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Tribes from the U.S. and Canada are again calling on government officials to stem pollution flowing from British Columbia coal mines into the international waterways.

Aaron Bolton reports the tribes say lack of action from both countries is harming fish populations.

More than ten tribes issued an open letter calling on the U.S. and Canada to reach an agreement during bilateral talks this week that would stop selenium pollution from B.C. coal mines that’s making its way into Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai and Columbia rivers, all transboundary water bodies.

Last month, President Joe Biden and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the two countries would strike a deal this summer to “reduce and mitigate” selenium pollution.

The tribes are calling for both countries to authorize International Joint Commission involvement.

The IJC settles transboundary water disputes between Canada and the U.S.

Alaska Native language experts shared their personal stories at the State Capitol last week.

They were there to give an update on the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, they also hoped to inspire those at the highest levels of government to support Indigenous languages.

Dr. Walkie Charles told a gathering of lawmakers and their staffers that, at the age of twelve, he was taken away from his home in Emmonak and sent to a boarding school.

He said his mother only spoke the Yup’ik language, or Yugtun, and didn’t understand what happened to him.

“My mother just recently, she died nine years ago, finally told me that every time she heard a plane approaching to our village, that once a week, she was hoping I would be in that plane returning home. But I never did.”

Charles said he was also ripped away from his “heart language” and didn’t reconnect to it until he was in college.

Two years ago, Charles became the first Native director of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Yayuuk Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle, an Inupiaq language leader, recalled what she felt as a child.

“I could remember being a non-English speaker at five years old, making us to sing this song, ‘I’m a little teapot short and stout.’ And in my, in my five-year-old Inupiat mind, (speaking in Inupiaq) I say, ‘I am not a teapot.'”

X’unei Lance Twitchell spoke.

“Alaska for a long time had been on a path of decided elimination of Indigenous languages. Right? There, there was intention, there was purpose, there was a well-orchestrated attack on our peoples.”

X’unei told the group there are 23 Alaska Native languages, and a few of those are no longer spoken.

“We don’t like the word extinct. We prefer dormant, because that we’ve seen languages come back.”

X’unei says, with only 30 fluent speakers of Lingít, it hasn’t been easy to rescue his language, but it is possible.

“So, imagine if you could, if there were 30 speakers of English left in the world, imagine if you could, if the English language went three generations without creating a single new speaker, then imagine if you could, watching a child sit down at a table full of elders, who could then speak to that child. And that child understands them.”

Those elders, X’unei said, had lived through a 70-year gap without hearing any new speakers of their language.

“We didn’t tell her to. She just went and sat with the elders and they were laughing. I could just see the sparkle in their eyes to see a child, who can understand them.”

In his work as head of the Native language program at the University of Alaska Southeast, X’unei has helped to create a new generation of Lingít speakers.

He says those who work at the State Capitol also have an important part to play.

“Everybody who works in this building for the people, that when you walk through those doors every day, maybe you could just give yourself an affirmation. And that affirmation is this: No language dies on my watch. No language dies on my watch.”

Back in 2012, the legislature created the language preservation council that X’unei now chairs.

Oklahoma state lawmakers have approved a bill to allow Native students to wear traditional regalia to graduation.

The bill passed the House this week.

The Oklahoman reports schools in the state have come under scrutiny in recent years for trying to ban students for wearing eagle feathers or other regalia to graduation.

The bill still needs to be signed by the governor.

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Navajo leaders say they’re deploying all necessary resources to assist residents being impacted by flooding in Chinle, AZ.

Flooding began Friday when a berm from a wash running through the community failed to hold back rising waters, according to the tribe.

Resources have been deployed from across the Navajo Nation to help.

The office of the president is providing flooding updates on social media.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren says the full force of the Navajo Nation has been made available to assist the community of Chinle.

The vice president of the tribe, Richelle Montoya, has been on site and has met with families being impacted.

Assistance has also come from the county, the American Red Cross, and local residents.

Reconstruction of the berm is underway.

The Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency in January for the on-going need of resources, which is helping address the Chinle flooding.

The American Red Cross has opened a shelter to help people in the area.

Tribal colleges in Minnesota hope state lawmakers will help with funding needs.

Tribal college leaders say the schools teach students and help maintain Native language and culture.

Mike Moen has more.

