure its continued well being. Modoc Point Irrigation District officials will meet with Bureau of Indian Affairs Oct. 2 to formally sign a document authorizing the dam's removal. Federal officials have said the pump station must be tested and found to work adequately before the dam will be removed. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., has estimated the cost of removing the dam and replacing it with a pump station on the Williamson River at $15 million to $16 million. Under the federal timeline, construction of the new pump station will begin in April 2007. It is scheduled for completion in June 2008. --- Information from: Herald and News, http://www.heraldandnews.com Copyright c. c2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Feds suggest Fish get a lift around Dams" --------- Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 12:18 am From: Peter Webster Subj: Take One Step Forward and Two Back? Mailing List: Rez_Life Feds suggest fish get a lift around dams Salmon - The proposal disappoints Native American tribes and environmentalists who want the dams removed MICHAEL MILSTEIN The Oregonian September 26, 2006 The federal government Monday proposed trucking salmon past dams to the upper Klamath River rather than breaching the dams or installing fish ladders so the fish can make it there on their own. The proposal by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission frustrated Native American tribes and environmentalists who are pushing for removal of the dams that have long blocked the fish from reaching the upper river. Klamath salmon have taken on a high profile this year because their low numbers triggered a closure of part of the West Coast salmon fishery. The proposal came in a draft response to an application by PacifiCorp for a new 50-year license to continue operating the dams. It is not a final word, but suggests the federal agency does not favor removing the dams that generate electricity for Pacific Power. However, operating behind the scenes is a set of confidential negotiations between Pacific Power, tribes, fishermen and conservationists. Those negotiations could completely up-end FERC's process if the talks result in agreement to remove the dams. Troy Fletcher, of the Yurok Tribe, said that both sides in the case may negotiate and agree on a new solution that does not involve the judge. If they do, he said, they could bring their solution to the judge for his blessing. Still, Monday's news came as a blow for Native Americans who depend on Klamath salmon. "We're very disappointed," Fletcher said. Dam removal, "has been our position since day one." But PacifiCorp officials argue it makes more sense to catch salmon and haul them in trucks past the dams to see if they can survive in the upper river before making major investments in fish ladders or dam breaching. The environmental analysis, required by the National Environmental Policy Act, does not look at removing all four dams. That's an alternative favored by Native tribes, commercial fishermen and conservation groups, and formally recommended by NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of restoring threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. Peter Sleeth of The Oregonian staff and The Associated Press contributed to this story. Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com Copyright c. 2006 The Oregonian Peter Webster peterweb@bendnet.com http://disturbingthecomfortable.blogspot.com/ --------- "RE: 1906 showdown at Carlisle changed Football" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:39:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CARLISLE 6-VILLANOVA 0" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/ base/news/1159237542205190.xml&coll=1 1906 showdown at Carlisle Barracks changed football BY MATT MILLER Of Our Carlisle Bureau September 26, 2006 CARLISLE - One hundred years ago today, a football game was played on Indian Field at Carlisle Barracks. It wasn't just any game. This one changed football history. On the afternoon of Sept. 26, 1906, the teams of two college football powers, the Carlisle Indian School and Villanova University, for the first time played the game we recognize today. Eye-gouging, punching and brawling were out. In their place were the forward pass and the 10-yard first down, established under rules that had just been revamped. "This was the first important game played under the new rules," said Tom Benjey, a South Middleton Twp. author and historian. "It would have looked old-style to us, but we would have recognized it as football." Benjey and Tom McCue of Mechanicsburg revisited that game to produce "The Birth of Modern Football," a 10-minute video released by Benjey's Tuxedo Press. Benjey said he stumbled across the little-known piece of pigskin history while writing "Keep A-goin': The Life of Lone Star Dietz," a biography of a football legend and former star of the Carlisle Indian School team. "Nobody knew about this, including me," he said. It is difficult to find much about that 1906 game, other than that the locals beat Villanova 6-0 under the leadership of American Indian players such as Little Boy, Nikifer Shauchuk and Frank Mount Pleasant. The legendary Jim Thorpe didn't join the squad until 1907. The College Football Historical Society cites the game as one of the first played under the new rules. The match came three days before Harvard University, another football power of the era, began playing under the new regulations designed to lower football's casualty rate. Before 1906, college football players -- pro football was a mere sideshow -- put their lives at risk every time they took the field, Benjey said. Teams were little more than mobs that beat each other bloody, employing mad rushes to smash their way to 5-yard first downs. Passing was almost unknown. "I think 18 players died playing college football in 1905," Benjey said. "Something like 149 were seriously injured." That prompted an outcry from many, including President Theodore Roosevelt. The Indian School promoted the Sept. 26, 1906, game heavily, Benjey said, and hundreds of fans and coaches showed up to watch a game played under the new rules, which some dismissed as too "effeminate." The game is notable for something else. Glenn "Pop" Warner, who would later coach Indian School teams to victory after victory, introduced what was then called the Carlisle Formation. It is better known as the single wing offense, which for decades was a gridiron staple. Fast, flexible and deceptive, the single wing played to the speed of the Carlisle players, who were too small to win a shoving match with their beefier Villanova opponents, Benjey said. The single wing is rare today, so Benjey interviewed coaches at Windber High School in Somerset County, which still uses the formation. Lynn Myers, another South Middleton resident, is the video narrator, and director Andy Hoke and his sanctuary choir of the local Second Presbyterian Church provided the background music, including college fight songs. The whole thing was just plain fun, Benjey said. "I enjoy football. I enjoy the history of it," he said. "And I enjoy quirky things. "I would really like to see this game re-enacted," Benjey added. "But that's probably just a pipe dream." MATT MILLER: 249-2006 or mmiller@patriot-news.com Copyright c. 2006 PennLive LLC. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Opinion: Indian Poverty not on American Radar" --------- Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:31:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN POVERTY" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.mises.org/story/2324 Living on the Reservation By William Anderson September 26, 2006 During a cross-country trip I took in early June, I drove past a number of Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico, and I must say that the sight was not exactly uplifting. I could see hundreds of tumble-down shacks and old trailers located on hillsides, and none of them were inviting places to live. It was obvious then that I was seeing something akin to a Third World scene with hundreds - perhaps thousands - of people living in great poverty. American Indian poverty is not something on our "radar" for a couple of reasons. First, reservations are located in remote places and the largest ones are nowhere near major metropolitan areas. Second, because most Indians do not venture far from their reservations; the rest of us rarely come into personal contact with them. Writes Peter Carlson: Half a millennium after Columbus misnamed them, American Indians are the poorest people in the United States. The country's 2.1 million Indians, about 400,000 of whom live on reservations, have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment and disease of any ethnic group in America. That might surprise Americans who have consumed countless cheery feature stories about Indians making big bucks on casino gambling. What I saw from my car window in the arid highlands of the American West did nothing to dispel what Carlson wrote. There was no doubt that I was seeing real poverty, and there seemed to be few sources of commerce in the surrounding area. It was obvious