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New policies aimed at addressing Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) will soon be enacted statewide in Alaska, after legislation was recently signed into law.

The bill expands resources and training for police across the state – and is drawing praise from a longtime MMIP advocate.

KNOM’s Ben Townsend has more.

The legislation establishes a new MMIP Review Commission, a nine-member body responsible for reviewing unsolved MMIP cases and submitting reports to the Alaska Legislature.

The commission includes seats for representatives from victim advocacy and Alaska Native tribal organizations.

Deilah Johnson, an advocate and organizer with the Village of Solomon, said the creation of the commission is a much-needed step toward addressing the crisis.

“At the state level, there was just not a lot of discussion or acknowledgment in addressing any of the overwhelming statistics surrounding the issues facing indigenous populations, specifically women and young girls.”

The bill also mandates Indigenous cultural training for new police officers in Alaska.

The training will be especially impactful in rural communities like Nome, where the police department recruits officers that only live in the community while serving their two week rotations.

Johnson believes the cultural training will help officers deepen their understanding of the people they serve.

“They’re on and off without any real sensitive training to the people that they are protecting, understanding, and needing to work into the different culture and lifestyles of the people.”

The bill also requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to file a missing persons report to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

They need to do so within 60 days of a report being filed at the local level.

The DPS will also employ at least two full-time MMIP investigators.

While Johnson acknowledges the bill is a step in the right direction, she hopes that the momentum won’t stop here.

“I really would hope that this is going to continue to generate the awareness surrounding these issues, keep the conversation going, and allow for additional partners to jump in and build additional resources.”

The new law will take effect on January 1, 2025.

Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Apache people and their allies, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Oak Flat in Arizona from mining by Resolution Copper.

This week, the group formally filed its appeal to the high court, after the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear the group’s case, Apache Stronghold v. the U.S., in May.

Earlier this year, a panel of 11 judges on the appeals court narrowly ruled against the group.

Oak Flat is sacred to Western Apache and other Native people who say the proposed copper mine violates religious freedom.

Apache people and their allies hosted a day of prayer outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Dr. Wendsler Nosie Senior of Apache Stronghold says Oak Flat is their Mt. Sinai, and he is praying the justices will protect their place of worship.

Resolution Copper says the project will supply copper, create jobs, and boost Arizona’s economy.

Resolution Copper told KJZZ News the case “doesn’t present any question worthy of Supreme Court review.”

The Supreme Court will first have to agree to consider the case.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Tribal Government Relations, the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, and the Eastern Oklahoma VA Medical Center are hosting a Homeless Veterans Stand Down.

The event next week in Okmulgee, Okla., will focus on identifying and assisting homeless veterans across Eastern Oklahoma.

A number of services will be provided including health care, disability benefits, free legal aid, and social security.

According to the VA, many veterans are unaware they could be eligible for benefits.

 

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Photo: Antonia Commack hugs Terrie Boskofsky. (Rhonda McBride)

Presumptive death hearings are common in Alaska.

Hikers, hunters, and boaters often go missing, never to be seen again.

But there are also those who disappear from the streets of Anchorage, like three Alaska Native women who crossed paths with serial killer Brian Smith.

Earlier this year, Smith was convicted of murdering two of the women earlier but never charged in the death of a third victim.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, her family used a novel court procedure to seek justice.

The five-year commemoration of Cassandra Boskofsky’s death is coming up this month.

Her photographs were found on Brian Smith’s cellphone in October of 2019 shortly after his arrest — battered, bloody and lifeless images — that were made public just before Smith’s sentencing this summer.

In a courtroom last week, poster-sized images of those photos were on display at a trial the family requested to receive a death certificate.

Michael Livingston, an advocate for an advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous people, helped her family prepare.

“During the trial, we didn’t have an attorney. We were just bunch of bumbling amateurs doing the best we could. I think everything considered, we did pretty good.”