Tribal colleges not only teach students, they’re also institutions that maintain Native American languages and cultural history.

In Minnesota, these schools hope the Legislature gives them a funding boost.

A bill this session would set aside $3 million in each year of the next biennium.

The state’s three tribal colleges could apply for grants, for general operation and maintenance expenses.

Leech Lake Tribal College President Helen Montgomery said it would be transformative for her school.

She said it could use funds to add more learning space and get up-to-date resources for STEM courses.

“Certainly, a lot of the learning that we do is outside, and we do have programs that teach an Indigenous perspective on not just science, but the environment. It would be really great to have some modern equipment.”

She said the funds could also help remove student-aid barriers, and provide staff a cost-of-living wage increase she described as long overdue.

Tribal colleges get most of their funding from the federal government, and leaders say it covers only the bare minimum.

President Montgomery said helping schools such as hers allows them to keep offering a culturally inclusive environment where Native students can ease into the college setting.

She said these individuals don’t have to feel isolated as they navigate their higher-education path.

“We would be able to hire personnel or create experiences that help our students bridge the tribal-college setting to the four-year setting,” she said.

According to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 41% of first-time, full-time Native American students attending four-year colleges graduate within six years, compared with 63% for all students.

A new round of grant funding for projects in Michigan that highlight tribes and Native Americans in the state is now open by the Native American Heritage Fund.

K to 12 schools, higher education institutions, and local governments may be eligible for funding.

Board chair Jamie Stuck says while other states like New York are banning the use of Native American mascots, the heritage fund is proud to provide the opportunity and funding to make culturally appropriate changes in Michigan.

The grants are intended to promote positive relationships and accurate information about the history and role of Michigan’s tribes and Native Americans.

Projects could include things like events and art, or help remove mascots and imagery.

The heritage fund was created in 2016 through the Tribal-State Gaming Compact, which allocates the funds.

Since then, funding has helped with the removal of imagery from 12 schools and two municipalities with more than $2 million in distributions.

Applications will be accepted through mid-June.

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Another First Nation in Canada is grieving after unmarked graves were found near another former residential school.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, ground penetrating radar has identified the possible remains of 40 unmarked graves.

The site is the former St. Augustine’s Residential School operated between 1904 and 1975.

Children from more than 50 First Nations attended the school northwest of Vancouver, on what is called the Sunshine Coast.

The Shishalh First Nation is the latest band to reveal the results of probes into children who had disappeared while attending residential schools.

Lenora Joe is the chief of the First Nation.

“The GPR identifies 40 unmarked children’s graves. Shallow graves. Only large enough for the young bodies to lay in a fetal position. We have spent the past few years following the truth of our elders through the investigation.”

The research also involved interviews with residential school survivors and records of documented historical events. Some researchers say they believe there are many more unmarked graves at the site.

Although much of area has been disturbed and developed since it lies in the middle of municipality of Sechelt.

Joe says the community is in mourning as members and survivors process news of the discovery.

She has asked for privacy for the First Nation to give people time to heal.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said parents took their children out of St. Augustine’s, protesting against poor education, harsh discipline and a poor diet.

Photo: Chuck Quirmbach

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) is releasing more federal money for conservation and wildlife projects, including those helping tribes.

Chuck Quirmbach of public station WUWM reports Sec. Haaland spoke to a journalists conference Friday in Idaho.

Sec. Haaland marked Earth Day by telling the Society of Environmental Journalists that she is setting aside $140 million in federal funds for water conservation and efficiency projects

“Funding for 84 projects spanning 15 western states will go to irrigation in water districts, states, tribes, and other entities. This projects are expected to conserve over 230,000 acre feet of water when completed.”

That’s enough to cover 230,000 football fields in a foot of water.

Sec. Haaland also announced $35 million for 39 new fish passage projects on rivers and streams in 22 states.

The Interior Secretary says those efforts should help migration of fish, including salmon.

Under questioning from a reporter, Sec. Haaland also re-committed to the concept of stewardship agreements with tribes for management of public lands.

She says ancestral homelands must be protected. regardless of which federal agency essentially owns the land.

“It still is regarded as an ancestral homeland and as a sacred place for Native Americans. We recognize that, and why we feel so strongly about these stewardship agreements.”

Sec. Haaland says tribes in Idaho, Virginia, and Utah are already providing Indigenous knowledge to help manage public lands and waters.

