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There’s more public information about the truth of Indian boarding schools with newly published research.

The path ahead for many Native communities includes more truth telling and reconciliation efforts.

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

Across the nation, including in dozens of South Dakota communities, Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in boarding schools as part of a larger effort to assimilate them into wider American culture – often with tragic outcomes.

It’s recent enough history boarding school survivors are still alive and sharing their stories today.

New research published by the Catholic Truth & Healing website now tallies 87 Catholic-led institutions nationwide – including nine in South Dakota.

Maka Black Elk is executive director of truth and healing at the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation – a former boarding school.

He serves as a consultant for that group.

“The thing that people don’t understand often about the Catholic Church is that it’s not a single institution. It’s not all located in one single place like the federal government. So, this effort was really needed in order to bring some clarity as to where all those schools were, who ran them, and where those records might be and how tribes can access them.”

Black Elk says there are many pathways to healing these wounds.

“We have to do what we can to support people in their healing effort. While that might not mean a day in court for example on this issue, it could mean other things. Other ways of finding healing. Certainly, all of our Catholic former boarding schools which exist in this state should all be engaged in this effort.”

But for real reconciliation to happen, Black Elk says the church itself must be present.

“Anything that the Catholic Church can do to assist in these efforts is their responsibility to – and I say that as a Catholic person myself.”

Both the Sioux Falls and Rapid City Dioceses did not return request for comment.

The list of Catholic-operated boarding schools can be found here.

Fans of the TV drama Alaska Daily will never know if Eileen Fitzgerald, a hotshot reporter, will fall in love with a Bush pilot and put down roots in Alaska.

ABC has cancelled the series after only one season, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Hilary Swank played Fitzgerald, who went to Alaska to redeem her reputation, after she left a New York City newspaper in disgrace.

A former editor recruited her to help investigate a series of cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Eileen was neither impressed with the Alaska Daily, nor the reporter she was paired up with — Roz Friendly, an Alaska Native and one of the newspaper’s rising stars, played by Grace Dove.

Roz and Eileen eventually work together to solve the murder of a young Native woman — and learn from each other in the process.

Vera Starbard, an Alaska Native and one of the writers for the series, says she had hoped to expand Roz’s role, to reveal more about her culture and family background.

“Honestly. She’s the reason I signed onto the show. Like, OK, here’s a real Alaska Native character. This isn’t some silent nobody, who is going to get two lines, but fight for her own space and fight for her right to be there.”

Starbard says Roz and Eileen were pivotal characters, who helped to raise awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“Literally the millions of people who saw this show, now have to know this is an issue. And many of them are a little bit more educated about exactly why that’s an issue.”

Starbard says the true crime element was an important undercurrent in the show, though she and one of her co-writers, Andrew MacLean a filmmaker from Utgiaqvik, worked to keep Alaska Daily from becoming too sensational.

Starbard says they also tried hard to make the show as authentically Alaskan as possible and one of their big successes was getting Native languages incorporated into the script.

Also, the Alaska Native characters wore clothing, jewelry and regalia made by Alaska Natives.

Starbard says she’s disappointed but not surprised ABC cancelled the program.

It was an expensive show to produce and did not draw the ratings the network had hoped for.

Starbard says she wrote the eleventh and final episode, leaving the show with a feeling that there was so much more to share about the richness and beauty of Alaska’s Indigenous cultures.

Listen to Rhonda McBride’s full conversation with Vera Starbard here or in the NNN podcast feed:

The mother of the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress has died.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin has more.

LizAnn Williams was the mother of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK).

Williams was 76 and Yup’ik, from the Kuskokwim River delta in Western Alaska.

She died Friday in Bethel.

Williams was a retired medical records clerk.

Until she was 6, she lived with her parents at the mouth of the Gweek River, a tributary to the Kuskokwim.

Then, according to Rep. Peltola, a Bureau of Indian Affairs official asked the family to move to a village so LizAnn could attend school.

They moved upriver to the village of Kwethluk.

Services are planned for Wednesday and Thursday at St. Sophia Orthodox Church in Bethel.

