_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 007 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2007 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island February 17, 2007 Mohawk enniska/lateness moon Pima kohmagi mashath/gray moon Hopi powamuya/purification moon Potawatomi mnokesis/moon of rabbit conception Zuni onon u'la'ukwamme/no snow in trails 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; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing Lists: Rez_Life, CERTAIN Home, CERTAIN Talk, Chiapas95-En, Frostys AmerIndian, and Remember the Cherokee/Tsalagi; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation's problems - including linking it with "the war on terror." Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column, featuring the views of those that have come before us to these lands: American Indians: "The white supremacists masquerading as patriots are building a fence at the southern border to keep out the brown people. Notice that they aren't building a fence at the northern border... Recall too that the 9-11 terrorists were here legally, complete with freakin' flyer numbers. I'm for all the Native people to have cross-border privileges up and down our hemisphere, and would close the borders against all the peoples from other places who look down on us." __ Suzan Shown Harjo - Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee Director, Morning Star Institute +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 It isn't just the justice (Just-Us) system that's stacked against Indians. It's the whole nasty system, and it really does not matter where you live on Turtle Island. If your reserve is in Canada, your reservation in the United States or your communal barrio in Mexico you are targeted to be excluded from the spoils . Furthermore, leaving the Rez doesn't get you bigger, better pie. Urban Skins are also on the dump. There are a few nations that finally made some serious money, but most Indian Nations are foundering in poverty, more poverty and abject poverty. If you live there you do so flat-out broke, and it isn't just because you're lazy and worthless. It's because you are systemically left out. And, yes, it's deliberate. When the invaders conquered our nations, often by pitting one against the other, they discovered we were down but not out. It was then that the "Indian Question" began to be answered "No Indians", and programs were instituted to eliminate Native Peoples through starvation, deceit, and programs designed to eliminate us as a distinct people. New readers - please take note: I am a mixed-blood. If you saw me on the street you would have to look very hard to know I was Indian. It does matter that you know this, because you can't shuck what I say off as "just ramblings from a bitter red man." I could pass for white in a skinny minute. I don't want to. There are several articles in this issue that detail the harsh disparities between the dominant society and Indian Country. With the exception of a few Uncle Tomahawks eating scraps at Big Dog's table most Indians can count on programs intended to help them to be the first budget whacked or eliminated - and dead last to be included during good times. This is in spite of the fact that many of these programs are guaranteed by treaty. Treaties are legal, binding writs that all too often get broken for the sake of convenience. Please note, treaties are not broken by Indians. The way to end this constant bottom lining is for us to unite with one cohesive voice. Old enmities must be set aside, for good and forever for the betterment of all. It may be the last chance our children have to escape the vicious cycle of drugs, gangs, alcohol and suicide. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30007, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- Editorial Section: - Kansas loses gas tax dispute . Indians Systematically left out - Don't forget - Mortality rate shows disparity this Land Rights Case - No money for N-G Pipeline, - Kodiak Album effort Jails, Courts to preserve dying Language - Bush's proposed Budget - HARJO: Republican Policy-makers shortchanges NA Programs oppose Health Bill - IHS Budget eliminates - GARCIA: Urban Indian Health Program Tribal Justice is not a 'quirk' - Bush's budget proposal - YELLOW BIRD: failed 'Indian Country' `Black enough' and `Indian enough' - GAO finds unresolved - EZLN communique Indian Trust Mgmt. Problems on growing Threats - Indian Ed backers - A slap in the face protest Montana Panel's Vote of every Canadian - American Indians - AFN to file Human Rights oppose English-Only Legislation complaint against Ottawa - Opposition mounts - Developers flocking over English only Bill to 6 Nations Long House - PREFESSOR: - Natives to hit Ottawa Poverty pushes Indians away with Rights Complaint - Letters: First Americans - Wave of suicide bids hits Reserve live in unseen Poverty - Human Rights body - Legislation introduced reconsiders Inuit Petition for Duwamish Recognition - Native Justice - Commissioners to hear -- Tribe to banish Drug Dealers Anti-Reservation Arguments - Rustywire: - Rep. Butcher and INDN's List Skinwalkers-Old Woman & Dark Road exchange words - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - PGE, Tribes - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: share $65 Million Tower Navajo Code Talkers - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Mortality rate shows disparity" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 08:32:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN BABIES START OFF LIFE WITH HIGHER MORTALITY RATE" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/02/06/news/local/news01.txt Mortality rate shows disparity By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff February 6, 2007 For American Indian babies born in sparsely populated areas of western South Dakota, the first year of life comes with a certain amount of risk. Of the state's 66 counties, 13 have dishearteningly high infant mortality rates of more than 10 deaths per 1,000 live births, health officials say, and each of those is on, near or next to one of the nine Indian reservations in the state. Ten of the 13 counties with the highest infant mortality rates are on or west of the Missouri River. When broken down by race, South Dakota's infant mortality rate shows a large disparity between whites and Indians. From 2000 to 2005, 65,346 babies were born in the state, and 453 did not live to see their first birthday. But the death rate for American Indian babies was 12.9 per 1,000; more than double the 5.5 death rate for white babies in South Dakota. "The disparities are great, and they are persistent," Christine Rinki of the Northern Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center said. In 2005, South Dakota's overall infant death rate was 7.2. Nationally, the United States has an infant mortality rate of 6.8. But a baby born in the most sparsely populated counties in South Dakota - called "frontier" counties because they have six or fewer people per square mile - has an even higher risk of dying before its first birthday - 8.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Mellette County, in southwestern South Dakota, had the sad distinction of having the highest infant mortality rate - 23.7 per 1,000 - in the state. That means that of the 211 babies born in Mellette County between 2000 and 2005, five of them died before 1 year of age. Mellette borders the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations. Five of the 21 West River counties either had no infant deaths from 2000 to 2005, or too few to create a statistically significant infant mortality rate. Counties with fewer than three infant deaths in the six-year reporting period were listed as "low number of events" counties. Of the 16 West River counties rated in the state Health Department report, only one, Butte County, had an infant death rate lower than the national average of 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Butte's infant mortality rate was 4.1 In South Dakota, only two counties - Minnehaha and Pennington - qualify as urban, defined as having a population center above 50,000. Pennington County has an infant mortality rate of 8.1, which compares unfavorably to Minnehaha County's rate of 5.4. A health study group was appointed by the state Department of Health in response to high infant death rates in 2004. It wants to target specific behaviors among pregnant women as ways to reduce the state's infant mortality rates. Getting pregnant women to stop smoking and to seek prenatal care throughout their pregnancies are keys to reducing infant mortality, state officials said. An educational media campaign, "I Didn't Know," will run through April 30 in South Dakota to help educate people about the early signs of pregnancy and about the importance of getting prenatal care. The campaign's goal is to reduce the state's infant mortality rate, which hit a high of 8.2 in 2004, to 6.0 by the year 2010. "We found the infant mortality rate was six times higher for moms who received no prenatal care than for those mothers who got prenatal care in the first trimester," said Doneen Hollingsworth, state secretary of health. The death rate in the neonatal period, which is from birth to 27 days of age, was even higher for those infants whose mothers received no prenatal care. "The numbers clearly show that early and regular prenatal care improves pregnancy and health outcomes for both the mother and child," she said. The leading cause of infant death in South Dakota is complications from premature birth and low birth weight. Birth defects and congenital anomalies is the second leading cause, followed by sudden infant death syndrome and accidents. Rinki said public health policymakers see high infant mortality rates as a problem that has both specific causes and broad causes. The global view of infant mortality rates is that they reflect much larger processes going on in the world, Rinki said. The socio-economic well-being of a society, as measured by educational levels, infrastructure, development and the health of families and communities all correlate to infant mortality rates. Lack of reliable transportation, winter weather, bad roads and long distances often conspire to prevent prenatal care in isolated Indian reservation communities. Northern Plains tribes suffer the highest rates of infant mortality of any American Indian population, Rinki said. "You can't ignore any of it," she said, noting that solutions will have to target both individuals and the larger society. "I think if there were simple answers, we wouldn't still have these problems." As the project coordinator for South Dakota Tribal Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, Rinki is collecting information about maternal and infant health that she hopes will improve tribal health and lower infant mortality rates here. All nine tribes in the state are participating in the three-year, $375,000 grant that was awarded to the Yankton Sioux Tribe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006. It will try to survey 1,000 mothers of American Indian babies born between February and July of 2007 to better understand their prenatal care experiences and any barriers to it. The information gathered will be shared among all the health programs - state, tribal and federal - to collaborate on what works and to support funding applications for those programs. The state PRAMS project is the first CDC grant of its kind to be awarded to a tribe anywhere. Previously, only state health departments were eligible. At the CDC's national PRAMS meeting in December, the Yankton Sioux tribe and its project were recognized for their "outstanding collaboration and capacity building to improve maternal and infant health." It is, Rinki said, important to keep in mind that great strides have been made in lowering infant mortality rates in Indian country over time. Those rates have trended downward for decades, just not as fast or as far as she would like. "Tribes have struggled, but they have also survived and thrived, despite all those obstacles that cause high infant mortality rates," Rinki said. "Still, it's morally egregious that these disparities exist, and they should be unacceptable." Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8410 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2007 Rapid City Journal. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: No money for N-G Pipeline, Jails, Courts" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH BUDGET NUKES INDIAN COUNTRY" http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/feb/020607kh_nomoneyic.html No money for N-G pipeline, jails, courts in Indian Country By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau February 6, 2007 WINDOW ROCK - Zero dollars, zero cents. That's exactly how much funding is proposed in the Bush Administration's $2.9 trillion FY 2008 budget for Navajo-Gallup pipeline planning, tribal jails and courts. Bush's budget plan introduced Monday slashes $1.25 billion from Department of Justice-funded tribal programs, eliminating money for tribal jails, grants and courts. Members of the Navajo Nation Public Safety Committee left today for Washington to lobby for increased funding for Navajo public safety/judicial complexes. Now, it appears the committee will have to lobby extremely hard to receive any funding at all. In addition, no funding was requested for studies associated with the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, according to U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's office. In FY 2006, the project received $479,000. Chris Gallegos of Domenici's office said late Monday, "This is generally yearly funding provided to continue study of the project. I cannot comment as to why the administration did not request funding for FY 2008." Responding to a question about the Navajo-Gallup pipeline during his weekly radio address, Domenici, R-N.M., vowed his support after initially appearing to struggle to remember the name of the water project, which was supplied by the reporter. "We're going to have a lot of fun in the future here talking about the moneys we're going to be working on to get the big payment paid for, so we can get the water in the ... Navajo-Gallup water project," he said. "I'm going to devote more time and make it a dedication of mine to see if we can get that done. It's going to be hard, but I've decided that it's time to put my muscle behind it and see what we can do." Domenici said U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has not yet introduced the legislation