that the majority of people who lived in these hovels and broken-down trailers did not work and had no potential sources of income aside from informal tasks and government checks. In the early 1980s, then-US Secretary of the Interior James Watt commented that one did not have to go to the USSR or Eastern Europe to discover the failures of socialism. Those failures, he said, were evident on the reservations, which his department oversaw. Not surprisingly, the comments drew partisan attacks, and the press dismissed Watt as making "bigoted" comments. (Watt apparently was guilty of making a "gaffe," which can be described as uttering an unpopular truth. Political figures, as you know, do not like to make "gaffes.") While we tend to think of the reservation system as applying only to American Indians, in truth, it is the system that is used in an attempt to deal with nearly all poor Americans, and nowhere were the failures of the reservation system more apparent than last year's Hurricane Katrina debacle in New Orleans. Indeed, we can say that the aftermath of the disaster (not to mention the flooding, which came from the breakage of government levees) was a massive government failure - but not the failure that is commonly associated with Katrina. When most people speak of Katrina and government failure, they mean the supposed failure of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to take care of everyone affected immediately after the storm. Of course, as has been emphasized on this site, the idea that somehow FEMA could immediately set things right - or ever set things right - was a ludicrous idea in the first place. Yet, as I noted last year and emphasize again and again, Katrina did not expose American poverty; indeed, it exposed the folly of the reservation system. Let me explain. When we speak of Indian reservations, we are dealing with areas of land set aside where American Indians live, areas that supposedly have "self- government," but are ultimately subject to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service of the US Department of the Interior. Because of their location and because of the fact that they are the ultimate welfare state, Indian reservations tend to be places where people simply exist on whatever subsidies the government provides, and little else. As Wikipedia notes: Some Indian reservations offer a quality of life that's among the poorest to be found in the United States. Shannon County, South Dakota, home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is routinely described as one of the poorest counties in the nation. While Pine Ridge is located far from any major metropolitan area, one could be describing inner-city Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New Orleans. Instead of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the residents of these metropolitan areas deal with Medicaid, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Transportation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the various Housing Authorities, and other alphabet soup entities which make many of the choices that govern the lives of those who live in these areas. People who live in these urban reservations, and who depend upon the state for nearly all of their personal and financial support, are the ones who are having the most difficult time readjusting to the post-storm atmosphere. Granted, the slow recovery is not simply limited to people who might have lived in the hellish projects. Homeowners or people who lived in single-family houses in poorer sections of the New Orleans also find themselves waiting for Godot, or at least for someone from FEMA to write a check and tell them what to do next. While we hear of delays, long lines, and all of the other characteristics of socialism being omnipresent in New Orleans, in nearby Mississippi, entrepreneurs have used the storm's aftermath to rebuild and to go in new directions. For example: Even more inspiring has been the explosion of interest in Katrina Cottages... The Katrina Cottage effort is producing an expanding family of designs for appealing, storm-worthy houses that compromise nothing but square footage in the effort to create homes worthy of long-term roles in neighborhood redevelopment. The first designs for Katrina Cottages came out of efforts to create design alternatives for FEMA trailers. The plans immediately captured the imaginations of citizens and building industry leaders (see www.katrinacottages.com). Now Katrina Cottages are claiming a broadening niche in the private-sector housing market and creating more alternatives for Mississippi home shoppers. Lowe's has just announced plans to offer four Katrina Cottage designs as kits to property owners in the storm zone. Home Front, in Florida, is offering a growing list of models as panelized cottages. And the New Urban Guild has certified several manufactured housing companies to produce Katrina Cottages likely to set new standards for manufactured housing. As one can see, a real emergency also has unleashed some creative powers of designers and entrepreneurs. (This is not a rendition of the "Broken Window Fallacy," but rather recognition that entrepreneurs discern human needs and act upon them.) Compare the actions of private businesses, from Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart, to the political entrepreneurship demonstrated by FEMA, as well as political operatives who used the tragedy to boost their own fortunes. For example, Paul Krugman, instead of correctly interpreting the Katrina aftermath as a failure of socialism, declared that the reason FEMA failed to play the Superman role was that conservatives had failed to adequately uphold the greatness of the state: But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming? Lest anyone believe that Krugman simply was expressing frustration at the obvious ineptitude that FEMA officials demonstrated, he goes on: Does anyone remember the fight over federalizing airport security? Even after 9/11, the administration and conservative members of Congress tried to keep airport security in the hands of private companies. They were more worried about adding federal employees than about closing a deadly hole in national security. Of course, the attempt to keep airport security private wasn't just about philosophy; it was also an attempt to protect private interests. But that's not really a contradiction. Ideological cynicism about government easily morphs into a readiness to treat government spending as a way to reward your friends. After all, if you don't believe government can do any good, why not? The assumption here is that the 9/11 hijackings resulted from the failure of private enterprise. Now, one could excuse Krugman had he made those comments on September 12, 2001. After all, one of his employers, the New York Times, had editorialized in favor of having a group of "well- trained federal workers" providing airline security. However, he wrote those words almost four years after the attacks, after the 9/11 Commission had catalogued failures of various government agencies - and after a number of stories that revealed the many shortcomings of the Transportation Safety Administration. It is one thing to write hopefully about the "potential" of the TSA before the organization is formed; it is quite another to whitewash the failures of the TSA and assume that it is a morally superior organization simply because it is an arm of the state. Likewise, it is one thing to express horror at the human suffering in the aftermath of Katrina; it is quite another to declare that the suffering occurred because some people have been critical of the state. Only freedom provides (And, for the record, the Bush Administration, with its nearly- unprecedented increase in federal spending, hardly qualifies as an "anti- government" administration. From "faith-based initiatives" to the expansion of the federal criminal code, the Bush Administration seems determined to make the Clinton Administration look like a collection of anarchists.) Indeed, as we reflect upon the failures of government in the Katrina disaster, we are reminded by Lew Rockwell that this truly was a massive government failure, and supposed "conservative anti-government" ideology had nothing to do with the failure: Mother Nature can be cruel, but even at her worst, she is no match for government. It was the glorified public sector, the one we are always told is protecting us, that is responsible for this. And though our public servants and a sycophantic media will do their darn best to present this calamity as an act of nature, it was not and is not. Katrina came and went with far less damage than anyone expected. It was the failure of the public infrastructure and the response to it that brought down civilization. I would add that the failure of government after the levees broke was not that it failed to provide the amenities of the welfare state, as Krugman and others contend. Instead, the human tragedy that produced the Lord of the Flies atmosphere in New Orleans was due to the fact that government had turned much of the Crescent City into an urban reservation via its welfare system, and when those