The predominantly Alaska Native city of 6,000 is also hosting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and First Lady Jill Biden Wednesday evening.

It’s the first ever visit by a first lady to Bethel and the aim is to highlight broadband expansion in tribal areas.

 

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President Joe Biden took to the Rose Garden last week to celebrate his conservation achievements. And the No. 1 item on his list? Blocking the Pebble mine.

That’s a proposed open-pit gold mine upstream from Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

The sockeye salmon fishery there is central to the economy and tribal culture.

Alaska Public Media’s Washington Correspondent Liz Ruskin reports.

“Distinguished guests: the President of the United States, accompanied by Alannah Hurley.”

That’s United Tribes of Bristol Bay Executive Director Alannah Hurley, who has been fighting the Pebble Mine her whole adult life.

She was invited to Washington, D.C. to introduce the president.

In a blue print kuspuk, she spoke of how her salmon-centered community has lived with a threat looming for 20 years.

“But our people stood up and fought back to protect what we hold sacred. President Biden heard our voices,”

President Biden spoke of the mine as dead.

“In the end, we used our authority under the Clean Water Act to ban the disposal of mine waste and Bristol Bay watershed, period. That means the mine will not be built.”

Hurley says mine opponents are still seeking an act of Congress, to protect the entire watershed from mining.

About a dozen Bristol Bay kids were at the White House for the ceremony, and Hurley says it was a day to relish the win.

“This is everything our people have been fighting for, to make sure that our children will know who they are, and will be able to continue to be Native people in Bristol Bay for generations to come. So to see our kids with the President today, celebrating this monumental historic victory for us was just profound.”

Pebble is appealing the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision denying its permit.

The larger problem for the company is that the Environmental Protection Agency has essentially vetoed any plan to use the site for rock disposal.

Appealing that decision could last years.

A former official of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations in North Dakota was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for soliciting and accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Court records show Randall Phelan, who was on the tribal council, was involved in the scheme from 2013 to 2020, and that in exchange, used his political position to award the contractor business.

Phelan is said to have received more than $645,000.

He pleaded guilty in 2022.

Photo courtesy: Kaku Ixt Mana Ina Haws Facebook page

 

After a pandemic hiatus of several years, a major Native American cultural event is coming back to Oregon State University.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

The last time dancers and drummers gathered inside OSU’s Gill Coliseum for the Klatowa Ina Pow-Wow was 2019.

After COVID-19 hit Oregon, organizers postponed it to keep people safe.

Luhui Whitebear is an assistant professor of Indigenous Studies at OSU, who’s helped organize the event. She says it was a tough decision.

“It was hard because the students really wanted to get that experience, helping organize a pow-wow. This is a big part of being able to express yourself on a college campus for students, and to share culture with the local community.”

With COVID rates decreasing due to pandemic measures and vaccinations, organizers say the 44th annual Klatowa Ina Pow-Wow is back this Saturday.

 

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U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) has introduced bipartisan legislation to establish a Congressional charter for the National American Indian Veterans group.

It’s the third year Rounds and co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) have submitted the legislation.

C.J. Keene has more.

Support for the proposal has increased within the Senate since it was last introduced.

Sen. Rounds says he feels good about its chances in this Congress.

“Last year we were able to have nine original co-sponsors. This year we have 34 original co-sponsors including myself, so I think we’re moving in the right direction. The reason we have those other cosponsors is because Native Americans across the country are notifying their Senators and asking them to get on this bill with us.”

Sen. Rounds says it’s about putting Native veterans on equal footing with their peers.

“There are about 140,000 Native American veterans in the United States today. They do not have a Congressional charter for their organization. We have other Congressional charters that have been granted in the past, we have the Italian American, the Polish American and Catholic American veteran groups, but we don’t have a Native American veterans’ organization that has received a Congressional charter yet.”

But D.C. isn’t the only place the proposal has support.

“Not only do all of the tribes of South Dakota offer their support for this legislation, but the Coalition of Large Tribes also supports this endeavor.”

The bill would need to pass both the Senate and House and be signed by President Biden before a charter can be established.

South Dakota State University faculty and staff are visiting tribal communities in South Dakota this spring to strengthen relationships and better understand support for current and future Native students on campus.

