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Two regional tribal organizations have sued the federal government over failed Western Alaska salmon runs, reports Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA.

The Association of Village Council Presidents and the Tanana Chiefs Conference have named two federal agencies as defendants in the case – the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Department of Commerce.

The lawsuit was filed on their behalf by Earthjustice.

AVCP and the Tanana Chiefs represent about a hundred tribes who live along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, a land mass that stretches from Southwest Alaska to the Canadian border.

Jennifer Hooper, the Natural Resources Director for AVCP, says back-to-back seasons of fishery collapses have affected every aspect of life for people in the region.

“It’s just been a compounding situation of huge food security concerns and lack of salmon, which of course is protein and food. But more so, it’s the culture and the traditions that people have experienced for thousands and thousands of years.”

Salmon bycatch is at the heart of the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court last Friday.

Bycatch are fish that are caught unintentionally and discarded, as fishing boats pursue other species.

In this case, the lawsuit targets factory trawlers in the Bering Sea that fish for pollock, a ground fish used in popular flaked fish products like fish sticks and surimi, a crab substitute.

Brian Ridley, who is Chairman of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, says the salmon crisis may soon reach a point of no return.

“If immediate, large scale action doesn’t take place by either the state or the feds, we might not even have a fishing resource left in our rivers. I mean, we’re darn near the level where I think endangered species could start coming into play. And that’s all we’re trying to do is not get to that point.”

The lawsuit claims federal fishery managers relied on outdated studies, when it set groundfish catch limits for the 2023 and 2024 seasons – and failed to consider what it calls “monumental changes” in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands ecosystems that have taken place over the last two decades.

The fishing industry has argued there’s no conclusive evidence that bycatch has caused the decline of salmon, but even so, has taken steps to reduce incidental catches.

NOAA Fisheries, which oversees the National Marine Fisheries Management Service, says it cannot comment on litigation.

Earthjustice is the same environmental law firm which recently filed suit on behalf of three other Southwest Alaska tribes to block the Donlin Gold Mine.

On Tuesday, members of the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition joined U.S. Arizona lawmakers U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) in launching an effort to create protections near the Grand Canyon.

They’re calling on President Joe Biden to use his authorities to designate the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

The proposal includes more than one million acres near Grand Canyon National Park.

Tribal representatives took part in a virtual press conference with the lawmakers expressing the need to protect the area, which is culturally and spiritually significant to tribes in the Southwest.

Timothy Nuvangyaoma is chairman of the Hopi Tribe.

“The creator gave us a gift and that gift is in the form of the Grand Canyon. That gift is not only for the tribal nations that have that intimate connection with it, but it’s a gift to the state of Arizona. It’s a gift to the United States. It’s a gift to the entire world. So, we do have to protect the beauty of the area many tribes call home…The Hopi Tribe supports the designation it protects the Grand Canyon’s physical beauty and natural and cultural resources. This designation is the highest priority to the Hopi people.”

The designation would protect the area from uranium mining. The area is also an important watershed for the Colorado River.

The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition consists of representatives from more than a dozen tribes.

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The Alaska Native Heritage Center says its study of church records that go back to the 1800s is not research for research’s sake, reports Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA.

Researcher Benjamin Jacuk-Dolchok (Kenaitze) says he hopes to reconstruct the story of how early churches used schools to separate Alaska Native peoples from their land, their culture, and their spirituality.

He says the impacts are still felt today.

“You can’t understand what you need healing from, unless you pull back the band aid and understand the wound.”

Jacuk-Dolchok says most Alaskans don’t realize how closely churches coordinated their efforts.

“While these might be different denominations, the ideology was mostly the same. And that was forced assimilation.”

Jacuk-Dolchok says some of the research looks at the role of boarding schools — and how Americanization and Christianity intersected to break the close connections Alaska Natives had with their land.

He says the forced use of English took away the “heart language” of the people, which sped up the process.

“The major takeaway from what we’re doing is understanding the truth to bring healing, so that younger generations can thrive.”