for the water supply project. "He has an awful lot on his plate. We're going to get that done. I'm not in any way critical. We've been working very hard and working together, which I like very, very much." Bingaman's office said last week that the senator plans to introduce the legislation in March. Deep cuts While the president's budget requests funding for some important Indian Country issues, Bingaman said, it makes deep cuts to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The budget contains a $16 million increase in funding for the BIA's Safe Indian Communities Initiative, aimed at assisting law enforcement in its efforts to combat methamphetamine. However, if cuts in the DOJ budget are approved, programs to fund jails on tribal lands would be slashed to $0 in FYO8, down from $12 million in FY07. The Indian Country grant program would be cut from $4 million in FY07 to $0 in FY08. The tribal courts initiative also would receive zilch, down from $7 million in FY07. Bush's budget would eliminate the Urban Indian Health program, a $33 million cut, and the Housing Improvement Program, a $19 million cut. Also included is a $24 million cut for Health Care Facilities Construction, a $17.5 million cut for Education Construction, and a $5 million cut for Post-Secondary Scholarships. "While I welcome the additional resources to combat meth in Indian Country and appreciate the Administration's efforts to raise awareness of this important issue, I am deeply concerned about how other cuts in the budget will adversely impact the ability of tribes to fight crime," Bingaman said. Domenici said the budget plan is cause for serious concern in New Mexico, as it also means significant reductions for weapons work carried out at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. Critical reception U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said, "Implementing the President's budget would prove devastating to the American people. "Included are substantial cuts to health care programs, education and the environment which would help fund more of the same Bush tax policies that benefit only those who need it the least," Udall said. "I am disappointed that he has proposed a plan to once again sell off public lands, to cut the Interior budget by nearly $700 million, and to slash dollars for health care programs particularly in rural areas. "Although the President and I do not have many shared priorities and his new budget request is not surprising, I am nonetheless disappointed in many of the budget items he has outlined for cuts," Udall said. A senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, Domenici predicted critical congressional review of the budget plan, which will be the basis for a FY2008 Budget Resolution and subsequent appropriations measures to fund the government next year. "The President's FY2008 budget poses some serious concerns, and Congress will have to consider it carefully. It underscores the increasing pressure on our federal budget, and it will not get better easily," he said. "I'm not happy about this budget's recommendations for the national labs, education and health care," Domenici said. "It is clear that we will have to work hard to make up funding where we think it is most needed." Copyright c. 2007 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Bush's proposed Budget shortchanges NA Programs" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:41:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH BUDGET: GUESS WHO GETS LEFT OUT" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8585 President's Proposed Budget Shortchanges Native American Programs WASHINGTON, DC February 7, 2007 What South Dakotans Should Know about the President's 2008 Budget Blueprint Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Tim Johnson's (D-SD) office today discussed the impact on South Dakota of the President's proposed budget for 2008. Congress will now begin assembling its own fiscal blueprint with which to operate the government. Johnson holds seats on both the Senate Budget Committee and on the Senate Appropriations Committee, including his recently announced Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. These Committees take the lead in the Congressional budget process of refining the President's request into the 2008 fiscal operating budget for the federal government. Though there were a few proposals that will be beneficial to South Dakotans, the budget also proposes many shortfalls in programs that are used across South Dakota. Johnson has long pledged to "work to ensure our budget meets these needs in a fiscally responsible manner that more properly reflects the priorities and the values of American families." Notable spending recommendations from the White House that affect South Dakotans: HEALTHCARE Medicare: The budget proposal finds savings by reducing costs under Medicare by about $96 billion over five years. Most savings would come by reducing payments to hospitals and other providers, including nursing homes and home health agencies which will be detrimental to rural providers who are already struggling to meet community needs with current reimbursement. The budget request would achieve $11.5 billion of this savings through increasing premiums paid by higher-income Medicare beneficiaries. The administration's budget also assumes that a cut in Medicare reimbursement for doctors of approximately 8% scheduled to go into effect next year will not be reversed. Social Security Privatization: President Bush has asked for a Social Security privatization plan in his budget that, if enacted, would result in millions of middle-income workers receiving little or no Social Security benefits in retirement. In South Dakota, 98,000 beneficiaries could be subject to an annual benefit cut of $6,328 under the President's private account plan. Rural Health Care: The President's budget proposal cuts Rural Health Programs by 87%. Areas that are cut include the Health Resources and Services Administration, where the proposed budget cuts Rural Health Programs to a funding level of $17 million, a cut of $104 million. Rural Outreach Grants, Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices and Rural Hospital Flexibility Grants are all eliminated in the President's Budget. The only programs NOT proposed for elimination are the State Offices of Rural Health and Rural Health Policy Development; both would receive flat funding at the anticipated FY07 funding levels. National Institutes of Health: The President has proposed a cut of $310 million to NIH in FY08. The actual cut is $511 million, because the proposed budget makes NIH responsible for an additional $201 million for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that is currently funded through the State Department. Indian Health Services: The President requested a budget of $3.991 billion overall for health care at the Indian Health Service (IHS), an increase of approximately $237 million from FY07. However, the Indian Health Facilities funding would be decreased by $25 million to $346 million for FY08. This funding supports construction, repair and improvement, equipment, and environmental health and facilities support for the Indian health services. ENERGY Biofuels Research: The President's budget would provide $179 million to fund the Department of Energy's biomass research and development program to boost the production of renewable fuels from grains, grasses, and other types of biomass. Although the President's request is an increase compared to the FY07 budget, the President's budget still falls short when compared to the authorization provided for biomass programs in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 of $251 million for FY08. Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): The President's budget would also provide $1.782 billion ($1.5 billion in regular grant funds and $278 million in contingency) to fund the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), down from an expected $2.186 billion ($1.98 billion in regular grant funds and $181 million in contingency funds) for FY07. VETERANS President Bush's budget continues to shift the burden of paying for health care costs on to our veterans by asking them to pay more for their prescription drugs and mandating an enrollment fee. The Bush Administration has proposed a tiered annual enrollment fee for priority 7 and 8 veterans with incomes over $50,000. Veterans with incomes between $50,000 and $74,999 would pay an annual fee of $250. Veterans with incomes between $75,000 and $99,999 would pay an annual fee of $500. Finally, veterans earning over $100,000 would pay $750 in annual fees. Further, the Bush Budget also would increase pharmacy copayments for Category 7 and 8 Veterans from $8 for a 30-day supply of drugs to $15. EDUCATION There were a total of 44 education programs eliminated in the President's FY08 budget proposal. Among the programs cut in the proposal are Educational Technology State Grants, Elementary School Counseling Program, Even Start and Safe and Drug Free Schools Alcohol Abuse Reduction programs. NCLB Funding: Under the President's budget, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) funding would rise by approximately $1 billion for total of $24.6 billion. However, the Bush budget under funds the No Child Left Behind Act by $14.8 billion, for a cumulative shortfall of $70.9 billion since enactment of the law. The largest portion of this shortfall is in Title I funding. According to the NCLB legislation proposed by the President and passed by Congress in 2001, South Dakota should receive over $76 million for Title I education funding this year, but under the President's proposed budget released today, South Dakota would receive an estimated $40.9 million. This shortfall leaves over 10,000 students without this vital funding. IDEA: The President's budget again provides less than half the federal obligation to education programs that affect children with disabilities. If the President's budget were enacted, it would provide only 16.5 percent of the per-pupil expenditure - the lowest percentage since FY02. Pell Grants and Perkins Loans: Included in the President's budget is a proposal to increase the Pell Grant maximum to $4,600 per student in 2008 and to $5,400 per student by FY12. The President has again proposed to recall the federal portion of the Perkins Loan Revolving Fund to pay for the increase in the maximum Pell grant. While increasing the Pell grant maximum is long overdue, this funding shift would hurt one group of students to benefit another, making it harder for middle class families to afford college. 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Tim is a member of the Senate Afterschool Caucus and understands the pressures on two parent working households to find quality afterschool care. Yet, under the President's budget proposal, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program would receive a stagnate funding level at $981 million, which is $1.5 billion below the $2.5 billion authorized level for FY08. While South Dakota was promised $12.25 million, instead it will receive only $4.8 million, a mere fraction of what is necessary to adequately care for our students' needs. MILITARY CONSTRUCTION The proposed budget includes $3.73 million for the Joint Armed Forces Reserve Center in Sioux Falls. AGRICULTURE Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP): The President proposes eliminating this program entirely, redirecting CSFP participants to the Food Stamp and WIC programs. Inadequate resources are provided, within the Food Stamp and WIC accounts, to help transition CSFP participants to those programs. The program received no funding in the President's budget proposal. Congress funded the program at $112 million in FY06 and is expected to reinstate that funding level for FY07. Resource Conservation and Development Program (RC&D): The President's proposal includes consolidating RC&D Coordinator functions at the State level, reducing the number of coordinator positions from 375 to about 50. Under the proposal, funding is decreased to $15 million for the coming year. Congress funded the program at $51.3 million in Fiscal Year 2006 and is expected to reinstate funding for FY07. The President's proposal would require field staff to function in a broad-based manner, addressing oversight issues instead of day-to-day activities. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The President has again proposed drastic cuts to Rural Development Programs, with the most severe cuts will to programs that offered targeted assistance to small communities. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): For 2008, the President has proposed that the CDBG program receive $2.975 billion, which would be a significant reduction from the program's FY06 budget of $3.75 billion. In recent years, South Dakota has received approximately $9 million in CDBG funds, which have been used to upgrade local drinking water infrastructure, renovate low-income housing, and construct fire halls, among other things. USDA Rural Development: USDA Rural Development (RD) operates several of the core economic development assistance programs that have helped communities across the state to upgrade water and sewer infrastructure, build community centers, purchase firefighting equipment, and upgrade housing. The President has proposed to reduce the RD budget from its FY06 level of $2.45 billion to $2.05 billion in FY08. Economic Development Administration: The President has requested FY08 funding of $203 million for the Economic Development Administration (EDA). This would be a significant reduction from the agency's FY06 budget of $284 million, and the FY02 budget of $366 million. EDA helps to fund South Dakota's six "planning and development districts" in South Dakota, who help rural communities to grow their economies. In addition, EDA has helped to fund economic development facilities including a business incubator in Rapid City and a research park in Brookings. Firefighter Assistance grants: The Department of Homeland Security's Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG) program has helped volunteer fire departments across South Dakota to purchase fire protection gear, fire trucks, and other essential equipment. The President proposes to continue recent cuts to the program with a further cut from $655 million in FY06 to $300 million in FY08, a cut of over one half. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: IHS Budget eliminates Urban Indian Health Program" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="URBAN INDIAN HEALTH BUSH-WHACKED AGAIN" Bush cuts funding for Urban Indian Clinics again http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/000773.asp IHS budget eliminates urban Indian health program February 7, 2007 For the second year in a row, the Bush administration has proposed to eliminate all funding for urban health clinics that serve more than 100,000 Native Americans. In the fiscal year 2008 budget released on Monday, the Indian Health Service zeroed out the $33 million Urban Indian Health Program. "Unlike Indian people living in isolated rural areas, urban Indians can receive health care through a wide variety of federal, state, and local providers, " according to the document. The administration says it wants to focus on health care services on or near reservations. But Geoffrey Roth, the director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health, called the cut "an outrage" and a threat to tribal sovereignty. "While the elimination comes as no shock to Indian Country, the administration's continued disregard of the urgent health care needs of the urban Indian population and tribes' rights to self-determination is nevertheless disconcerting," said Roth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the majority of American Indians and Alaska Natives don't live on reservations. The 34 urban clinics that receive funds from the IHS provide critical care to these tribal members that they can't get at other facilities, Roth said. Without federal funding, half of the clinics say they will be forced to reduce services or shut down altogether. And since the IHS is under-funded, tribal facilities that are forced to ration care won't be able to meet the needs of reservation and urban patients. "In sum, lack of services would increase -- not decrease -- the gross health care disparities for American Indians and Alaska Natives," NCUIH said on Monday. In hopes of counteracting the proposal, Roth's organization is teaming up with the National Indian Health Board to lobby Congress to restore the $33 million. A press conference is being planned in Washington, D.C., on February 15. When the same cut was made last year, urban Indian advocates and tribal leaders successfully convinced lawmakers to support the clinics. "Funding for the urban health program has been restored and the proposal to eliminate this program is rejected," the House stated in its 2007 budget report. Some key leaders are already speaking against the proposed IHS budget. It is unacceptable that, year after year, the Bush Administration fails to provide access to better health care for families in Native communities," said Rep. Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia), the chairman of the House Resources Committee. Overall, the budget seeks $3.1 billion for IHS clinical services, an increase of $246 million from current levels. Preventive health would receive $130 million, an increase of $13 million. Facilities construction would receive $13 million, a loss of $24 million. Sanitation construction, which ensures Indian communities have safe water and waste disposal systems, would be cut by $4 million, for a total of $89 million. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Bush's budget proposal failed 'Indian Country'" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:07:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN COUNTRY BUSH WHACKED" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_5204507 Bush's budget proposal failed 'Indian Country' By Lindsay Whitehurst The Daily Times February 11, 2007 Despite a few funding increases for education, fighting methamphetamine and Indian Health Services, President Bush's proposed 2008 budget contains deep cuts for programs benefiting American Indians in 2008, federal legislators said. While the $2.2 billion proposed Bureau of Indian Affairs budget is about $7 million above the president's 2007 budget request, it comes in about $1 million below the continuing resolution, or actual amount allocated, over the course of the year. Funding for programs from housing to college scholarships would be cut if the budget passes. "The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been on a downward spiral under this administration - decreasing by $50 million since fiscal year 2006, while at the same time military spending is increasing dramatically," U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall II, D-W. Va., said in a press release. Rahall serves as chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over Indian affairs. BIA budgets fund programs for 304 American Indian reservations in the U.S. Of those, the 25,000-square-mile Navajo Nation is the largest. Released Feb. 5, the budget heads to Congress, where it is expected to meet stiff opposition. Indian Health Services, which is under the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the BIA, did see an increase of $212 million, or about 7 percent, to $3.3 billion, according to the health service. Proposed BIA increases include a $16 million increase in public safety funds for fighting meth and $15 million increase to help schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards, which are a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "Raising the level of public safety in tribal communities, particularly those dealing with the devastating effects of methamphetamine use, and improving the performance of our schools is the focus of the President's 2008 budget," Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason said in a press release. The proposal, however, also cuts about $1.25 million from the Department of Justice overall. "While I welcome the additional recourses to combat meth in Indian Country ... I am deeply concerned about how other cuts will adversely impact the ability of tribes to fight crime," U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D- NM, said in a statement from his office. Calling the budget proposal a "mixed bag," Bingaman pointed to a $24 million cut for health care facilities construction, a $17.5 million cut for education construction and a $5 million cut for post-secondary scholarships. U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-NM, meanwhile, said the increase won't be enough to fight the drug. "While I am pleased (Bush) has directed money to combat meth on tribal lands, it is certainly not enough," he said in a release. "Once again this president has left the Urban Indian Health Program unfunded ... (and has) also eliminated important housing programs for Native Americans, despite the fact that 40 percent of American Indians are currently underhoused." Interior Department spokeswoman Nedra Darling, however, said the $23.4 million from the Housing Improvement program was made because the services are also offered through the Housing and Urban Development Department. Other cuts include: $3.8 million from the Rights Protection programs, $12.7 million from the Tribal Education Support programs, $2 million from contract support, $1.5 million from Irrigation Operation and Maintains and Environmental Quality Projects, and $4 million from Real Estate Services and Forestry Projects. Those programs "lack performance accountability or duplicated other federal or state programs," Cason stated. "The president has failed Indian Country," Udall stated. "It is up to Congress to work on these devastating proposals." Lindsay Whitehurst: lwhitehurst@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2007 Farmington Daily News. --------- "RE: GAO finds unresolved Indian Trust Mgmt. Problems" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:07:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OST CAN'T GUARANTEE ANY ACCOUNTING ACCURACY" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/000821.asp GAO finds unresolved Indian trust management problems February 8, 2007 The Office of Special Trustee still can't guarantee the accuracy of the billions of dollars it holds in trust for individual Indians and tribes, according to a new report. Fourteen years after the passage of the American Indian Trust Reform Act, the balances of the individual and tribal trust accounts are not reliable, the Government Accountability Office said. Interest hasn't been properly determined for individual and tribal beneficiaries, some tribal accounts have negative balances and millions of dollars in payments haven't been distributed to tribal members, the report said. "OST's ability to prepare and report on Indian trust funds' financial statements that are fairly stated depends on correcting material weaknesses identified in the financial statement audits and establishing historical beginning trust fund balances," the GAO said in the report released on Tuesday. Additionally, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has failed to correct several deficiencies in its handling of the trust. Among other issues, the agency lacks an accounts receivable system, has fallen behind on probates and has failed to implement changes that would "prevent or detect errors," the GAO said. Created by Congress in 1994, OST is charged with overseeing and implementing the reform of the Indian trust. But the problems reported by the GAO have been outstanding since 1996. "To no one's surprise, this report shows that the Interior Department continues to be a complete mess in its efforts to clean up the scandal that it created decades ago with its well-documented mismanagement of the Indian trust," said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the landmark trust fund lawsuit. According to the government's records, OST holds more than $2.8 billion in trust for about 1,450 tribal accounts. The Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust consists of more than 277,000 accounts with assets of about $420 million. Audits conducted by two major accounting firms since 1996 have shown that OST doesn't know whether the account balances are correct. The Treasury Department's ledger, for instance, shows different numbers for the IIM trust than Interior's. Thousands of IIM beneficiaries also haven't received the money they are due, the audits have shown. Instead, OST has kept the money in Special Deposit Accounts worth millions of dollars. Griffin & Associates conducted the audits from 1996 to 2000 and made about 60 internal control and compliance recommendations to OST. According to the GAO, 37 recommendations have been cleared. KPMG has been conducting the audits since 2001 and made two broad recommendations that remain outstanding. The first relates to OST's financial reporting and the second affects the BIA's handling of the trust. Despite the ongoing work, OST has failed to perform follow-up on the audits, the GAO said. "[W]e did not see evidence that Interior is conducting a periodic evaluation of its entire audit follow-up system," the report stated. In a September 2006 letter, the Interior Department disputed that characterization and listed ways in which it said it was conducting evaluations. But GAO said the there was no independent assessment to determine whether the deficiencies are being corrected. "Interior does not evaluate the effectiveness of its audit follow-up activities directly," the GAO said in a briefing to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which requested the report. "Instead, it relies on the number of corrective actions reported as resolved by its bureaus to measure its own effectiveness. In addition, we found no evidence that Interior verifies this bureau-reported information." Since the start of the Bush administration, OST's budget and mission has rapidly exploded. The fiscal year 2008 budget seeks $196.2 million for the agency, an increase of $15 million from 2007. Copyright c. 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Indian Ed backers protest Montana Panel's Vote" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/07/ news/state/54-legiprotest.txt Indian ed backers protest panel's vote By JODI RAVE Missoulian February 7, 2007 HELENA - Indian education proponents held a press conference Tuesday to protest a legislative panel's vote to nix the state's entire budget for Montana's Indian Education Office this spring. A joint Appropriations Education Subcommittee voted on party lines last Thursday to cut $2.9 million from the Office of Public Instruction's Indian Education Office. "We had a great sense of hope but that was shattered last Thursday," said Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, who sponsored the Indian Education for All Act in 1998. The 1972 state constitution mandates teaching K-12 students about American Indian history, but it took three decades to get the state Legislature to agree to help pay for schools to teach students about Indians. "It took us from 1972 to 2005 to do the right thing for this program," said Sen. Carol Williams, D-Missoula, who spoke at the press conference. "This action from the House committee is a giant, giant step backward from where we started in 2005. It's shameful what happened. We need to go back and refund that money, and we need to be putting additional money into Indian Education for All. "We just now started to talk about the progress and all the things that have happened in communities that are wonderful," Williams said. The Office of Public Instruction has had a $13 million budget for Indian education the past two years. Teachers across the state have been introduced to a wave of new materials and classroom curricula. Many projects are still being developed. Lawmakers finally paid for Indian education after the state was sued for failing to provide an equitable funding system for quality education, including Indian education. The funding issue might not be an issue if not for Montana's unique constitution, which is the only one in the country committed to preserving the cultural integrity of American Indians through education. The state has also made a commitment to close the achievement gap between Indian and non-Indian students. "We waited 30 years for the constitutional promise that was made by the people of Montana in Article X, Section 1, Subsection 2, to be implemented in our state," Juneau said. "We finally received funding in the last legislative session that gave life to the promise. We saw that promise taken away last week." Although the subcommittee endorsed elimination of the Indian education budget, which was included in Gov. Brian Schweitzer's House Bill 2, the full House Appropriations Committee still has to vote on the recommendation in March. "The Legislature should be proud, we have gained national recognition for our Indian Education for All efforts," said Linda McCulloch, state superintendent of public instruction. "This is something all legislators can claim as a success and pride, and frankly, we don't want that to go away. We've got a great start, but we still have a long way to go." Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: American Indians oppose English-Only Legislation" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OKLAHOMA (OF ALL STATES!) ENACTS ENGLISH-ONLY MEASURE" http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0207/395372.html American Indians Oppose English-Only Legislation February 7, 2007 Oklahoma City (AP) - Legislation declaring English as Oklahoma's official language was narrowly approved by a House committee today. Approval comes despite objections by American Indians who say the bill demeans their native languages and cultures. The General Government and Transportation Committee voted 9-to-7 to send the proposal to the full House for a vote. The committee voted after Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said lawmakers are "branding Oklahoma with the badge of intolerance." Representative George Faught says the intent of the bill is to encourage Latino immigrants to learn English. He says it could eventually end bilingual driver's license tests and other state government documents being offered in more than one language. Copyright c. 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007 KTUL, LLC. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Opposition mounts over English only Bill" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:41:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WILL OKLAHOMA RENAME ALL THOSE CITIES, TOWNS WITH INDIAN NAMES" http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/ articles/2007/02/09/news/state/news794.txt Opposition mounts over English only bill By TIM TALLEY Associated Press Writer February 9, 2007 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - American Indian leaders, citing a desire to preserve their native languages, urged state lawmakers Thursday to defeat "English only" legislation that would declare English Oklahoma's official language. In a letter to lawmakers, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said the measure, approved on Wednesday by the House General Government and Transportation Committee, "is really just an ugly symbol of intolerance." "The kindhearted people of Oklahoma do not need to watch politicians create an artificial divide in our state," said Smith, who voiced opposition to the bill before committee members voted 9-7 to send it to the House floor for a vote. "Our great state has been blessed with more than 35 Indian nations, each of which has a unique culture," Smith said. "Part of that culture comes from the richness of native languages, which have been spoken here for centuries before Oklahoma became a state." In a separate statement, George Tiger, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and chairman of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, said tribal governments support school language preservation programs that could be harmed by the measure. "It is sad that in 2007, even as the state makes plans to celebrate its centennial year, that people of color are still being targeted for using their language," Tiger said. "It seems like we're taking steps backward." Meanwhile, the bill's author, Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, said he is working with other lawmakers, including members of the Legislature's Native American Caucus, to resolve concerns. "We're exploring that right now," Faught said. "I've obviously walked into a hornet's nest. I didn't realize this was going to be this heated. "What concerns me now is the lines have been drawn, maybe a little prematurely and unfairly. I hope this thing will simmer down a little bit," Faught said. Among other things, the measure would require official state business to be conducted in English and official documents, regulations, publications and meetings to be in English. Faught said the bill could eventually end bilingual driver's license tests and other state government documents. The bill also says it should not be used to discourage the use of or prevent the study or development of American Indian languages. "I saw it as a pretty simple thing," Faught said. "There may be some maneuvering we can do to maybe solve some of the problems." But lawmakers of Indian heritage said they will work to defeat the measure. It has not been scheduled for a hearing on the House floor. "I'm embarrassed to be a part of a Legislature that takes part in legislation like this," said Rep. Jerry McPeak, D-Warner, a member of the Creek tribe. "I am sure that this piece of legislation is nothing more than political fluff, designed to scare people." Rep. Scott BigHorse, D-Pawhuska, said the measure would have a negative impact on the state's economy. Big Horse is affiliated with the Osage Tribe. "It would decrease tourism and send a message to everyone outside the state that Oklahoma does not embrace diversity," BigHorse said. Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: PREFESSOR: Poverty pushes Indians away" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 08:32:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OPINION: POVERTY DRIVES INDIANS AWAY FROM POLITICS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/02/06/ news/wyoming/a71aac5b6ab30ab28725727a00074c39.txt Prof: Poverty pushes Indians away By TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer February 6, 2007 The rural Wind River Indian Reservation's rampant poverty tends to depress its residents from participating in Fremont County politics, a University of Wyoming sociologist said Monday in federal court Not even casino gambling will help in the long run, Garth Massey said during the opening day of testimony in a federal civil trial involving Indians who claim Fremont County's at-large system of electing county commissioners violates the Voting Rights Act. "I'm not optimistic that the socioeconomic (conditions) on the reservation will change dramatically in the next decade," Massey said. He was among several experts called by the Indians' attorneys during the first day of the expected two-week bench trial in U.S. District Court in Casper. Under questioning by one of the Indians' attorneys, Laughlin McDonald of the Atlanta office of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc., Massey said in 1998 he oversaw interviews of about 95 percent of the households on the reservation. A household is defined as an independent economic unit. He found 57 percent of all households had incomes below the federal poverty rate, compared with a nationwide poverty rate of about 13 percent, he said. Many houses are substandard and 20 percent are uninhabitable; 40 percent do not have telephone lines, Massey said. The unemployment rate is about 10 times the national average, and three to four times higher than the most depressed rural areas, Massey said. By age 55, 61 percent of the population had health problems - diabetes, heart disease, nutritional deficiencies - requiring medical intervention, he said. These factors push many Indians into feelings of powerlessness, a lifestyle of just getting by, and not participating in the political process, Massey said. But one of the county's attorneys, Scott Detamore with the Mountain States Legal Foundation, took Massey to task for not interviewing non- reservation Indians about their economic conditions, saying many of them are successful. Massey admitted he did not take into account the in-kind value of federal programs offered on the reservation. While participation in Fremont County politics might be low, Detamore also noted Massey did not ask reservation Indians about their participation in the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribal elections. The county has maintained the dispute centers not on race, as required by the Voting Rights Act, but on myriad issues related to the history of American Indians. The lawsuit brought by county residents Patricia Bergie, Pete Calhoun, Gary Collins, James E. Large and Emma Lucille McAdams - members of either the Eastern Shoshone or Northern Arapaho tribes - want an election for a redistricting plan for single-member districts, according to the complaint filed in October 2005. The tribal members only have to proved the at-large system dilutes their political power, and not whether it was caused by racism, McDonald said. If the commissioners don't conduct timely elections for a redistricting plan, the plaintiffs want the court to implement a redistricting plan and schedule the elections so the county complies with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Demographer William Cooper, testifying for the Indians, said he examined the geography and populations in Fremont County, and drew two possible single-member districts. Research psychologist Steven Cole also testified for the plaintiffs, and said he conducted multiple statistical analyses of voting data to determine whether Indians are politically cohesive and can elect their preferred candidates. Cole found white voters were able to defeat a large majority of county commission candidates preferred by Indians. Detamore pointed out that according to Cole's analysis, Indians would have to elect all of their preferred candidates to show whites were not racially polarized. Cole responded that he was following the research standards set by cases decided by federal courts. Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net. Copyright c. 2007 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated --------- "RE: Letters: First Americans live in unseen Poverty" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 08:14:09 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GRINDING IN POVERTY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.amarillo.com/stories/020707/opi_6749454.shtml Letters: First Americans live in unseen poverty February 7, 2007 Every day in the national media, there are accounts of generous Americans sending millions to foreign countries. Movie stars, computer giants, sports figures and manufacturers of sports shoes and equipment are dedicated to saving the world by giving to foreign nations. Why is there never any support shown for the American Indians of the United States? Is it because they do not riot or demand, or dominate the news with their every action? Or because they are kind, patient people who choose to remain on the tiny portions of land allotted to them? Or is it because they are mistakenly believed to be supported completely by the U.S. government, or well cared for by revenue from casinos? The Third-World conditions in which some Native Americans live is heart- wrenching. Some individuals from Amarillo, a class from Southwest Church of Christ, and people from other parts of Texas and two other states came together last year to take an 8-by-16-foot trailer of clothing and a few sports items to one of the poorest parts of the Sioux reservation. The mostly new items were greatly appreciated. Don't let Native Americans of any tribe remain invisible and uncared for. With support, we will take items to the reservations again. Lester and Linda Crow Amarillo Copyright c. 2004 Amarillo Globe-News. --------- "RE: Kansas loses gas tax dispute" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 08:32:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KANSAS DENIED BY SUPREME COURT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/16630273.htm Kansas loses gas tax dispute The Kansas City Star February 6, 2007 The Kansas Supreme Court on Monday barred the state from collecting disputed back taxes from an out-of-state, tribal-owned wholesaler that delivers gas to tribal filling stations. The decision did not turn on the tribal status of any of the parties, however. Instead, the state's high court turned to its Webster's dictionary and other resources to clarify the meaning of the word "receipt." In a 15-page opinion, the court said Kansas law clearly imposes its 24-cent-per-gallon tax on "the distributor of first receipt" of fuel in Kansas. Because the wholesaler, a Nebraska firm owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, did not "receive" gas in Kansas, but only delivered it to Kansas reservation filling stations, the court let the Winnebago firm off the hook for any taxes. Under federal law, however, the state also is barred from imposing taxes on sovereign tribes that sell the gas to consumers. As a result, no one will pay the back taxes that were first challenged in 2002. Bartle said officials haven't decided whether to appeal. Rick Alm, ralm@kcstar.com Copyright c. 2007 Kansas City Star. --------- "RE: Legislation introduced for Duwamish Recognition" --------- Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:02:24 -0800 From: "Art Durand" Subj: FW: "Rep. McDermott Introduces Legislation for Duwamish Tribe's Federal Recognition" --------- Forwarded Message --------- Date: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:36 PM From: Thomas R. Speer [mailto:trspeer@yahoo.com] Subj: "Rep. McDermott Introduces Legislation for Duwamish Tribe's Federal Recognition" We have received another generous gift from a great friend of the Duwamish Nation, Jim McDermott M.D., 7th District Congress Member: "Stewart, Rita" wrote: Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 16:48:29 -0500 From: "Stewart, Rita" Subj: FW: Duwamish release Mr. Speer, Attached is the press release and bill language for the Federal Recognition of the Duwamish. Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to pass along to others and any publications you think appropriate. Sincerely, Rita Stewart, Staff Assistant Congressman Jim McDermott 1809 7th Avenue, Suite 1212 Seattle, Washington 98101 (206) 553-7170 Fax: (206) 553-7175 ========================================== Seeking Federal Recognition For The Duwamish Tribe Rep. McDermott Introduces Legislation Today "After more than 150 years spanning three different centuries, the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot remains a broken promise by the federal government to the Duwamish people." Rep. Jim McDermott For Immediate Release, February 8, 2007 "It's time for the federal government to do the right thing- again," Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) said today when he introduced new legislation for federal recognition of the Duwamish Tribe. Six years ago, McDermott explained, the Duwamish Tribe was informed in the waning hours of the Clinton Administration that they would be federally recognized. However, a day later, the new Bush Administration placed a temporary moratorium on the decision, and then rejected it outright several months later. Subsequent appeals by the Tribe have also been denied. "The Duwamish Tribe has been treated unfairly, even rudely in this matter," McDermott said. "Federal recognition of the Duwamish Tribe is appropriate and it would right a wrong forced upon this Native American community in the 19th Century." "In my judgment, the credibility of the United States is on the line in this matter," McDermott said. "Our track record with respect to Native Americans is far from enviable, and we reaffirm past injustices by continuing to deny the Duwamish Tribe official federal recognition of their existence." McDermott pointed out that the Treaty of Point Elliot, which was signed in 1855, promised the federal recognition to the Duwamish people. "After more than 150 years spanning three different centuries, the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot remains a broken promise by the federal government to the Duwamish people," McDermott said. McDermott said Seattle, the heart of his 7th Congressional District, is named in honor of the Duwamish Chief Si'ahl. -30- --------- "RE: Commissioners to hear Anti-Reservation Arguments" --------- Date: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 08:30 pm From: Peter Webster Subj: Anti-Reservation group speaks out against KIamath Tribes Mailing List: Rez_Live Mailing List: CERTAIN Home Mailing List: CERTAIN Talk Ore. county commissioners to hear anti-reservation arguments The Associated Press February 5, 2007 KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) - A landowners group is urging Klamath County commissioners to take a stand against returning national forest land to the Klamath Tribes, but a leader of local irrigators says there's no need for the commissioners to act. Two years ago, the Tribes sought to recreate the reservation they had before losing federal recognition in 1961. The Tribes regained recognition in 1986 and have said they need land to become self-sufficient. Their reservation was converted to national forest land, and they have talked about seeking to have it, or part of it, returned. Glenn Howard of Klamath Basin Alliance said the petitions were a response to a meeting between tribal and county officials in 2005 when the tribe offered to pay for public lands to gain ownership. While the meetings that were supposed to follow never occurred, Howard said his organization was still concerned about preserving the lands of the Fremont-Winema National Forests. The county commissioners are to meet Tuesday on the landowners' resolution. A leader of local irrigators said the alliance's initiative has made it harder for irrigators and the Tribes to negotiate over water supplies. "These little spot fires are distracting," said Steve Kandra, president of the Klamath Basin Water Users Association. "People need to look forward and cooperate." Kandra and tribal chairman Allen Foreman said the Klamath Tribes don't have a land proposal on the table. Foreman said in a letter to a county commissioner that "the Tribes are not advancing a land recovery proposal at this time." Despite that, Howard said the alliance wants to make sure public lands remain public. "We were told there'd never be a good time, so we're just going to go ahead and do it," he said. Copyright c. 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Ore. --------- "RE: Rep. Butcher and INDN's List exchange words" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:41:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUTCHER CONTINUES TO INSERT FOOT IN MOUTH" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8589 Rep. Butcher and INDN's List exchange words over comments made to Rep Windyboy Liz Gray Februaty 8, 2007 The Indigenous Democratic Network spoke out this week to their list of followers against what they called "racist and hurtful comments" made by Rep. Butcher of Montana toward Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy. Hundreds of letters were sent to the Representatives office, in which he responded in an "insensitive manner", according to an announcement sent out by INDN's List. "You left-wing radicals should get a life with your "political correct" nonsense! In case you have lived outside the mainstream for too long, the word "chief" is used as a descriptive term for someone in leadership - I have been called that on numerous occasions and I sure as heck did not see that as a racial slur since my Viking ancestors were also called "chief", said Rep. Butcher to the INDN's list followers. The scuff between the two political entities started when Rep. Ed Butcher referred to Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy of Montana as "Chief Windy Boy" before a House Agriculture Committee last month. Butcher also later asked Windy Boy, who is Assiniboine and Cree, whether his large gavel qualified as a "war club." He later was made to apologize on the House Floor and soon heard comments made by Rep. Margarett Campbell, D-Poplar, an American Indian lawmaker whose district includes Assiniboine and Sioux tribal members on the Fort Peck Reservation. In her brief speech she commented that she didn't believe "the good people of Montana (wanted) the indigenous people of this state to be used as the butt of bad jokes and inappropriate comments." In Butcher's letter to INDN's List readers he accused Montana Democrats and INDN's List of politicizing the issue, "Jonathon Windy Boy and I are good friends and have worked together for three terms and I have nothing but the utmost respect for his ability as a legislator and as a person. Jonathon understood that I was complimenting him as I addressed him entering the room to take his seat beside me as head of the democrats (vice-chairman) in the Ag committee which I chair," said the Representative. "Rep. Butcher knows that [it was racist], which is why he apologizes in public - on the House floor - while insulting and dismissing genuinely concerned citizens in the privacy of his emails," said Kalyn Free, president and founder of INDN's List. "We don't think he ought to have the privilege to deride others in private while publicly (and deceitfully) appearing to regret his remarks." Free goes on to say that although Butcher dismisses his use of the word "chief" as a compliment by pointing to his Viking ancestry, his reference to Rep. Windy Boy's gavel as a "war club" shows that "this is just the latest in a pattern of racial insensitivity and disregard for the standards of others." Rep. Butcher concludes his letter by asking for "some useful suggestions instead of this nonsense." "In our email we called on the legislator to show the basic standards of decency common to the overwhelming majority," said Free. "What concerns me is that, we work so hard to get these people into these positions of power, after they get there they should be treated with the same respect and dignity as any other legislature should be." Free believes sports mascots and their racial stereotyping has an effect on the larger body of politics. "INDN's List is offering a positive vision for America, one in which American Indians serve alongside other committed public servants who strive to build a better future for our families, and the families of all Americans. One in which our leaders join the democratic system to replace a legacy of hate, exploitation, and disenfranchisement with a prosperous Indian Country, and a prosperous America, full of hope and opportunity," said Free. But Rep. Butcher doesn't appear worried about the issue, as he stated in his letter of response. "I do not worry about democrats and republicans since I was a democrat until 8 years ago and I have a lot of democrat voters as well as the republicans who send me here - I got over 60% of the vote in my district last election and they do not buy this mudslinging you people throw at me." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: PGE, Tribes share $65 Million Tower" --------- Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 08:14:09 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FISH TOWER" http://www.madraspioneer.com/MAPNews0.shtml PGE, tribes share $65 million tower By Holly M. Gill February 8, 2007 Officials are optimistic that a giant, underwater tower, to be constructed at the Round Butte Dam, will begin to restore fish runs above the dam in as little as three years. A joint project of Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the "selective water withdrawal tower" will enable the partners to replenish populations of several native species of fish. "The structure allows us to collect fish and redirect the current of fish trying to swim for the ocean," explained Julie Keil, of Portland, director of hydro licensing and water rights for PGE, which has a two- thirds interest in the Pelton/Round Butte Project - the largest hydroproject entirely in Oregon. The tribes own one-third of the project, which generates about 465 megawatts of electricity annually. As part of the relicensing of the hydroproject - issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 21, 2005 - PGE and the tribes agreed to invest more than $135 million over the 50-year license period. The tower is just one of the fish-related projects which will make up the bulk of the expenditures. Tall as the 18-story One World Trade Center building in Portland, the selective water withdrawal tower will be built over a 20-month period, beginning in September - without lowering the level of the reservoir, Keil said. Most of the structure will be built offsite and floated into place from the reservation side of the river, she pointed out. Primary contractor Barnard Construction Co., of Bozeman, Mont., will be in charge of construction, with the Dix Corp., of Spokane, Wash., as a major subcontractor for the $65 million project. "It's a lot of money, but the company and the tribes felt it was a worthwhile investment," said Keil, noting that "doing the right thing for fish," is one of the costs of doing business. "Our customers have been very supportive, very encouraging about restoring threatened fish populations," said Mark Fryburg, of Portland, public information specialist for PGE. "The nice thing at Pelton/Round Butte is that we can do the right thing for fish and maintain the supply of electricity - a renewable supply that contributes nothing to global warming," he added. Will it restore fish populations to their historic habitats? "There's always some level of uncertainty, but if we weren't highly confident that it would be successful, we wouldn't be undertaking it," Keil said. Because three rivers of varying temperatures and currents - the Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius - all come together above the dam at Lake Billy Chinook, "it's kind of a confusing place for young fish" trying to make their way downstream, she said. When Pelton Dam was completed in 1957 and Round Butte in 1964, "they didn't understand how the three rivers interacted when they got to the reservoir," she added. "They didn't realize that the Crooked River and the Deschutes River would sit on top of the reservoir and the Metolius would dive underneath because it's colder." As the two warmer rivers entered the lake, part of the current would turn west, flowing upstream over the Metolius, while the remainder would flow toward the dam, creating nearly impassable eddies. Although the original fish passage system provided downstream pipelines as well as upstream fish ladders and a gondola system, by 1966, it was clear that the system had failed. Migrating fish were unable to find their way to the collection facility, and the system was abandoned. Instead, PGE funded an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery program - the Round Butte Fish Hatchery - which opened in 1972. "When we started to plan for relicensing, we took a harder look at what was happening at the dam," she said. "Before the hydroproject, there were populations of spring chinook and summer steelhead above Lake Billy Chinook. The goal is to restore both spring chinook and summer steelhead back to their historic habitats," Keil said. The new project will blend the cooler water drawn from the bottom of the reservoir with surface water, collecting the fish on the surface, according to Jim Manion, general manager of Warm Springs Power Enterprises, which manages the tribes' interest in the Pelton/Round Butte Hydroelectric Project. "Once the tower is completed, the majority of the flow will come from the surface and thus attract the migrating salmon for transfer around the project," he said. Fish will enter the collection facility at the top of the structure, where a biologist will sort the fish by their species. "It is hoped that once the project is up and operating, we can sort three species for migration out of the project," said Manion. "Two of those species are currently not above the project - steelhead and spring chinook. The third species, landlocked kokanee, will also be reintroduced to a migration pattern as well," Manion said. "All this will be done with very careful planning with all the managing agencies involved in deciding when to implement the migration pattern." When the fish are reintroduced, Keil said, "We don't know yet what level of population we're going to be able to sustain. Irrigation withdrawals and development (along the Deschutes and Crooked rivers) have those places less hospitable for fish." "The tribes are excited and have been very supportive of reintroduction - putting the anadromous fish back into their homeland," said Manion. "It is hoped that once this program is under way, it will increase the harvest to levels that were once in the basin years ago. There's a lot of excitement about this project and a lot of anticipation." When the project begins in September, the public can watch progress from the Round Butte Overlook Park, during summer months. The tower is scheduled to be up and running in May of 2009, with the first adult salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean in 2010 and 2011. "It's a huge project, and one that is going to change the landscape of the reservoir," Manion said. As another part of relicensing agreement, PGE and the tribes have established a mitigation fund for habitat, fish and wildlife projects near the dams. The initial deposit of $3.5 million in the Pelton Round Butte Fund is earmarked to fund a variety of projects. "2007 will be the year when there's a significant amount of money available for those projects - planting trees in the riparian zone, removing fish passage barriers, screening irrigation