They are starting a bus tour Monday taking them to the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock communities.

Next week, they’ll visit Yankton and Rosebud, and through June will travel to five other tribal communities.

The trips include visiting schools, colleges and businesses, learning about tribal bison herds, and cultural nights with elders.

The tour is part of a professional development training series for faculty and staff.

The university hopes to increase Native student retention and graduation rates.

The first-ever aircraft to be named in an Alaskan Native language in the history of any domestic airline was unveiled last week in Anchorage, AK, as Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA reports.

The aircraft’s name Xáat Kwáani, which means Salmon People in Tlingit.

The plane is wrapped in a Northwest Coast formline art design.

It’s created by Crystal Worl (Tlingit, Athabascan, and Filipino).

She’s well-known for her formline designs featuring her Indigenous culture, which can be found on many things from clothing to a U.S. Postal stamp and now the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800.

The salmon pictured on the side of the plane looks as if they’re swimming, with a female salmon with eggs on the tail and a giant male salmon taking up half of the plane towards the cockpit.

The male salmon’s tongues meet up in the front center of the cockpit. Worl explains:

“That I like to think of as a breathing line or a life line, it’s the beginning of oxygen and water and elements that are flowing through the salmon that the salmon absorb into their bodies as they navigate and migrate back home.”

Years ago, Worl downloaded a template of the Boeing and superimposed her artwork on it. She then posted it on social media tagging Alaska Airlines and eventually got the airline’s attention.

Alaska Airlines is also working with a Native Hawaiian artist to design an aircraft.

Learn more here.

Watch the Salmon People Aircraft, directed by Alexis Anoruk Salee (Inupiaq), host of Indigefi, a Koahnic Broadcast Corporation program:

Navajo leaders are paying tribute to World War Two veteran Steven Harrison who recently passed away at the age of 101.

Harrison enlisted in the Navy in 1944 earning several honors for his service including the American Area Ribbon, two bronze stars, and a victory medal.

He was honorably discharged in 1946.

 

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A federal commission held a hearing this week in northern Arizona as part of a national effort to combat the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports.

The Not Invisible Act Commission met near Flagstaff for the third in a series of hearings throughout the U.S. Members were appointed by the departments of the Interior and Justice.

They heard emotional testimony from family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people along with tribal law enforcement and victim and family service providers.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty is a member of the commission.

“What I want to see from the commission is federal partners either recognize that they play a part in this or to provide that funding so the nations can to that work themselves. We don’t want this to be a political matter. We want this to be a human issue.”

The commission heard recommendations for how to better coordinate responses to missing persons cases and provide better communication and funding for family and victim assistance on tribal lands.

Those who testified also called for more accountability of public officials in solving missing persons and murder cases.

The 2019 Not Invisible Act was sponsored by then-U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), who now serves as Interior Secretary and is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico.

The commission will develop recommendations and submit a report to Sec. Haaland, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Congress.

More mines are being proposed in the Western U.S. to provide metals for the expected growth in electric vehicles, as well as for large storage batteries for power generation and other high-tech products aimed at reducing climate change.

The Nez Perce Tribe is worried about one of the mines proposed for central Idaho.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

Perpetua Resources wants to develop an open pit gold and antimony mine at a former mining site near a fork of the Salmon River.

Antimony is used in solar panels and is expected to have a big future in battery storage units near solar and wind farms.

Perpetua spokesperson McKinsey Lyon says what her company calls the Stibnite Project would be a source of metals now often brought in from overseas.

“The most important thing we can do is bring mineral production home. Because when it is home, there are impacts we can control here. We can regulate, moderate and have oversight of, whereas if we are mining anywhere else in the world, we are not in control of the environmental impacts of that production.”

But environmental groups are raising concerns about the Stibnite proposal.

So is the Nez Perce Tribe, as the tribe has treaty-reserved rights and natural resources, cultural resources, and sacred sites in the area.

Shannon Wheeler is tribal vice-chairman.

“Ta’c meeywi, Good Morning, everyone. Appreciate you being here.”