Jacuk-Dolchok has studied Native boarding schools for more than a decade and credits his grandfather, who attended boarding school, for inspiring his work.

The Princeton Seminary graduate says his theology studies has helped him with his research and given him access to important documents.

Jacuk-Dolchok will share some of his research at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage on Friday.

This 1990s mural in Belfast links the Irish and Native American struggles against colonialism. (Photo: Peter Moloney)

President Joe Biden flew to Ireland Tuesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the historic Good Friday Agreement.

But as Seo McPolin reports from Dublin, not everyone is celebrating the deal which deferred Indigenous Irish sovereignty in the name of peace and prosperity.

The Good Friday Agreement was hammered out 25 years ago by Irish, British, and American negotiators. It effectively ended decades of violence against the Irish people and opened up the economy of Northern Ireland.

However, it failed to unite the island of Ireland and left the British government, which sponsored much of the violence, in control of the six counties.

Sinn Féin, now the most popular political party on the island, has been denied the chance to lead on either side of the border by their right-wing counterparts.

Sinn Féin is pushing for a reunification vote, which has been gaining support since Brexit.

Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. further isolated Northern Ireland from the rest of the island and put new pressure on the 25-year-old agreement.

President Biden will spend this week attending anniversary events and visiting his Irish cousins.

An Indigenous author recently released a new children’s book highlighting the cultural importance of hair. KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde.

Carole Lindstrom (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe/Métis)’s mom never allowed her to have long hair when she was young.

She didn’t understand until she learned about Indian Boarding Schools, where her relatives were forced to cut their hair.

“My mom didn’t allow it because it made us look native. It made us look uncivilized. That kind of decided it was time to tell the story.”

My Powerful Hair follows a young girl who sees her culture and life events woven into her hair like a scrapbook. At the end, the girl and her mom decide to grow their hair out together.

For Lindstrom, the story is very personal.

“I wish my mom was still here so she could be with me to celebrate who she really was.”

Illustrator Steph Littlebird (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) made the drawings colorful to show her community’s resilience.

“We’re fighting erasure on so many levels. And so these books make visible our community in a way that’s so beautiful and empowering.”

My Powerful Hair is available in bookstores and online.

Listen to Native America Calling’s recent conversation with Carole Lindstrom

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A New Mexico man pleaded not guilty Friday in the 2021 disappearance of an elderly woman on the Navajo Nation.

Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, Ella Mae Begay’s case has brought national attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

At his arraignment in Flagstaff, 23-year-old Preston Henry Tolth pleaded not guilty to assault and carjacking charges.

Begay’s friends and family attended the hearing urging that Tolth remain in custody.

Seraphine Warren is Begay’s niece.

“He’s where he’s at, his hands are shackled, he’s helpless, maybe just like my aunt was. We’re going to fight with this and him to get the right answers. My aunt really did not deserve this at all.”

She spoke at the hearing along with Begay’s son, Gerald Begay.

Warren brought attention to her aunt and other cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people last summer as she walked from the Navajo Nation to Washington D.C.

Begay is still missing and prosecutors hope to uncover the truth about her disappearance.

They say Tolth assaulted the then-62-year-old woman in the community of Sweetwater, Ariz. near Four Corners, and then took her pickup truck, which he allegedly traded for methamphetamine and 200 dollars in Albuquerque, N.M.

A U.S. magistrate ordered Tolth to remain in custody pending trial.

He was already in custody on a separate charge and has an extensive criminal history.

A federal trial is scheduled to begin next month in Phoenix and, if convicted, Tolth faces decades in prison.

Kimberly Belone and Reese Cuddy stand inside the laboratory in the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health office in the Fort Defiance agency of the Navajo Nation on Feb. 1, 2023. This is where the compartment bags are prepped with chemicals and inspected. (Photo: Emma VandenEinde/
KUNC)

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health are surveying water quality and access on tribal lands.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde joined them on a survey day to see how it works.