who depended heavily upon that system for their sustenance found themselves on their own, they had no idea what to do or how to do it. --- William Anderson, an adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute, teaches economics at Frostburg State University. Copyright c. 2006 Mises Daily, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, AL. --------- "RE: Cobell: Interior mishandles Indian Money too" --------- Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 08:35:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL: INTERIOR" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/09/30/ed.lettersop.0930.p1.php Interior mishandles money October 2, 2006 I am a member of the Blackfeet Nation, the lead plaintiff in Cobell vs. Kempthorne, a 10-year-old class action lawsuit that seeks an accounting for 500,000 Indian trust accounts held by the Interior Department. I read with interest the Sept. 24 Register-Guard editorial about the newly reported losses of up to $10 billion in oil payments to the Interior Department. Interior has a long record of mishandling money and an equally long history of refusing to make amends to those it cheats. The problems uncovered at the Mineral Management Service by Inspector General Earl Devaney mirror many of the same problems documented with the trust accounts the department and its bureaus manage for Native Americans. Those accounts date back more than 119 years and were to contain the royalties from government-arranged leases of Indian lands. But there has never been an accounting provided for these funds, which belong to Indian beneficiaries. Neither the Interior Department nor the Indians know the true balances of those accounts. What is alarming is that neither the Congress nor the Bush administration is willing to resolve this long-standing scandal. Don't look for them to resolve the latest troubles at Interior, either. If Native Americans' experience is typical, the new problems will be swept under one big rug in Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office. That's where Indians' trust accounts have been for more than a century. ELOUISE COBELL Browning, Mont. --------- "RE: HARJO: 'N-word,' 'R-word,' Redmen and more macaca" --------- Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 07:31:41 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARJO: R-WORD" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413750 Harjo: 'N-word,' 'R-word,' Redmen and more macaca by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Indian Country Today September 29, 2006 Sen. George Allen's "macaca" moment has prompted former college teammates and others from the Virginia Republican's past to tell reporters that he used the "N-word" regularly in the early and mid-1970s. Allen claims he never, ever said that word, which is enough to make a giraffe laugh. After all, he's been waving a Confederate flag since the 1960s. He wore one on his lapel and another on his car when he was in high school in southern California, before moving to Virginia. Two of the rebel flags are said to be on display in his home. He's kept political company with leaders of white supremacist hate groups since the 1980s, when he was in the Virginia Legislature, and while he was the commonwealth's governor in the 1990s. A noose was part of his law office decor in 2000, the year he was elected to the Senate. He says it was a gift from a friend who knew he liked Western things and that he didn't mean anything by it. Allen used the word "macaca" while campaigning in western Virginia on Aug. 11. He used it twice, as if it were the name of S.R. Sidarth, a young Indian-American campaign worker for Democrat candidate James Webb. Sidarth, a student at Allen's alma mater, the University of Virginia, was the only non-white person at the campaign stop. At first, the senator's campaign staffers claimed that he meant to say "mohawk," because of Sidarth's hairstyle (which is, by the way, a mullet, not a mohawk). When that didn't fly, they said Allen meant to say, "caca." When they realized how bad that was, they switched stories a few more times. Now Allen says he made up the word, didn't know what it meant, meant nothing by it and was sorry he said it: "because words matter." The general speculation is that Allen learned the word from his mother, who is from Tunisia, a former French colony in North Africa, where "macaca" is a French slur for all dark-skinned people, including people from India. Allen's mother, Etty Allen, whose first language is French, denies knowing the word. Amid the allegations and denials about Allen's past use of the "N-word" came the news that Allen's mother is Jewish. Following earlier denials, Allen stated on Sept. 19 that he learned it from a magazine and his mother confirmed it in late August. Etty Allen said she kept the secret from her children until she told Allen. In a written statement, Allen said, "Some may find it odd that I have not probed deeply into the details of my family history, but it's a fact." In addition to being a federal and state governmental leader, Allen has degrees in both law and history, usually probative fields. The Times-Dispatch reported on Sept. 20 that Allen said the disclosure of his Jewish ancestry is "just an interesting nuance to my background. I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops." And we're back to the George Allen who doesn't pass up many chances to invoke racial and ethnic stereotypes, especially if they might reassure his political base that he's the same good old boy they've always known. At the same time that Allen is accused of using the "N-word" at UVA in the early 1970s, American Indians on many campuses were calling for the Washington football team to stop using the "R-word." Allen's father, the legendary George Allen, was the Washington head coach from 1971 to 1977. A delegation of Indian leaders met in 1971 with one of the team's owners, Edward Bennett Williams, and asked for the disparaging name to be changed. That meeting 35 years ago was the very last time any owner of the Washington team ever met or communicated with any Native person who wants the name dropped. This must be very confusing to Allen. He can say the "R-word" with impunity, but recriminations abound when he uses the "N-word" or "macaca." It may be that he and others use the "R-word" with impunity because they can't get away with the other words they'd like to use. They fling around the "R-word" because they can. The "R-word" and other "Indian" references in sports are public camouflage for bigotry. Not only can the bigots use racial stereotypes and slurs right out in the open, they can wrap themselves in them like flags and mock the people they are offending for daring to say they are offended. But there are people, Native and non-Native, who are trying to rid sports of this scourge of racism. The NCAA is doing what it can to encourage its member schools to retire their "hostile and abusive" names, images and mascots, or at least to leave them home when they play for championships. The Indiana University of Pennsylvania used up its last appeal to the NCAA and is voluntarily changing its "Indians" name. IUP dropped its stereotypical "Indian" symbol years ago in favor of a bear, but inexplicably named it "Cherokee," which was quietly eliminated. The "Redmen" of Northeastern State University in Oklahoma will soon be consigned to history, too. NSU President Larry Williams wrote in the Tahlequah Daily Press earlier this year that the "Redmen" name would be ended, saying that NSU is a place where "we encourage civil discourse to help promote a more civil society. ... We should no longer be using names and symbols that encourage the biases and prejudices that can have a negative effect on contemporary American Indian people." Williams was widely acclaimed throughout Indian country, but denounced by a vocal group of NSU alums. The NCAA gave NSU a Sept. 29 deadline to confirm its plans to drop "Redmen." The University of North Dakota and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign are threatening to sue the NCAA to continue to use their "Indian" sports references, although it is unclear what they foresee as a winning legal strategy. Like Senator Allen holding on to his Confederate flag and ham sandwich for dear life, UND and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have pledged to keep and "Chief Illiniwek," come hell or high water. Don't they have more important things to do than hang on to bigoted words and symbols? --- Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Editorial: Indian Education for all on track" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:39:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDITORIAL CLAIMS INDINA ED IS ON TRACK IN MONTANA" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060925/OPINION01/609250304/1014 Good news in our schools: Indian ed is on track September 25, 2006 Indian education was in the news almost daily last week, because Friday was Native American Day in the schools, and September is Native American Month. It's fitting, therefore, that the Great Falls Public Schools trustees tonight will hear a report on the district's