Wheeler recently met with about 50 members of the Society of Environmental Journalists to talk about his concerns with the Stibnite project — the main one being the fate of endangered salmon that return from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho waters to spawn.

“Generally, there are five year-old fish coming back to the area. And so, it’s truly important we keep that water as clean, fresh and as cold as possible for them, because they have a gauntlet to go through. Dams, reservoirs, predation.”

Perpetua hopes to be granted a mining permit in the next year or so, and open the Stibnite mine within four years.

The Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations is calling for cultural sensitivity training in all areas of sports after an ESPN broadcaster mocked an Indigenous hockey player’s name.

Anchor John Anderson compared Zach Whitecloud’s name to toilet paper Monday night, then later apologized to the Golden Knight’s player.

First Nations leaders applauded the apology, but said the training is needed.

Whitecloud accepted the apology telling reporters this is something the anchor and others can learn from saying that he’s proud of his culture.

Breaking news: Navajo Nation mourns the loss of 101-year-old Diné World War II veteran Steven Harrison.

Navajo Nation leaders are paying “tribute to the life and military service of the late Steven Harrison… who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 101”.

A Navajo Nation release says Harrison was originally from Kimbeto, NM, located within the Nageezi Chapter, and was Bit’ahnii and born for Tsenabahi ł nii.

“We cherish our Diné warrior’s service to our people and country. We are saddened by the loss of Mr. Harrison, but we recognize that he leaves behind a lasting legacy based on his honorable military service in World War II. On behalf of the Navajo Nation Council, we honor his life and offer prayers for strength and comfort for his family and loved ones as they lay him to rest,” said Speaker Crystalyne Curley.

The Navy man served between 1944 to 1946, including on the USS Texas, earning several honors including two bronze stars.

The Navajo Nation release adds that following his military service, Harrison worked for two railroads and built homes in the Farmington, N.M. area.

“The First Lady and I deeply respect and appreciate the sacrifices made by our veterans. We extend our condolences to Mr. Harrison’s family during this difficult time. Losing a veteran is a loss not just for the family but for the entire Navajo Nation. His invaluable service to our great country will live on forever in memory. The countless lives he’s touched and the freedom he helped to protect. May his legacy endure, and his service to our country always be remembered with gratitude and respect,” said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.

Harrison is survived by his five daughters and one son.

 

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A Lake Superior tribe wants an emergency shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline on its reservation.

As Danielle Kaeding reports, that’s due to fears erosion from spring flooding may compromise the line’s integrity.

Attorneys for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed an emergency motion in federal court to shut down Line 5.

The tribe’s attorneys say the Bad River is less than 15 feet from the pipeline at four locations and only 11 feet of river bank remains in one spot.

Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. says the situation poses a tangible threat to the Bad River watershed and Lake Superior.

“Enbridge is all about profit over everything, and we are about our future generations and protecting our ecosystems and downstream resources.”

Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner says the company is extremely disappointed with the tribe’s motion.

“There is no change to the operating condition of line five while some erosion has occurred. Due to the recent flooding, there is still considerable bank between the river and line five, and there is currently no risk to the pipeline which continues to operate safely.”

Kellner says a shutdown would have severe consequences for the U.S. and Canada. The tribe’s attorneys want a federal judge to rule on its motion by Friday.

The COVID-19 public health emergency is set to lift Thursday.

Over the more than three years of the pandemic, Native American communities were particularly hard hit.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse has more.

The numbers are astonishing. CDC data show that compared to white, non-Hispanic Americans, Indigenous people were two and a half times more likely to be hospitalized and two times more likely to die.

Over the first two pandemic years, Native life expectancy plummeted by six and half years.

“Communities are going to be continuing to grapple with the consequences of this for decades to come, and even generations to come.”

Dr. Laura Hammitt of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health served as the head of the Navajo Nation’s Covid testing coordinating team.

She said the tragic disparities are due to a number of factors, including high rates of diseases that raise the risks of COVID infections.

But she also pointed to what she called the systemic racism seen in chronic underfunding and understaffing of the Indian Health Service and tribal health organizations.