Taishiana Tsosie and Kimberly Belone head out on winding dirt roads, following a random list of homes.

To find one driveway, Tsosie and Belone have to count the roads they pass.

TSOSIE AND BELONE: “So this would be seven, eight, eight, right? No, this isn’t it. This isn’t it. No, it is.”

While other surveys did not count hogans and trailers, this one uses satellite imagery to map all homes in the Fort Defiance section of the reservation.

But without good addresses or Wifi on the Navajo Nation, it can be difficult to find.

TSOSIE: “It is. That hogan was there. Okay. Yeah.”

At each home, residents are asked if they want to be interviewed anonymously. The survey has questions about where they get their water, the water’s quality and potential solutions.

They plan to survey more than 1,000 homes, and 100 will be selected for water testing. But the interviews can be a rollercoaster of emotions. Belone recalled one with an old man who was struggling to haul water.

BELONE: “He was just like, ‘I’m not going to have anybody to do this. So that might be the end of us if I can’t haul water anymore.’ It’s just like, Oh my gosh.”

Plus, many barriers stand in the way for tribal communities.

Heather Himmelberger is with the Southwest Environmental Finance Center.

She studied tribal water systems in Rio Grande pueblos And found that old and faulty pipes and other infrastructure were their main concern.

“You have these very expensive infrastructure projects with very few people who can pay for them. So you can imagine that that becomes problematic over time.”

Her 2022 study also found that many water systems were not aware that dozens of grants existed for their projects.

Some did not even receive the full amount of requested funding.

“What part gets done? What part doesn’t get done? And then how does that affect that community for a longer time frame?”

Despite this, Belone believes the Johns Hopkins’ survey is what the community needs.

“Many of them are really, really grateful. They’re like, Thank you. Nobody has asked me these questions. Thank you for being the one to actually start something.”

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

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Three Alaska tribes are suing the federal government to block a gold mine in Southwest Alaska.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, the lawsuit also impacts two Alaska Native corporations, which are partners in the project.

The proposed Donlin Gold Mine sits near the upper reaches of the Kuskokwim – one of Alaska’s two largest rivers – remote and rich with wildlife.

The mine’s developers say it also has the potential to be one of the biggest gold mines in the world.

Opponents say the massive open pit mine that’s envisioned is just too risky.

Earth Justice is representing the three tribes that have filed suit – the Orutsararmiut Native Council, which is based in Bethel, the Organized Village of Kwethluk and the Tuluksak Native Community.

The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court, challenges the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Donlin project. It names the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department as defendants in the case.

The suit says the mine threatens lands and waters that tribes have relied upon for food and drinking water for time immemorial, as well as for culture, ceremony and passing on traditions.

The lawsuit claims that mining tailings or spills from barges carrying toxic substances like cyanide and mercury could destroy fisheries and wildlife habitat.

Two Canadian companies, Barrick Gold and Nova Gold, are co-owners of the mine, which pits the tribal groups against two Alaska Native Corporations, which are partners in the project.

The Kuskokwim Corporation, a consortium of ten village corporations, owns the land. Calista, a regional corporation, owns the mineral rights. Both have touted the mine as a golden opportunity that could bring jobs, infrastructure and affordable energy to one of the most cash-starved regions of the state.

Alaska’s other Native Corporations also have a stake in this project, under a profit-sharing mechanism in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act – which created the corporations and sets aside 70 percent of the profits from natural resource development, to be split among twelve regional Native Corporations.

In a news release, Donlin Gold said the lawsuit is without merit and is confident the decisions made by the federal agencies involved will be upheld.

Kimberly Belone and Reese Cuddy stand inside the laboratory in the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health office in the Fort Defiance agency of the Navajo Nation on Feb. 1, 2023. This is where the compartment bags are prepped with chemicals and inspected. (Photo: Emma VandenEinde/
KUNC)

An organization is examining water quality and access on tribal lands.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde took a trip to the border of Arizona and New Mexico to learn more.

Taishiana Tsosie and Kimberly Belone are standing in the dark, in an office bathroom on the Navajo Nation.