In a procedure known as a presumptive death hearing, it’s the family’s main job was to prove to a jury of six people that Boskofsky is no longer alive, something the Anchorage police have yet to confirm. But Judge Brian Clark told the court the standard of proof is lower than it would be in a criminal trial.

“So if you find more than 50% that something is true, it is in fact true under the law for this kind of a hearing.”

Truth is what the family hoped the trial would bring to light.

With a judge and jury present, they could demand answers.

One of Cassandra’s cousin’s, Marcella Boskofsky-Grounds, oversaw the hearing.

“Det. Lee, is that Brian Steven Smith’s foot in the photographs?”

Boskofsky-Ground’s first witness to the stand was Det. Brendan Lee, who revealed for the first time that a patrol officer had identified Cassandra in the photos almost five years ago.

One of the lingering questions for the family: Why did it take police so long to share what they knew?

“To this day, at the Anchorage Police Department, we have not been able to 100 percent identify the female in the photos as Cassandra.”

That’s because her remains have yet to be found. In the end the jury sided with the Boskofsky family – and decided that with or without remains – Cassandra is not only dead, but also a victim of a homicide.

Antonia Commack, an advocate for the Boskoskofski family, calls this an important victory.

“They didn’t have to put down homicide, but they did. They could have put down unknown, but they put down homicide and that’s huge.”

Commack says she hopes the Boskofsky’s success will help other MMIP families navigate the criminal justice system.

This summer, Wyoming State Parks started partnering with Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game to bring more folks into their all-women’s outdoor program.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann joined the group for a day of climbing outside of Lander.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, a group of nearly twenty women put on harnesses, tie into ropes and try their hand at climbing on pocketed limestone rock faces. They’re with Wyoming Wildflower Women, which organizes all-women outdoor adventures around the state.

Jolene Brown is Northern Arapaho and is a special-ed teacher at Arapaho Elementary School.

“Honestly, I would have never come rock climbing if, you know, if it wasn’t offered. I’m scared of heights, and that’s probably not something I would have done. So, I got out of my comfort zone a little bit.”

Brown’s been bringing her co-worker Kelli Davis with her to programs throughout the summer. As for next year?

“I’ll try and come back with her. And be with her all the way, I guess”

 

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Photo: Grand Chief Cathy Merrick. (Courtesy Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs)

Condolences have been pouring in over the weekend, after the sudden death of a senior Native leader in Manitoba.

Cathy Merrick was the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, she collapsed outside a courthouse on Friday.

Police and those on scene performed emergency care before she was taken to hospital.

The Assembly of Manitoba chiefs confirmed her death in a statement and said it would honor Merrick’s legacy and continue her work.

In 2022, Cathy Merrick became the first female chief in the history of the organization and then she was re-elected in July.

On Saturday, Indigenous leaders came together to mourn her loss.

Here’s Pimicikimak Cree Nation Chief David Monias.

“She leaves a big void, a big footprint in our hearts in Manitoba, especially in the Indigenous communities across Manitoba and across Canada.”  

Merrick was described as a tireless advocate for Indigenous health care and for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Premier Wab Kinew says she was instrumental in calling on Manitoba to conduct a search of a landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women.

 “And so, when we think of the legacy she leaves behind in calling all of us to work together as one province to make this a place where we live up to that phrase that we’re going to honor in a few weeks-time, where every child matters, that’s why I say that she was our grand chief, chosen by the chiefs, but a servant of all people of all backgrounds.”

Merrick was also remembered for her positive attitude and guidance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described her as a relentless and effective advocate for First Nations peoples, especially those most vulnerable, and a leader that inspired so many.

The death of a Rapid City, S.D. teenager has broken hearts across the Native community, as members of the community seek change.

Many attendees of a recent candlelight vigil asked for one thing – an end to gun violence.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

Xavier White Whirlwind was shot in the head on East Fairlane Drive between Ivy and Elm Streets on September 2.

The 13-year-old died later in the hospital.

Dominick Stands is Xavier’s father.