Despite those issues, Hammitt says dedicated tribal health care teams have been preparing for the ending of the public health emergency. And she’s optimistic that there will still be sufficient funding for free COVID vaccines and testing.

As the decision from two large tribal organizations to pull out of the Alaska Federation of Natives has begun to sink in, there is mixed reaction from Native leaders, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Some have said the news caught them by surprise, but also say growing tension between competing groups at the AFN convention, should have been a warning.

Tlingit and Haida and the Tanana Chiefs Conference have each cited different reasons for parting company with AFN.

Tlingit and Haida, a tribal organization from Southeast Alaska, says it no longer needs AFN’s advocacy, because it has developed its own capacity to advance its causes.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference, which represents villages in Interior Alaska has said it’s leaving AFN to focus on protecting salmon and subsistence.

Some longtime Native leaders have called the move to pull out of AFN a mistake.

Paul Ongtooguk, an Alaska Native historian, agrees.

“We’re about really one fifth of the population in Alaska. So, if we’re going to influence things, punch above our weight, we have to have a kind of unity that reflects a sense of shared purpose.”

Since 2019, three regional corporations have pulled out of AFN – the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon, and the Aleut Corporation.

Ongtooguk says these departures raise questions about the organization’s health.

“Is it adapting? Is it reflecting the broad spectrum of interest of Alaska Native peoples and organizations? And by pulling out, it’s a way of voting publicly, a lack of confidence.”

Ongtooguk calls the decision to pull out short-sighted – and says if there is a crisis in the future, these organizations will need a group like AFN to speak as one voice for Alaska Natives.

He says unity has made AFN one of the most influential Native organizations in the nation.

So far, AFN’s longtime president, Julie Kitka, has had no comment on the loss of the two tribal organizations.

Read Paul Ongtooguk’s complete interview here

 

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U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) and other House Democrats say they’re worried the U.S. Supreme Court is about to weaken the Indian Child Welfare Act, to the detriment of Native children and their tribes.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin has more.

Rep. Peltola, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress, previously worked as a tribal court judge, where child custody cases were a mainstay.

At a congressional roundtable Tuesday, Rep. Peltola stressed the importance of keeping children with their families or placing them within their tribe.

“I think for every single human group, ever in existence, children, our precious children are our future. And certainly, for Natives, it is no different.”

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a challenge to ICWA brought by the state of Texas and a group of non-Native adoptive parents. They say the Indian Child Welfare Act makes unconstitutional distinctions based on race.

Supporters of ICWA say it’s based on tribal affiliation.

Congress passed the law to reverse the wholesale alienation of children from their tribes.

New York University Law Professor Maggie Blackhawk says the trend reached terrifying levels by the 1950s and 1960s.

“State governments separated over 100,000 of the estimated 400,000 Native children from their parents and placed those children in homes with no political cultural or linguistic connection to their nations.”

The case is called Brackeen v. Haaland. The justices heard arguments in November. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

For nearly two decades, a North Dakota county elected local commissioners in a way that did not comply with a consent decree concerning Native American interests.

Advocates say a settlement has been reached to ensure that a fair system is re-established.

Mike Moen reports.

The Native American Rights Fund recently announced the pending agreement with Benson County.

In 2000, a court order spurred by a Department of Justice filing said the county’s choice of an “at-large” election process diminished the political power of Natives in the area. But in 2004, the county went back to that process.

Michael Carter, staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, said recent Census figures show Natives deserve greater representation.

“The county had a majority Native American population,” Carter said. “However there was only one Native American serving on the board.”

The group, which represented the Spirit Lake Tribe, contends the county’s actions violated the federal Voting Rights Act.

Benson County State’s Attorney James Wang calls the settlement a good result.

He notes that in 2004, the commission responded to a shift in Native population numbers and did not think the original decree was permanent.

In a phased-in structure, the new agreement gives Native voters an opportunity to elect three candidates of their choice to the Benson County Board of Commissioners.

Carter said cases like this one stem from a project NARF launched in 2020 to work with tribes around the country on redistricting efforts and the need for fair political maps.

“These are ongoing issues that require the local voters to stay engaged and stay informed about what county and local officials are doing,” he said.