They’re holding up plastic bags filled with water from the sink.

Belone shines a blacklight on one of the bags.

Tsosie says that will help find contaminants.

“What we’re looking for is…basically if it’s glowing really, really bad.”

Belone and Tsosie don’t think there’s any E Coli. But they see harmless bacteria in some of the numbered bag compartments.

BELONE: “I think two and three on both of them are fluorescent.” TSOSIE: “I was thinking three, and I don’t think yours is.”BELONE: “Really?”  TSOSIE: “Yeah.”

This test is a crucial part of their Diné Household Water Survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health. It aims to learn more about water on the Navajo Nation.

Estimates about water access and quality vary widely.

The Indian Health Service says just over 9 percent of Native people lack good sanitation, but the Water and Tribes Initiative reports that number is as high as 48%.

And the problem is concentrated in the arid southwest – from the Navajo Nation to the Rio Grande pueblos.

TSOSIE: “Well, since the Rio Grande is so close to Albuquerque metropolitan area that they’re finally experiencing what we have been experiencing here.”

Tsosie is familiar with these water issues from her childhood.

“I did live with my grandmother and she didn’t have piped or running water growing up. So we would have to, you know, use the bathroom outside.”

After she and her mom moved out, Tsosie got access to…some running water.

“It wasn’t great water. It was kind of yellow, but we were still safe enough to bathe and never drank it.”

Tsosie hopes the survey results can highlight a vital resource their nation needs. Belone agrees.

“That’s the thing. It is a basic thing. Everyone should be entitled to running water and all of that. ”

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

Tune in for Part 2 to see how the survey works.

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A federal grand jury has indicted a New Mexico man in the case of a missing elderly woman on the Navajo Nation.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, Ella Mae Begay remains missing after more than a year-and-a-half.

The two-count indictment alleges that 23-year-old Preston Henry Tolth assaulted Begay during a June 2021 carjacking in Sweetwater, Ariz., a community near Four Corners on the Navajo Nation.

Prosecutors say Tolth drove Begay’s Ford F-150 pickup truck across state lines and intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to her.

Tolth faces decades in prison if convicted.

The investigation by the FBI and Navajo Nation law enforcement is ongoing and the U.S. Justice Department says it’s part of a broader attempt to solve cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Begay’s family has aggressively sought answers in her disappearance.

In a social media post, an attorney representing them said the day of the indictment was bittersweet.

Last summer, Begay’s niece Seraphine Warren walked from the Navajo Nation to Washington D.C. to advocate for her aunt and other missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Winona LaDuke has resigned as executive director of the environmental group Honor The Earth.

The board of directors received and accepted her resignation this week.

The move comes after a Minnesota jury last week sided with a former employee.

Margaret Campbell had complained a co-worker sexually harassed her.

Campbell claimed Honor the Earth’s leaders failed to take her concerns seriously.

The Becker County jury awarded Campbell $750,000 in damages for sexual harassment and retaliation.

Honor The Earth released a statement on Facebook Wednesday from the new executive director Krystal Two Bulls.

In the statement, Two Bulls talks about moving Honor The Earth forward with the transition after LaDuke’s more than 30 years of leadership.

The statement does not mention the lawsuit, but Two Bulls says they’ve learned “real lessons” and have “deep” work to do around sexual harassment.

She goes on to say Honor The Earth is committed to listening, healing, and intentional work ahead.

In a Facebook post, LaDuke wrote that she failed former employee Molly Campbell for failing to respond to her reports of sexual harassment by a co-worker.

LaDuke says, prior to the trial, she had been working on a transition plan.

This story includes reporting from Minnesota Public Radio’s Kirsti Marohn and Dan Kraker.

Tribal leaders in California asked state lawmakers to help address the fentanyl crisis impacting their communities.

During a recent roundtable at the State Capitol in Sacramento, tribal leaders shared how fentanyl is devastating Native Americans across the state.