diversion, so we don't lose fish out into irrigation canals," Keil said. A screening project for North Unit Irrigation District's Crooked River pumping station was the largest project approved last year, but others included U.S. Forest Service and local watershed council projects along Trout and Whychus creeks. Over the next 13 years - until 2020 - it is estimated that the fund will total $21.5 million for water acquisition and habitat restoration projects. Funding isn't limited to government agencies. "Local property owners with an idea can apply for funding," Fryburg noted. Copyright c. Madras Pioneer, Eagle Newspapers Inc., 2001 - 2007. --------- "RE: Don't forget this Land Rights Case" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONONDAGA" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2007/02/06/ news/latest_news/latestnews01.txt Don't forget this case By Amaris Elliott-Engel / The Citizen February 6, 2007 While much of upstate New York focuses on the applications to the federal government by the Cayuga Indian Nation, the Oneida Indian Nation and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma to have their land holdings taken into trust, there's a blast from past land claim litigation. The Onondaga Indian Nation's land rights action, first filed in March 2005, is still pending in federal court. Oral arguments over a motion to kill the litigation are scheduled for 1 p.m. March 28 in the Albany courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn. The Onondagas were the last tribe of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Confederacy to file a land action. The Onondagas are asking that a 4,000-square-mile area of central New York, including the eastern half of Cayuga County and running between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border, be declared their property based on the argument their original ownership of the land was violated by European settlers and their American descendants and the state of New York violated federal laws that allowed only the federal government to negotiate land treaties with tribes between 1788 and 1822. The cities of Syracuse, Binghamton, Watertown, Cortland, Fulton, and Oswego sit in the claim. Joseph Heath, one of the three attorneys representing the Onondagas, says that unlike other land claims made in the past the Onondagas do not seek to evict current owners or to receive monetary remedies. Instead, he said, the tribe is seeking an acknowledgment and a resolution to a historic wrong, as well as to strengthen its standing in its environmental cleanup efforts of Onondaga Lake and other spoiled environmental areas within the tribe's historic territory. Accordingly, the Onondagas have termed their litigation a land rights action instead of a land claim. The result is a legal action that is "not disruptive and not possessory, " Heath said. "What does it mean New York violated federal law at the very beginning of our republic?" Heath asked. "It should mean something. It should mean justice for the Onondagas." But the state argues that the Onondagas' lawsuit must be dismissed just as in other recent court decisions that found that New York tribes' land claims were disruptive because "of the passage of time and changes in the character of the land and the nature of the population that lived on the land," according to papers filed Jan. 31 by the New York Attorney General's Office. "Any claim of aboriginal title requires the Court to determine that the land was taken from the Nation illegally, that the current occupants' title is void and that the Onondagas still retain aboriginal title to the land," the AG's office papers said. "That claim is inherently disruptive, notwithstanding the Onondagas' assertion that it does not plan to seek possession of any of the land at issue in the lawsuit." As well, the Onondagas' court opponents argue that because of the passage of time, it does not matter that there have been parallel findings on behalf of the Cayugas and the Seneca-Cayugas that the state of New York did not act in good faith following treaties in the 1790s and that courts were not open until the late 1900s for tribes to seek redress. The dismissal of the Onondagas' action was called for on this ground in papers filed by the non-state defendants, including companies named by the Onondagas as causing environmental problems within their historic territory. Defendants in the case include the state of New York, former Gov. George Pataki, Onondaga County, the city of Syracuse, Honeywell International, Inc., Trigen Syracuse Energy Corporation, Clark Concrete Company, Inc., Valley Realty Development Company, Inc. and Hanson Aggregates North America. The Onondagas' case was put on hold until after the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision on whether to hear an appeal of a lower court's dismissal of the Cayuga Indian Nation's and Seneca-Cayugas' land claim that set aside a $248 million judgment awarded to the two tribes. The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal the last year. The dismissal followed a March 2005 Supreme Court decision, the City of Sherrill vs. Oneida Indian Nation, that blocked New York tribes from buying back land within their land claims and having it automatically revert to sovereign status. Many of the Onondagas reside on a 11-square-mile reservation south of Syracuse. Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net The Citizen Copyright c. 2007 - A division of Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Kodiak Album effort to preserve dying Language" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:57:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAVILG ALUTIIQ" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414456 Kodiak Natives' album effort to preserve dying language by: The Associated Press By Scott Christiansen - Kodiak Daily Mirror February 7, 2007 KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - Enthusiasm and humor were contagious Jan. 24 while Susan Malutin and Teresa Clark donned headphones and took a second turn at a pair of microphones in the main gallery of Kodiak's Alutiiq Museum. The women had just finished a carefully annunciated version of "Miktengcusqaq miskiiRaq," an Alutiiq translation of the children's song "Itsy Bitsy Spider." "Good," producer Stephen Blanchett said. "Now give me a silly one." Blanchett had previously recorded a group chorus. Now he was listening for, and capturing, individual voices for the song's final mix. He tapped a computer keyboard on the table in front of him. One of the sliding controls on the sound mixing board patched to the computer moved as if an invisible hand touched it. "OK, for real this time." "For real?" Clark asked. "For real. Just be silly. This one is for the kids." Malutin and Clark went through the next take with high-pitched girlish voices. All around the room cheeks swelled. Dimples revealed themselves, and women covered their mouths to prevent giggles from reaching Blanchett's microphones. By the time they got to the words paipaq mayunqiiskii ("the pipe it climbed up again"), everyone was cracking up. As lighthearted and downright goofy as the scene seemed, its also part of a weightier, more important story. The Sugpiaq people, Natives of Kodiak, are working hard on several fronts to preserve their language. Alutiiq is likely spoken by fewer than 100 people in Alaska. Alutiiq Museum Director Sven Haakanson Jr., a Harvard-trained anthropologist who is also Sugpiak, estimates that between 35 and 50 original speakers live on Kodiak Island today. "Were fighting a falling tide on this one. The language is disappearing and if we don't do something about it - if we don't do something about it now - it's going to disappear," Haakanson said. A children's song that's fun to sing and includes words for "rain," "spider" and "up" can help. It can likely help in a way that a picture book, and almost certainly a dictionary, can't. Over five days in mid-January, Sugpiaq singers with ties to every community on Kodiak Island came together to record songs. Not just children's songs, but also Christian hymns sung in Alutiiq, Slavonic and other songs native to Kodiak. A CD from the sessions will be available for sale later in the year, and museum workers say demand from visitors already exists. For Malutin, a second-year student in an Alutiiq language preservation program, the recording sessions have already been an important event. "The best thing was to have so many of our elders here together in one place at the same time," Malutin said. Clyda Christensen, 86, is one of the elders who made time to share songs and her knowledge of the language. Elders sang, and also rehearsed with younger singers, coaching their pronunciation. Christensen grew up in Karluk and remembers when the town had seven canneries operating during the summer and hundreds of residents. Karluk had 27 residents in 2005, according to census data. More recently, Karluk residents said about 40 people live there. "There was about 300 people [in Karluk] when I was growing up. My dad, he was from Sweden, and he used to say there was about 500 people there when he met my mom," Christensen said. She grew up speaking English in school and with her father, and Alutiiq with her mom. As a little girl she would listen to house guests speak Alutiiq with her mother over tea. This is how she first got word of airplanes. She says she misunderstood at first. "I heard them say that many years from now, people are not going to use boats or dories. But they are going to fly through the air. I remember running to my sister and telling her, 'We're going to fly! Maybe we'll have wings like seagulls. I think that's what mom and them are talking about,"' she said. Christensen, like many people her age, refers to the Alutiiq language as "Aleut." She recognizes which island village a speaker is from by their accent. "They called us the North-enders. Our language is the same as Old Harbor and Akhiok, but the dialect is a little different," she said. "When we would all sing together, it was sometimes hard for us to follow them. They sing a little different - but the same songs." The Orthodox caroling tradition, called "starring," was part of growing up in Karluk, Christensen said. This week's recordings came right at the end of the church's Christmas holidays, which come in the beginning of January. "It's caroling," Christensen said. "We go starring. The stars are stars that we carry. And we would carry them into every home. It's carrying Jesus into every home." The museum's language manager, April Laktonen-Counselor, guessed that about one-fourth of all the original Alutiiq speakers living on Kodiak participated in the recordings. "I think the starring songs had a lot to do with that, and the general upbeat nature of singing. I think that this time of year there was a hunger for that," Laktonen-Counselor said. While Blanchett was packing up his equipment Jan. 24 he talked about his work. Blanchett is Yupik, and a member of the vocal group Pamyua, one of Alaska's most popular singing groups. His band mixes influences from Yupik, Greenland Inuit, American soul singing and more. They've released three albums and won a Native American Music Award in 2003. For the last two years, Blachett has been picking up jobs with his field recording equipment. He's traveled to Barrow, Tatitlek and Chenega Bay, among other places. "I'm all about making recordings and CDs because we don't have anything to listen to," he said. "And its great to be with the elders. It's been like that, laughing, since I got here last week." Blanchett paused while packing and talked about the "vibe" in the museum's gallery. "We were upstairs in the boardroom and then we had to come down here," he said. "They had to have a board meeting. When they said we could go back up there I said, 'No, I like it better here."' The singers were more comfortable in the museum than the boardroom, "even with the interruptions," he said. He waved a hand toward a display case containing oil lamps carved from stone. "I like doing it here, down here next to these thousand-year-old things." Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: HARJO:Republican Policy-makers oppose Health Bill" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:07:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARJO: INVERTED REPUBLICAN LOGIC LABELS INDIAN HEALTH RACE-BASED" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414475 Harjo: Republican policy-makers oppose health bill as 'race-based' by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Indian Country Today February 9, 2007 Senate Republican policy-makers say the Indian Health Care Improvement Act is "race-based" and they'll oppose its reauthorization. In so doing, they not only deny the health law's Republican parentage, but they pick a fight that is mean-spirited and cruel to Native people who are infirm and in distress. The IHCIA was intended to elevate the Indian health status to the level of the general U.S. population. While gains have been made, that goal is far from being realized and the health status of Native people remains in a critical state. The IHCIA was first approved by President Gerald Ford, whose 1976 signing statement reads, in part: "Indian people still lag behind the American people as a whole in achieving and maintaining good health. ... Our first Americans should not be last in opportunity." Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton all signed acts reauthorizing the Indian health law. The law expired in late 2000. Scandals, elections, disasters, war and political wrangling all overshadowed the health bill's renewal. Congress has funded the health programs under an earlier umbrella authorization for Indian health services, and President George W. Bush has signed the funding bills. Since 2001, one arm of the Bush administration - the Health and Human Services Department - has engaged tribal leaders and authorizing committees in various bill-drafting exercises. But another executive arm - the Office of Legal Counsel, in the Justice Department - has secretly crafted reasons to oppose the drafts. Four authorizing panels reported their reauthorizations last year and it seemed as if a health bill would be enacted before the 2006 elections. At the last minute before Congress adjourned for the midterms, an unmarked "white paper" prepared by the OLC was circulated among conservative Republican senators, who put holds on the bill and killed it. The white paper was a witch's brew of objections to certain sections of a bill that was not on the table and that the OLC knew was not on the table. But it stopped progress on the legislation that was being considered. Tribal leaders who had labored over the legislation took a presidential assistant to task in a public meeting, but he could only say the white paper was a surprise to the White House, too. The National Indian Health Board made a last-ditch effort to save the health bill. NIHB worked with White House, Justice and other administration representatives to resolve any differences, so that the bill could be considered in the lame-duck session. NIHB also called on the president and the U.S. Attorney General to withdraw the white paper and inform the Senate that the document does not represent Justice's formal views. NIHB's Oct. 26 letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stated: "It is time for the Federal government to honor its responsibility and uphold the government-to-government relationship with Indian Tribes founded on the U.S. Constitution, Treaty rights, and other Federal law, to provide health care to Indian people." Whatever Justice or the White House communicated to the Hill - and they may have said nothing at all, but we may never know - the white paper continues to have a noxious effect in this new Congress. The Republican Policy Committee is informing its senators' offices that authorization of the IHCIA will be opposed across the board because it is "race-based." The committee is comprised of the Senate's Republican leaders and chairs of standing committees. The OLC and the RPC teamed up in 2005 to oppose legislation that would have provided federal governmental recognition for Native Hawaiians along the lines of Indian tribal status. They defeated the legislation as "race- based." The RPC was careful to distinguish between the situation of Native Hawaiians and American Indians in a June 22, 2005, policy advisory, "Why Congress Must Reject Race-Based Government for Native Hawaiians." In a section titled "No Political Entity," the RPC paper states: "There is another reason why persons with Native Hawaiian blood alone cannot be considered a tribe: they fail the settled "political test" that determines whether a tribe should be recognized. "It is important to understand why there is a 'political test' for granting tribal recognition. The Constitution does not speak to Native 'peoples,' but only to 'Indian tribes.' As the Supreme Court has stated, 'Indian tribes are 'distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights' in matters of local self-government. [They are] separate sovereigns pre-existing the Constitution.' "Thus, Indian tribes are respected as legal entities with quasi- sovereign powers because they existed prior to the creation of state governments. Their lands and sovereignty were respected either through treaties entered into with the United States, or due to special reservations in statehood enabling acts. "Where Indian communities - communities, not mere racial groups - have been recognized by government post-statehood, it has been due to the recognition that a community continued to exist, and that the community had a semblance of ongoing political cohesion." One has to ask the RPC: what has changed in the law or in facts from 2005 to 2007? The answer is that nothing has changed. The OLC's ad hoc white paper raised the specter of "race-based" legislation, even as it cited Supreme Court precedents regarding Indians as a politically, not racially, distinct group. Here's another dirty deal. As the NIHB was working with the White House to come up with mutually agreeable language for the health bill, the administration's bean-counters were busy eliminating health programs from their proposed budget. The president's fiscal year '08 proposal eliminates the entire Urban Indian Health Program. The FY '07 budget proposed to do away with the program, but congressional appropriators made it clear in committee reports that they wanted to fund it. National Council of Urban Indian Health Director Geoffrey Roth called the proposal "outrageous." While it "comes as no shock," he also said that "the administration's continued disregard of the urgent health care needs of the urban Indian population and tribes' rights to self-determination is nevertheless disconcerting." The urban Indian program is not "race-based." Most Indian people are in urban areas because of federal programs and policies. The health care law is treaty-based, not race-based or place-based. The treaties are between federal and tribal nations. That's a political relationship, not a racial relationship. Indian people are tribal citizens. That's a political relationship, not a racial relationship. The health programs are based on the unique relationship between Indian tribes and the United States. That is a political relationship, not a racial one. The health law also serves Native people who have been disenfranchised by the federal government and whose recognition status is being reviewed by the same federal government. These are people, too, who have been made sick by actions or inactions of the federal government. The federal government should argue that it has a compelling state interest in making all Native people healthier. It has an obligation to do good because it has done bad things to Indians on a racial basis. It has an ongoing responsibility to help Native people it has harmed. "Race-based"? I'll tell you what's race-based. Privileged white folks issuing decrees to create loopholes to allow privileged white folks to evade their legal and moral responsibilities. Now that's "race-based." --- 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 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: GARCIA: Tribal Justice is not a 'quirk'" --------- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:07:05 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GARCIA: TRIBAL JUSTICE" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414476 Garcia: Tribal justice is not a 'quirk' by: Joe Garcia February 9, 2007 On Feb. 1, the Wall Street Journal published a front page article, "Native Americans on Trial Often Go Without Counsel," highlighting one effect of the dramatic underfunding of tribal criminal justice systems. While we applaud the Wall Street Journal for raising this important issue, several aspects of the article lacked context and require a response. First and foremost, the headline of the article is misleading. Most tribal courts provide counsel for indigent defendants and many tribes use their own tribal revenues to provide these services. The article cited one example from Tohono O'odham where the tribe lacked the resources to provide counsel for multiple co-defendants, to draw the conclusion that Native people often go on trial unrepresented, when in fact these types of prosecutions are rare. Second, the article suggests that it is "a little-known quirk of federal law" that tribes "are considered sovereign nations." To the millions of Indian people and hundreds of tribal governments who have functioned as autonomous sovereigns since time immemorial, our governments are much more than a "quirk of federal law." The sovereignty of our governments has been recognized by the federal government since its founding and is acknowledged in hundreds of treaties, the U.S. Constitution, countless statutes and executive orders. Any discussion of tribal justice systems must acknowledge and embrace tribal jurisdiction. The article wrongly suggests that Indian people lack one of the guarantees of their basic civil rights. Because our sovereignty predates the U.S. Constitution, the provisions of the Bill of Rights do not apply to tribal governments. Tribes were recognized as foreign sovereigns outside the authority of the federal government when the Bill of Rights was developed. But to say that "the Constitution acts as a floor ... that no state can go below" and that no such floor exists for Indian people is simply not correct and reveals a profound misunderstanding of Indian law. The U.S. Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1968, which guarantees many basic civil rights to tribal citizens. Even more importantly, tribes have their own systems of laws and constitutions that provide protections to their citizens in accordance with our traditions. Together, these federal and tribal laws require that justice be meted out fairly and the rights of individuals protected. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, for example, includes a provision in its Constitution that provides for indigent criminal defense. Similarly, the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the country, has codified a Navajo Bill of Rights in its code that guarantees, among other things, a right to counsel. The Navajo Nation is one of many tribes that budgets for indigent legal services despite receiving virtually no federal funding to cover the costs. The chief problem is that too often, the laws that protect the rights of Indian people cannot be effectively enforced for lack of funding. It is no accident that the Wall Street Journal could find an example from the Tohono O'odham Nation. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government clamped down on illegal immigration in the urban areas of the Mexican border. As a result, the Tohono O'odham reservation saw a huge increase in illegal immigration, drug smuggling and related crime. The Tohono O'odham Nation has repeatedly and assertively asked for additional federal resources to help them govern the 80 miles of international border the reservation shares with Mexico. Yet, Indian tribes are not eligible to directly receive any of the billions that the federal government distributes to state governments to help them patrol the borders and combat drug-trafficking. So Tohono O'odham, and many other tribes, are forced to allocate their scarce resources among many competing pr iorities. Although this is not a problem unique to Indian country, the Wall Street Journal provided no comparison to the challenges other court systems in the United States face trying to provide indigent counsel in their courts. In recent years articles have been published that document the breakdown of the indigent defense system in Boston, Virginia, New York and other jurisdictions, but there was no mention of this in the Wall Street Journal article. For tribal governments, the problem of scarce resources is compounded by the federal government's failure to meet its law enforcement responsibility on tribal lands. The federal government has assumed jurisdiction over major felony crimes committed on Indian reservations and has limited the sentencing authority of tribal courts to one year. The defendant profiled in the Wall Street Journal article was caught smuggling nearly 200 pounds of marijuana across an international border, but the U.S. Attorney would not prosecute, forcing the Tohono O'odham Nation to try him in tribal court. Tribal court systems are routinely overburdened by serious crimes that should be prosecuted in federal court. While the Wall Street Journal focused on the lack of resources for indigent defense, we know that virtually all aspects of the justice system in Indian country are in need of additional resources. The challenges of improving tribal justice systems are broader than providing counsel to indigent defendants and include better funding for jails, police investigation, prosecution, courtrooms and severely overcrowded jails. Problems and solutions need to be developed with a view to ensuring justice is done at all stages of tribal systems. Improving tribal justice systems has been a top priority for the National Congress of American Indians and Indian tribes for years. We must continue our internal efforts to make sure justice is done, and also to let our voices be heard that greater funding is needed. The Wall Street Journal article helps to demonstrate that need. However, we hope journalists and Congress will keep in mind the entirety of tribal justice systems, the deep history that grounds our sovereignty, and the many sources of law - federal and tribal - that protect our people. --- Joe Garcia is president of National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: `Black enough' and `Indian enough'" --------- Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:41:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: LOOKING BEYOND SKIN TONE" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=26716§ion= columnists&columnist=Dorreen%20Yellow%20Bird&freebie_check&CFID= 18649062&CFTOKEN=91210166&jsessionid=8830aa32aeb6556b3147 `Black enough' and `Indian enough' Dorreen Yellow Bird February 9, 2007 Twenty percent of black voters support Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president, while 60 percent support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a Washington Post-ABC News poll found. In an essay in the online magazine Salon.com, black author and essayist Debra Dickerson suggested this: The weak support for Obama could be because "Obama isn't black." He's the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, Dickerson noted. That means he hasn't had the experiences of most black Americans, whose ancestors endured slavery, segregation and the bitter struggle for civil rights. And Hillary has? I am impressed with Obama, not so much that he would represent "an increasingly multicultural nation," as the New York Times put it, but because he's a bright newcomer to the national political scene - a breath of fresh air. Plus, he isn't a leading Democratic presidential candidate merely because he is connected, rich and has famous relatives to help him. In February 1990, Obama was elected president of the Harvard Law Review; he earned his law degree from that prestigious university magna cum laude. "That ain't no easy trick." I'm uncomfortable, however, with Obama because he seems to lacks international experience and national leadership. Can a 44-year-old man with his background solve the problems in the Middle East, protect the United States against terrorism, rein in an out-of-control budget or save Social Security? Unfortunately, as I look at the rest of the Democratic and Republican presidential contenders - many of whom have years of experience in high- level leadership positions - I'm not so sure they can do those things, either. So the question of whether Obama is or is not "black" seems to pale compared with the major issues this country is grappling with. Actually, the issue of whether he is black isn't the question. The question is: "Is he black enough?" That question haunted me because I heard myself in the comments from people on the street who talked about Obama in recent