The organization is involved in a pair of other legal cases concerning redistricting in North Dakota and its impact on Native American voters.

Those lawsuits are related to legislative seats, and Carter added one they filed is scheduled to o to trial in June.

This week, Arlando Teller, a member of the Navajo Nation, was sworn in as the first-ever Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The new position was established under the Infrastructure Law creating the Office of Tribal Affairs to serve under the U.S. Transportation Secretary.

Navajo leaders were among those to join Teller in Washington, D.C. for the swearing in ceremony.

 

 

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King Charles has now had his official coronation as the British monarch. But a couple of days before the ceremony he met with several of Canada’s Indigenous leaders.

More from Dan Karpenchuk.

The audience at Buckingham Palace included the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Roseanne Archibald, the Métis National Council president Cassidy Caron, and the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Natan Obed.

The three along with governor general Mary Simon attended the coronation on Saturday.

Simon is the king’s representative in Canada and the first Indigenous governor general.

She said that Charles appeared to be committed to reconciliation during his meeting with Indigenous leaders.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and focused on Native issues, but also included conversations about the environment, repatriating cultural items from British museums, and missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Inuit leader Natan Obed said he talked to Charles about shared priorities as well as the responsibilities of the crown.

“I invited him to Inuit Inuvik to learn more not only about the government, but the issues we face – the environment, climate change, mental health, education and just continue on the conversation. Ultimately, where we could have shared priorities.”

There have been calls, in the past, for the British monarchy to apologize for the wrongs of its colonial legacy. But the Indigenous leaders said their meeting was more about building a positive relationship that could set the stage for tougher future talks.

The king had met with Canadian Indigenous leaders a year ago during a visit to Canada.

In a speech in the far north, he said he was deeply moved by stories from residential school survivors he had met.

A blow to the largest Native organization in Alaska, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Two major tribal organizations have pulled out of the Alaska Federation of Natives – the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

AFN was formed to fight for land claims more than a half century ago and has continued to serve as a powerful voice for Alaska Natives in both state and national politics.

Every October, it holds the state’s largest convention. But in a statement, Richard Peterson, President of Tlingit and Haida, said the tribe no longer needs AFN’s advocacy and has developed its own capacity to advance its causes.

Tlingit and Haida says it is the largest federally recognized tribe in Alaska, representing 35-thousand members in Southeast Alaska.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference, which represents villages in Interior Alaska, also issued a statement.

It said it was ending its membership with AFN to focus on salmon protection.

It said numerous resolutions have been passed at AFN over the years to protect the Alaska Native subsistence lifestyle, with little action. AFN is made up of both tribes and Native corporations, formed after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Its president Julie Kitka told the Anchorage Daily News she would withhold comment until after AFN’s board meeting next week.

In the last three years, disputes between regions have arisen during AFN’s annual convention.

Three regional corporations have since pulled out of AFN – the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon and the Aleut Corporation.

ASRC is the state’s wealthiest private corporation. Doyon is Alaska’s largest land owner.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member, hosted a discussion on the history and significance of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Tuesday’s roundtable was held as ICWA is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decades old law is intended to keep Native children with Native families.

The virtual roundtable featured advocates, law experts, and a tribal leader.

 

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The American Indian College Fund is releasing three briefs with findings from a three-part research project conducted in 2020-21 on tribal colleges and universities.

The focus of the research includes student support services, program development and review, and sustainability in tribal colleges and universities.

TCUs are unique higher learning institutions located on or near Indian reservations.

There were four major themes identified in the study around academic program development, the preferred term participants used when discussing postsecondary credentialing or quality assurance practices.

TCUs use a four-step process similar to mainstream colleges when developing new academic programs: planning, internal review, external review, and program implementation.

The American Indian College Fund has been the nation’s largest charity supporting Native higher education for over 30 years.

The College Fund believes “Education is the answer” and provided over $14 million in scholarships and other direct student support to American Indian students in 2021-22.

Since its founding in 1989, the College Fund has provided more $280 million in scholarships, programs, community, and tribal college support.

Montana ended its legislative session by passing a bill guiding the removal and placement of Native American children in cases of adoption and foster care.

Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin has more on changes made with and without support of tribal lawmakers.

The bill (PDF) creates the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act (MICWA).

The policy builds on existing federal law regarding removal of Native American children, and prioritizes placing them into the homes of family members or other tribal members.

Over a dozen other states have passed statewide ICWA policies to increase guidelines for child placement, and they have all seen decreased rates of native children in state custody as a result.

Montana’s rate of native children in foster care is nearly four times higher than the rate of caucasian children.

Patrick Yawakie, a lobbyist for the Blackfeet Nation, said by expanding on the federal policy, MICWA fills gaps in the system.

With Montana ICWA in law, we can work to fix a broken system in the state and provide that the tribal children retain tribal identity and culture and heal intergenerational traumas that exist when native children are removed from their homes.

As Montana moves forward with the policy a federal version is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court case by those who say it gives preferential treatment based on race.

The Montana bill contains a provision that will keep it in place regardless of the outcome of the federal case.

Tribal lawmakers pushed back on an addition to the state bill that would sunset the policy in 2025.

Supporters of the policies’ limited run say it will give lawmakers a chance to revisit it next legislative session. But opponents say it will disrupt the lives of children and families in the system.

The bill passed as amended out of both chambers.

Montana’s legislatives session has now ended and the bill awaits final approval by the governor.

Alanna Nulph, a senior paralegal and tribal criminal jurisdiction coordinator for the Yurok Tribe in Northern California, spent years working on missing and murdered Indigenous people cases in the region.

Native News Online reports that after the tribe’s own Emilee Risling went missing in October 2021, Nulph decided that she needed to take even more direct action in the face of what she felt was helplessness.

Nulph took it upon herself to earn a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration in February this year.

The license is required to operate drones for search-and-rescue missions.

For the Yurok program, Nulph has acquired two high-powered drones with a range of additional tools to help search-and-rescue efforts.

The drones are also equipped with a payload delivery system that can deliver water, food, and other necessities to people awaiting rescue, and can provide light for first responders tending to a wounded person.

The drone program will become a part of the Yurok Tribe’s “comprehensive” response to one of the largest crises facing Indian Country.

According to a 2022 Congressional Research Service Report, there were 9,560 cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people in 2020 alone.

 

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Advocates for Montana’s most vulnerable residents are pushing back on a budget plan passed by the U.S. House, saying it would have disastrous consequences for people already faced with trying to find affordable housing in the state, as Mark Moran reports.

Lawmakers in Washington call it the Limit, Save, and Grow Act.

It raises the federal debt limit and reduces spending, but also cuts rental voucher funding for people struggling to find affordable housing, once known as Section 8.

Amy Hall, an attorney with Helena-based Montana Legal Services Association, says the bill would cut funding for 350,000 American families, including in Montana.

“About 1,500 families in Montana would lose access to rental assistance that is provided currently. Those would include older adults, persons with disabilities, families with children, and folks who without rental assistance would be at risk of being unhoused.”

Hall says Montana’s Indigenous tribes would also lose funding.

According to a White House fact sheet, 710 fewer miles of railroad track would go uninspected next year in Montana alone, and three air traffic control towers would be shuttered if the budget bill becomes law.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary said proposed cuts would cause “mass evictions”.

Up to one million households currently being served by HUD’s rental assistance programs could lose it and as many as 120,000 homeless Americans would lose their help, including, Hall says, people in Montana.

“All of us in Montana have seen the number of folks who are unhoused rise in all of our communities since COVID hit, and that would only get worse if these funding cuts go into effect. And there would also be cuts to tribal housing programs and HUD programs that combat discrimination.”

The bill is not likely to pass in its current form, but critics worry it would give leverage to partisan budget measures in the future and have a dramatic impact on livable wages for Montanans already struggling financially.

A tribal college in Arizona has gotten some national attention this spring for “community college excellence”, in this case, on the Navajo Nation.

Alex Gonzalez has more.

Diné College in Tsaile, AZ is mentioned in an Aspen Institute report for the work it’s doing to boost the local economy in an area without many industry partners or employment opportunities for graduates.