Chairman John Christman of the Viejas Band of Mission Indians, who’s been in tribal leadership for 16 years, has served as chairman for the last four.

He says fentanyl is plaguing his people and it’s like nothing he’s seen before.

“Part of the reasons we don’t have success is this new sort of chemical takes ahold of them and when you look in their eyes they can’t, it’s like they need a stepping program to get off of this to even get through to them at all.”

Chairwoman Angela Elliott Santos of the Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation talked about how she’s lost close family members to fentanyl.

She says challenges include being in a rural area with lack of resources, law enforcement and services. Santos says what tribes need is full funding, which they don’t have to compete for in order to tackle the issue.

“Funding we can count on to end the cycles that have plagued us since we were stripped of our way of life. In these days of so much talk of equity and making up for the past, our tribes are still in the same position they’ve been in for decades – nowhere close to having the resources to truly help our people.”

Santos also stressed the need for collaboration especially for law enforcement and mental health crisis support.

The discussion was led by State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) who says the roundtable was held for legislators to learn recommendations for a stable government-to-government solution.

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A Becker County, MN jury sided with a former employee of the environmental group Honor the Earth in her sexual harassment claim.

Kirsti Marohn with Minnesota Public Radio has more.

Margaret Campbell filed a civil lawsuit in 2019 against Honor the Earth, an organization formed by environmental activist Winona LaDuke.

Campbell complained a co-worker sexually harassed her in 2014 and 2015, and acted inappropriately with Native American boys.

She says Honor the Earth’s leaders failed to take her concerns seriously.

Campbell initially filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

It found no probable cause Honor the Earth was guilty of sexual discrimination or took punitive action against Campbell.

She appealed, and last week, the jury awarded her $750,000 in damages for sexual harassment and retaliation.

In a statement, LaDuke said Honor the Earth remains committed to resisting all forms of sexual harassment, violence, and assault.

Youth leaders recently highlighted priorities for the circumpolar north during a panel at the recent Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, as Alaska Public Media’s Kavitha George reports.

The panelists included Indigenous fellows and policy advisors from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

In addition to climate adaptation and cultural preservation, panelists stressed the need to look at the root causes of outmigration from their traditional homelands.

Cordelia Kellie is Special Assistant for Rural Affairs to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

She says during a recent trip to Kotzebue she heard about the need for port development to have easier access to goods in the Northwest Arctic region and other needs.

“How are we also investing in housing so that way people can be in communities, because I think that is one issue of housing that affects all of our Arctic communities, I see a lot of nodding heads. So infrastructure, cost of living and housing, would be in priorities for making sure people can stay on our traditional homelands.”

On another panel, older Alaska Native leaders discussed the necessity of an energy transition away from fossil fuels.

Chief Gary Harrison of Chickaloon Village says he fears climate change could destroy the way of life he wants to pass on.

“We know that peoples in the Arctic are like the canary in the coal mine. It’s going to be affecting us first. Our bottom line is going to be what are we going to have for the future generations? If we leave a mess, how are they going to live? it’s something that I think about constantly.”

Planning for a sustainable future that balances resource development and climate change were top discussions at the three-day gathering.

Photo courtesy: NBA

A Canadian rhythm and blues singer has been honored by Native leaders for her rendition of Canada’s national anthem.

Dan Karpenchuk has more.

It took place at the NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, Utah, in February.

Instead of singing “O Canada. Our home and native land,” Jully Black sing this:

“O Canada, our home on Native land…”

At a special chiefs assembly in Ottawa of the Assembly of First Nations, on Monday, Black was honored for the small change to the anthem.

She was presented with an eagle feather and wrapped with a blanket during a ceremony by AFN National Chief Roseanne Archibald.

Saying she was grateful, Black held back tears and said she didn’t realize here action would receive such a response, even while singing the song at the game, she said it was emotional for her.

