_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 041 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 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 October 8, 2007 Passamaquoddy Toqakiw/autumn moon Kiowa Gakinat'o p'a/ten-colds moon Blackfeet Sa'aiksi itaomatooyi/moon when ducks leave Algonquin Pepewarr-/white frost on grass and ground 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.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing Lists: Chiapas95-En, Native Poetry 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 Quotes: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "We are responsible for the condition of the Earth. We are the ones who are responsible and we can change that. If we wake up, it is possible to change the energy. It is possible to change everything." __Hunbatz Men, Mayan +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 I have a question for Italian-Americans. Why do you even want to host a parade in honor of Columbus in Denver or anywhere else? In the first place, this glorious "hero" did absolutely nothing for Italy (because the Italian governments were too smart to buy into his schemes), but instead acted on behalf of the one ruler sucker enough to finance him - Isabella of Spain. If Italians have a cause for pride, it should be pride in the rulers of Italy, who rejected Columbus. Columbus discovered nothing! The "new world" was already occupied. Advanced civilizations were established and thriving. Mayans had systems of mathematics and astronomy. They had also created an accurate calendar. The Incas built a system of bridges and roads. The pueblos had developed sophisticated water management systems that allowed them to grow lush crops in the desert, and were pioneers in biodiversity. Columbus was a total failure! He wasn't even the first European to land on these shores. The Norse had come and gone years earlier. His stated mission was to find a simple route from Europe to the Indies and he failed at that. He didn't even realize that the land he found was not the Indies for several years. He was so aware of his own shortcomings that he sold his benefactors a bill of goods about how the islands he'd stumbled upon were a treasure house of gold and other valuables. Kind historians call his stories exaggerations. The settlers who were duped into coming to his "treasure house" had another word for it, resulting in Columbus's arrest and a brief stint in chains. He did introduce slavery. Human trafficking turned out to be the only thing he was good at, and the only market he could exploit in this country. He was responsible for slaughtering, enslaving and exploiting Native inhabitants when he arrived, and encouraging others to follow his lead, introducing slavery as the first big business in the western hemisphere. He introduced European diseases the Native Americans had no resistance to, causing an epidemic of death by disease that decimated and even eliminated some Native populations. He didn't even make it back to Spain with his three ships intact. So, my question remains, "Why do you glorify a con-artist, tyrant, murderer and a failure?" ' ' 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: - HODGSON-McCAULEY: Aboriginal . Why does anyone want Standard of Life not improving to observe Columbus Day? - MORRIS: How Columbus Day - Indians plan harms American Indians anti-Columbus Day March - ANDREW HANON: Shameful treatment - Protesters to ramp up rally - YELLOW BIRD: at Columbus Day Parade Reform moves slowly with BIA - Committee Hearing - Chiapas/Zapatista News Summary to focus on Interior Backlogs - 'Shocked' over Dempster Caribou - Part 1: Schaghticoke hunting changes seek Recognition restoration - Report highlights Ontario's - In Government's Eyes, violations of Rights small Tribe doesn't exist - Canadian Laws could - Compact may help Navajo Children eliminate Status Indians - Decision on Land-Trust Appeal - Shutting down the Bush coming soon - Metis to defy Alberta - Tax status sought for Tribal Land hunting restrictions - Gathering Rules seen - Mt. Pleasant joins as an attack on Way of Life Isabella Boundary Lawsuit - White Earth Nation - Oneida Police probe threat welcomes Adoptees Home against Tribal Leaders - Cry from the top of the World - Navajo Officials to Feds: - University, Tribe We need more Jails strive to preserve a Heritage - Lawyers ask High Court - NA earns Online to continue Abuse Lawsuits Library Master's Degree - Native Justice - Dancers lead fight -- Families seek answers for Fathers' Rights in wake of Browning killings - Racism ain't cheap - Rustywire: Hair Wash - GIAGO: - Lee Goins Poem: Tones of Passion The origins of Native American Day - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Indians plan anti-Columbus Day March" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 07:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROGRESSIVE ITALIANS JOIN INDIANS IN OPPOSITION TO COLUMBUS DAY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/10/02/ indians_plan_anticolumbus_day_march/3805/ Indians plan anti-Columbus Day march October 2, 2007 DENVER, Oct. 2 (UPI) - An American Indian group plans demonstrations during Denver's Columbus Day celebration to demand the repeal of the holiday. The splinter group of the American Indian Movement announced Monday four marches will converge on the state Capitol at 8 a.m. Saturday, the Rocky Mountain News reported. The official parade begins at 10 a.m. Shannon Francis of Littleton, Colo., a member of the Hopi and Dine tribes, said Columbus Day is not a celebration of the landing of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas but of an invasion of the native peoples' land by a foreign power. "As we move into the 100th anniversary of Columbus Day, this is basically something that affects my family directly," she said during a news conference in Denver. Glenn Spagnuolo of Progressive Italians Transforming the Columbus Holiday or PITCH, said Columbus Day does not represent a real Italian tradition. He said some protesters will be coming from Italy to support the Indians. Copyright c. 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Protesters to ramp up rally at Columbus Day Parade" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 07:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DENVER'S 100th COLUMBUS DAY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/69713.html Protesters to ramp up rally at Columbus Day Parade By P. SOLOMON BANDA Associated Press October 2, 2007 DENVER - Denver's Columbus Day Parade will mark its 100th anniversary this weekend, and like previous parades, this one is expected to be contentious, with hundreds of American Indians and supporters turning out to condemn Columbus as a genocidal oppressor. Organizers of a protest march called the All Nations/Four Directions March stepped up their rhetoric by likening last year's use of re-enactors of a 19th-century U.S. Army Cavalry unit to carry the flag before the start of the parade to nooses used to intimidate black students in the central Louisiana town of Jena. "Being led by a cavalry unit in a uniform from the Indian Wars exemplifies perfectly what this is about: It is about conquest, genocide and hatred," said Glenn Morris, a member of the American Indian Movement leadership council and an organizer of the protest. Parade organizer George Vendegnia of the Sons of Italy New Generation said the cavalry unit has always been a part of the parade, though they haven't before been noted by the protest groups. "It's only three guys on horses," Vendegnia said. "All this time (they're saying) it was genocide by Columbus because he reigned through Spain, and now they're saying the cavalry did it. That's their next attack group. "If the U.S. cavalry committed genocide, why don't they protest President's Day?" Racial tensions in Jena began rising in August 2006 after a black student sat under a tree known as a gathering spot for white high-school students. Three white students later hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended but not prosecuted, and six black students were later charged with crimes in the beating of a white teen that sparked massive protests. Both the Columbus Day parade and protest march will be Saturday. Denver's parade, which was started in 1907, has a troubled history of arrests and confrontations between Columbus supporters and detractors. Protesters have called him a slave trader who touched off centuries of genocide and oppression against native people. Supporters say he was a brave explorer who opened a new world, and the parade is a celebration of Italian heritage. Colorado is credited with being the first to make Columbus Day a state holiday, which in 1937 became a federal holiday. The parade is touted as being one of the first in honor of Columbus. Morris and other members of the groups that compose the Transform Columbus Day Alliance want Columbus' name dropped from the celebration, noting they recognize the parade organizers' desire to celebrate their Italian heritage. Not doing so turns the celebration into a celebration of hate, the protesters said. "A hundred years is enough of a celebration that is nothing more than hate speech," said Mark Cohen, a member of the alliance. "This vile and racist celebration that started here must end here." Morris and other members of AIM this year were rebuffed when they asked legislative leaders to pass a bill revoking the commemoration, which Morris said was called divisive. In 1990, organizers allowed AIM leader Russell Means and about 150 supporters to lead the parade to avoid a demonstration but in 1992 the parade was called off minutes before it was to begin to avoid a clash with activists. Organizers again revived the parade in 2000, with both sides meeting on the issue in talks mediated by clergy, which produced no results. No face-to-face talks have been held since 2001. Copyright c. 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. --------- "RE: Committee Hearing to focus on Interior Backlogs" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 15:13:21 -0400 From: "Piatt, Barry (Dorgan)" Subj: NEWS - Indian Affairs Committee Hearing Will Focus on Backlogs at Interior For Immediate Release CONTACT: Barry Piatt Wednesday or Brenden Timpe October 3, 2007 PHONE: 202-224-2551 SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING WILL FOCUS ON BACKLOGS AT INTERIOR (WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced Wednesday the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee will conduct an oversight hearing Thursday, October 4 on backlogs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Native American communities are required to obtain Interior Department approval for a broad array of actions, but often face long delays - frequently measured in years - in receiving Interior Department consideration of those applications and requests. "We want to determine the scope of the delays, understand why they are happening, and then determine what needs to be done to correct the situation. These delays have long-term social and economic consequences on Tribal communities that are simply unacceptable." Among the items most often subject to long delays are Land into Trust applications, Environmental Impact Statements, Probate, Appraisals, and Lease approvals. Details on the hearing follow: WHO: Senators: U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman; other members of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Witnesses: Carl Artman, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior; Ron His Horse is Thunder, Chairman, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; William Rhodes, Governor, Gila River Indian Community; Frank Bigelow, Supervisor, Madera County Board of Supervisors, and President, California Sate Association of Counties; Doug Nash, Director, Indian Estate Planning and Probating, Institute of Indian Estate Planning and Probate, Seattle University School of Law; Robert Chicks, Vice President for the Midwest Region, National Congress of American Indians, and President of the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. WHAT: Oversight hearing by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee WHEN: 9:30 AM, Thursday, October 4, 2007 WHERE: Room 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC WHY: To conduct oversight into frequent and long delays at the Department of the Interior in considering required applications and requests from Native American communities. --------- "RE: Part 1: Schaghticoke seek Recognition restoration" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 07:43:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE RECOGNITION" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415886 Schaghticoke Tribal Nation seeks restoration of federal acknowledgement by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today October 5, 2007 Part one NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Twenty months after filing an appeal of the BIA's unprecedented decision to strip the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of its federal acknowledgement, the tribe has filed a motion for summary judgment - a massive document in support of its claim that the loss of its federal status resulted from unlawful political influence by powerful politicians and a White House-connected lobbyist, who violated federal laws, agency regulations, congressional ethics rules and court orders in trampling the tribes' due process rights. The motion, filed Sept. 24, asks Senior Judge Peter Dorsey of the U.S. District Court in New Haven to vacate the BIA's Reconsidered Final Determination of Oct. 12, 2005, and restore the tribe's federal acknowledgement, which the agency issued in a Final Determination on Jan. 29, 2004. The Final Determination was overturned after an appeal by the state and a campaign of opposition by Connecticut's elected officials and the powerful lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers. "Our motion thoroughly documents unprecedented, illegal influence by some of Connecticut's highest elected officials and Bush White House insiders to do what's never been done before - take back a federal recognition," STN Chief Richard Velky said in a prepared statement. "It contains new information that clearly shows how a coordinated backdoor campaign, operating far from public view, both broke the law and effectively stole our rightful recognition. Having witnessed Connecticut political leaders' disregard for the rule of law, our tribe now looks to the court to restore fairness." The new information contained in a 132-page motion and 1,200 pages of exhibits of e-mails, letters, agency notes, official records, depositions and other print materials secured largely through Freedom of Information Act requests and, in the case of the job performance evaluations of Interior Department Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason, through a federal judge's ruling that withholding the documents violated the FOI Act. According to the motion, STN attorneys' three major arguments why the Reconsidered Final Determination should be vacated are: * The Reconsidered Final Determination was not only the product of unlawful political influence, but also was tainted by the appearance of impropriety which, as a matter of law, is enough in itself to void the decision; * Cason, the self-described "decision-maker" who withdrew the tribe's federal status, was illegally appointed and had no authority by law to make such a decision; and * The Reconsidered Final Determination was unlawfully arbitrary and capricious, disregarding instructions from the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, precedent, regulations, expert testimony and logic. Any one of the arguments is sufficient to vacate the Reconsidered Final Determination, attorneys wrote. The campaign of political influence, the motion says, included ex parte meetings and communications with former Interior Secretary Gale Norton in violation of federal regulations and a court order prohibiting parties to the tribe's petition from contacting federal decision-makers without prior notice; congressional hearings where the Final Determination, which was still pending with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, was publicly attacked in the presence of the BIA and Office of Federal Acknowledgement staff who had worked on it for more than three years; meetings and correspondence with the White House; and pressure from the White House on Interior decision-makers. Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, former Republican Reps. Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons, Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman, Gov. Jodi Rell and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal collectively and individually urged Norton, the White House, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the IBIA, and even Dorsey to overturn the Schaghticokes' federal acknowledgment, the motion says. On April 1, 2004, for example, Shays, who played a fiercely aggressive role in attacking the tribe's acknowledgement, met privately with President Bush's Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Margaret Spellings (now secretary of Education) to seek the president's help in convincing Interior to reverse the tribe's recognition, the motion says. By then, Shays and other Connecticut officials had already met with Norton multiple times, including a heated encounter in which an angry Rep. Frank Wolfe of Virginia threatened to ask the White House to fire her if she didn't reverse the tribe's acknowledgement, according to the motion. Shays could not respond to a request for comment by press time. Soon after Shays' White House meeting, former Principal Deputy Secretary of Indian Affairs Aurene Martin, who had issued the tribe's positive Final Determination, and Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt, who was then a counselor to Norton, were summoned to the White House to meet with Spellings and other top-level White House staff to discuss the Final Determination. Bernhardt, who had not been involved in the Final Determination's decision-making process, soon "began to take a more active role in the Department's recognition decision," and to express his unhappiness with the Final Determination, the motion says. He attended other White House meetings with senior Interior officials but not with Martin, who had been criticized by Connecticut officials, and was increasingly excluded from discussions about the tribe, the motion says. Bernhardt was advised by his attorney not to answer any questions about the White House meetings during a deposition. The "backdoor" campaign of opposition took place against the backdrop of the unfolding Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and even drew the attention one of the scandal's top players - former Interior Deputy Secretary Steven Griles, who is currently serving a prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to Congress about his role as Abramoff's "go-to man" at Interior. Although not normally involved in recognition issues, Griles specifically requested to be "fully briefed" about the Schaghticoke petition, according to tribe's motion. (Continued in part two) Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: In Government's Eyes, small Tribe doesn't exist" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOHOMISH RECOGNITION PROBLEMS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20071008/NEWS01/710080045 In government's eyes, small tribe doesn't exist Snohomish Tribe says Tulalips' opposition is the key reason it didn't get recognition By Krista J. Kapralos Herald Writer October 8, 2007 When Mike Evans pulled his hand-carved canoe to shore at the Tulalip Indian Reservation three years ago, he said Tulalip tribal leaders didn't acknowledge him as an Indian. Evans believes his ancestry can be traced back to the Indians who signed the Treaty of Point Elliott with the federal government. Among all the American Indians gathered at the annual canoe gathering hosted that year by the Tulalip Tribes, Evans felt he should have been welcomed traditionally - his cedar paddle pointed upright, and the hands of the Tulalips extended toward the sky. "I told them in our language that I am Snohomish," Evans said. "But they would not recognize me." Evans is chairman of the Snohomish Indian Tribe - a band of Coast Salish Indians not recognized by the U.S. government. The tribe spent 25 years making its case to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, but it was denied three years ago, largely, Evans believes, because of the Tulalip Tribes. "There is an attitude that they have suffered being on a reservation, and are therefore entitled to more than those who chose to live off," Evans said. There's another reason, too, Evans said: money. "The Tulalips don't want their influence reduced," Evans said. "With money, the Tulalips are able to purchase quality lawyers to fight recognition of anybody else." Evans and the rest of the Snohomish Tribe - which numbers about 70 people - are ready to fight back. They say they've been preparing to challenge the BIA's 2004 decision in court - a claim they'll file within months. The confederation of tribes now known collectively as the Tulalip Tribes are successors to the Snohomish piece of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, said Tulalip Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon. The treaty was the agreement for negotiated land and other rights between about two dozen tribes and the federal government. The treaty required the tribes to move to what was designated then as the Tulalip Indian Reservation, and live together as one group. According to the Tulalip Tribes, their body includes descendants of the Stillaguamish and Snoqualmie tribes - tribes that are federally recognized and separate from the Tulalip Tribes. The Skagit and Suiattle tribes are also listed - names used by the federally recognized Upper Skagit and Sauk Suiattle tribes. The Snohomish Tribe lost its bid for recognition within the BIA partly because it didn't move to the reservation, said Margo Brownell, an attorney representing the tribe. The BIA charged that the tribe hasn't continued existing as a distinct community since historic times, and that it hasn't consistently held political sway over its members. "We feel that the BIA has a biased view of what an Indian should be," Brownell said. When the BIA encouraged Indians to integrate into the pioneer society, the Snohomish complied, Brownell said. They intermarried with whites, and held jobs within the white community. "Nonetheless, they maintained a distinct community," she said. Only about 8 percent of the 562 recognized tribes have gained recognition since 1960, according to the BIA. The BIA didn't establish a process for tribal recognition until 1978. There are hundreds of groups currently seeking recognition. As of 2006, the most recent numbers BIA officials say they can offer, nine of those tribes are in Washington state. Most tribes seeking recognition are denied. The BIA requires a tribe to prove that it has existed continuously as a distinct community, with political authority over its members, despite historic initiatives that Indians submit to federal supervision in order to receive medical care, education and other benefits. "The Snohomish tribe's success was held against them," Brownell said. In arguments filed with the BIA during the Snohomish Tribe's bid for recognition, the Tulalips argued that they are the Snohomish, Brownell said. Ancestors of many Snohomish tribal members chose not to move to the reservation, Evans said. "We're all interrelated," he said. "One brother chose not to go on the reservation, and the other one chose to go, but they still have the same blood. So one's considered a Tulalip and is federally recognized, and the other one is not." Mary Anne Hinzman, a Snoqualmie Tribe council member, worked for more than three decades for tribal recognition, which was finally granted in 1999. "That word 'unrecognized,' it's a hurtful thing when your people have been here from the beginning of time, and you have to rely on a court system to tell you whether you're an Indian or not," Hinzman said. The Tulalips were the primary opponents in the Snoqualmie case. Sheldon declined to state a specific reason. Before the Snoqualmie gained recognition, Indians who could trace a bloodline in more than one tribe left for recognized tribes, where federal dollars and casino profits helped boost tribal economies. "I always told the ones who left, 'You can always come back,' " Hinzman said. When the Snoqualmie were recognized, they did. Now, tribal membership is nearing 600 people, and the tribe is building its own casino along I-90. Evans and other Snohomish tribal leaders meet each month in Edmonds, and tribal members hold a general council meeting each year. Last month, the annual council met in Everett's Forest Park. They bickered over how to pursue federal recognition, and mused over the minimal benefits - emergency food supplies and limited energy assistance. With a coming lawsuit against the BIA, perhaps there will be good news, they said. Maybe next year, it will be better. Copyright c. 2007 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA. --------- "RE: Compact may help Navajo Children" --------- Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 07:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NEW MEXICO COMPACT BENEFITS DINE' CHILDREN" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/oct/01/compact-may-help-navajo-children/ Compact may help Navajo children By Joline Gutierrez Krueger October 1, 2007 A newly updated agreement between the Navajo Nation and the state Children, Youth and Families Department better defines how to work together for the best interest of Navajo children in foster care, officials say. The intergovernmental agreement, which details what is required of each to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families, hasn't been revised since 1985. Eight of the other 21 Indian tribes in New Mexico are also reviewing similar revised agreements, said Bernie Teba, the Native American liaison for CYFD who crafted the agreement for the state. In addition, state agencies in Utah and Arizona are considering using the New Mexico agreement as a model for their own revisions; the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming has also asked to examine the agreement, Teba said. "We believe we have a very good model to work with," he said. The agreement is authorized under the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, passed by Congress in 1978 with the intent of preventing any inappropriate cultural separation of Indian children from their families and their Indian community. Under ICWA, state foster care agencies must contact the tribe in which a child entering custody is a member. The tribe may then intervene in the case while the state retains custody, ask for the case to be transferred to its jurisdiction or do nothing at all. The revised Navajo agreement includes no dramatic changes but makes clearer the timelines in which certain correspondence between the governments must take place, defines the roles and responsibilities of each and better explains coordination efforts between both, Teba said. "This is somewhat going to change our practice within CYFD," he said. Under the new agreement, for example, the state must contact the Navajo Nation within 24 hours by fax or phone if a child believed to be Navajo enters the foster care system. A follow-up written notice must be submitted within five business days. "We've been somewhat lax in that area," Teba said. The agreement also defines the preferences in care for a Navajo child either for foster care or adoption as being, in order, returning the child to the family of origin, placement with a Navajo Nation family, placement with an Indian family other than Navajo or placement with a non-Indian family approved by the Navajo Nation. Regina Yazzie, program director for the Navajo Children and Family Services, said she welcomes the revisions and lauded New Mexico for taking the lead on updating the agreement. But she cautioned that it's too soon to know how well the revisions will work. "With New Mexico, certainly they have made improvements with ICWA compliance, and of course more improvements are needed in regards to the problems we have had before in providing on-time feedback and timeliness of reporting on both ends," said Yazzie, whose agency encompasses the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. "It comes down to training and awareness of what is required," she said. Currently, there are 276 Navajo children in foster care across New Mexico, Yazzie said. The agreement involved 22 months of give-and-take work between both entities, Teba said. It began even earlier than that when in early 2004 Teba said he completed a U.S. General Accounting Office survey on state compliance with ICWA and noted some concerns, including how long it had been since intergovernment agreements in the states had been revised. The agreement was finally in place last August, Teba said. Training on the revisions is expected to begin soon in the counties where the Navajo population is highest, including San Juan, McKinley, Cibola, Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. Copyright c. 2007 Albuquerque Tribune, The E.W. Scripps Co.. --------- "RE: Decision on Land-Trust