“I’ll remember his personality, and his little spirit. He had a free spirit. He wasn’t afraid to get into anything or try anything new. He had courage, braveness, no fears. Just happy. He liked to meet a lot of people and he brought everybody light.”

As the candles burn in the night for Stands’ son, parents clutch their children.

Coursing through the event is a plea to the next generation to avoid the cycles of drug abuse and gang violence that create the need for these vigils.

That includes Waylon Stands, who helped raise Xavier.

“There’s only two ways out, death or jail. We don’t want that anymore. They don’t want us empowering ourselves, educating ourselves. We have the power, and it’s got to stop. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Wopila tunkasila for guiding us. Wopila.”

After sharing sage, prayer and tears, the family and community shared in song.

The Rapid City Police Department has two persons of interest in the case.

An anonymous tip can be submitted by texting the letters “RCPD” and the information to 847-411.

The University of Arizona College of Nursing has received a federal grant to help support Indigenous students pursing nursing careers.

The more than $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service will fund the “Indians in Nursing” program for five more years.

The program provides Indigenous students financial support for tuition, fees, and a living stipend.

 

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Photo: Crazy Horse Memorial. (Jim Bowen via Wikipedia CC)

The Indian University at Crazy Horse has a new program designed for targeted healthcare.

Namely – culturally sensitive Native treatment.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The Wichozani health and wellness program aims to create culturally competent healthcare workers in a career field that already lacks in Indigenous representation.

Julissa Fillmore is the university’s outreach coordinator.

“We have partnered again with Black Hills State University and Crazy Horse Memorial to come out with the new spring program called the Wichozani health and wellness certificate program. Wichozani is the Lakota word for health and wellness, which is what the certificate program is all about. Some of the classes we’ll be offering is ethno-botany of the northern plains, Native food systems, as well as Native American public health.”

Fillmore says this will be one of only a few programs of its kind in the entire country.

“I definitely think that having the cultural sensitivity as well as knowledge of specific issues that face Indigenous communities is a really helpful skillset we hope to provide students.”

Angel Lee is director of the Indian University of North America.

She says this class roster was a collaborative effort alongside Black Hills State University.

“The goal is to provide a comprehensive course framework for students to earn a certificate that gives them an idea of the issues that face contemporary Native Americans in healthcare.”

The 12-credit program begins in the Spring 2025 semester, and the application is open through November 1

“I can’t understate how significant this is not only for our community in our area, but for our children and their future.”

Binesiikwe Washington is the tribe’s education division administrator.

She says historic federal policies and Indian boarding schools forced many Native Americans to abandon their language and lifeways.

“Turning back to teaching our students through our language and our cultural lens, I think, it will and it has had a very positive impact on our communities.”

She says students will learn all the same subjects like reading and math in the Ojibwe language.

The Office of Army Cemeteries says it is honoring the requests of family members and tribes to return home the remains of 11 Native American students from the Carlisle Barracks Main Post Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

This week, the process of disinterring the remains began.

The students are from tribes in Montana, South Dakota, California, and Oklahoma.

They died between 1880 and 1910 while attending the government operated Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

Over the next few weeks, families and tribes of the students are likely to travel to Carlisle to accept the remains.

The event “Reconciliation through Art” is taking place September 30 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.

The day-long event is bringing together Indigenous artists, performers, and knowledge keepers from across the province.

Organizers say it’s an opportunity for visitors to celebrate and support Indigenous artists, while also building relationships in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation.

 

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Photo: Members of the Central Arctic Caribou Herd congregate at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. A recent report by ACAT shows the Arctic Ocean Basin has the highest concentration of microplastics globally, making Arctic animals and people more vulnerable to toxic effects of plastic. (Courtesy Florian Schulz / Anchorage Museum)

A recent report from the Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) documents extensive community health risks from plastics in the Arctic region.

The report incorporated scientific information from over 250 peer-reviewed studies globally.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has the story.