Sec. Haaland and leaders of the Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management also told reporters that several contentious water, and wildlife topics are still being studied and discussed.

Some announcements may come from the Biden Administration before the 2024 election.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a virtual listening session to discuss updating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

Senators will examine amending the act to support creative economies, and strengthen enforcement and protections against counterfeit Native art.

The session is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Register for the listening session here.

Livestream at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues began Monday in New York and continues through next week.

Canadian delegates have not wasted any time drawing attention to their top concerns, as Dan Karpenchuk reports.

The theme of this 22nd session of the Indigenous issues forum is “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change — a rights based approach.”

Dozens of Native, Inuit, and Métis delegates are in attendance including the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations RoseAnne Archibald.

Several Native leaders talked about land rights, insisting that Canada’s laws have criminalized Indigenous defenders of the land who have protested against resource projects on their lands.

Judy Wilson is a former British Columbia chief.

“When the title and rights of Indigenous people are perceived conflict with the national interest or agenda or priorities of the Crown government that often align with corporate interests, the title and rights of Indigenous peoples are repeatedly infringed and violated.”

And Aly Bear, a vice chief from Saskatchewan’s Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations, says it’s time that the 231 calls for justice from the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls inquiry be implemented.

Bear says Native leaders are calling on governments to take the issue seriously because there needs to be an end to it.

Others said women and girls are at the forefront of defending mother earth and their safety must be ensured.

The forum is an advisory body to the UN with a mandate to deal with Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health, and human rights.

North Dakota’s new poet laureate Dr. Denise Lajimodiere is the first Native American to hold the position.

Lajimodiere says she’s honored to represent her tribe, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

In an interview shortly after learning about her appointment this month, Lajimodiere told Prairie Public radio one of the things she’d like to do is work with Native students across the state.

“I didn’t have a mentor growing up in high school and this would be in the late-60s. I graduated in 69. So, I hope to be that mentor and that role model for Native students. I hope to reach out to community groups and just promote and increase the appreciation of poetry.”

Much of her work focuses on Native issues including poems that are narrative style about her life in North Dakota as a Native person.

Lajimodiere is a co-founder of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and has shared stories about Northern Plains boarding school survivors in a book.

She’s currently working on a novel based on her father’s boarding school experience and is working on her next book of poems.

Lajimodiere says writing is part of her own healing process including from racism she faced growing up.

“What I could no longer hold I could put in my poems and close that journal, close that book and it felt like it no longer had that power over me to harm. So, I say that poetry helped me find my voice and I’ve been writing ever since.”

The scholar and longtime educator is also a jingle dress dancer and birch bark biting artist.

She’ll serve as North Dakota’s Poet Laureate for a two-year term.

Listen to Lajimodiere’s interview with Prairie Public’s Bill Thomas here:

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is applauding the New York Board of Regents for banning schools from using Indian mascots.

The tribal council in a statement Thursday said it’s pleased with the action.

The council says it’s needed to move away from harmful stereotypes and cartoons of Native Americans, and to recognize Native Americas as people.

This week, the board decided public schools will no longer be allowed to use Indian mascots, names, or imagery.

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is encouraging officials at all levels of government to support the effort.

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A group of Indigenous leaders from Canada is highlighting priorities this week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues taking place in New York.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald held a press conference Wednesday with four other Native leaders.

One of their top areas of concern – missing and murder Indigenous people.

Vice Chief of the Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations Aly Bear says society is targeting women, girls, and two-spirited+.

She says more needs to be done to protect them.

“We continue to see an increase of our Indigenous women being murdered especially the latest case, Linda Beardy, who was just recently found in a landfill. We are not trash we deserve to be valued. Traditionally, our women held high respect in our community. It’s that colonial violence, colonial mindset that came here and put us to the lowest of the hierarchy. Now we are regaining that power, regaining that leadership.”

Bear and the other leaders are calling on Canada to implement more than 200 recommendations made after a national investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Yup’ik and Inupiaq students from the fourth to the eighth grades recently competed in a Native language spelling bee in downtown Anchorage, AK, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

In the Yup’ik language, or Yugtun, Cingssiik is the word for “Little People,” elf-like creatures, who wear cone-shaped hats that look like fish traps.