Appeal coming soon" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 07:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MINNESOTA LAND INTO TRUST" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.shakopeenews.com/node/3628 Decision on land-trust appeal coming soon Submitted by Pat Minelli October 3, 2007 The decision by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to place more local tribal land into trust status has finally been published in the U.S. Federal Register, triggering a 30-day appeal window. Notice of the decision - which removes 752 acres of land in Scott County from property tax rolls and local land-use control - was made in June 2007. Both the county and the city of Shakopee opposed the decision. Now that the ruling has been published, they will have until Oct. 29 to appeal. The BIA decision impacts 646 acres in Shakopee and 106 acres in Prior Lake. The city of Prior Lake, which previously opposed the tribe's application for trust status, changed its stance in December 2005. The tribe already holds the fee title to the land. It intends to use the property for mostly residential purposes. Scott County is still evaluating its options and hasn't decided yet whether to appeal, officials said. The Shakopee City Council will probably hold a special meeting with its attorneys to review the decision and discuss options, said City Administrator Mark McNeill. A meeting date hasn't been set yet. Because an appeal would require litigation, Shakopee Mayor John Schmitt said the City Council will meet privately with attorneys to discuss the matter. Next Tuesday, the County Board will likely set a date to meet privately with its attorneys from Washington, D.C., said county Public Affairs Director Lisa Kohner. Appeals must be made in federal court, but Kohner didn't know where in the federal court system the case would be handled. - Shannon Fiecke Copyright c. Shakopee Valley News, Southwest Newspapers 2007. --------- "RE: Tax status sought for Tribal Land" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 07:05:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COUNTY SEEKS TAXES FOR HO-CHUNK LAND" http://www.madison.com/tct/news//index.php?ntid=249095 Tax status sought for tribal land Kevin Murphy Correspondent for The Capital Times October 3, 2007 After getting the Ho-Chunk Nation to withdraw a petition to take 724 acres into tribal trust status, Sauk County wants a federal judge to reverse the Department of Interior's decision that puts five acres located across U.S. 12 from the Ho-Chunk's casino into trust status. Sauk County "didn't get a fair shake," County Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman said of the 10-year-long proceedings that led to a Department of Interior order on Aug. 31 that takes the highly valuable parcel off the county's tax roll. The tribe has owned the land in fee simple title. But getting tribal trust status makes it tax-exempt, Liebman said. Liebman conceded that the parcel's economic impact is significant, but he challenged the trust status decision on legal grounds, questioning the criteria and standards used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in its trust determination. A similar challenge in 1997 resulted in the dismissal of the tribe's petition to take 724 acres around the casino into tribal trust. However, the tribe said it still wanted tribal trust status for the five acres across from the casino. "We've been very successful in holding the government's feet to the fire in following proper procedures," Liebman said. The five-acre parcel is currently zoned commercial, and the tribe is considering commercial or retail development for it. But additional gambling activities on the parcel are not in the cards, said Sherry Wilson, a Ho-Chunk spokeswoman. The tribe's casino and bingo hall are on 11.45 acres, which are held in trust. Trust status is needed for land occupied by gaming activities, Wilson said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Herje said Monday that she hadn't seen the lawsuit but expected Department of Justice attorneys in Washington, D.C., to handle it. Calls to the Department of Interior regarding the Aug. 31 decision were not returned. Copyright c. 2007 Madison Capital Times, Capital Newspapers. --------- "RE: Gathering Rules seen as an attack on Way of Life" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RULES IMPACT WILDCRAFTED HERBS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/NEWS06/710070683 New rules on gathering seen as an attack on Indians' way of life BY TINA LAM FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER October 7, 2007 ST. IGNACE - Standing in a field with the Mackinac Bridge as a backdrop, Tony Grondin scatters loose tobacco on the ground. He mutters a prayer in Anishinabewoon under his breath, thanking the life he is about to take for its gift. With a knife, he makes a deft, bloodless cut and then gently holds up his prey: branches of a nannyberry bush. Grondin, 58, is a gatherer for his tribe, the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa. From boiled bear fat (used as a salve) that he renders himself to porcupine pelts picked clean by beetles, he provides medicine and ceremonial items for the tribe's healers. But he said his gathering is at risk, after five tribes and the state signed an agreement that restricts it. "It's wrong," he said. And he may flaunt the new rules. Grondin said he treats all forms of life with dignity. Much of his knowledge of the woods and waters of the eastern Upper Peninsula was absorbed from elders and relatives who taught him. He will take the branches to his garage for drying, along with hundreds of other things he's preparing. Grondin isn't just a gatherer; he's a prodigious hunter, tracker, fisherman, trapper and taxidermist who tans his own hides. He makes unprocessed tobacco for ceremonies. He builds drums from tanned deer hides stained with dye he makes from walnuts. When he harvests birch bark, he is careful not to kill the tree. When he harvests a plant or kills an animal, he uses every scrap. Under the new agreement, Grondin - for the first time in his life - needs a permit to gather. The deal restricts him to certain state lands and limits what and how much he can gather. He must make reports on what he has picked or cut. The rationale is to conserve nature's resources, but he doesn't buy it. "We have been preserving them forever," he said. "It baffles my mind to get permits." Having someone dictate where elements of a medicine are gathered could render it useless. "A healer could reject it," he said. Living in 2 worlds Grondin is a tall, silver-haired man. He thinks before he speaks. Born and raised in St. Ignace, the city on the Upper Peninsula side of the Mackinac Bridge, Grondin has traced relatives back to the 1600s. His grandfather owned Rabbit's Back, a lumpy chunk of land on Lake Superior where the tribe's newest casino sits. His father taught him the Anishinabewoon language and how to gather. He inhabits parallel worlds. He was raised Catholic, flies an American flag and won a Purple Heart as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam. He worked for the state highway department until retirement. The kitchen of the family home, which is not on a reservation, is decorated in an apple motif. But in his study, the Indian half of his life unfolds. A gnarling bear on the wall is surrounded by seven majestic deer heads and a stuffed hawk, bobcat, fox, raccoon and weasel. Beautifully tanned pelts of coyote, badgers, beavers, skunks and deer hang in a corner. From a closet he pulls the elaborate outfit he wears at powwows, which he fashioned partly from the head, claws and feathers of a bald eagle killed by a car. Gathering is more than roots and berries for Grondin. He gets excited when he comes across fresh roadkill - a possum, raccoon or a rabbit - that'll soon be in his freezer. He saves the animals' toenails for rattles. Grondin's garage, too, is a place of wonder: a cave of powerful sweet smells and odd bits of hairy flesh scattered among things like his Sears riding mower and red tool chest. Every corner holds a surprise. There is a jar of rendered bear fat he boiled himself, moose hooves from Canada, bear claws with hair still stuck to them in a baggie and beetles feasting on the underside of a porcupine pelt on the floor. Dried sage and sweetgrass hang in bunches from the ceiling. He gathers cedar bark to sheath the roof of a tepee at the local American Indian museum. Cutting cedar bark will kill the tree. He typically takes about 10 cedars a year, he said, using leaves for tobacco, milling the wood for drums and turning the tiniest branches into buttons for ceremonial shirts. "My dad taught me all this," he said. "Our culture teaches us to take what we need, and leave the rest for others." Reasons for a change The Sault tribe's 23,000 adult members are voting until Oct. 17 on whether to approve the hunting-fishing-gathering agreement with the state; ballots went out the last week in September. Until the voting ends, said tribal spokesman Cory Wilson, the tribe has no comment. The state sought the rules on gathering so tribes could have access to what they need, but would work with local forest managers on where and when to get it, said Mary Dettloff, spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources. "We're permitting them to do it, but asking their cooperation," she said. "You can't just go into the forest and cut down the trees." Frank Ettawageshik, chairman of the Little Traverse Bay tribe near Petoskey, said the agreement gives the tribes certainty that their hunting, fishing and gathering rights under a 1836 treaty with the U.S. government will be honored. He said the gathering rules would help protect resources for coming generations. Grondin disagrees. "I hope our tribe rejects it," Grondin said. "Whatever the tribe requires, I'll do. But I will still gather where I want." Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam@freepress.com. Copyright c. 2007 the Detroit Free Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: White Earth Nation welcomes Adoptees Home" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 07:43:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOMECOMING FOR WHITE EARTH LOST BIRDS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/09/24/indianadoptees/ White Earth Nation welcomes adoptees home by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio October 5, 2007 This weekend the White Earth Nation is celebrating the return of children lost for years. Hundreds of American Indian children were taken from Minnesota reservations and adopted by non-Indian families in the 1950s and 60s. The White Earth Aniishinabe are the first tribe in the country to formally welcome the adoptees home. White Earth Nation - It's difficult to know how many American Indian children were adopted by white families in the 1950s and 60s, because records are sketchy at best. White Earth Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor believes about 25 percent of the children on her reservation were adopted by non-Indian parents. Vizenor recently met one of those children when she stopped for gas on the way home from work. A young woman recognized the tribal leader and asked for help finding her family. She said, 'Did you know my mom?' I said, 'Of course I did. I knew your mom. She's not living anymore.' 'Oh,' she said, 'What was she like?' I said, 'Your mother was a bubbly happy person.'" After a reflective pause, Vizenor continues the story. "I knew her mom. I went to high school with her. She had a baby. The baby was just taken away. (She was told) 'You have no option. This is what's best for your baby.' She couldn't bring her baby home," recalls Vizenor. Indian babies were put up for adoption for many reasons. Poverty and alcohol caused some mothers to give up their children. But there was also a government policy of assimilation designed to make Indians forget about their culture and history. Many Indian women were told adoption was the only option. Adoption programs sponsored by church groups were facilitated by local, state, and federal government agencies. It's likely hundreds of American Indian children born in Minnesota were adopted by families across the country. The practice continued until Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, giving tribes more control over adoptions. Hearing from some of those adoptees prompted White Earth Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor to support a welcome home ceremony for those who want to reconnect with their tribal culture. The idea came from Sandy Whitehawk, who runs a small non profit in Minneapolis that tries to help American Indian adoptees find their families. Whitehawk is driven by her own story. Born on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota, she was sent to live with a white family when she 18 months old. Growing up in a mostly white small town, she was encouraged to forget her birthplace. "Don't grow up to be a good for nothing Indian. You're just going to be a drunken Indian like your mother. Those were things I heard all the time, " says Whitehawk. After struggling for years with substance abuse, Whitehawk realized she needed to understand where she came from, so at age 35, she made her first trip back to the reservation where she was born. "The very first thing I noticed when I went on the reservation was that I finally looked like someone else," remembers Whitehawk. "I noticed I was more relaxed. There's something you can't put words to, to walk on your homeland where you know your relatives feet have also touched. That's healing, because it's where you began." Sandy Whitehawk learned she was one of nine children. Seven were put up for adoption. She's reunited with some of her siblings, as well as aunts, uncles and cousins. Many American Indian families were scattered with the wind. Some children were raised in affluent homes, afforded privilege their birth parents could never provide, but others found less charitable situations, essentially becoming indentured servants. Whatever their adoption experience, in recent years many have found their way back to the reservation. Some have stayed and become enrolled tribal members. Reclaiming that tribal identity can be a challenge. Adoptees don't have birth certificates in some cases, others have altered adoption documents, making it difficult to prove their family connections. Sandy Whitehawk says most are following a simple urge to understand who they are. "We're not about bashing white parents. We're not about bashing good foster parents," says Whitehawk. "It's about bringing out hard times that we may need to talk about, but more than anything it's about healing and learning