According to the report, concentrations of microplastics are higher in the Arctic Basin than in any other ocean basin in the world.

Pangunnaaq “Vi” Waghiyi is the environmental health and justice director for ACAT.

She says plastics and chemicals from all over the world deposit and accumulate in the Arctic oceans, in what is called a “hemispheric sink”.

“Because of our reliance on our subsistence foods and because of where we live, we are some of the most highly contaminated people on the planet, a burden we didn’t create, so it’s so important that we are proactive.”

Microplastics are found around the globe, but studies show the Arctic contains some of the most highly contaminated animals and people in the world.

Scientists still don’t know exactly how microplastics affect peoples’ health, but chemicals in plastics are known to cause cancer, to interfere with how bodies use hormones, and to harm brain and body development in children.

Pamela Miller is a founder and executive director of ACAT.

She says microplastics have been found in placenta, newborn stool, and breastmilk.

“Both microplastics and nanoplastic particles can cross the blood brain barrier. So the short summary of this is that babies are entering this world with their brains and bodies contaminated with plastics.”

ACAT is a nonprofit that advocates for legislation to protect Alaskans from toxic chemicals and plastics.

They worked with State Rep. Andy Josephson (D-AK) on a bill to restrict disposable styrofoam packaging in Alaska.

Styrofoam food packaging is an environmental pollutant and one way microplastics contaminate peoples bodies.

The organization also advocates for a global plastics treaty to reduce production and use of plastics, and to ban adding toxic chemicals to plastics during manufacture.

Dogs are feeling the heat. Shelters are at capacity – especially on reservations with underfunded infrastructure. And climate change is compounding the problem.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reports.

When a wildfire burned through the San Carlos Apache Reservation earlier this summer, a rescue team drove around all night picking up dogs with burnt paws.

“So they had to, like, makeshift a shelter, which is really rough to do, especially when, you know, the world’s on fire.”

Taylar Dawn Stagner is the Indigenous Affairs reporter at Grist, a climate-focused publication.

She has been investigating the impact of rising temperatures and more extreme fires.

And says reservations dogs – despite being known as resilient – are having a hard time finding water because of climate change.

“It’s going to make, um, some of our most vulnerable people, but also animals. It’s gonna make it worse for everyone.”

Stagner says tribes are working to expand spay and neuter clinics to curb the dog populations.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) will publicly apologize for its role and the role of the medical profession for past and ongoing harms to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in Canada.

A ceremony will be held on September 18 in Victoria, British Columbia.

The CMA is inviting Indigenous leaders and community members to attend the apology.

 

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Photo: Elizabeth Lakshmi Kanter holds freshly-picked salmonberries on her land in Homer. (Rachel Cassandra / Alaska Public Media)

Wild Alaska berries are one of the most nutritious and antioxidant-rich foods available. But climate change is altering where berries grow in Alaska and when.

So researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are gathering data to make sure Alaskans can pick both wild and cultivated berries in the decades to come.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has the story.

About ten years ago, Genelle Winter noticed that berries in Metlakatla were much smaller than normal. So did a lot of other people in the community.

It was one of the early warning signs of what would later be officially deemed, in 2018, a regional drought.

“And then all of a sudden, all of those indicators that we had been taking note of made sense.”

Winter works for the Metlakatla Indian Community in Southeast Alaska. She says she’s also noticed other changes in berries since moving to Metlakatla three decades ago. She says service berries or saskatoon are thriving.

“We’re seeing more and more and more of it.”

Metlakatla is just one of many Alaskan communities noticing dramatic changes in berry production.

In the past few years, people have reported late salmonberries in Seldovia, insects on cloudberries in Trapper Creek, and early blueberries in Fairbanks.

Changes like this impact berry harvests that Alaskans rely on for nutrition, culture, and connection to their environment.

And berries are expensive to import, so many Alaskans can’t replace them in their diet if they have a low harvest year.