Tiernan Maqaruaq Ignatius from Nunam Iqua spells the word, C-I-N-G-S-S-I- I-K. Rebecca Atchak, Judge & Coach for Stebbins: Assirtuq.

Assirtuq means, “Good. You got it right.” And Nunam Iqua’s team heard that word a lot. It swept all three top spots.

Alayna Canoe, an eighth grader, took home the first place Yup’ik spelling trophy.

“It feels good, winning,” said Alayna.

Winning for the second year in a row. Her coach and Yup’ik teacher, Savanna Strongheart said the news made her feel a little dizzy.

“I’m so excited. My goal was ever since I started was to get one, two, three — and this year I have one, two, three. So, I’m like all excited and I want to scream. So, oh my goodness.”

The spelling bee came full circle this year for many who have been involved in since its beginning twelve years ago.

One of the students, Casey Jack, who took second place that very first spelling bee, returned as a guest speaker.

“There’s so many opportunities these days for Natives teaching their Native language and Culture.”

Twelve years ago, Casey Jack was an 8th Grader, who represented the tiny Bering Sea village of Stebbins.

Today, he’s an adjunct professor of Yup’ik language at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and credits the spelling bee for sparking his passion for his Native language.

“One of the defining moments I would say.”

While the Yup’ik spelling bee had four schools involved, there was only one team for the Inupiaq language. Cameron Tocktoo of Brevig Mission took first place.

Casey Jack applauded the school’s efforts. He says he knows from personal experience how small steps can take you a long way.

Photo courtesy: @NYOAlaska Facebook

Meanwhile, in Anchorage, Thursday is a big day for Native athletes who have come from around Alaska to take part in the 2023 Native Youth Olympic games.

The first day features three competitions – the Kneel Jump, the Wrist Carry and the Alaskan High Kick.

The games showcase traditional Native survival skills and promote physical endurance in the wilderness.

The games continue through Saturday, and also include a blanket toss and results from a Pilot Bread recipe contest.

The games are hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council.

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A stretch of highway that runs through the Blackfeet Nation in northwest Montana is now named after the late Chief Earl Old Person.

Aaron Bolton reports Old Person was a storied cultural and political leader for the Blackfeet Nation.

Old Person, who died in 2021, served as the Blackfeet traditional chief and sat on the nation’s tribal council for decades.

But he also played a major role nationally, serving as the president of the National Congress of American Indians from 1969 to 1971.

He also helped pass federal legislation like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which ensured access to traditional sites and the freedom to worship through ceremonies.

A bill that will memorialize Old Person was signed into law Tuesday.

A stretch of U.S. Highway 89, which runs through the heart of the Blackfeet Reservation, will now be known as Chief Earl Old Person Memorial Highway.

A community corn field at the Jemez Pueblo in north-central New Mexico, seen here on March 17, 2023. The Pueblo, which is largely supported by farming, irrigates its farms with snowmelt from the surrounding mountains. (Photo: Kaleb Roedel / Mountain West News Bureau)

On Tuesday, you heard about Jemez Pueblo’s efforts to secure water rights for the tribe’s health and way of life.

KUNR’s Kaleb Roedel has more on why that work is more urgent than ever.

Traditionally, the Pueblo’s growing season runs from April to October. But it often gets cut short by water shortages – to the point that some don’t even want to plant anymore.

“This climate change has really made us even think harder. What can we do? How can we make these things work?”

That’s Michael Toledo Jr. He’s a three-term governor and a longtime negotiator on the tribal water team. And he’s a farmer who says the lack of water hurt his crops badly last year.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes – and it’s year by year. But it’s our way of life, we’ve got to take care of our own land and take care of what we have.”

The federal government has set aside $2.5 billion to settle disputes over tribal water rights.

So far, a number of tribes have already reached settlements.

That includes the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah; the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho; and the Southern Ute Tribe in Colorado.

Last fall, several lawmakers from New Mexico introduced bills to approve Pueblo water settlements.

For Jemez, it would create a $290 million trust fund for water-related projects and confirm the tribe’s rights to more than 6,000-acre-feet per year. That equals enough water to cover 6,000 acres of land, one foot deep.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) spoke about the proposal before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

“The settlements will provide critically needed funding for water infrastructure to develop and distribute new water to Pueblo homes and businesses.”