how to be in balance and understanding who we are." Reconnecting with family and culture might not be as easy as a trip to the reservation. White Earth elder Joe Bush gets calls every week from adoptees trying to find their birth family. They call him because he carries generations of family history in his head. He knows from experience that coming home is the first step down a long path. "There's going to be a lot of fear, a lot of resentment and a lot of joy. It's going to be hard for some of them, but we're going to welcome these adoptees that went out, adopt them back home, says Bush. "Coming back home. Nigiiwe, I'm going home." White Earth officials don't know how many people to expect at the welcome home gathering, but they're hopeful the formal recognition of a sad chapter in their history will be a model for other American Indian tribes across the country. Copyright c. 2007 Minnesota Public Radio. --------- "RE: Cry from the top of the World" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 07:43:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ARCTIC MELTDOWN" http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Cry from the top of the world, Arctic sea ice is melting Black carbon from US smoke stacks and tailpipes melt sea ice as US rushes to stake claims for oil drilling in the Arctic By Brenda Norrell http://www.blogspot.com/ October 3, 2007 TUCSON, Ariz. - With the sea ice melting in the Arctic at an alarming rate, the whales, walrus, seals and polar bears are threatened with the loss of their homelands and changing migrations of their food sources as water temperatures rise. "This is really affecting the communities that rely on the bowhead whales," said Nikos Pastos, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana, born and raised in Alaska. He is cofounder of the intertribal network group Alaska's Big Village Network. "As we advocate for sacred sites and human rights, we realize that it all comes back to water," Pastos said. Recent studies show black carbons from smokestacks and tailpipes in North America, Europe and Asia in the melting Arctic ice. Pastos said the changing climate, combined with expanded oil drilling, threatens to bring an end to the diversity of the planet. Currently, there is an unprecedented amount of mining on Alaska Native lands. Further, as the Arctic melts, the United States and other countries are rushing to claim the homeland of the whales, walrus, seals and polar bears for new oil drilling. "There are changing salinity levels and changing wind patterns. It makes the polar bears have to go further for food. It is also changing fish migration patterns and the patterns of sea birds," Pastos said. At the Western Mining Action Network Conference in Tucson, hosted by MineWatch Canada, Sept. 28 -29, Pastos joined Indigenous Peoples from the Americas organizing to halt mining and oil drilling in Indigenous territories. Indigenous Peoples from Peru and Guatemala united with Western Shoshone, Navajo, Spokane, Dene from Saskatchewan, Acoma Pueblo and other Indian Nations to organize resistance to the destruction of Indigenous homelands. Scientists point out that the Arctic's pristine, white snow is actually more polluted than it appears to be. Tiny particles of black carbon from forest fires and human pollution have been found in the melting ice in Greenland. Using microscopes, scientists can see black carbon particles by the trillions, which came from North America, Europe and Asia. "Black carbon absorbs sunlight and it causes warming," said Stephen Warren, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington." He says the only way to save the Arctic is to cut emissions and decrease black carbon from smokestacks and tailpipes, all the way from the United States to China. Pastos, a research sociologist and facilitator, is among the American Indians now organizing to preserve the homelands of Indigenous Peoples and the environment. He lives on the Flathead Nation in Montana and in Anchorage and works as a consultant on environmental policies for Indian Nations. "Alaska's Big Village Network is a networking group based in Anchorage that is guided in principle by Alaska Native values. We are advised by youth and elders councils. We are working on healing the mental, social, and physical environment through building communities of inclusion," Pastos said. While growing up in the beauty of Alaska and Montana, Pastos became aware of the destructive mining and development around him. "I always lived in the sacred mountains of Alaska and Montana. I grew up fishing, hiking and camping," Pastos said, adding that his father was a fishing guide. As oil drilling and pollution increased in Alaska, the way of life was devastated. "I always lived and worked with many great Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos. My tribe, Salish-Kootenai in Montana, was a leader in wildlife management and land management. Many of my friends and neighbors in Alaska were destroyed by the Exxon Valdez oil spill," Pastos said. As a fisherman in the Bering Sea, he began to see the world with new insight. "I had been a commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea. This was the turning point in my life. I went back to school and focused on environmental studies and human rights. Later on, I worked on ships in the Bering Sea as an environmental technician, and laborer, cleaning up after the Selendang Ayu oil spill. I also worked as a hazardous waste technician in the Anchorage landfill. "Watching the social disintegration in the cities and villages of Alaska due to reckless pollution, and super destructive greed motivated by oil, gas, mining and logging made me want to work for social and environmental justice. "I am a whole person working for the healing and restoration of the mental, social and physical environment," said Pastos, when asked what inspires him to work within this struggle. Now an environmental sociologist, Pastos is a consultant to Indigenous groups and Indian tribes on environmental and Indigenous human rights policies. Recently, with Alaska's Big Village Network, Pastos participated and served as an observer at the International Bering Sea Forum, the International Whaling Commission world meetings, and sessions of the National Congress of American Indians in Anchorage. He conducted research and worked with the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council, and the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Hunter's Committee on federal scoping hearings on listing the Cook Inlet Beluga Whales under the Endangered Species Act. Among those in danger as the Arctic sea ice melts, are the Belugas or "white whales."According to the Arctic Studies Center, Belugas are one of the three whales that spend all their lives in Arctic waters. The other two are the bowhead and the narwhal. Known as "sea canaries," Belugas are very social and make a wide variety of sounds. Belugas use echolocation for sea hunting and subtle forms of communication, including a wide variety of facial expressions. Belugas have good vision, but don't have is a dorsal fin like many whales, earning them the name "delphinapterus" or dolphin-without-a-wing. Pastos, working with the Center for Water Advocacy, is involved with research on Indigenous Peoples' water rights, and is working to support litigation that protects and preserves the water resources of traditional subsistence cultures. Meanwhile, the threats to Arctic life are increasing at a faster pace than ever before. A new NASA-led study said there was a 23-percent loss in the extent of the Arctic's thick, year-round sea ice cover during the past two winters. This drastic reduction of perennial winter sea ice is the primary cause of this summer's fastest-ever sea ice retreat on record and subsequent smallest-ever extent of total Arctic coverage, according to the report Oct. 1, 2007. Between winter 2005 and winter 2007, the perennial ice shrunk by an area the size of Texas and California combined. Scientists observed less perennial ice cover in March 2007 than ever before, with the thick ice confined to the Arctic Ocean north of Canada. Consequently, the Arctic Ocean was dominated by thinner seasonal ice that melts faster. This ice is more easily compressed and responds more quickly to being pushed out of the Arctic by winds. Those conditions facilitated the ice loss, leading to this year's record low amount of total Arctic sea ice. Indigenous Peoples gathered at the mining conference in Tucson called for a halt to mining and oil drilling and preservation of Indigenous territories for future generations. Western Shoshone Carrie Dann said Indian territories are being devastated by mining, including gold mining in Western Shoshone territory which poisons the water in Nevada and cores out mountains. Further, Shoshone are under constant assault from nuclear testing and dumping. With global threats of new uranium mining, Navajos and their relatives to the north, Dene in Canada, spoke out against the trail of radioactivity, disease and death left by uranium mining. Louise Benally, Navajo from Big Mountain, Arizona, where coal mining and relocation have devastated Navajo communities on Black Mesa for 30 years, said Indigenous Peoples must rise up to halt the slaughter of Mother Earth. "Mother Earth is going to be butchered if all these operations take place," Benally said. Benally spoke out against the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant on the Navajo Nation land in New Mexico, pointing out that the Four Corners region does not need another power plant. With temperatures already rising, Benally said Indian Nations should become world leaders to halt global warming and protect the environment. Arriving from South America at the conference, Miguel Palacin, Quechua from Lima, Peru, said mobilizations in South America on the "Day of Genocide," October 12, will be a time to voice resistance to the genocide of Indigenous Peoples and halt the ongoing genocide of mining and oil drilling in Indigenous territories. More information: Nikos Pastos also serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Water Advocacy. http://www.wateradvocacy.org/ Contact information: Alaska's 'Big Village' Network, 8101 Peck Avenue #M-88 Anchorage, Alaska 99504 phone: 907-764-2561 fax: 907-333-3009 Alaska's 'Big Village' Network e-mail: alaskabigvillage@gmail.com Carl Wassilie 907-382-3403 carlwassilie.acyn@gmail.com Nikos Pastos 907-764-2561 : nikospastos@hotmail.com CENSORED: Censored and under-reported news: brendanorrell@gmail.com --------- "RE: University, Tribe strive to preserve a Heritage" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:51:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ELEM POMO LANGUAGE" http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/10149126.html University, Native American tribe strive to preserve a heritage Language's last speaker won't let it die. By The Associated Press CLEARLAKE OAKS - As a child in the 1950s, Loretta Kelsey grew up hearing the sounds of Elem Pomo, an 8,000-year-old dialect spoken by early peoples of Northern California along the shores of Clear Lake in Lake County. Since then, as an older generation passed away, the language they spoke went with them. According to scholars, 59-year-old Kelsey is the last fluent speaker of Elem Pomo alive today. But Kelsey is not content to let her native language die with her. Instead, she has teamed up with a prominent University of California linguist to teach and document Elem Pomo to keep its words - and her culture - alive in the 21st century. "Our language is really right here. It's in our ceremonies, our lives, our people, our ways," Kelsey said, gesturing to her reservation. "You keep the language alive, you help keep all of this alive." When Kelsey was growing up, her mother spoke no English, only Elem Pomo. At the time, many members of the 250-person tribe were fluent. The past decades have seen members die off, join new churches or leave the reservation for jobs. Three years ago Kelsey's nephew, Robert Geary, attended a statewide meeting of Indian tribes interested in preserving their culture. After Geary polled his tribe members, he determined that Kelsey was the only fluent Elem Pomo speaker left. Kelsey and Geary looked to UC Berkeley's linguistics department for help. Serendipitously, they were teamed with Professor Emeritus Leanne Hinton, one of the nation's top Pomo language researchers. The duo found tapes in the university's archive featuring Elem Pomo speakers, including stories told by Kelsey's father. "California's tribes have been so fractured over the years that it's very hard to tell how many languages are still alive," said Hinton. "What Loretta is doing is special. And for the last speaker of a language, she's amazingly young." Copyright c. 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Torrance Daily Breeze, Los Angeles Newspaper Group. --------- "RE: NA earns Online Library Master's Degree" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 07:17:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ILLNESS CONFINED INDIAN EARNS MATER'S DEGREE" http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/10/prweb558043.htm Second Native American in California Earns Online Library Master's Degree Karen Vigneault, a library and information science student at Drexel University Online, is only the second Native American in California to earn this unique degree. Due to a rare viral brain disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Karen cannot hold a driver's license, so her options to pursue a higher degree in her field were limited. Drexel Online provided Karen with a flexible and convenient option to pursue her degree. Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 4, 2007 - Karen Vigneault, a library and information science student at Drexel University Online, is only the second Native American in California to earn this unique degree. Due to a rare viral brain disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Karen cannot hold a driver's license, so her options to pursue a higher degree in her field were limited. Drexel Online provided Karen with a flexible and convenient option to pursue her degree. A member of the Kumeyaay Tribe, Karen is using her degree to advance the education of her community. In 2007, she was awarded an Indian Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grant, which provides essential funds for library operations, enables her to build a library collection for her community, and train a teen volunteer from her reservation in library procedures. One reason she chose the Drexel Online degree was the flexibility it afforded her. "I love the way the program is set up," said Karen. "It is an extremely flexible situation. I could continue to work with my tribe's library and stay at my job. Drexel provided me with all the opportunities I needed with their online program." Never one to shy away from a challenge, one of Vigneault's primary concerns as a library professional is the lack of Native American literature in mainstream society. She strives to raise awareness among her peers about Native American literature and increase the amount offered in U,S, libraries. To increase her own contributions to Native American literature, she is planning to write a book on the contributions of her tribe to her hometown of San Diego. As winner of the 2007 Making a Difference for Women Award, which honors women who work to improve and impact the lives of women and girls, and the first in her family to earn a degree, Karen's family and tribe are both proud of her accomplishments. "I wholeheartedly believe that online courses provide a resource that allows adults to maintain their jobs, family structures, and work online to ultimately earn the degree they have always wanted to accomplish." "We're very proud to offer our students the outstanding Drexel curriculum within this convenient online format. All of our online programs - including the Master's in Library Science - are taught by the same renowned faculty as our campus courses," said Dr. Kenneth Hartman, academic director at Drexel Online. Applications for Drexel's online Master's in Library and Information Science are now being accepted for the winter term. For more information about this online program, visit Drexel's online degree website, e-mail info @ drexel.com or call (877) 215-0009. About Drexel University Online Drexel University Online, winner of the 21st Century Best Practice Award for Distance Learning from the United States Distance Learning Association, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Drexel University, specializing in innovative, Internet-based distance education programs for working professionals and corporations in the United States and abroad. Drexel University is continually ranked one of the best national doctoral universities by U.S. News & World Report and enjoys regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools. A pioneer in online education, Drexel has offered programs online since 1996. Media Contact: Shawnee Brown 215-895-0513 Shawnee.brown @ drexel.edu Copyright c. 1997-2007, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC. --------- "RE: Dancers lead fight for Fathers' Rights" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 07:17:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHILDREN MOVED BY MOTHER TO CANADA" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.themorningsun.com/stories/100307/loc_dancers.shtml Dancers lead fight for fathers' rights By SUSAN FIELD Clare Managing Editor October 3, 2007 Dawn Thomas has been fighting a battle on behalf of her son and grandson for two years. Derek Bailey of Traverse City has been fighting to see his children since a court referee allowed his ex-girlfriend to move with them to Alberta. Bailey, the founder of Dance4Equality, Thomas and others were across the street from the Isabella County courthouse Tuesday, bringing awareness to their plight. Members of the group bring the issue to light through traditional Native dance. Bailey, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, was living in Mt. Pleasant when his ex-girlfriend moved the children to Canada with the court's permission, according to his aunt, Maren Bailey. Members of the group use the traditional dances to bring attention to their cause, which asserts that mothers get preference over fathers in too many divorce situations. What Thomas, the Baileys and others want people to be aware of is the alleged "inequality" in rights between mothers and fathers. Derek Bailey founded Dance4Equality to promote advocacy for awareness and change. Thomas said the issue is not just statewide but national. The system, Thomas said, is biased toward women and is harming children by separating them from their fathers. Derek Bailey believes that the best way to protect children from the stresses of divorce or separation of parents is to ensure a strong relationship with both parents, when both are fit. While Thomas said her son filed for custody of his son, the court ruled that he could only have visitation six nights a month, and only if the visits did not interfere with the boy's mother's schedule. Thomas said the system enables manipulative women to use their children against their fathers. While Thomas and others put the blame on the friend of the court, that is misdirected, one Isabella County official said. Greg Fogle, assistant friend of the court, said his department is responsible for enforcing court orders, not to investigate claims of neglect or abuse. In those cases, Fogle said, the Michigan Department of Human Services investigates and makes recommendations to the court. Charges of neglect must carry proof for courts to order changes in custody, Fogle said, and courts are leaning toward joint physical custody when possible. Despite what Maren Bailey and Thomas say, Fogle said there are avenues a father can take when he believes he is not being treated fairly. "There are procedures to hold custodial parents accountable," Fogle said. Copyright c. 2007 Morning Star Publishing Company, an affiliate of Journal Register Company. --------- "RE: Racism ain't cheap" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 07:17:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UND LEGAL BILLS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=52555 UND NICKNAME: Lawsuit legal bills top $850,000 Grand Forks Herald October 4, 2007 UND's legal bill in its case against the NCAA over the Fighting Sioux nickname topped $850,000 at the end of September. On Sept. 30, UND's legal costs in the case were at about $872,000, according to the UND Foundation and the North Dakota Attorney General's office. The lawsuit is being funded by private donations to a foundation-managed litigation fund. The majority of those payments have gone to the private Utah law firm Fabian and Clenendin, whose attorneys are working on the case as special assistant attorneys general. Fabian and Clenendin had billed about $817,000 for its work on the lawsuit as of the end of September, according to the UND Foundation. The remaining bills came from Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem's office, which is defending UND in the case. Stenehjem's office had billed about $55,000 in the case through the end of August, spokeswoman Liz Brocker said. September bills have not been compiled yet, she said. All Fabian and Clenendin bills have been paid, according to the Foundation. About $7,000 from the most recent billing cycle is still outstanding to the attorney general's office, Brocker said. UND is suing the NCAA over a 2005 mandate barring the school from displaying its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo in postseason play or hosting playoff games. The NCAA has called UND's and other teams' American Indian nicknames "hostile and abusive." The two are scheduled to meet in court in December. The NCAA has not released the cost of its defense. Marks reports on higher education. Reach him at (701) 780-1105, (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or jmarks@gfherald.com">jmarks@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2007 Grand Forks Herald, a Forum Communications Co. --------- "RE: GIAGO: The origins of Native American Day" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:51:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: NATIVE AMERICAN DAY" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/005180.asp Tim Giago: The origins of Native American Day October 1, 2007 When Columbus Day comes around each year there is consternation in the Native American community across America. Columbus Day parades, particularly the one held in Denver, CO., are disrupted by militant American Indians. On some Indian reservations black armbands are worn to recognize what the indigenous people consider a "day of infamy." But who would have "thunk" that in a state Indian activists called "The Mississippi of the North" in the 1970s, would be the only state in the Union that does not celebrate Columbus Day, but instead celebrates "Native American Day." How could such a state, condemned by activists for years, have risen above the fray and distinguished itself as a leader in white/Indian relations? The credit must go to the power of the Indian press. Let me explain. In 1990 a young man named Birgil Kills Straight (that's right, Birgil with a B) decided to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee by leading a contingent of Lakota riders on the trail that Sitanka (Big Foot) and his followers took on their way from the Cheyenne River Reservation to the Pine Ridge Reservation after hearing of the murder of Sitting Bull. The 7th Cavalry, George Armstrong Custer's old outfit, caught up with them at Wounded Knee Creek and on December 29, 1890, they opened fire on the mostly unarmed Lakota men, women and children, murdering nearly 300 innocent civilians. Kills Straight, a highly educated Lakota man, felt that this would be an opportune time to commemorate and honor the victims of the massacre. But he took it one step further and decided to hold a Lakota ceremony called, "Wiping away the tears." After the riders reached the sacred burial grounds of the victims at Wounded Knee the ceremony would be held to reach across the barriers of racial intolerance and in essence, extend a hand of peace and forgiveness to the white race. I saw this as an opportunity to extend that message in a column I wrote directed at then Governor George Mickelson (R-SD). I challenged him to use this commemoration to not only proclaim 1990 as a Year of Reconciliation between Indians and whites, but to also use it as a time to set aside Columbus Day and to rename that day Native American Day. My editorial also asked the governor to honor Martin Luther King Jr. by making his birthday a state holiday. Gov. Mickelson accepted my challenge in a letter to my newspaper, The Lakota Times. Lynn Hart, a Lakota/African American, read my editorial on the floor of the South Dakota Legislature. Hart was making an effort to have the state declare the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., a state holiday. Well, we ended up getting all three. The state legislature voted unanimously to make1990 a Year of Reconciliation, to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day, and to make Martin Luther King's birthday a state holiday. All of these things were accomplished without a single shot being fired, without a single arrest being made, and without the occupation of a single building. They were accomplished because of the truth of an old adage, "The pen is mightier than the sword." But it took a courageous governor and a strong and determined legislative body to stand behind the proclamation of Gov. Mickelson and make 1990 a Year of Reconciliation, and to support the legislation replacing Columbus Day with Native American Day and of making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., a state holiday. The Lakota Times was a free and independent weekly newspaper that was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation a few years after the occupation of Wounded Knee. It stood alone in its efforts to bring truth and unbiased reporting of the news to the reservation. In its formative years it withstood firebombs, it withstood having its windows blasted out with shotguns three times, and it withstood assaults upon my family and me. Under the constant threats of death, the weekly newspaper faithfully covered the political, social and educational news on the reservation. And in the end, my editorial in the Lakota Times helped to create a new state holiday and to set aside the holiday most Native Americans found distasteful. South Dakota is the only state out of 50 that has moved to create a Native American Day to honor its largest minority. On November 10, 2007 I will be the first Native American ever inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame and I hope it will open the door for the many other hardworking Indian newspaper editors and journalists to follow. --- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991 and founder of The Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. He founded and was the first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com. --------- "RE: Aboriginal Standard of Life not improving" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:40:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOGSON-McCAULEY: REAL ACTION NEEDED, NOW!" http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/oct1_07cece.html Aboriginal standard of life not improving Cece Hodgson-McCauley Guest comment October 1, 2007 Time has come to stop wondering how much longer Canadians will put up with the big problem and demands of aboriginals. The headlines on an Ontario couple suing over a native standoff, $10 million from Ontario government and $10 million from the Federal government may be the show down from Canadians who are fed up with the billions of their tax dollars going no where to improve the aboriginal world, and why isn't the aboriginal's world improving? Blame the leaders! Aboriginal leaders are like our NWT Government! Our system and process is designed to create a dependency on the GNWT. Aboriginal leaders and chiefs never had it so good. The GNWT dependency creates a very lucrative life for leaders. Just look at them, from the big chief himself, Phil Fontaine. Most leaders never did a hard day's work in their lives, some are barely educated, but the money and luxurious way of living comes from the backs of their own people. It is embarrassing to forever listen to Phil Fontaine and other leaders talking about their poor people. In a rich land like Canada? You take the NWT for instance, the government builds all the infrastructure for our benefit, schools, Arctic College, training for trades. But where are all our professionals? You may as well say, the infrastructures are only a showcase, because the GNWT and leaders are not really investigating why we are not turning out professionals and trades etc., and the shameful truth of not investigating and doing something about the drop out rate in the NWT. The shame is, they need dependency of people to hang on to their good and fancy lifestyles! Don't worry, we hear people at the grassroots forever complaining about their so-called leaders. But, Canadians must be made aware of the many hard working aboriginals who own a lot of businesses and pay taxes, just like ordinary Canadians! The government should