national interviews. I have asked some of the same questions, except about being Indian or "Indian enough." For Indian people, we range from almost full blood American Indian background to "you couldn't tell that person is Indian." Being "black enough" or "Indian enough" usually refers to your experience in Indian country or black America. In Indian country, if you are light-skinned with shades of blond hair, you can be discriminated against by your own people because you are "different." The irony is staggering, when you consider it is some of those same differences that cause discrimination by non-Indians. On the other hand, if an Indian is accepted by mainstream society as white, that can prove dicey, too. An example is an aunt of mine who was light-skinned. She was a professional in the local hospital. Her co- workers didn't know she was Indian, and she told me that she'd heard some pretty negative comments about Indian people that hurt her. She felt disloyal not defending Indian people and her family. So, in turn, she would try to make us (her nieces) fit non-Native ways. I did tell my "auntie" that I was OK, because people didn't make negative racial remarks to my brown face. That could prove risky for the non-Native. There are similarities between my aunt's comments and those of comedian Bill Cosby. He was the first African American to star in a major television series "I Spy." I met Cosby when he entertained at the Dakota Magic casino a few years ago. He had lived many years under the protection of his wealth and success as an actor. Like my aunt, he probably heard comments about black people, because as a pioneer black entertainer, he must have been the only black person in the room at many times in his early career. Cosby's recent remarks that black people shouldn't blame "white people" for their problems probably are true. He wasn't asking that blacks try to fit into white culture, which is what my aunt said. But both Cosby and my aunt wanted us to fit in so we wouldn't feel the sting of racism. It was a way of protecting us, I suppose. Obama could probably tell you some stories, too, but not from the point of view of a white person. He can't pass. He may not have had the experience of growing up in the ghetto, but my guess is he has felt discrimination. In any event, it isn't as important for Barack Obama to relate to any one group of people as it is that he understands the needs of our country. So, what's most important is that he is strong enough and smart enough to hold the helm and guide us into a time of peace and prosperity. That'll be no easy task, no matter what race he is. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Copyright c. 2007 Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND 58102. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: EZLN communique on growing Threats" --------- Date: Sunday, February 11, 2007 01:23 am From: Chiapas95-english Subj: En;EZLN communique on growing threats,Feb 06 Mailing List: Chiapas95-En This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 14:36:27 -0600 (CST) From: El Kilombo To: chiapas@eco.utexas.edu Subject: En;translation of first Feb 6 EZLN communique Translation El Kilombo Intergala'ctico Communique' from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation Mexico February 2006 The EZLN shares its word on what the bad governments are preparing in the state of Chiapas against the Zapatista Indigenous Communities: First - As has been denounced by the Autonomous Municipalities and the Good Government Councils, the supposed campaigns against narcotrafficking carried out by the government are a farce. Just like that which took Mr. Caldero'n Hinojosa to power. In the municipalities with official governments, that authorities cover for those who steal cars and plant and traffic drugs is publicly known. The federal army, when it goes out to destroy marijuana plants, only destroys the mature plants and leaves the young plants, this with the goal of having an excuse to come back and try to intimidate the Zapatista communities. What's more, the authorities don't even know the geography of the state, as they map the destruction of plants as if they were in Zapatista territory, when everyone knows that these are lands governed by PRI and PRD authorities and inhabited by their followers. Since its birth, the EZLN has prohibited the planting, traffic, and use of drugs (as well as the sale and use of alcohol) and that has been ratified by the autonomous civil authorities. Despite the fact that Mr. Luis H. Alvarez, old and useless commissioner of peace and now "indigenist" bureaucrat with Caldero'n Hinojosa, has declared time and time again that the EZLN is a thing of the past, that it no longer has strength, that it has already disappeared, military presence [in Chiapas] has not only not diminished, but has in fact increased. If we don't exist anymore, if we are "a thing of the past," if we no longer have any strength, why do they maintain and reinforce militarization and, as in the times of Zedillo and Albores, paramilitarization? The operatives against narcotrafficking and illegal vehicles are mere pretexts for increasing the already disproportionate militarization of rural Chiapas. In Chiapas it is a crime to be a Zapatista or a human rights or environmental activist. That is, it is a crime to defend and take care of the forests, to punish and impede narcotrafficking and the trafficking of precious woods, to condemn the sale of stolen cars, to improve the living conditions of the indigenous communities with education, health, housing, and commercialization programs. Instead, to be a narcotrafficker, to cut down forests and traffic precious woods, to do business in stolen automobiles, to threaten with death and impoverish the communities, is to be... a military or police commander, senator, municipal president, or state or federal representative. Second - The federal, state, and municipal governments are preparing new paramilitary groups, now under the disguise of "indigenous organizations." Such is the case of the OPDDIC - or OPDIC - (Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Peasant Rights). The OPDDIC is directed by Mr. Pedro Chuli'n, PRI member known for his role in building the paramilitary groups (including, among others, the MIRA-Indigenous Revolutionary Anti-Zapatista Movement), financed by the authorities and trained and equipped by the federal army. Mr. Pedro Chuli'n began his misdeeds with "Croquetas" Albores Guille'n and, since then, has relied upon the complicity of the subsequent state governments and the electoral political parties. In the last few days, Mr. Pedro Chuli'n and members of his gang have declared that they possess weapons and have the authorization of the government to provoke confrontations with Zapatista support bases, this with the goal of presenting an image of conflicts between indigenous peoples and thus justifying a massive intervention of federal forces. In addition to this, the OPDDIC and Mr. Pedro Chuli'n are promoting the felling of trees and the trafficking of precious woods, making million-peso contracts with the companies destroying the jungle. These contracts only benefit Chuli'n and other OPDDIC leaders, providing their bases with a mere pittance. The OPDDIC is a criminal organization. According to EZLN investigations, the OPDDIC is directly responsible for the assassination of the indigenous persons (first incorrectly identified as Zapatista support bases) in the community of Viejo Velasco Suarez last November, and they have been allowed impunity thanks to their relations with the government. Also, the OPDDIC, following the steps of the paramilitary organization "Peace and Justice" in the north of Chiapas, has dedicated itself to threatening with death members of non-governmental organizations that work in Chiapas to defend human rights and the environment. This is the case with the environmental NGO "Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste" and the human rights centers "Fray Bartolome de las Casas" and "Fray Lorenzo de la Nada" whose members have been openly threatened by the OPDDIC without any response or action from the authorities. In recent days, the OPDDIC leadership has sent correspondence, signed by its leaders, threatening entire families with being displaced or attacked for the crime of not affiliating themselves with their paramilitary gang or not permitting the trafficking of woods. Third - To the OPDDIC, Mr. Pedro Chuli'n, and the governmental authorities, we say that we are prepared and ready to defend our people and enforce the indigenous laws that protect the trees and the nature of the Lacondo'n Jungle, prohibiting the cutting down and trafficking of precious woods, as well as the planting, trafficking, and consumption of narcotics. We tell them that we are prepared to reinitiate war with these groups, and that even though it would be disguised as "conflicts among the indigenous" and abetted by the militarist posses of Mr. Caldero'n, we are willing and ready to fight. If they think that this will detain our political project of the "Other Campaign," we tell them that they are mistaken. For years we have prepared this civil and peaceful effort for a real and profound transformation of our country, even in the middle of a war. If they calculate that this plan will culminate with the successful annihilation of Zapatista Indigenous communities and give the green light to the destruction and plundering of the Lacondo'n Jungle, which was accelerated under the Zedillo and Fox governments, we say that we are ready and prepared to resist. With our blood we recovered life for our mother earth, with our love we will defend her. It doesn't matter how many soldiers, police officers, or paramilitaries come, we will care for the earth that holds our dead even at the cost of our liberty or our lives. Liberty and Justice for Atenco! Liberty and Justice for Oaxaca! Democracy! Liberty! Justice! >From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee ? General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos Mexico, February 2007 Translation El Kilombo Intergala'ctico Communique' from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee ? General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation Mexico -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: A slap in the face of every Canadian" --------- Date: Monday, February 05, 2007 08:36 pm From: frostyca2000 Subj: A slap in the face of every Canadian Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/ RTGAM.20070203.wxfocuscover03/BNStory/National/home A slap in the face of every Canadian Meet Lizabell. She is 15. Her baby is dead. And still the men won't leave her alone. 'I wish my son were here. He would love me forever.' MARGARET PHILP From Saturday's Globe and Mail February 3, 2007 The catastrophe of native life in Canada is old news. Decades pass, reports are drafted, articles are published, and nothing happens. Canadians have become as remote to the suffering as spouses in a stale marriage. But now something extraordinary has happened. One of the international humanitarian agencies that fight malaria in dusty refugee camps is training its eye on some of the isolated, alcohol- drenched reserves here at home. Two international relief workers from Save the Children have just finished a tour in Canada - a country ranked sixth on the United Nations' Human Development Index - that takes a hard look at the poverty and hopelessness in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario. That communities so close to home could be candidates for international aid is a rude slap to Canadians who have donated billions of dollars over the years to building new schools for tsunami victims and shelter for African orphans. "Canada should be cleaning up the backyard at home before they go out and fix other places," says Michael Hardy, executive director of Tikinagan Child and Family Services, the native-run society responsible for protecting youngsters in the 30 first nations scattered across the province's Northwest. "I'm not sure what world we fit into here. Whether it's Third World or Fourth World or whatever. But something has to take place." Death taunts Krystal Shewaybick like a schoolyard bully. She thinks of it now as she hunches over a sheet of paper in the school library, carefully writing the names of her four sisters. "Just the 5 of us 4- ever." She flips the page, scribbling in the corner: "R*I*P David Thadeus Shewaybick. Miss yah so much my cousin!!" And she thinks of it again after school when she gets home, bursts through the door with its broken window and gaping hole where the doorknob belongs, and sweeps her year-old sister into her arms. At 13, she might be thinking about clothes or movies. But not here on the Webequie First Nation, far from the theatres and shopping malls of Thunder Bay, which is 540 kilometres by air to the south. Since her 15-year-old cousin committed suicide last winter, hanging himself in the penalty box of the outdoor rink where he played hockey most of his life, she has lived in fear of death. Not only her own, but that of her four little sisters, whose pictures are plastered across her bedroom wall. David Shewaybick was a popular traditional drummer and dancer whose death was the 24th suicide in two decades - most by the hands of the young - in this remote community of 700. At that rate, 4,250 Torontonians would have killed themselves last year - more than the toll for the entire country. "I don't want to commit suicide," Krystal murmurs, barely above a whisper. Two long braids tumble from underneath a black tuque pulled down to her eyes. Her eyes flicker for an instant from the library floor. These are among the few words she utters in response to the questions being asked by curious strangers who have travelled thousands of kilometres from the South - one from the United States - in an attempt to understand what life is like for children in Ontario's remote native reserves. One of the strangers is Barbara Ammirati of Save the Children, which specializes in trying to spare children the harrowing aftermath of war and natural disaster. For 18 months, she was deputy leader of the agency's Hurricane Katrina response. Now, not a week after packing her suitcase in balmy New Orleans, she has landed in the sub-zero North. A reserve is unlikely turf for international aid workers, but Ms. Ammirati is here with Nicholas Finney, emergencies deployment adviser with Save the Children in Britain, to start work on an unprecedented partnership between northern first nations and southern social agencies. It's a proj