implementation of the Indian Education for All program. Much of last week's news coverage was upbeat - features and photos about special presentations in the schools, information highlighting GFPS's spectacular, museum-like Indian library at Longfellow Elementary, and a story about what the state has to offer to help schools implement the Indian Education for All law. A different vein running through the news, however, had to do with actual implementation of the Indian education law, including a small controversy that erupted about it. The controversy involved Missoula's use of the state revenue provided for the program. For more than 30 years Montana has operated under a constitutional requirement that all public school curriculums include a component to educate students about Indian culture and history. Until the school-funding lawsuit a couple of years ago, however, many schools did little to implement it. The headline-grabbing aspect of the court order in that lawsuit was that the state had to adequately finance K-12 education. But the ruling also required schools to comply with the constitutional mandate for Indian education, and the 2005 Legislature, for the first time, allocated money to help schools accomplish it. Many school districts, including Great Falls', already had such programs built in to their regular curriculum. The Missoula controversy occurred because a chief sponsor of the state legislation, Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, last month criticized Missoula's schools for using the earmarked state money to give pay raises. Missoula Superintendent Jim Clark defended his districts, however, saying they had implemented the program long before the state money was allocated. "This is the first time in my experience in Montana that the state has dictated how a local school board must spend any portion of its general fund budget," Clark wrote earlier this month. If Missoula schools are indeed meeting the Indian-ed requirements - and we have no reason to believe they aren't - then Juneau's criticism may be unfounded. But Clark's seeming shock at the state requirement also rings a little hollow, considering the language of the state Constitution and the courts' upholding of it. The good news is that Indian Education for All is getting on track across Montana. It's a statewide mandate, so it's right that the state helps pay for implementing it. Copyright c. 2006 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: PARISIAN: Why I blog about Indian Country" --------- Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:39:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PARISIAN: USING THE POWER OF THE INTERNET" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8206 Why I blog about Indian Country Guest commentary Dean T. Parisian September 25, 2006 It all began back in the 1980s. I was a salesman for the now-defunct firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert in LaJolla, CA. Not exactly the village on earth that anyone would have expected a kid who grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to land. Being privy to the dealings of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, both in their daily moves in the government bond market and what they were trying to do in "farming" out tribal assets to investment managers at Security Pacific Bank (now Bank of America) was hard to swallow. It wasn't pretty then, it still isn't today. In 1994 I put together a business plan to start an investment management firm, Chippewa Partners, Native American Advisors, Inc. (www. chippewapartners.com) Today, as a fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor, half of our clients are Native American and located all across North American and into Alaska. Starting out it wasn't easy. Communication was and is, often difficult in Indian Country. Tribal leadership wasn't adept at understanding the business principles needed to keep Wall Street brokers from lining their pockets with tribal money. Cell phones were not common, getting phone calls returned was rare, and getting tribal leadership to understand that diversification of tribal assets was more than just slot machines and bingo parlors although those profits were not to be dismissed. Although not a writer by design or by training I know that I use a different part of my brain when I write. I find it good for me and for what I do. Keeping a daily trading journal is a big part of my s uccess and something I will continue to do as long as I'm actively trading the markets. About a year ago, I began to write a blog. It touches on many issues, some entries being specific to Native America. Now, the Internet is a great invention, probably as important as the wheel. My writings are my opinions and no one else's and they allow the world and clients to see my thinking. I have had some great feedback and of course, as is so typical in Indian Country, no shortage of name-calling and uncivil discourse directed my way. That comes with the territory of calling the kettle black and calling it as I alone see it. One of the problems inherent in Indian Country is the idea that whatever works for the success and improvement of the tribe should be an original idea. I say use the Internet and copy whatever works, from whatever tribe, from whatever color of people. Indian America's problems are not indigenous just to America, trust me. For years and years, tribes have spent millions upon millions trying to reinvent the wheel and send tribal employees to conferences and training sessions, workshops and seminars. I don't know the return on investment of all those tribal employees gaining travel time but frankly, the Internet is and can be the great equalizer. One of my early heroes in understanding the power of the press was Bill Lawrence, owner/publisher of the Native American Press. His determination and attitude to run an off-reservation tribal newspaper was refreshing. It took the tribal councils party line and put it up for inspection. It asked the right questions and framed the story for the benefit of all tribal members not just those at the top of the tribal power trip. The Internet has the ability to effect tremendous change in Indian Country. From delivery of investment advice to communication, from tribal political campaigns to educational opportunities. An Internet connection and using Google are probably enough to start any business venture in Indian Country. You can get any question answered and there are a billion answers to what may help cure the ills in Indian Country. Whether looking up diabetes, gambling addiction, housing issues, tribal sovereignty, revamping a tribal constitution, it is all there. Today, in the comfort of your own chair it can be done. All Indian America has to do is ask the right questions and be ready to respond with action. Really, it is just about doing the work. Every day. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Tribes, Tribal Councils need reform" --------- Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:42:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: TRIBAL POLITICS" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm? id=10998&forumcomm_check_return&freebie_check&CFID=1354684&CFTOKEN=65214854 Tribes, tribal councils need reform Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald September 23, 2006 Just before each election of a new tribal governing body, I have hope. I'm optimistic about our tribal leaders. After a few years, however, the ruts made by the previous councils turn out to be too deep, and the new council slips and slides for a while, then drops right back into those old ways again. So, after the elections and all of the promises, I go skipping along thinking of the future - this will be the council that will govern in a good way, I'll feel. Then, I step in the rabbit hole and down I go. I talked about my misgivings and pessimism regarding the recent Three Affiliated Tribes primary election at Fort Berthold, N.D., with some colleagues. They are outsiders and understand our problems only from their point of view, I used to say; but some of their points are making too much sense. I cringe as I began see how much we need to get back on track. Before I turn the moccasins inside out and expose the bad air, I need to say tribal governments are not so different from state and national governments. Those governments just are a little more sophisticated in fooling people. First, in communities such as reservations, the potential for excellent living is good. We are close-knit communities that can change easier because we can work as a team. Unfortunately, many aren't sure how to go about it. One of the changeable things is economic growth on reservations. We don't have to be the poorest of the poor. When the "poor" reservations get in the national news, it probably is more like pitiful than poor. Many reservations and tribal nations are located in areas rich with natural and human resources. Yet, we have such a hard time moving away from the days when the Bureau of Indian Affairs had so much control over our lives that we still look over our shoulders before we plan anything. I smile because in many cases, the BIA