investigate and pull together working, down to earth people with vision and common sense from the aboriginal world and create a board of advisors. People with the true interest of trying to solve the problems in the aboriginal world. They must push education, they can start today, not tomorrow, go after the dropouts. Many of them realize they should go back to school and most of them want to upgrade. But they don't know where to go to seek out help. I keep harping on field workers and a store front office, maybe the Women's Organizations should make education a priority, and expose the education problem. Thursday morning - CBC phone in. Should we elect our Premier? Many arguments, I just about phoned in, but didn't. My thought was, (I don't care) for all the power the Premier should have, he really is helpless, because he is under all the MLA's thumbs. We were better off under a plain old commissioner, like Stu Hodgson. He sure used the big stick, he had power, made rules and laws.The white people have to thank him plenty! I understand, at the beginning of our so called governments, someone remarked that all aboriginals or treaty people get free education, Stu said, "No bloody way!" Everyone in the Northwest Territories got free education as they did in the Delta in earlier years. I asked for statistics of how many Indians, Metis and whites went to further education - university diplomas etc etc. I think I still have the numbers, one year's numbers were six Indians, 11 Metis, and 68 white students. I wonder how many government civil servants go south to further their education at our expense and some don't come back. The MLAs better have a strong sense of duty and communicate closer to their grassroots people and do something about education and the Arctic College set up. --- Cece Hodgson-McCauley is the founding chief of the Inuvik Dene band and will remain honourary chief for life. She can be reached at fax (867) 587-3003 or by phone (867) 587-3037. Copyright c. Norhern News Service 2007. --------- "RE: MORRIS: How Columbus Day harms American Indians" --------- Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 07:48:54 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORRIS: THE HARM OF COLUMBUS DAY" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415880 Morris: How Columbus Day harms American Indians by: Glenn Morris October 4, 2007 This column explains why Native people should resist Columbus Day, and why the rejection of the racist philosophy behind Columbus Day may be the most important issue facing Indian country today. In Colorado, we know something about Columbus Day. We have been working for the past 18 years to dismantle this anti-Indian celebration. Columbus Day was born in Colorado in 1907, the first state to designate the holiday. Over the past 18 years, we have learned a lot about Columbus Day - its origins, its true meanings and its importance to U.S. identity and persistent anti-Indian racism. As a national holiday, Columbus Day has virtually nothing to do with honoring Italian heritage or culture, and it is not about celebrating mutually held values of decency, respect or justice. Columbus Day celebrates two critical developments integral to the establishment and advancement of the United States. First, it celebrates invasion and domination, especially of indigenous peoples' territories; second, and much more importantly, it celebrates the invention and the legal institutionalization of the "doctrine of discovery." "Columbus discovered America" is often euphemized to mean simply that Columbus was the first European to arrive here. But discovery has been, since at least the 15th century, a legal and political term of art used to rationalize the European theft of Indian territories in the Americas. In actuality, what Columbus Day celebrates is the conversion of Columbus' acts in 1492 to a legal principle, the doctrine of discovery, first outlined in the 1823 U.S. Supreme Court Johnson v. M'Intosh decision. Johnson was then used to legitimize the subordination of Native peoples, and the taking of nearly 2 billion acres of indigenous territory, by the invading "civilized, Christian, Europeans." Johnson v. M'Intosh is the opinion upon which the entirety of federal Indian law (and U.S. property law) is constructed. Every destructive opinion by the Supreme Court, every destructive policy of Congress or the president to this day, is made possible because of Johnson v. M'Intosh. In Johnson v. M'Intosh, Chief Justice John Marshall outlined the doctrine of discovery, writing that "discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects, or by whose authority it was made." He also stated that "discovery gave exclusive title to those [Europeans] who made it." Eastern Shawnee legal scholar, Robert Miller, concluded that the doctrine of discovery is the linchpin that has been consistently used to justify the brutal territorial expansion of the United States. Lumbee law professor Robert Williams Jr. put a fine point on the importance of Johnson v. M'Intosh today. Williams calls Johnson v. M'Intosh the most important Indian law case ever decided; he then stated that Johnson v. M'Intosh "has to be considered one of the most thoroughly racist ... decisions ever issued by the Supreme Court." What really matters today is that Johnson v. M'Intosh remains in force. Williams concluded that no one on the Supreme Court today "seems to have the least problem with Johnson v. M'Intosh's legalized presumption of Indian racial inferiority, [or] its incorporation into U.S. law [the] legal doctrine of conquest and colonization." Columbus Day and the Johnson ruling work hand in glove. Johnson v. M'Intosh was extended in court decision after court decision, and in the official 19th century U.S. policy of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny advanced the idea that God had given the white race permission to take possession of all of North America, while necessarily destroying Native peoples in the process. Manifest Destiny was declared a success at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, the first time that Columbus was elevated to national icon status. The World's Fair, known also as the Columbian Exposition, was the merger of the philosophy and the success of Johnson v. M'Intosh with idea of Columbus as national poster boy for U.S. colonialism. Professor Shari Hundorf wrote that "[b]y commemorating Columbus' 'discovery' of the Americas in 1492, planners made imperial conquest the defining moment of the nation's past [and future]."' Columbus Day has become the U.S. holiday that celebrates the imperialist redemption of America from Indian "savagery." Johnson v. M'Intosh becomes the necessary legal reinforcement to salve the conscience of America for the theft of a hemisphere. Columbus Day has become the mask that allows America to pretend that it can justify the taking of other peoples' homelands. Luther Standing Bear wrote in 1933 that "The man from Europe is still a foreigner and an alien. And he still hates the man who questioned his path across the continent." The United States has created Columbus Day to rationalize its historical crimes against indigenous peoples. If Native people do not challenge the fundamental premise of the "doctrine of discovery," as celebrated every year through Columbus Day, then the racist foundation upon which all federal Indian law and policy is constructed will remain intact. We see the ideology of domination carried to this hemisphere by Columbus playing out every year all over Indian country. We see it in the level of Indian incarceration, in the loss of religious freedom cases, in Indian child welfare cases where non-Indian courts ignore the law, in treaty cases where the United States ignores international standards, in international practice where the United States voted against the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and in the Cobell trust fund case where the United States refuses to account for tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars that are owed to Individual Indian Money trust accounts. The removal of Columbus Day will not solve all of the problems in Indian country, but it will begin to call into question the legitimacy of the racist legal, cultural and political doctrines that continue to deny Native people freedom in our own homeland. Just as African-Americans challenged U.S. segregation in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, Native people actively and consistently challenging Columbus Day and the doctrine of discovery should force the United States to answer basic questions about the legitimacy of their existence, their identity, their privilege, and the real price that Native people continue to pay for the ongoing application of the doctrine of discovery. A popular maxim in Indian country, based on the Iroquoian principle, is that we must make decisions based on how they will affect the next seven generations. If we do not begin seriously to dismantle the doctrine of discovery, Columbus Day and the Columbian legacy, then we will be betraying our responsibility to the seventh generation, and we may well be ensuring their destruction. --- Glenn T. Morris, Shawnee, is a member of the Leadership Council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado, an attorney, and a professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Denver. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: ANDREW HANON: Shameful treatment" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:51:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANDREW HANON: UNSCRUPULOUS SALESMAN" http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/ Hanon_Andrew/2007/10/01/4540187.html Shameful treatment By Andrew Hanon October 1, 2007 Note to the salesman who last week sold a used pickup truck to Driftpile First Nation elder Peter Willier: Shame on you. Shame on you for going to Driftpile's September pow- wow on the shore of Lesser Slave Lake and scouting out former native residential school students, who this fall will receive financial compensation for the misery they endured as children. Shame on you for convincing a decorated Second World War veteran -who's now 84 and relies on his children to help him with financial decisions - to buy a second pickup, telling him that he can pay it all off when he gets his cheque. And shame on you for callously turning Willier away when he came to you the day after he took possession of the truck, asking you to take it back. A deal is a deal, you told him. You're disgusting. Caroline Bellecourt can hardly contain her outrage when she thinks of how her father was so ruthlessly exploited. "What does my 84-year-old dad need with a four-by-four extended cab?" she says through clenched teeth. "He already has a truck." Her elderly father, she says, is growing forgetful. His doctor is urging Willier to start thinking about giving up driving altogether, and he was considering giving the truck he already owned to one of his granddaughters. "Then this guy comes along," Bellecourt says. Bellecourt's now trying to figure out what recourse her father has to get out of the contract, and whether any laws have been broken. She's been in touch with the police and the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council, but hasn't heard if there's anything they can do. The Alberta RCMP is bracing for a lot more complaints of this kind all across the province as swindlers, carpetbaggers and other vermin start slithering out from the floorboards this fall, targeting residential school survivors. Willier is one of 140,000 aboriginal children across Canada who went through the native residential school system, where many were cut off from their families, forbidden to speak their native language, starved, beaten, and emotionally abused. Thousands were sexually abused. The last of the schools was shut down in the 1970s, but it wasn't until the 1990s that the government and churches that ran them finally apologized for the century-long campaign of cultural genocide. This fall, the government has finally agreed to hand over $2 billion in compensation to the victims - a $10,000 lump sum payment, plus $3,000 for every year an individual was in residential school. The average payout will be $28,000, and swindlers are salivating at the chance to liberate the elderly from their long-overdue compensation. Willier was one of the first Canadian soldiers in his regiment, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, to step onto Juno Beach on D-Day during the Second World War. He chased the retreating enemy to within 16 kilometres of Berlin. Last Nov. 11, he was invited to Ottawa to lay a wreath at the national cenotaph on behalf of the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta. Willier proudly wore the chestful of medals he earned in the service of the same country that, when he was child, had locked him up in a boarding school and tried to erase his proud heritage. As he prepared for the trip to Ottawa, Willier said that putting on a Canadian uniform and fighting to end tyranny in Europe - even though he himself was a victim of racist tyranny right here at home - was an easy decision. "You do it because it's the right thing," he said last fall. It's a sickening travesty that an unscrupulous salesman won't now do the right thing by Willier. --- E-mail Andrew Hanon at andrew.hanon@sunmedia.ca. Letters to the editor should be sent to mailbag@edmsun.com. Copyright c. Edmonton Sun 2007. Copyright c. 2007, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Reform moves slowly with BIA" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: BIA" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=52903 Reform moves slowly with BIA Dorreen Yellow Bird October 6, 2007 Tribal nations and the federal government have a long history of discord and friction there is no question about that. Recently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as an agent of the federal government, began a movement toward change in Indian country. But friction is increasing, and the BIA seems to be finding it hard to roll over tribes. The BIA is an office under the Department of Interior that deals with more than 563 tribes. Most tribes have an Indian agency that deals directly with them based on treaties and other agreements. The Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1886 are specifically for the Sioux groups and Three Affiliated Ttribes. The treaties designate large portions of what is now North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana to tribes as their territory. Oops, the feds said years later. That's too much land for tribes. They needed it immediately, so the federal government took the land and promised the tribes other services. In those