“If I have an opportunity to be an amplified voice, then I’m going to. That’s why I made the decision. As a singer if you cry, you lose your voice, you won’t sound very good. I’m first generation Canadain singing that song since kindergarten, learning it, someone telling me to sing it, not knowing what it actually meant. And so as a songwriter I didnt’ to disrespect the song writer because I am one too. But I also realize that we are on the land, like on it. We don’t own it, it’s not ours. So rather than look at I changed the anthem, I wish I could sit with the songwriter and say hey you might have got the facts wrong.”

Black says she also consulted with some of her Indigenous friends before making the final decision.

After the ceremony Black again sang the altered version of “O Canada.”

That prompted cheers from the crowd.

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The VA is waiving copays for American Indian and Alaska Native veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that eligible Native veterans are no longer required to make copayments for health care or urgent care received through the VA.

Under the new policy, the VA will reimburse copays paid on or after January 5, 2022.

Starting Tuesday, April 4, veterans can submit documents to qualify for the copay exemption.

VA officials say eliminating copays will help make health care more affordable and accessible for Native veterans.

Those interested in taking part in the new rule need to fill out a VA tribal documentation form.

According to the VA, this is estimated to impact about 25,000 Native veterans.

More information can be found online at va.gov.

The U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services met with students at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS late last week.

Admiral Rachel Levine, an advocate for LGBT medicine, is working with the Indian Health Service on LGBTQ+ issues.

One challenge in providing care says Dr. Levine is lack of data within IHS.

“We are trying to ask the Indian Health Service to collect sexual orientation, gender identity data. That would be sole on a voluntary basis. So, if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to answer. But, without asking the questions you don’t and there are specific ways to respectfully ask the question. And to ask it in ways people have flexibility in terms of how they answer.”

Dr. Levine says the data would help in providing care. Dr. Levine is the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate and was a guest speaker at Haskell on International Transgender Day of Visibility.

The Indian Health Service is a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

North Dakota is home to a tribal college that’s successful in conserving energy.

The success is a reflection of overcoming colonialism in gaining access to key resources, according to the school.

Turtle Mountain Community College sits in the heart of the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

Facilities manager Wes Davis has led an effort to lower the energy bill of the college by 300%.

He did this through controlling the 256 geothermal heating and cooling pumps in the school, each equipped with their own sensor.

Davis says colonialism has imposed a worldview on Indigenous people that has impacted how they sustain themselves.

He suggests that includes access to advanced infrastructure.

“We need to be able to understand how to develop our power and energy and how to get it to our communities.”

In this particular area, Davis says the obstacles largely stemmed from Native populations being excluded from rural electric cooperatives.

But he says there’s now some positive movement in easing that tension, with tribal communities expressing interest in establishing their own co-ops.

Davis hopes what the school has been able to accomplish eventually leads to lower energy costs for Indigenous communities surrounding the campus.

“I want our community to be healthier and [have] a better quality of life for them and not have to be taxed all winter long and about worrying about, ‘Are they going to be able to come home to a warm home?'”

Davis not only wants the college to be sustainable – he wants it to teach sustainability to the community and inspire residents to build more energy-efficient homes.

A future goal for Turtle Mountain Community College involves a vocational H-VAC program and solar and renewable-energy schooling.

This story was produced with original reporting from Jessica Plance for Homegrown Stories in collaboration with the Solutions Journalism Network.

And, the Institute of American Indian Arts Bee-Well Program we told you about on Monday was all just for fun.

Happy April Fools as we kick off the month of April… bee-well!

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A First Nation on a reserve that straddles the border between Canada and the United States has been shaken by the deaths of eight suspected migrants.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the bodies were found in the St. Lawrence River.

Details are still sketchy and only two of the victims have been identified.

But the group had apparently tried to cross into the United States from Canada across the St. Lawrence River in an area where the where the Akwasasne Mohawk reserve straddles the international border.

The First Nation borders on Quebec, Ontario, and New York state.

Shawn Dulude is the chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service.

He says eight bodies, including two children, have now been found after an overturned boat was found in the water late last week.