still has to sign off on our community endeavors, including our elections. We play a good game of blaming, too. When things go wrong, blaming someone else takes the pressure off. The BIA or the federal government always are good candidates for blame. After all, they haven't been good stewards for American Indians in the past. We also need to look at ourselves as tribal members when we point the blame finger. We are as responsible for the successes and failures of the tribal government as is the government itself. After all, we voted them into office. A few administrations back, the Three Affiliated Tribes took on a heavy- handed council that had few checks and balances. They delved into hiring and firing, and put themselves into the day-to-day operations of the tribal administration. Their role continued into the following administrations with little or no changes. In fact, this kind of management expanded into what we have today. One of the checks the tribe sorely needs is a newspaper that brings all kinds of information to the community. Our current newspaper, which is owned by the tribe, offers only news of the day and doesn't include anything controversial that the tribal council might be doing. The councils gave themselves a truckload of freebies. This isn't fair to those who struggle to pay rent and, for that matter, to have a decent meal. Information about misspending could be included in a "free press" newspaper, giving people the chance to say no to this kind of spending. Yes, I also know that a tribal newspaper can be political and run amok. I have seen newspapers punish tribal councils for doing their jobs. I've seen tribal newspapers print material that a mainstream newspaper never would print because they didn't have solid documentation. So, a free press could help, but probably more important is a good tribal constitution in which checks and balances are built in and there is a method to enforce those checks and balances. When I see all the problems in tribal governments, I wonder, "Why would anyone want to run for council when they can be criticized roundly, right or wrong?" Here are probably a few reasons: The salaries of our elected leaders are more than decent, and added to the freebies they allocate to themselves, our leaders make out well. Sally Fields, the movie star, also told us a lot about how winning feels when she said after winning an Oscar, "You like me! You really like me!" If you're elected, it means the majority of the people like you, and that feels great. Perhaps, we so underappreciate ourselves that praise and pats on the back are food for which we are starving. We need to look for more opportunities to recognize good work and good leaders. Tribal governments are young - we are teenagers. So, we have potential to become good governments. And as we grow in this task, maybe we can become examples of good governments for the state and federal governments to follow. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Time to get back to `us,' not `me'" --------- Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:31:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: WORKING TOGETHER FOR COMMON GOALS" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm? id=11406§ion=columnists&columnist=Dorreen%20Yellow%20Bird& freebie_check&CFID=1403317&CFTOKEN=90883902 Time to get back to `us,' not `me' Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald September 27, 2006 In my last column, I wrote about ways that tribal leaders could be held in check and responsible for their actions. These are things that can be done on reservations but are not easy because they cost money and need to be done by someone with experience in government. There is another item that makes for good government, and that is the presence of people who care enough to vote responsibly. Tribal governments are as good as the people who elected them. To me, that means voters on reservations ought to vote for their leaders more carefully. If the blame for poorly elected leaders needs to be laid in our laps, then so be it, because recognizing that we have a problem is a step toward solving it. My disappointment with our leadership on the Three Affiliated Tribes reservation at Fort Berthold, N.D., comes from the fact that our leaders let the tribe get so far in debt that we may never get out of debt during my lifetime. Perhaps many of the people who voted don't know or aren't sure how a huge debt can affect them. This is how: Eventually, when funding no longer is available, jobs will cease to exist. This is not our history. Historically, we were responsible in selecting our leaders. But in the history of American Indian people, one calamity followed another until we found ourselves relegated to land sometimes the size of a postage stamp. At Fort Berthold, we started out with portions of Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana and North Dakota. What is the reservation today? The land area shrunk each decade until we only had land along the Missouri River; but, it was a nice piece and we mostly were satisfied. Then, land was needed for the new Garrison Dam, which was created to control flooding downstream. There were other places where the dam could have been situated, but the reservation was chosen because it was easiest for the government to remove us from that land - after all, the government controlled the tribes. That decision created many problems for Indian people - Three Affiliated and Standing Rock Lakota - because the tribes lived near the river and used the waterways for transportation, food, fuel, water for bathing and drinking. But in all the misfortunes and the mistreatment by the U.S. government, we always held onto the fact that we were together and still had land to live on. Land is important. It is part of our culture and is who we are. Those were the days when our councils and leadership were chosen, not elected, by the community by consensus. The criteria? Who the best person was, based on his experience and leadership as shown to the people. They knew who the leaders were. It was rather common for the chosen leader to decline the leadership role. Leadership meant you were the best of the men, and that could be interpreted as bragging. So, many tried to say no. Today, the people elect our tribal leaders in a secret ballot. As in the rest of the state, our names are checked off, a driver's license or some other identification is necessary and there are poll watchers to make sure everything is done without any shenanigans. Off the reservation, candidates for state and national positions usually are men and women who spend millions trying to convince voters that they are the best for the job. And, the one with the most money usually is the one who gets elected. On the reservation, we seemed to be in the same mode. It's campaigns and promises; and as a result, those with money and those who have the biggest family and the most friends many times are the ones who win. On Tuesday, I talked with some people on the reservation to find out why they voted the way they did. Did they fear losing their job or had they been promised a new job or money? One of the most common reasons I found is the thought that the candidate would help improve voters' individual lives. Many fewer voted for the candidate whom they thought would be best for the nation as a whole. In other words, if a leader made a promise to an individual, that seemed to win out as far as that voter was concerned. But the attitude of what is best for the group rather than the individual was part of the history of many tribes. That attitude ought to be brought back into the way of life of American Indians. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: Opinion: Native genocide and September 11, 2001" --------- Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:46:13 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OPINION: IS AMERICA'S PAST COMING HOME?" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17232 True or False: Native American Genocide Caused 9/11? by Jason Mattera September 26, 2006 The fifth anniversary of 9/11 was a day to remember those lives lost in the terrorist attacks. One of the leading institutions in the country used the occasion instead to attack Christianity, incite racial divisiveness, encourage socialism, and compare U.S. soldiers to al Qaeda operatives. Vanderbilt University's "After 9/11: Time for Reflection" included nine professors and a moderator, but it did not include one - not one - conservative professor, much less a balance-minded professor, to present an alternative view on 9/11, the aftermath, and terrorism. You can watch the most egregious outbursts from the panelists here, but I report to you the very bad and the very ugly. James Lawson, a visiting professor of divinity, said that slavery, racism, and Native American genocide inspired the 9/11 attacks. "We have denied, for example, the genocide against Native Americans. We have denied domestic violence as being a serious disorder in our midst. We have denied the spiritual and moral effects on our character, like slavery and racism. " To Lawson, America's policies and behavior are "coming home to haunt us. " More on Lawson later. Vanderbilt student Christopher Donnelly questioned the panelists on the supposition that America was to blame for 9/11. Donnelly expounded on the history of terrorism dating back to the Clinton years, from the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center to the bombing of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The global battle America is facing is a war against Jihadists who are fanatically committed to murdering Americans. Slavery, racism, and Native American genocide were all left off bin Laden's list of talking points. When Christopher inserted those statements into the debate, he was not expecting the ominous replies he received from the panelists. Michael Bess, a history professor, claimed that al Qaeda embraces the same warlike tactics that our soldiers employed during World War II, which include sacrificing innocent civilians in the name of self defense. That means, as Bess asserted, there is "a common moral ground, a disturbing one, between the extremist who attacked us, because we often have also engaged in that kind of logic." Bess' justification for propping up WWII American soldiers with terrorists makes sense to him "if we put ourselves in the shoes of al Qaeda." James Lawson tackled the question in a different, but equally dubious, way. "The attack on Islam has been misplaced," he said. "The most violent religion in the world for the past 500 years at least has been Christianity." Lawson, who claims to be a Christian minister, said that Christianity has done "more violence, systemic, and personal, and social, and warlike than any other religious group." Christians are consciously blind to "the violence that is racism or the lynching or the police brutality that goes on every day, literally, in the United States," he continued [emphasis added]. Lawson transitioned his attack on Christianity back to his attack on America and, what he labeled, its sponsorship of terror. "State terrorism has been the worst thing in the last 40, 50, 60 years whether we talk about the Soviet Union or the United States" [emphasis added]. Regarding terrorism, Lawson says that the United States leads the field "without any kind of reservation." The professor of divinity didn't end there. When asked by a member of the audience about the necessity of presenting a multiplicity of viewpoints, liberal and conservative, in academia, Lawson responded, "Pat Robertson does not represent any kind of a valid option for the United States or the 300 million people of the United States on almost any issue that I have seen in the past 25 to 30 years." Lawson then lobbied for the global warming crowd, expressing his dissatisfaction with President Bush on climate change, asserting that there is a "sizable consensus that there is a reality that can be called global warming." Lawson, by far, had the most awful remarks that day. At one point, he even accused "white Christians" of laughing and applauding upon hearing that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Bill Partridge, a professor of human and organizational development, wasn't much better. He believes that "9/11 was the day that was going to change everything and in fact it changed nothing" because our country's leaders "fell back on what they knew how to do, and that was to wage war." In dealing with terrorism, Partridge, in all seriousness, urged the audience to follow the "Nelson Mandela" road to peace. "I would say, perhaps not in my lifetime, but perhaps in yours, you might see a similar kind of phenomenon [Mandela-like revolution] - a world that is so outraged that it will rise up and say we will not invest another dime in your [war] machine." Unfortunately, professors Partridge, Lawson, and Bess were not the only "academics" to abuse the fifth anniversary of 9/11, but space constraints cannot capture the totality of comments. Young America's Foundation has uploaded all the outbursts from Vanderbilt's faculty, which can be read, listened to, and viewed here. Like most students, Christopher Donnelly attended the forum hoping to hear different perspectives and opposing ideas. What he got, to his dismay, was a bombardment of anti-Americanism, socialism, and white guilt. --- Mr. Mattera is the spokesman for Young America's Foundation. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated summa cum laude from Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. Copyright c. 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Stenehjem should represent everyone" --------- Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 08:35:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: WHO DOES ATTORNEY GENERAL REPRESENT" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm? id=11807&freebie_check&CFID=504473&CFTOKEN=27716984 Stenehjem should represent everyone in state Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald September 30, 2006 I'm uncomfortable that the attorney general of North Dakota is taking on a case against the American Indians in North Dakota. I say taking on a case against Indians because the lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Administration over a mandate barring UND's use of the Fighting Sioux nickname is, for all intents and purposes, a suit against Indians, too. It is a suit against Indians because tribes in North Dakota -- the Standing Rock tribe at Fort Yates; Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town; the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Belcourt; and the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe, Sisseton, S.D. -- all have submitted resolutions against the university's use of the name. The stand against the name by these Indian nations became one of the key reasons why the NCAA took its action, on a par with the NCAA's wish to eliminate racism in sports and encourage respect and sensitivity for all who participate. Maybe I'm mistaken. Perhaps, elected officials represent only a select group of people in our state; in fact, maybe I shouldn't even say "our" state -- their state and our reservations is perhaps more correct. I'm also puzzled that UND's administration would go so far as to take the NCAA to court for trying to rid sporting events in this country of racism. Shouldn't that be a goal of the university, too? But I know the atmosphere at the university, so I wasn't surprised, although I was surprised and taken aback when the attorney general volunteered to be the lawyer in the case. I thought that an issue such as a logo and mascot would be something handled internally by lawyers who represent the university. The mascot and logo do not fan hostility or abusiveness at the university, UND administrators claim. Well, I know that's not true. If you look like an Indian and go to a sports event, you will see some hostility and hear abusive remarks, no doubt. You are seen as "the enemy" who is trying to take away something that belongs to the fans. I and other Indians have experienced this. But then, we all know the objections and the problems that surround the "Fighting Sioux." And yes, they fit the definition of hostility provided by NCAA. I have to smile when I think about writing the same old, same old words again and again. It's like hollering into a wind cave; you just hear your own echo. Hello, hello; is there anyone out there listening? So, I was pleased when I read a recent column by Lee Benson in the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City, with this headline: "Utes should get rid of nickname." The University of Utah Utes are one of the tribes that the NCAA also said would be penalized for using the name or logo during postseason games. (Note: There isn't a "fighting" attached to their nickname). In that university's case, the NCAA dropped its sanctions when the Ute tribe endorsed the name. But after a year, however, some members the tribe are disgruntled because they said they were promised scholarships for the nickname. "Uh-uh," school officials said; they discussed, but didn't promise. But as Benson said (and I agree), the fact that such talks took place at all is demeaning. And when such things happen, as he said, it's time to lose the nickname. In May, the UND Foundation announced the establishment of a $1 million- plus Sioux Scholarship Endowment. Though the university claims there's no connection, this strikes me as buying support for the nickname in a way that takes advantage of a group that needs to educate its people. All that said, the attorney general's decision to take on the lawsuit is the can opener for a can of worms. Unfortunately, the lawsuit is widening the gulf between the state of North Dakota and reservations. Stenehjem should be representing all his constituents. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: Cold war in Caledonia" --------- Date: Sunday, September 24, 2006 03:24 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Cold war in Caledonia Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Cold war in Caledonia Kelly Patrick National Post September 23, 2006 CALEDONIA - On a recent Friday evening, the main strip of the town in the centre of the Six Nations reserve bustled with aboriginals dropping into the Bank of Montreal branch, running errands at the shopping plaza and filling up at the Red Indian service station. There are no signs of the bitter seven-month-old Caledonia land dispute on this 18,800-hectare reserve or in Ohsweken, a place that could be mistaken for any tiny Canadian hamlet were it not for the ubiquitous ads flogging "cheap smokes" and "discount rollies." On the reserve, some homes are rundown, but others would not be out of place among the estates on Toronto's tony Bridle Path. This evening, some residents were headed to the Six Nations fall fair, where, amid the squeals of children riding the midway, carnival- goer after carnival-goer repeated the same lament: Despite appearances, things have indeed changed for the 11,000 natives living on Canada's most populous reserve, just as they have for the people of neighbouring Caledonia. A wide, nasty rift has opened between the two communities. "My heart has been broken," said Shelley, 43, as she watched a tug-of- war from the fair's wooden bleachers. "Caledonia doesn't exist for me anymore. That's part of my childhood that's gone." A lifelong resident of the Grand River Territory, Shelley frequently visited Caledonia as a child. She has a son with a non-native man. Today, she does not dare venture into the town. "Now people will walk right up to you and say, 'You dirty Indian, what are you doing here? This is our store.'" For Shelley (who, like most of the Six Nations people interviewed for this story, asked that her last name not be used) the saddest part of the rift is the radical departure it represents from the past. Until the occupation began on Feb. 28, Caledonians and their Six Nations neighbours were remarkable for how well they got along. They went to the same schools. The played on the same sports teams. They intermarried. "Some of my best friends are native. We all went to high school together," said Clint Giles, 33, as he picked up his seven-year-old son Calum from the school that backs on to the disputed site. "I feel sorry for both sides." When the provincial government asks the Ontario Court of Appeal this week to permanently overturn a lower-court ruling demanding protesters leave the site, it will only confirm what everyone here already suspects: No one in government is any hurry to resolve this dispute, which has all the signs of forever changing the way people here live. The swath of land at the heart of the troubles is located at the south end of Argyle Street, the main thoroughfare in the town of 10,000. The site is 40 unremarkable hectares of gentle, grassy hills, criss- crossed with dirt and gravel roads cut when developer Henco began work last year on a 600-home subdivision that was to be called Douglas Creek Estates. There is a Canadian Tire down the road and a Tim Hortons across the street. A tidy subdivision backs on to the site's northern flank. The site's southern side is hemmed in by the Sixth Line, a country road that leads into the reserve. Ohsweken is about a 10-minute drive from the Douglas Creek Estates site. Farther up Argyle Street, plywood signs with spray-painted insults welcome visitors to Caledonia. "Boycott racism. Shop elsewhere," says one. "Cashadonia. Jane Stewart cash cow," reads another, a reference to the $1,300-a-day salary of lead provincial negotiator Jane Stewart. Another reads: "Kevin Clark, coward of Haldimand County," a jab at a non-native local who got under the protesters' skin. A scuffle broke out when Mr. Clark and two of his friends tried to remove the sign Labour Day weekend. Some of the dozens of local and out-of-town provincial police officers who now patrol Caledonia intervened. The sign was returned to its perch. The altercation was one of countless low-level clashes between natives and non-natives at the site since an April 20 OPP raid thrust the Caledonia land dispute into the national spotlight. Gone are the main road blockades that sparked much of the intense violence. In their place is an uneasy peace. But as petty skirmishes such as the sign incident pile up -- and as word of them spreads via the grapevine of small town gossip -- enmity burrows deeper into the psyches of people on both sides. People such as Maria Rauscher. The 61-year-old German immigrant lives with her husband on the Sixth Line. The road has been deemed an official no-go zone for Ontario Provincial Police. Six Nations officers are supposed to patrol it, but Mrs. Rauscher, her husband and others on the road say that in reality the Sixth Line is a legal "no-man's land" where law-breaking is rampant and property values have plunged. "I can't live like this anymore," said Mrs. Rausche, wiping at her eyes and trembling with anger. "If something flares up again we're right in the middle. It's a time bomb." Mrs. Rauscher and her husband, Dieter, 65, say their quarrel is not with the natives, but the government. They have lived in harmony with the nearby reserve for 27 years. A return to that harmony seems unlikely, considering the complexity of the land claim. It dates back more than 200 years to when Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec and its territories (including the future province of Ontario), gave the banks of the Grand River to the Six Nations as a reward for their loyalty to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War. The Haldimand proclamation is at the root of 28 ongoing specific claims filed with the federal government and, with more than 800 native claims currently ensnare in Ottawa's byzantine claim system, all signs here suggest officials are settling in for a long haul: - The Ontario Provincial Police are shopping for a home for a permanent detachment in Caledonia, according to members of the Caledonia Citizens' Alliance and to Haldimand County's mayor. They meet twice monthly with provincial police. The OPP would not officially confirm the plans. - The province has purchased the Douglas Creek Estate lands from developer Henco Industries Limited for $12.3-million and paid Henco and six contractors another $8.6-million in compensation -- partly so that, as the new owners of the plot, the province can allow the natives to stay at the site during negotiations. - The province's aboriginal secretariat has established a satellite office dedicated to the case in Brantford, Ont., just northwest of Caledonia. - The protesters have solicited donations for building materials to finish the houses whose construction they interrupted. No new work has begun. But the single biggest factor that suggests it is going to be a long haul at the disputed site is the way the occupation is being tackled at the negotiating table, said David General, the elected chief of Six Nations. "I'll be very candid. The problem at the table is the table wants to be too expansive," says Chief General, who supports the land claim but opposes the occupation. "[The negotiators] need to be dealing with just information that pertains to Douglas Creek." But they aren't. At the end of July the parties decided to add four "side tables" to the main negotiating table. Ottawa, Queen's Park, the Six Nations elected band council and the Six Nations' traditional confederacy council have representatives sitting at all five. One side table is tackling archaeology and the appearance of the Douglas Creek lands. A second is dealing with "public awareness" and education about the Six Nations traditions and land claims. A third is trying to sort out "consultation issues." The fourth is tackling the Plank Road land claim, which includes the former Douglas Creek Estates land. That claim was first submitted to the federal government June 23, 1987. Another reason the Caledonia dispute is so vexing is that nobody knows who actually speaks for the Six Nations. The elected band council, imposed by the federal government in 1924, is at odds with the Six Nations' traditional confederacy council, a hereditary system whereby clan mothers from the six tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy -- the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondoga and Tuscarora -- choose lifetime chiefs to spearhead government by consensus. The split complicates talks, said Barbara McDougall, the Mulroney-era cabinet minister appointed as Ottawa's representative at the Caledonia talks. But she is impressed the two sides have come to the table. And she and her provincial counterpart, Ms. Stewart, both say trust has been built at the negotiations, a sign that talks are moving in the right direction. But many townsfolk remain unconvinced. "I'll be honest," said Jason Clark, a member of the business-led Caledonia Citizens Alliance. "We don't have a sense that anyone in a position of authority is really accomplishing anything. We're just stuck in this quagmire." As Mr. Clark and his colleagues Ralph Luimes and Ken Hewitt talked about the town's dilemma over coffee at Tim Hortons, Mr. Luimes received an e-mail on his BlackBerry. A local drywall manufacturer, Georgia Pacific, had just laid off 30 workers. The cold war in Caledonia could easily turn hot again -- especially if conflict is stoked by outsiders with no connection to Caledonia or the reserve, such as the Richmond Hill couple behind the controversial