Katie Spellman is a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

For the past two decades, UAF has been collecting data on berry size and quality, life cycle timing, and impacts of snow pack, to help better understand the impact of climate change.

The good news, Spellman says, is that Alaska berries are not going to disappear.

“None of them are going extinct. They might shift their regions so that we have to start using other berries as substitutes for the ones that we’ve traditionally picked.”

Because climate change impacts are unpredictable, Spellman says the best way communities can adapt is to have a diversity of berry plants.

In Metlakatla, Genelle Winter is part of a team working to increase resilience and food security.

Winter says they’re planting as many fruiting and edible plants as they can throughout the community, swapping them out when ornamentals need replacing.

They hope that means people in Metlakatla can harvest berries for many generations to come.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has signed legislation to provide for the protection of Navajo people when it comes to the transportation of radioactive materials on Navajo land.

President Nygren signed amendments last week to strengthen a 2012 tribal law to regulate transportation of radioactive materials across the Navajo Nation.

This follows the transfer of two trucks carrying uranium ore through the Navajo Nation in July by a production company near the Grand Canyon.

The Navajo Nation says it was unauthorized and tried to stop the trucks.

At the signing ceremony in Window Rock, Ariz., which was streamed online, Nygren says in August he joined marchers on the reservation who protested the transport and were sending the message that the Navajo Nation needs to be respected.

“And we wanted to make clear that people that live and reside on the Navajo Nation should be respected at all times.”

Nygren says signing the amendments to the law sends the message to “respect tribal sovereignty.”

 

The Cherokee Nation recently launched the Cherokee Film Institute, a tribally operated education and workforce development center.

The Cherokee Film Institute is intended to create educational and career opportunities aimed at removing barriers for Native Americans to enter the film and media industry.

It also aims at creating a sustainable workforce in and around the tribal reservation in Oklahoma.

The institute’s first courses are set to begin in January.

The program is open to anyone 18 and older.

Native American applicants will be able to apply for a tuition waiver to help remove barriers for entry into the industry.

 

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First Nations leaders in Canada are reacting to the sentencing of a Manitoba serial killer who murdered four Indigenous women.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Jeremy Skibicki was sentenced last week to four life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The 37-year-old Skibicki appeared to be without emotion in the prisoner’s box of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench during the sentencing.

He had been found guilty in July of the murders of four Indigenous women: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and an unidentified victim given the name of Buffalo Woman.

He was sentenced for each of the four counts of first degree murder.

The sentences in Canada are served concurrently rather than consecutively. That means an automatic life sentence of 25 years with no parole.

Skibicki won’t be able to apply for parole until he is 60 years old.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. She says her heart still hurts for the families of the victims.

“I want to uplift the families. I know it’s been a long hard fought battle, and I want to lift them up for trying to fight so hard to get justice for their families. It shouldn’t have taken so much political pressure and they stayed steadfast through it. And I lift them up in a good way. And I think no other families should have to go through what these families have endured.”

The court heard, during the trial, how Skibicki preyed on Indigenous women at homeless shelters, invited them back to his apartment, and abused them. Then he killed them and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins and dumpsters.

Sheila North is a former Grand Chief in Manitoba.

“This is a very clear example of the problem that persists in Canada, that societal problem. And this unfortunately is still happening today. People targeting Indigenous women just because of their vulnerability. Just because of their social status and what people perceive of who we are as Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people in our own country.”

In a statement, Cathy Merrick, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the killings left a deep scar on First Nations people and the reverberations will be felt for generations.

The crown prosecutor said Skibicki can never be punished enough for his crimes.

A new program at Arizona State University (ASU) will help tribes with resources and support to establish a plan for digital sovereignty.

Mark Richardson has more.

ASU’s Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty is designed to help Native Americans plan and develop their digital footprint.

The project is a joint effort between the American Indian Policy Institute and the school’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Tracy Morris, executive director of the institute, said it is all about providing full access to the digital universe.