“All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the United States from Canada. The circumstances surrounding the deaths continue to be investigated. Akwasasne Mohawk police are working with Immigration Canada and Homeland Security to confirm their identities so that the next of kin notifications can be made.”

Officials say the boat was too small to be able to safely carry seven or eight people.

Elders at the First Nation say St. Lawrence is always a major concern, especially with spring runoff, the current is stronger and the water itself, ice cold.

Some say they wouldn’t venture out on the river until at least May.

Casey Oakes

Officials say at least 80 people have been intercepted as they tried to cross into the U.S. since January.

The eight victims are apparently from two families, one Romanian, the other Indian.

Advocates for asylum seekers say since the closing of the irregular crossing less than a week ago, desperate migrants trying to cross to either country, will try more hazardous methods of doing so.

Still missing is 30-year-old Casey Oakes, a resident of the Akawasasne First Nation.

Police would not say if his disappearance and the bodies found in the marsh along the river are linked.

A grant is expected to help student parents at a tribal college in northwestern Montana.

Eric Tegethoff has more.

The Aspen Institute has announced Blackfeet Community College and seven other institutes around the country have joined the Black and Native Family Futures Fund.

Linda Sue Racine is a counselor at the school and is overseeing the 75-thousand dollar grant. She says COVID-19 hit the Blackfeet Reservation hard and many students are grieving.

“To be able to get good grades and all that you need to have some peace in your life. And I always feel that if we’re not well mentally and emotionally and physically, then we’re not going to be able to succeed.”

The grant comes with technical assistance to implement programs as well.

Blackfeet Community College is setting up the Native Student Parent Program, which will help young mothers with child care, food and transportation.

Racine says elders also are helping with the program.

She says workshops for the young mothers include making traditional outfits for their kids.

“We just don’t want our people to lose their cultural and their traditional way of life. So it’s very important that we integrate it in everything we do.”

The eight institutions that received funding are Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities.

This previous story is supported by the Lumina Foundation.

WARNING: The following story is actually an April Fool’s Joke

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM is adding a health and wellness management program to its academic roster.

IAIA announced over the weekend the new Bee Well Program.

Students will soon be able to earn a degree in Bee Therapy.

Classes include Bee Hear Now Meditation, Floral Arrangement, and Ultraviolet Vibrational Spectroscopy.

The program will be housed in a building named the HIVE (Healthy Individuals Vibing Energetically).

Construction is expected to start on the building this spring and a full list of courses in the program will soon be released.

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The Vatican has rejected the “Doctrine of Discovery”, which was used to legitimize colonization and the seizure of Indigenous lands.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, some Native leaders see the move as an important step on the journey toward reconciliation.

Native leaders in Canada have long called for such a move and it may have been their pressure that brought the Vatican to formally repudiate the doctrine.

In a statement, the Vatican said the fifteenth century papal bulls, or decrees, did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples and they have never been considered an expression of the Catholic faith.

The statement went on to say the documents had been manipulated for political reasons by colonial powers to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition for ecclesiastical authorities.

The Vatican also acknowledged that it was right to recognize these errors and acknowledge the terrible effects of colonial era assimilation polices on Indigenous peoples and ask for their forgiveness.

The move came just months after the pope’s visit to Canada.

Rose Lemay is the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group.

“The pope coming to Canada has been a major step, I believe, in that openness of the Vatican in order to hear alternative perspectives. And alternative perspective is what needs to be heard in order to adjust some of the monumental mistakes of the past.”

Some Native leaders say it shows there is hope for the future that the church is stepping up and recognizing their wrongs and correcting them.

Others say the rejection of the doctrine could also change perceptions of Canadian history and how it is taught in schools.

National Native organizations in the U.S. are responding to the Vatican rejecting the “Doctrine of Discovery”.

The National Congress of American Indians released a statement Thursday, commending the Vatican’s move, saying it hopes the announcement is the beginning of a full acknowledgement of the history of oppression and a full accounting of the legacies of colonialism by the church and governments worldwide.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in a statement said while the Vatican’s decision is the right one, the Vatican’s statement lacks accountability.