Shazia Tabassum Hakim is a microbiology professor at the college, and says it’s been able to use grant opportunities to invest in economic development and sustainable business practices.

Since 2020, Hakim has led a 10-week program to train students to become water scientists in their community.

“We should be able to train the local workforce, because it not only helps the communities to get more out of what they have learned – but also, it is needed to continue the chain, because they are going to be the examples.”

Hakim says Diné’s water testing program is one example of an initiative that meets Navajo needs, but also helps deliver students to potential jobs.

She adds the response from students and the community has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Hakim says her program has led to greater awareness of safe water needs for people living on the reservation. And while the USDA grant that has made the program possible will end this year, she says the college will find a way to continue the work.

Given the tribe’s history with uranium mining, which led in the past to contaminated water sources and other health-related issues, Hakim says it is paramount that people know how to properly identify water contamination.

“It is not something that we are trying to stop at any point. For now, our students – we have trained them in a way just like ‘master trainers’ – so they are good enough in all these basic testing and other techniques. ”

The Aspen Institute report says the college has also decided to start its own businesses, one of which is to produce wool, since sheep ranching has been a cultural and economic staple for those in the area.

The school’s efforts have led to improved economic outcomes for tribal workers.

This story is supported by the Lumina Foundation.

 

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Indigenous culture and traditions are naturally therapeutic.

That’s the message at the National Tribal Health Conference in Anchorage, AK this week, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

“Not one tribe has the answers and the secrets to healing.”

Julie Smith-Yliniemi teaches at the University of North Dakota’s Indigenous Health Department.

She believes sharing traditional knowledge can help bring about a collective healing to address the intergenerational trauma that has affected several generations of Native Americans.

Interest in Smith-Yliniemi’s session was so high, people had to sit on the floor. Others streamed out into the hallway.

Raquel Britton from the Round Valley Indian Tribe Youth Council in California came in search of answers.

She says intergenerational trauma is something families do not like to talk about.

“I feel like my family went through historical trauma that we’re finally just breaking the cycle that my mother went through it with her mother.”

Britton says her mother has just now started to talk with her children about the family’s history of trauma and wants to know what she can do to heal her own struggles and help others.

Smith-Yliniemi says she turns to trusted elders for advice, a source of wisdom can be surprisingly close at hand, as it was when she visited an elder battling cancer.

She found the woman in her hospital bed, doing beadwork, and has never forgotten her words.

“When you’re in pain or if you’re sick, help create joy in somebody else. So, she sat and beaded it for hours and hours and hours and hours and brought me joy.”

Smith-Yliniemi shared what brought her joy at the conference.

She passed around an elaborate beaded collar the elder gifted her.

She says the woman survived cancer and is still alive today.

Native American and Alaska Native media professionals are celebrating 50 years of broadcasting in Indian Country.

A group of people from tribal radio and television stations gathered in Phoenix, AZ Wednesday for the Native Broadcast Summit.

Loris Taylor is President and CEO of Native Public Media.

“Radio and television are such powerful mediums, and I see them as almost a kin to a drum in the plaza where we’re beating the drum, right? And we’re holding on. It’s also this invisible threw line that is tethered to our language, our cultural practices, our identity. So, radio and television are really powerful in that way. They speak to the agency we have to tell our own stories.”

Tribal media is an important part of Native communities across the country for news, entertainment, and emergency messaging.

George Strong is the general manager of KBFT Radio in Nett Lake, MN.

“We get to tell a story from our perspective. It’s something that allows us to share our knowledge, our culture, our language, and I look at it more as a bridge building to create a bridge between our local communities.”

There are more than 60 tribal radio stations and three tribal TV stations in the NPM network.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will double funding available for the nation’s first-ever diaper distribution program and two tribal organizations will benefit.

The program was launched last September.

This week the agency announced an additional $8.2 million, doubling funding for the program, which aims to serve low-income families nationwide.

The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency in Washington state are participating.

The program expansion also means diapers will now be available to families in 12 states.

According to the agency, one in three families do not have enough diapers to meet the needs of their children.

Low-income families are disproportionately affected and, in some cases, spend up to 8% of their income on diapers.

 

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