“Tribal digital sovereignty is the exercise of self-determination of all digital aspects in a tribe, that the tribe itself controls. That could be the infrastructure, it could be the data, it could be the physical networks, it could be their cloud or whatever.”

Morris argued developing a platform for digital information is critical to tribal autonomy.

The program will support tribes in Arizona and across the U.S. in achieving equal access to the governance, social, and economic advantages of broadband and other technologies.

Morris pointed out digital sovereignty encompasses all aspects of a tribal nation’s digital plan and footprint, such as tribal codes, managing data protection, digital equity, network infrastructure, development of funding sources, and capacity building.

“The point is for tribes to be able to implement the best thing that they can and exercise their digital sovereignty so that they can serve their members. For the end user, they should be able to have the same access as, theoretically, you or I have in a city.”

Morris added broadband and other communications technologies are a necessary 21st-century platform for tribal independence.

She believes establishment of the Center is a significant turning point for Native Americans.

 

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Photo: 2024 Tri-Ute Games participants. (Courtesy Tri-Ute Games / Facebook)

The Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Ute Indian tribes recently got together for their annual friendly sports competition for young people.

Clark Adomaitis has more.

At the Ignacio High School gymnasium, young people from three tribes are playing volleyball against each other at the annual Tri-Ute Games.

This year, the Southern Ute Tribe is hosting its sister tribes, the Ute Mountain Ute and Ute Indian Tribes, in Ignacio, Colo.

Other sports taking place throughout the three-day gathering include archery, skateboarding, golf, and hand games.

K’ia Whiteskunk is the recreation director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. She says that the three sister tribes gathering for this annual event shows unity.

“We have relatives from the other tribes that we don’t get to see. But this is a time that it helps to youth get to know each other and come together.”

Over at the Southern Ute Bear Dance trail, athletes in colored shirts are running the Ute Warrior Challenge.

“Almost there, almost there, just good job, good job.”

Darnell Muniz is a recreation specialist at the Sun Ute Community Center. He’s guiding kids running along the road after they just slid through a slip and slide.

“The challenge is having them running bout half a mile on our Bear Dance trail, and then there at the park we have various events like army crawl, slip and slide.”

Muniz says that this year’s Tri-Ute games was the first one since the COVID-19 pandemic with all three tribes.

In 2022, the games only included two of the three sister tribes.

“They still had the temperature checks and also the mask mandate still so at that time there wasn’t that many participants.”

This year, the Southern Ute and Ute Indian Tribes opened up youth registration to second descendants of tribal members.

Muniz says over 300 youth athletes participated this year.

Next year’s Tri-Ute Games will likely be hosted by the Ute Indian tribe in Fort Duchesne, Utah.

A Native American man who was one of three ironworkers who died in a construction accident 25 years ago this summer was recently remembered at a public ceremony.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

William DeGrave, Jeffrey Wischer, and Jerome Starr died in July 1999, when the so-called man basket they were in crashed to the ground after a crane was unable to control a 450-ton piece of metal roofing being lifted in a strong wind.

The construction project was a new major league baseball stadium, now called American Family Field, where the Milwaukee Brewers play.

Jerome Starr was Ojibwe.

Part of a recent ironworkers-sponsored remembrance ceremony outside the ballpark included tribal member Maynard Webster performing an honor song.

Later, Starr’s sister Katherine Hamilton Starr choked up while talking to a reporter about her relative.

“He was a great brother. He was always providing for everybody. Always cared about everybody. Very caring.  He was always there, (if you) needed anything. We were very close.”

Standing next to Katherine was her daughter – Jerome Starr’s niece – Dawn Hamilton, who tearfully relayed a favorite memory.

“Going over to Uncle Jerry’s house, in the summertime to go swimming. And then the holidays or whatever, he always opened up his home to everybody in the family. Everybody and anybody was welcome. He kept us united.”

Hamilton and others also took part in a smudging ceremony to pray for the deceased.

Hamilton says she’s grateful all of those who passed away building a ballpark were honored.

 

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