treaties, tribes were treated (and rightly so) as sovereign nations, which means the federal government recognized a government-to- government relationship not unlike the state and federal governments' relationship. The broken promise of that government-to-government relationship is what offended the tribes when Carl Artman, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian affairs and a member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, did not appear at regional meetings. The meetings, he had said, were for an "Indian Affairs Modernization Initiative." Twelve meetings with tribes were scheduled to be held in September throughout the country. At the Sept. 28 Great Plains meeting in Watertown, S.D., 13 of 16 Plains tribes gathered for what they assumed would be a "sit-down" meeting with the assistant secretary for consultation on some drastic BIA changes that will affect tribes some radically. Great Plains Tribes in our area include the Spirit Lake tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Three Affiliated Tribes, Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota and the Sisseton/Wahpeton in South Dakota. As I searched the records, I found some confusion about why the meetings were called. In a letter Artman wrote to tribes, he called the meeting a consultation for input on the "Indian Affairs Modernization Initiative." In a later press release and from an interview on Native American Calling, a national Indian radio station that reaches most tribes, the meeting was called "a series of dialogue meetings with tribes by federal officials." When Artman didn't attend, tribes called his action disrespectful. They expected a government-to-government meeting, they said. They voted with their feet and walked out of the meeting. It also should be noted that Artman attended none of the 12 meetings that had been scheduled for September throughout the nation. Twenty years ago or even 10 years ago, the BIA might have cut its budget and reduced its services to tribes with little more than a whimper from tribal leaders. But today, tribal leaders understand the politics of the federal government. Many are more sophisticated and worldly than national leaders because they manage very complicated nations with billions of dollars moving in and out of their tribal businesses. Ron His Horse Is Thunder is chairman of the Great Plains group and also chairman of the Lakota Nation at Standing Rock. He has a law degree and is an example of the kind of educated and experienced leaders who manage these Plains tribes. On the national level, the BIA is reeling from a lawsuit over mismanagement of Individual Indian Monies Accounts and the backlog of tribal services the bureau is mandated to perform. To Altman's credit, he has rescheduled a meeting with the Plains tribes for October at Standing Rock. It's good for the Great Plains tribes, but I wonder if he also will reschedule the other 11 regional meetings that he missed. I worked for the BIA 46 years ago. During that time, there were few American Indians in supervisory or management positions, but as Indian people have become more experienced and educated, they have moved into those positions. Strangely, when the funds and size of the bureau were astronomical, it was a bureau almost free of Indian management. As tribal people began to move into those positions, funds and offices dwindled. Today, the modernization probably will include more cuts and consolidations of tribal agencies. That isn't a surprise when you realize the national budget is dripping red ink. I don't know what will happen in the so-called "modernization" of the bureau, but based on the history of American Indians and the federal government, I worry. The tribes should keep their eyes on the ball and hold the reins tight. We're in for a bumpy ride. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2007 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: Chiapas/Zapatista News Summary" --------- Date: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 03:16 am From: Chiapas 95 Moderators Subj: En;Chiapas/Zapatista News Summary,Sep Mailing List: Chiapas95-english 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: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 09:01:28 -0500 (CDT) From: Mary Ann Tenuto SEPTEMBER 2007 CHIAPAS / ZAPATISTA NEWS SUMMARY [Dear Friends: As several of us leave for Chiapas and Sonora, It seems urgent to call attention to the worsening situation in the Zapatista communities. The Zapatistas' recent communique' suspending their tour through central and southern Mexico reveals the seriousness of the threat. We will present a Report Back on our trip to Chiapas and to the Indigenous Encuentro in Sonora on December 5 at La Pe~a Cultural Center in Berkeley. We plan to film and hope to have a video for the Report Back. Our offices will be closed from October 2 until October 16 while we are traveling.] 1. EPR Blows Up More Gas Pipelines - On Monday, September 10, 6 explosions at ten pipelines disrupted oil and gas supplies, forced thousands from their homes and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly, as well as to other businesses. No one was injured. The Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) issued a communique' taking responsibility for the bombings and demanding that 2 of its detained/ disappeared members be presented alive. It was the second such attack in two months and the EPR said it planned more until all its demands are met. In addition to the presentation of its members alive, the EPR includes among its demands the decriminalization of popular social struggles, and dismantling of government-affiliated paramilitary groups. The EPR blames Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz for the disappearances. 2. Army Enters Chiapas Community to Search for EPR Guerrillas - At the end of August (8/29), the Tzotzil Maya community, 28 de Junio, in Venustiano Carranza municipality, was occupied by Mexican Army troops, who arrived in two trucks and four armed personnel carriers. Establishing checkpoints at the entrances to the community, the troops then spread out through the streets and surrounding fields, questioning residents about the alleged presence of Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) guerrillas. Helicopters conducted flyovers, searching for a supposed EPR training camp. Residents of 28 de Junio are members of OCEZ-Casa del Pueblo and, to the best of our knowledge, have no connection to the Zapatistas. 3. Opddic Members Attack Zapatistas in Bolom Ajaw - On September 11, 50 members of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (Opddic) attacked 9 Zapatista support bases, including two children, from the community of Bolom Ajaw. The Zapatistas were struck with machetes, beaten with clubs and shot at. Three Zapatistas were captured and brutally beaten with the side of machetes and clubs on the head and the body. All three sustained serious injuries. They were released and taken to a clinic for medical treatment after members of the Good Government Junta in Morelia arrived on the scene and negotiated their release. Bolom Ajaw community is adjacent to the Agua Azul Cascades, a popular Chiapas tourist attraction, and the state and federal governments want the land to further develop ecotourism. Not only were the police and state government representative planning to take the three injured Zapatistas to jail before the Junta intervened, the government issued a false press release about the incident and photos were published by at least one Chiapas newspaper of EZLN insurgents from 1994, as if they were photos of the current Bolom Ajaw incident. Reminiscent of the days of Albores Guille'n! 4. Numerous Zapatista Communities Threatened - A recent report from the Center of Political Analysis and Social and Economic Research (CAPISE) reveals how widespread the pressures are against Zapatista communities. According to an article in La Jornada, CAPISE lists 13 communities at high risk: two sections of ejido Mukulum y eight villages of Agua Azul, Chilo'n municipality; Rancheri'a El Nance, Altamirano; 24 de Diciembre community, Las Margaritas municipality; San Juan del Ri'o, San Alfredo, Casa Blanca, Miguel Hidalgo, 20 de febrero, Nuevo Rosario, within the region of La Garrucha, and Nueva Revolucio'n and San Patricio, Caracol of Roberto Barrios. Five of those communities at high risk are in our sister municipality of San Manuel: San Juan del Ri'o, Miguel Hidalgo, San Alfredo, Casa Blanca and 20 de Febrero! We are also aware of other communities at risk in addition to those mentioned. The situation seems to worsen by the day as the pressure increases by paramilitary groups acting as the shock troops for economic interests. Their goal is to take away the land recuperated by the Zapatistas in 1994, thereby effectively crippling many autonomous municipalities. 5. EZLN Suspends Other Campaign Tour - Just 6 days after it issued a schedule for the 2nd Stage Other Campaign tour during October, November and December, the EZLN posted a September 22 communique' on its Enlace Zapatista website suspending the tour. The September 22 communique' is surprising, not only for the sudden change in plans, but also because it "legitimizes" the EPR's political-military campaign for the lives of its disappeared/detained guerrilla leaders. When the EZLN travels through territory where other revolutionary armed groups have a presence, it customarily asks them to call a truce so as not to endanger the EZLN delegation with a political- military action. The September 22 communique' says that the EZLN cannot ask the EPR to declare a truce and suspend its just and legitimate demands. It fears that the government could mount an attack and blame the EPR. However, the obvious reason for the suspension of the tour is the rapidly deteriorating situation faced by Zapatista communities: the evictions, paramilitary attacks, invasions, persecution and threats. The September 22 communique' says that the EZLN delegates will remain in Chiapas during the time originally scheduled for the tour and carry out peaceful actions in defense of the Zapatista communities. An EZLN delegation will, however, travel to Vi'cam, Sonora for the continental Indigenous Encuentro (See next news Item). 6. Continental Indigenous Encuentro - The continental Indigenous Encuentro is just weeks away (October 11-14). It will take place on Yaqui territory in Vi'cam, Sonora, Mexico. Preparatory meetings have also been announced and all non-indigenous adherents to the Sixth Declaration have been invited to participate as Observers (without voice or vote). This will be a very important gathering! You can sign up to attend the Encuentro on the Enlace Zapatista blog: For more information about the Indigenous Encuentro, visit the web site at 7. Montes Azules Detainees Safe in La Realidad - The 33 indigenous people who were evicted from the Montes Azules on August 18 and housed in a La Trinitaria bordello, were first moved to an Ocosingo warehouse and, finally, sent to La Realidad where the Good Government Junta agreed to provide shelter for them. The six men who had been taken to prison have been released and the four who are Zapatistas are also headed for La Realidad. 8. San Andre's Autonomous Council Receives Death Threats - The Good Government Junta located in Oventik denounced death threats made against specific members of the autonomous municipal council of San Andre's Sakamch'en de los Pobres (officials know as San Andre's Larra'inzar) on the evening of September 22. The death threat are written and attributed to two allegedly paramilitary groups: "Opddic Roja" and a "young group." 9. Comandantes Leave Chiapas for Indigenous Encuentro - According to a brief report in La Jornada, Marcos and 8 other commanders left San Cristo'bal de las Casas, Chiapas on September 27 for Mexico City. From there, they will head for Sonora to participate in the continental Indigenous Encuentro (October 11-14). Rumor has it that 2 little girls, daughters of comandantas, will travel with the delegation. 10. Want an autograph of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos? - One is being auctioned off by our friends in New Zealand to raise funds for Zapatista health care projects. See: http://cgi.ebay.com/Zapatista- Subcomandante-Insurgente-Marcos- autograph_W0QQitemZ270170893601QQihZ017QQcategoryZ14430QQssPageNameZWDVW QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ________________________________________________________ Compiled by Mary Ann Tenuto Sa'nchez for the Chiapas Support Committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Chiapas Support Committee is a grass roots all-volunteer human rights organization in Oakland, California. We work with indigenous and campesino organizations in Mexico. We have an hermanamiento (partnership) with San Manuel autonomous Zapatista municipality. In the Bay Area we provide public information about Chiapas through public events, our newsletter, Chiapas Update, our listserv and web site. We organize delegations to Chiapas and also recruit and certify human rights observers and volunteers. We participate in the Other Campaign and the International Campaign in Northern California. Our contact information is below! _______________________________________________________ Chiapas Support Committee P.O. Box 3421 Oakland, CA 94609 Tel: (510) 654-9587 Email: cezmat@igc.org http://www.chiapas-support.org -- To subscribe from 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: 'Shocked' over Dempster Caribou hunting changes" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:51:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VUNTUT GWICH'IN DEMAND ANSWERS" http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/09/27/yk-caribou.html First Nation 'shocked' over Dempster caribou hunting changes CBC News September 27, 2007 Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation leaders are demanding answers from the Yukon government, after it lifted long-standing rules that restricted caribou hunting along the Dempster Highway. In a release Wednesday, the Yukon Environment Department announced that it won't be enforcing a rule barring caribou hunting within a 500-metre corridor on either side of the highway this fall. That gives caribou hunters easy access to the herd from the side of the road. The department has also dropped an annual one-week ban on hunting, originally put in place to allow leaders of the Porcupine caribou herd to migrate across the northern highway undisturbed. Environment officials say the changes were made to avoid a legal challenge by the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation of Dawson City. Charges have been stayed against two Tr'ondek Hwech'in hunters who had been