Web site caledoniawakeupcall.com. Gary and Christine McHale launched the site in June. Aimed at documenting native crimes they say are being ignored by provincial police, the site calls Caledonia a town where "5,000-plus criminal charges by natives still have not been filed by the OPP." The couple plan an anti-occupation rally in Caledonia for Oct. 15. They expect more than 20,000 people. Even without potential flashpoints like the McHales' march, Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer fears relations between the two communities will keep deteriorating if the occupation continues. "Hopefully it doesn't get any worse," she said, "because it could get to a point where it will take generations to heal." kpatrick@nationalpost.com Copyright c. National Post 2006 --------- "RE: Saskatchewan considers funding On-reserve Housing" --------- Date: Monday, September 25, 2006 04:47 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Province considers stepping in to fund on-reserve housing Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Province considers stepping in to fund on-reserve housing Jason Warick Saskatchewan News Network Monday, September 25, 2006 Saskatchewan News Network reporters Jason Warick and Barb Pacholik travelled the province this summer investigating the housing conditions of First Nations people. They discovered hundreds of families suffering in overcrowded, mouldy shacks -- conditions likened to a Third World country. Their report will be published Tuesday in an eight-page special section. The First Nations housing crisis is so severe that the Saskatchewan government may take the unprecedented step of funding housing on reserves. "It's a step in the right direction. We would welcome it. This is definitely a crisis," said Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations vice-chief Guy Lonechild. The provincial government and corporations take in millions of dollars each year from resources extracted from traditional First Nations territory, Lonechild said. That money needs to start flowing back to the First Nations, he said. "There is not an equal sharing of resources," he said. Funding social housing on reserves has always been the responsibility of the federal government. But the desperate poverty faced by thousands of First Nations families has caused the provincial government to rethink its position, said Saskatchewan Housing Corp. Minister Buckley Belanger. "It is a desperate need. (We) want to be a part of the solution," Belanger said. Houses on Saskatchewan reserves are twice as crowded as the Canadian average. In many cases, extended families and friends live together, sleeping on couches and floors. Toxic black mould is common. Mould and overcrowding have been linked to increased rates of tuberculosis, infections, depression, suicide and family violence. Belanger said the housing crisis is "more pronounced than ever," calling it one of the most urgent issues facing the province. The provincial government would consider investing in on-reserve housing on two conditions. First, the individual First Nation must agree. Second, the federal government can't be let off the hook to provide its share of funding, he said. "Then the province can get engaged in a true partnership," Belanger said. There has recently been a significant deal reached for off-reserve aboriginal housing between government and First Nations. He said on- reserve housing is the next issue to be tackled, calling it "the elephant in the room." There is already provincial money going to help reserves in other areas, Belanger noted. The road connecting the remote Black Lake First Nation to the south was built entirely with provincial government money. And even though on-reserve health is also a federal responsibility, the federal government only paid for $3 million in construction costs for the Black Lake health centre. The province paid the remaining $9 million. Belanger says he's lobbying his federal counterparts on the reserve housing issue, and hopes some action will be taken soon. There are several ways houses get built on reserves. Traditionally, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) would fund house construction and residents would simply move in. Many viewed housing as a treaty right. But INAC funding to Saskatchewan First Nations hasn't increased in more that 15 years. Now that money isn't even enough to house the elderly, disabled or poor. Increasingly, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) provides grants and loans for reserve home construction, and most residents pay rent of about $350 a month. But demand is still far greater than supply, with many reserves having multi-year waits for a CMHC home. And on some First Nations such as Lac La Ronge, residents who can afford it can get bank mortgages (guaranteed by the band) and own their own homes. Lac La Ronge Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, who is meeting soon with Belanger, welcomed the news the province may step in. "If they want to give us money for housing, sure, we'd definitely consider it," she said. University of Saskatchewan history Prof. Michael Cottrell agreed reserve housing is one of the most important issues facing Saskatchewan. He said the jurisdictional lines are starting to blur between various levels of government, as more than half of the First Nations population now lives off-reserve. There also may be some political considerations, Cottrell said. Belanger and the rest of the Calvert NDP government know the aboriginal vote may be crucial in the next election. That said, something has to be done to fix the mess, he said. With a decent home, "the chance of a good, productive life is that much better." Copyright c. The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2006 --------- "RE: Indian assets loophole to be closed" --------- Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006 02:56 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Indian assets loophole to be closed Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Indian assets loophole to be closed Tories want to protect spouses in divorce Status Indians living on reserves vulnerable September 28, 2006 TONDA MACCHARLES OTTAWA BUREAU OTTAWA - The federal Conservatives are moving to close a legal loophole that has left aboriginal spouses who divorce without equal rights to the division of a family's assets. Accompanied by the head of the Assembly of First Nations, and the Native Women's Association of Canada, Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice will announce tomorrow a process to consult aboriginal communities on a new federal law that will apply to natives living on reserves, and do for them what provincial laws cannot. Right now, provincial and territorial family laws say spouses are entitled to seek an equal share of a family's real property when a marriage fails. But those do not apply to status Indians living on reserves, who come under federal jurisdiction. On reserves, the spouse holding what's called a "certificate of possession" to a family home holds all the rights to it. The 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples said aboriginal women living on-reserve are "significantly disadvantaged, denied protections widely recognized as essential to women and children upon marriage dissolution." The commission pointed out that land and housing are in short supply on many reserves, and women in abusive domestic situations who do not hold the certificate are often forced to either remain in the home, or to try to find housing off-reserve, far from friends and family. Don Kelly, communications director with the Assembly of First Nations, said yesterday that the organization supports the federal initiative but also wants the Conservative government to address poverty and the lack of housing, economic development and clean drinking water on reserves that add to the stresses on families. "We do think it's important that First Nations are central in developing the solutions to this issue, so in that sense our people are willing to facilitate the dialogue sessions with our people to come up with real solutions. We do want to see movement on the broader issues as well, though, that place individuals, families and communities in jeopardy and in stress." --------- "RE: Premier's appearance at meeting a first" --------- Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006 02:54 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: Premier's appearance at meeting a first Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian http://www.langleytimes.com/portals-code/list.cgi? paper=47&cat=48&id=736970&more= Premier's appearance at meeting a first By Tom fletcher September 27, 2006 Premier Gordon Campbell's appearance at the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs' annual general assembly on Friday was the first by a sitting premier in the organization's 38-year history. Although the government didn't publicize the visit, Campbell squeezed it into his schedule after attending Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's retirement dinner in Banff. He was preceded by two cabinet ministers, Children and Family Development M