The coalition is calling on the Catholic Church to be more transparent, including granting access to Indian boarding school documents, returning land to tribes and supporting a full inquiry into boarding school policies.

The coalition is also calling on the church to respects tribal sovereignty and Indigenous ways of life.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say nearly $2 million in federal funding it recently received will expand services at a newly built medical clinic and pharmacy.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.

The CSKT clinic in Ronan, which will soon offer full primary care and pharmacy services, replaces an old clinic that offered immunization services for children.

The tribes last week received $1.9 million to pay for an expansion from a federal program that gives companies tax credits in exchange for donations that will be invested in low-income communities.

CSKT member services director Patricia Hibbeler says money will allow the clinic to offer drive-through services for the pharmacy and build a physical therapy and community fitness space, programs previously cut from the plans.

“So we’re excited about this project because it means we get to expand into some of those areas that we had actually taken off of the plan due to cost of construction.”

Hibbeler says the construction on that expansion is expected to begin shortly after the main clinic and pharmacy open and will be complete in early 2024.

That main clinic is expected to open in May.

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The Vatican has formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” which justified colonization and the taking of Indigenous lands.

Two Vatican departments issued a joint statement Thursday saying it’s not part of teachings of the Catholic Church.

Indigenous people have long called for the church to rescind the legal concept.

Shannon O’Loughlin

Tribal advocates are objecting to the online auction of Native artifacts.

Robyn Vincent has more.

A lot of the pieces in a Bonhams auction come from the late University of Colorado Denver professor Dean Taylor.

Items are going for hundreds of dollars and include things like a beaded hide doll from the Plains Indians and hide drums.

Tribal advocates say the dispossession of Native cultural and sacred items is common today.

Shannon O’Loughlin directs the Association on American Indian Affairs.

She says there’s a direct relationship between alarming health statistics in Indian Country and this kind of dispossession.

“If we look at all of the statistics, they’re horrible in Indian Country in all of those things are the result of this intergenerational historic trauma being dispossessed of your home, the things that give you health and security.”

O’Loughlin says the auction is one of many that should give collectors pause.

She urges people to consider the human costs of commercializing these sacred items.

The Bristol Bay Sustainability Summit took place in Dillingham, Alaska this week.

It’s a time for people to gather and talk about what sustainability means for the region.

As KDLG’s Izzy Ross reports, the keynote speech focused on the strong foundations already in place in the region’s Native communities and culture bearers.

Igiugig Village Council President AlexAnna Salmon doesn’t think the way forward is a mystery.

“What we’re trying to achieve isn’t impossible. It already was. We come from perfection.”

During her keynote speech at the Bristol Bay Sustainability Summit, Salmon said she used to think she had to leave the village in order to succeed. But that has changed.

“I want to be one of those elders that is wise. I want to share how to sew where the best berry patches are. How to make all the traditional foods. That’s what I want to be, is that elder.”

Salmon keeps returning to traditional knowledge as the most powerful way to protect and sustain Bristol Bay’s lands and peoples. Salmon said tribes need to assert their authority as nations in land stewardship.

“Let’s sustain for 8,000 more, leaving the littlest footprint. In Alaska we have the opportunity to do it right, to get it right.”

That means people can focus on sustaining instead of restoring. And part of that is acknowledging the efforts of others.

Salmon said her elders had to give up living freely on the land to ensure the community’s children had a school, and they focused on western-style settlements in order to keep them home.

“I had no idea that my entire community reorganized and settled so that I could have that education at home, so that I could love and live Igiugig. That is a sacrifice.”

Salmon said moving forward, they need to continue to focus on education – like speaking Yup’ik in the classroom and creating local opportunities for students.

As for the sustainability people are seeking, Salmon said it’s already embedded within Bristol Bay’s Indigenous peoples.

“This is our state. We’re the only people with an inherent right to our lands and waters. We have a proven track record. We have never diminished our resources. We have stood the test of time.”

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