earlier facing charges related to illegal highway hunting. But Chief Joe Linklater of the Old Crow-based Vuntut Gwich'in told CBC News that the Porcupine herd needs better protection rather than more hunting pressure. "I was really quite shocked and disappointed, so I'm hoping to meet with the premier and hopefully we can get this straightened out and try to find a way to ensure that we're managing the herd properly rather than just playing these silly little political games," Linklater said Wednesday. "He may be appeasing one First Nation, but we see this as being something that's really threatening our way of life." People in the largely Vuntut Gwich'in community of Old Crow, the Yukon's most northerly community located nearly 800 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse, have long opposed road hunting to the extent that they've banned it on the only road leading out of their community. Linklater said it's not only a matter of ensuring public safety, but also conserving the caribou herd his community relies on. He said he wants an explanation from Premier Dennis Fentie, who is also the Yukon environment minister. Conservation board disappointed The caribou hunting rules for the Dempster Highway were put in place in 1999 by the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, a tri-jurisdictional entity that involves First Nations and government officials from the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Alaska. The 500-metre corridor was imposed to help conserve the Porcupine caribou herd, as well as keep people along the Dempster Highway safe from flying bullets. "We've been working on this issue for the past 14 years and we got the direction from the elders, so in a way, I'm kind of disappointed," board chairman Joe Tetlichi said. "Obviously, First Nations, myself included, have an inherent right to harvest caribou. But it's also my right to be responsible. And if we over hunt or if we use easy access, that means we're just helping along the decline of the herd." Yukon government officials said they will consult with First Nation groups along the highway to figure out what caribou hunting rules should be applied in the future. "I think what we need to do is go back to all the users - the First Nation communities, the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, this department - work together as a team to come up with something that will work for today and tomorrow," said Tony Grabowski, the Environment Department's enforcement and compliance manager. The Yukon government stressed that the changes apply only to caribou hunters. Conservation officers will continue to enforce laws prohibiting other big game hunters from hunting big game within 500 metres of the Dempster. Copyright c. CBC 2007. --------- "RE: Report highlights Ontario's violations of Rights" --------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 07:51:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT" http://www.ammsa.com/windspeaker/articles/2007/wind-oct-07-2.html Report highlights Ontario's violations of Indigenous rights By Kate Harries Windspeaker Writer GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION, Ont. October - 2007 Despite a history of displacement and cultural upheaval, the people of Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows), near the Ontario-Manitoba border have demonstrated their determination to rebuild their community and their relationship with the land. But a leading international human rights organization says the failure by the Ontario provincial government to respect the Indigenous rights of the community has hampered its recovery from catastrophic disruptions in the 1960s and 1970s-including a forced relocation to a site selected by the federal government and the mercury poisoning of the river system that provided food and jobs. In a hard-hitting report released Sept. 20, Amnesty International Canada calls on Ontario to respect a moratorium on logging declared by Grassy Narrows in January. It also urges the province to work with Indigenous peoples to bring its laws, regulations and policies in line with its duties of consultation and accommodation, and to establish an independent agency to oversee resolution of land and treaty disputes, as recommended by the Ipperwash commission. Amnesty International Canada sent a mission to Grassy Narrows in April to investigate the rights violations, the second such investigation in Canada's history (the first was of a 1982 Quebec prison riot). While Grassy Narrows was chosen because the situation there is particularly urgent, the report says it's not unique. Rather, "it's a powerful illustration of the great harm that can be caused by the exercise of arbitrary and unchecked state power over the lands and lives of Indigenous peoples." In the case of Grassy Narrows, "the Province of Ontario has long failed to uphold its responsibility to respect Indigenous rights," the report states. "The province did not carry out meaningful consultation before licensing large-scale logging activities. And it has ignored clear calls from the community to stop the logging and other industrial development until consent is given." In an interview, David Ramsay, Ontario's Aboriginal affairs and natural resources minister, who is now in the midst of a provincial election campaign, noted that in September (in the last month of his four-year mandate) he appointed retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Iacobucci to lead discussions with Grassy Narrows on forestry issues. Talks are to start in November. Ramsay defended the province's forestry regulation as one of the most sustainable in the world. "We have good relationships, especially in the north where we have forestry," he insisted, ignoring a groundswell of discontent from across the north over resource extraction without revenue sharing. "It's been in this one area (Grassy Narrows) where we've had difficulty." "We welcome that appointment," said Amnesty International Canada's Craig Benjamin, author of the report, of Iacobucci's new role. "It's a positive step. At the same time there's no guarantee the talks will proceed quickly. Where is the protection of their rights in the interim?" In a 2004 ruling involving the Haida First Nation, the Supreme Court of Canada found that government must respect potential interests, because continued exploitation could deprive Aboriginal claimants of some or all of the benefits of the resource. Ramsay said Iacobucci has the power to order interim protection measures. Benjamin noted that the effects of past violations are still being felt. Some Grassy Narrows people still have mercury poisoning symptoms, and fish, their staple food source, remains suspect. Meanwhile, populations of animals trapped or hunted for fur and food are reduced by clearcuts and wild foods like blueberries are contaminated by pesticides. "How much more can this one community endure?" he asked. Abitibi is current holder of the licence to log the Whiskey Jack Forest, the area around Grassy Narrows that roughly coincides with the First Nation's traditional territory. When the company prepared to clearcut up to the boundary of the reserve in 2002 the community rose up in protest. They blockaded a logging road by Slant Lake, some 10 kilometres from the reserve. The blockade still stands, the longest political action of its kind in Canadian history. Nevertheless, processes continue that profoundly impact the land and the people's relationship with it; a relationship that for Indigenous people defines culture, identity and survival. "Everything about being Anishinaabe is the land," Roberta Keesick, a Grassy Narrows trapper and grandmother says in the report. "Without the land that's pretty well cultural genocide." The Amnesty International Canada report faults Ontario's forestry management regime for failing to meet standards set by Canadian courts, which view meaningful consultation as a minimal legal duty. There has been no distinct consultation process for Aboriginal people, despite their distinct treaty and constitutional rights. The Ontario government recently, for the first time, offered a specific process in its development of a five-year plan to take effect in 2009, but so far Grassy Narrows has not been interested in participating. The report stresses that, depending on the impact, governments may have an additional legal obligation "to proceed only with the free, prior and informed consent of the affected people." Free, prior and informed consent is the language of international law, as in the United Nations' recently adopted Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was opposed by the federal Conservative government. But, the report points out, the declaration doesn't create any new rights, it merely clarifies existing obligation. Canadian law sets a similar standard. In the 1997 Delgamuukw decision, the Supreme Court stated that situations requiring only the minimum duty of meaningful consultation are "rare" and the legal duty of the Crown may require the full consent of an Aboriginal nation, particularly when provinces enact hunting and fishing regulations in relation to Aboriginal lands. Canadian governments generally resist the notion that they should obtain Aboriginal consent before proceeding with plans that could affect Aboriginal rights. The Haida decision is often quoted for stating that the process does not give Aboriginal groups a veto over what can be done with land pending final proof of a claim. But, Benjamin points out, the decision implies that once Aboriginal rights are established and proven, then, potentially, there could be a veto. "If Indigenous peoples are not recognized to have the right of consent, at the end of the day that means all power is in the hands of the ministry bureaucracy," he said. "Government in effect has a veto." Copyright c. 2007 Windspeaker-AMMSA-Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. --------- "RE: Canadian Laws could eliminate Status Indians" --------- Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 07:43:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAST BOTTLE CLUB SYNDROME APPLIES TO CANADA" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/10/04/status-indians.html Federal laws could eliminate status Indians over time: demographer CBC News October 4, 2007 No status Indians could be left in Canada within 200 years if current laws defining who qualifies are not changed, according to a Winnipeg demographer. Currently, federal legislation eliminates the treaty status of some children if one parent is a certain type of registered Indian and the other is not. That means fewer and fewer children will qualify for status, Winnipeg demographer Stewart Clatworthy told CBC News. "If nothing changes and intermarriage rates stay the same, and the rules of the act stay the same, and you string it out long enough, you could essentially create a situation where there would be no one born who would qualify," Clatworthy said Thursday. Within six generations - roughly 180 years - Clatworthy's projections suggest no one born could qualify to register as a status Indian. Status Indians are entitled certain rights and payments not available to other aboriginal Canadians, depending on the terms of their treaty - for example, hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied land, tax exemptions and free post-secondary education. Statistics show the number of status Indians is, indeed, starting to drop, despite the fact the aboriginal population is increasing. "I have done projections for First Nations which are facing rapid declines in their populations associated with the loss of entitlement at this point in time," Clatworthy said. "Some of those First Nations could become extinct in the legal sense, having no one entitled or no one born who is further entitled to registration." Changes to the Indian Act would be required to prevent continued reduction in numbers, Clatworthy said. Copyright c. CBC 2007. --------- "RE: Shutting down the Bush" --------- Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HOLLOW WATER FIRST NATION BLOCKADES" http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2007/10/06/4554461-sun.html 'Shutting down the bush' Hollow Water chief argues issue is more than cottages By ROSS ROMANIUK, SUN MEDIA October 6, 2007 Don't expect Hollow Water First Nation's road blockades east of Lake Winnipeg to come down quickly or easily, the reserve's chief suggested last night. Ian Bushie served notice that the people he leads have a lot of reasons to stand up for much more than a government-run cottage development. Addressing a packed room of about 80 people at an Exchange District coffee shop, Bushie stressed that his band's three-week-old barricades about 180 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg are aimed at protecting rights, respect and principles concerning land that the province can't simply allocate as it chooses. "We're by no means holding anybody hostage. We're not trying to seize any kinds of buildings, assets or equipment. We're about being fair," Bushie, 35, told the attentive and apparently sympathetic crowd at the traditionally left-leaning Mondragon Bookstore & Coffee House. "For the cottagers up there, it's a little bit of an inconvenience. But you've got to look at our shoes. Where has the inconvenience been for generations?" Shooting down a widely-held notion that Hollow Water is trying to hold up traffic to stake a claim to property which the Doer government has earmarked for a cottage subdivision, the well-spoken chief said that land lottery project has been only a "catalyst" for action on more far-reaching issues. Rather, he added, they're "shutting down the bush" following long- standing concerns about forestry, fishing and drilling on traditional First Nations land. "Get over that, already. This issue is a lot bigger than just that," he said of the cottage-lot concerns," Bushie said. "If this is truly only about cottage developments as the province is portraying, what are we doing sitting in a bush in the middle of nowhere? Who is being affected? Hunters are being affected. Loggers are being affected. Because that's a multi-million-dollar industry. Both are." Amid frequent nodding, applause and laughter from his audience, Bushie took aim at Conservation Minister Stan Struthers for what he charged has been weeks of failure to appear to take the First Nation seriously. The province's attitude, he suggested, has been made clear in the willingness of aboriginal Culture Minister Eric Robinson to visit the blockades rather than Struthers. "We do not want to talk to your token Indian in government," Bushie said of Robinson's meetings with Hollow Water backers. "He applauded us for doing what we're doing. But at th