But the Jemez Pueblo is still waiting for its water rights to be approved. And Congress has been newly divided after Republicans took control of the House.

Here’s Paul S. Chinana, a five-term pueblo governor and member of the tribal water team.

“I just hope that we get a settlement. It’s always an upstream battle, and we’re not there yet.”

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Jemez River, Peter Madalena is thinking beyond the water the Pueblo needs for its fields this year.

“It’s just part of our lives. And I think it’s very important that we continue that livelihood, not just for us but for our grandkids and their kids way down the line.”

That’s why he’s glad to see the surrounding mountains covered in snow.

He’s praying for plenty of rainfall this spring – and for their water rights to be secured sooner than later.

This story is supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

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For 40 years, Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico has been working to access water the tribe says it’s owed by the federal government.

KUNR’s Kaleb Roedel visited the tribe to learn more about those efforts.

It’s a gray and snowy day in late winter on the Jemez Pueblo reservation in north-central New Mexico.

Peter Madalena is standing on the banks of the Jemez River, a tributary of the Rio Grande.

Madalena says the river’s higher than it has been in recent winters thanks to more days like this one – filled with snow.

“It’s a blessing that we’re getting it because you’re gonna have more water, and hopefully more people plant.”

Madalena is the Pueblo’s 1st Lieutenant Governor.

He’s also a lifelong farmer – like many here at Jemez.

The tribe doesn’t own any casinos or large energy sources.

They’re largely supported by farming, with corn and chilies being their primary crops.

That means they rely heavily on this river, which they divert for agriculture.

“The crop from the seed up, as they say, we grow together. So that’s what we’re trying to protect here, the water.”

But that hasn’t always been easy.

Back in 1938, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas signed a compact that divided the Rio Grande Basin waters among the states.

But Native tribes and pueblos didn’t have a seat at the table.

That forced them to negotiate settlements or file lawsuits – even though their rights predate all other water users.

Paul S. Chinana is a five-term Jemez Pueblo governor and member of the tribal water team.

He’s been involved with negotiations since they started back in 1983.

“We’ve been having a lot of water shortages for as long as I can remember. And there were a lot of people that were moving in upstream.”

As more water-users – mainly, homes and businesses – are built to the north, less of it flows down to Jemez.

And there’s another challenge impacting the amount of available water.

“Drought. It’s just hard to get everything running normal like it’s supposed to run when there’s no water.”

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

The city of San Antonio, TX recently named Chicano poet Nephtali De Leon as the city’s poet laureate.

The bilingual bicultural artist says he’ll not only represent his Mexican-American culture in the post, but also his Indigenous roots.

Maria Martin reports.

The son of migrant workers, 78-year-old Nephtali De Leon is known for his children’s stories, his visual art, and most of all, for his code-switching poetry.

“While we bless all with holy water of our San Antonio, of ancient our Yanawana Springs, where you can even dance a Westside Polka… with Chiquita Banana.”

At his investiture as San Antonio’s poet laureate, De Leon told National Native News he and all Chicanos from the Southwest are rooted in the ancient Indigenous Mexica culture.

“We still carry the same blood as our ancestors.”

Poet Nephtali De Leon will serve as San Antonio’s poet laureate for the next three years, promoting the art of poetry while celebrating the diverse culture and history of this Texas city.

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Montana’s legislature has passed a joint resolution recognizing the history of American Indian boarding schools and calling on the U.S. government to create a national day of remembrance.

Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin has more.

State Rep. Tyson Running Wolf (D-MT/Blackfeet Nation) sponsored the resolution in the House to officially acknowledge the trauma of boarding schools.

They suffered physical, sexual, cultural, spiritual abuse, and neglect – and experienced treatment that in many cases constitute torture.

For speaking their native language, many children never returned home, and their fates have yet to be accounted for by the U.S. government.

On the House floor Wednesday, Rep. Running Wolf read off a list of 13 children from tribes across Montana who died at the Fort Shaw Industrial Indian School, an hour east of Helena.

The school was opened between 1892 and 1910.

The youngest to attend the boarding school was four years old.

Senate Joint Resolution 6 passed with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

In 2021, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland launched an investigation into the country’s past assimilation policies, which included the forced removal of Native American children from their families and tribes, placing them in Indian boarding schools.

That ongoing investigation found 18 boarding schools operated in Montana.

Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR)’s stance on gaming is hypocritical, says the Coquille Indian Tribe.

The criticism follows a letter Gov. Kotek recently sent to the nine tribes located across the state.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

In her letter, the governor writes that she does not favor the expansion of gaming, and therefore her policy maintains the status quo from previous administrations.

Gov. Kotek then highlights the Coquille Tribe’s application for an electronic bingo facility in Medford, and states her opposition to it.

That’s stirred up strong feelings and resentment among some who point to a broad array of state-sponsored gambling in Oregon.

Jon Ivy is Vice Chair of the Coquille Tribal Council.

“Truly, the Oregon Lottery is the biggest gaming institution in the state of Oregon. Maybe there’s some political gamesmanship going on here, when in fact it is frustrating and quite frankly, somewhat hurtful to the tribe.”

The tribe says Gov. Kotek has no authority over the matter and her stance perpetuates a mythical “one tribe, one casino” policy.

The Coquille Tribe has sought federal approval for a Medford gaming facility, which would be its second one outside the Mill Casino in North Bend.

Previous governors have not supported it, and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians – which runs the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville – has also opposed it.

The governor’s office did not respond to KLCC’s request for comment.

Sam Schimmel during the 2022 White House Tribal Youth Forum. (Photo: @Sam_Schimmel_ / Instagram)

A man with strong family ties to the Western Alaska village of Gambell has been recognized for his commitment and dedication to Native culture and identity.

KNOM’s Greg Knight reports.

Sam Schimmel, 23, is an Indigenous youth advocate who’s Siberian Yu’pik and Kenaitze.

He’ll soon graduate from law school.

Schimmel is the inaugural recipient of the Autumn Apok Ridley Award given by the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.

He’s recognized for his work in supporting Indigenous culture and ways of life.

Schimmel says listening closely to elders as a youth, as he grew up in Gambell and on the Kenai Peninsula, was one of the most important touchstones in his life.

“They’re the ones who instilled in me the promise of reciprocity, that our communities are based on the idea that our elders will teach us how to live and how to be. In exchange, when we grow up, we will take care of our elders and we will pass down that knowledge onto our children so that they will take care of us.”

Schimmel received the award last week.

The heritage center’s inaugural community recognition included an elder award, which was given to the late Dr. Oliver Leavitt (Inupiaq).

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President Joe Biden is back spending time with his Irish cousins Friday as part of his week-long trip to the Emerald Isle.

Thursday was a full day of pomp and circumstance with Irish politicians in the Republic’s capital, as Seo McPolin reports from Dublin.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Ireland’s poet-president Michael D. Higgins rang a peace bell at Áras an Uachtaráin.

The head of state’s official residence was originally built in 1751 and was a summer place for the British viceroy in the Kingdom of Ireland.

Most of Dublin’s city center – including the zoo – was shutdown Thursday amid tight security.

There were concerns of violence by critics of the Good Friday Agreement, which deferred a United Ireland in the name of peace 25 years ago this week.

The White House denied the President is ‘anti-British’ after a former leader of Northern Ireland’s right-wing loyalist party said President Biden ‘hates the UK.’

His love for Ireland was on full display including his entry into President Higgin’s guest book, quoting an old Irish saying “your feet will bring you to where your heart is … and it’s an honor to return and to come home to the home of my ancestors.”

Postal Service honors Chief Standing Bear, who fought for Native American 14th Amendment Rights.

Chief Standing Bear is being honored by the U.S. Postal Service.

His portrait is featured on a Forever stamp.

The leader is well-known for fighting for Native rights.

In 1877, the U.S. Army forcibly relocated some 700 Ponca people to Indian Territory, what’s now Oklahoma, after the federal government took the tribe’s homeland in an area that’s now in northeastern Nebraska.

When trying to return home, Standing Bear along with 29 other Ponca people were arrested.

Standing Bear sued the federal government for his freedom in a landmark civil rights case, which he won.

A ceremony will be held in Lincoln, NE on May 12 to rollout the stamp.

Freda Dan’s four kids are all grown-up, but she continues to organize an Alaska Native language spelling bee every year in Anchorage, which now includes Yup’ik and Inupiat language speakers, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Dan (Yup’ik) grew up in the Western Alaska village of Stebbins.

She now lives in Anchorage, where she started the spelling bee when her kids were small, to help them keep their connection to their language.

After twelve years, with one year off for the pandemic, Dan is holding her 11th statewide spelling bee in Anchorage. She says it’s the students who keep her going.

“I do catch their exuberance and happiness, that they accomplished something.”

Before students get to the competition, they have a lot of work to do.

They’re given a long list of words to learn – 26 pages for Yup’ik spellers and 14 for Inupiaq.

“It includes the word with its definition, a sample of its usage and a lot of them have difficulty with Q and K and R and G.”

Dan says those letters represent different sounds than in English.

Understanding those spelling conventions, she says, also helps students learn to read in their Native language and improve their vocabulary.

Four schools are taking part in the Yup’ik spelling bee – Nunam Iqua on the Bering Sea coast, as well as two Kuskokwim River communities, Akiak and Akiachak.

Brevig Mission, which is north of Nome, is the only Iñupiaq school in this year’s competition.

The statewide spelling bee will be held at the Central Lutheran Church in downtown Anchorage on Saturday.

Indigenous chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) has made Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world list for 2023.

Sherman is a leader in the movement to revitalize Indigenous food systems, and is also a founder of the non-profit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems.

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An Indigenous organization is collecting data about American Indian and Alaska Native youth.

Emma VandenEinde with KUNC reports.

The Center for Native American Youth is conducting a nationally reaching survey aimed at 18-24 year olds who identify as Indigenous.

Cheyenne Brady is with the center.

“How can we be working for Native youth if we don’t really know what their voice is?” 

The center has done a few surveys like this in the past, but this one focuses on the resources available to Native youth.

It asks questions about education, food security, economic opportunities, and more.

The survey is part of the Urban Indian Health Institute’s Decolonizing Data grant program.

Brady says their goal is to fill in the data gaps where other surveys fail.

“If we’re not creating new data for us and by us, that risks the opportunity for the nation and the world to continue utilizing any data where we’re severely underrepresented or any data that is simply inaccurate.” 

The survey has more than 500 responses.

Once finished, the results will be shared with tribes.

The survey will close Friday and can be accessed via the Center’s website.

Nanuq, after getting his post-journey medications. (Photo: Mandy Iworrigan)

And now for a tale of two Alaskan dogs who live on St. Lawrence Island, a tiny piece of land off the Bering Sea coast not far from Russia and surrounded by sea ice, as told by Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA.

Starlight and Nanuq are the beloved pets of Mandy Iworrigan, who lives in Gambell, a village at the top of the island.

Mandy Iworrigan owns the dogs.

“If dogs could talk, both of them would have one heck of a story.”

Iworrigan left Starlight and Nanuq at home in Gambell, when she took a trip south to Savoonga, but the dogs had other ideas.

They disappeared. And about two-and-a-half weeks later Starlight, who looks like a black lab and husky mix, showed up in Savoonga, about 40 miles away from Gambell.

So where was Nanuq?

Well, the Australian shepherd turned up in Wales, a week after Starlight made it to Savoonga — a trek to the mainland that took Nanuq across more than 150 miles of sea ice. And except for some bite marks on his leg, he was in good condition.

Iworrigan believes he survived by hunting.

“I’m pretty sure he ate scraps of seals, scraps of birds.”

Iworrigan says the dog proved he was a survivor and lived up to his Siberian Yup’ik name, Nanuq, which means “polar bear”.

Nanuq traveled by airplane back to Gambell.

Iworrigan says she was especially grateful to Michael and Hilary Ahkinga of Wales, a brother and sister who took care of Nanuq – and to those who helped him fly home.

Iworrigan says she and her children were there to greet him.

“When he came and heard our voices off of the plane, he started whining and crying, you know, just the happiness.”

With help from antibiotics to treat his leg, Nanuq appears to be on the mend. Iworrigan believes he may have been bitten by a wolverine or a seal, possibly even a polar bear.

Western Michigan University is announcing a graduate certificate in tribal governance.

The certificate is in cooperation between the School of Public Affairs and Administration, and three Potawatomi nations.

The opportunity is intended to provide tribally endorsed resources where students can engage with various tribal entities through subject matter and experts.

Plans include cohorts involving government, gaming and economic development with each tribal nation.

The announcement will be made Thursday afternoon as the university hosts a talk with U.S. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland.

Newland is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community in northern Michigan.

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