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The National Tribal Health Conference got underway Tuesday in Anchorage.

About 1,200 tribal health advocates from across the country are meeting to deal with almost every facet of Indian health care – from operating clinics to serving veterans – fighting diabetes as well as looking at the impact of climate change on health.

The Alaska Native Health Board (ANHB) is working with the National Indian Health Board to host this year’s gathering.

Alberta Unok (Yup’ik) is head of ANHB and says this year’s theme is: “Culture Heals. Culture Knows. Culture Leads.”

“Prior to health being provided by Public Health or the Indian Health Service or the federal government, traditional health was a key component of our communities. So, we utilize traditional healers, traditional plants.”

Unok is orginally from Kotlik, a community on the Lower Yukon River in Southwest Alaska.

She says the conference draws members from twelve regional health boards around the nation.

“The National Indian Health Board brings together great minds in one place, that fuel creative energy, Collective action. We talk about health innovation to elevate the health of all American Indian and Alaskan Native people.”

The first day of the conference will wrap-up with a culture night, showcasing Alaska’s Indigenous peoples.

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK/citizen of the Cherokee Nation) vetoed a bill yesterday that would have allowed students to wear tribal regalia at school functions.

Senate Bill 429 passed the Oklahoma legislature last week, 90 to 1, and would have ensured Native students in all schools are allowed to wear tribal regalia at high school graduations and other ceremonies throughout the state.

Gov. Stitt justified his decision saying if the bill becomes a law, it would open additional efforts by other groups to push their agendas.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, in 2020, there were approximately 156,000 American Indian students who were enrolled in at least one of the 39 Tribal Nations of Oklahoma.

Tribal leaders and a California state lawmaker shared concerns at a hearing and a news briefing Tuesday in Sacramento, about Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Despite new resources, California has two tribes so disturbed by violence, they’ve declared a state of emergency.

State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) discussed the need for the State to take immediate action.

“We are here to spotlight the crisis in Indian country which has led two tribes, the Yurok and the round valley tribes to declare states of emergency here in the state of California. The crisis is growing, and sadly we’re going backwards in the state of California in reducing the violence to our people.”

Vice Chairman Raquel Williams of the Wilton Rancheria tribe said that while there is still so much to be done, a lot has also been accomplished.

“Incredible progress is made in such a short amount of time. And we’ve brought so much awareness to this. From additional budget allocations to the newly enacted Feather Alert. I am confident and optimistic.”

The Feather Alert, co-authored by Rep. Ramos, acts like an Amber Alert providing law enforcement with resources they need to provide public with information to help recover Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Many of the people who spoke during the press conference expressed the need for bill Assembly bill 44, a bill to allow tribal officers to have access to information state law enforcement receives.

The press conference was the start to a week-long event shedding light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People including candlelight vigils and flower dropping.

 

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It took four tries, but a Pacific Dataport satellite finally blasted off from a SpaceX launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL Sunday night.

Pacific Dataport hopes to serve tribes in remote parts of Alaska, where broadband service has been unavailable or cost prohibitive.

For three days, the flight was delayed due to the elements and technical issues. But on Sunday, a rocket called Falcon Heavy successfully carried the satellite into space.

Brian Murkowski, a spokesperson for Pacific Dataport, says the Aurora 4A will be a game changer.

“Remote communities will have effectively the same capabilities and services that, that you would get in Seattle or San Francisco or L.A.  And furthermore, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It will be competitive.”

The Aurora 4A is positioned higher above the earth and looks down directly on Alaska – which provides some new options for broadband and cell service customers.

Pacific Dataport says Aurora 4A is the first of its kind – a “micro” geostationary satellite, smaller in size but with advanced technology that gives it more data capacity.

In the days leading up to the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP), Yurok Tribal leaders will be participating in a series of events starting Tuesday, including candle light vigils, testimonies, a flower drop, and more at the California State Capitol to elevate tribally led efforts to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Watch the vigil live starting at 8:30am PT

A couple of public health studies are trying to prevent childhood obesity in tribal communities.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau reports on their approaches in part two of our special feature.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health launched a study to see if providing water and educating parents would help prevent early childhood obesity.

Every week, home health coaches talked with the moms about sugary beverages, breastfeeding, and other nutritional topics. Some families also received home deliveries of water.

Leonela Nelson is one of the home health coaches.

She says one of the main challenges mothers brought up was how their moms spoiled their babies.

“There was a lot of conversation along of like how to have these conversations with your parents in a respectful way of, you know what, Like this is my child. I want to I want them to be healthy.”

The results of the Johns Hopkins study were striking.

The children of parents who received water and the teaching had a lower body mass index.

Rontel Hale, a participant, says she can see improvement in her son due to the study.

“Doing these little lessons. It’s a lot of help. And it also helps not just you, but also helps your little ones.”

Other groups also have looked into water-based solutions.

A few years ago, the Notah Begay the third foundation launched the Water First Learning Communities.

It was a cohort of eight Native organizations focused on increasing water consumption.

One group from the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico did a school water challenge to encourage kids to drink fruit-infused water.

Another group – the Tamaya Wellness Center in the Santa Ana pueblo – found signs were the solution.

“It’s really cool to see that they have like the sign that said, no sugary sweetened beverages allowed in their center because then we’re like, oh, like that that did that has made an impact.”

That’s Simone Duran with the foundation.

Rolling out these projects may be slow, but she believes they have a ripple effect on the community.

“They are more willing to kind of make small steps, small changes. It’s not going to happen overnight where the entire community is drinking water.”

Hale has already shared her experience with her sister so her kids can continue to grow healthy and strong, too.

“You still need that support of going to somebody. And that’s where I would give her some of the lessons that were given to me.”

The researchers are expanding their studies and plan to take them beyond the Southwest reservations.

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

 

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Millions of dollars have been committed to documenting the stories of Native boarding school survivors.

Their voices have long been a priority for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

SDPB’s C.J. Keene has more.

The U.S. Interior Department has announced a partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities to make sure the oral history from boarding school survivors isn’t forgotten.

The partnership includes a $4 million fund to pay for research and educational programming sharing stories of boarding school abuse victims.

Haaland visited the Rosebud Reservation in October to talk with survivors.

Arlouine Kingman is the executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association. While she says she appreciates Haaland’s actions, listening to survivors is long overdue.

“She’s made a point of taking time to go and hold community forums to listen to people who were in those boarding schools. I happened to go to the one at Rosebud, and I tell you I was crying with some of these people who told their stories.”

Kingman says these forums are alleviating some of the trauma.

“This one woman, she had been in the boarding school, and she told how even today she’s still got trauma from that. She said it was sort of a healing for her – to be able to voice this and see there’s some healing taking place now.”

She says she hopes this money is used to continue healing in that vein – to reclaim what was taken.

“The main thing is when they were raised in the boarding school, it took their culture, their values from them, so they did not grow up in a family where they were taught to share with one another or taught to take care of one another. They grew up without those family virtues we all instill in our children as they grow up – and that’s the great harm.”

Haaland says the goal of the project is to rebuild bonds between native communities and the federal government and ensure future generations will learn from the boarding school era.

Tribal communities have historically had a hard time getting clean drinking water. And that affects children’s health.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau shares the experience of one family in Shiprock, NM.

This is Dorian. He’s playing in the mud outside his family’s hogan, a one room home, on the Navajo Nation.

He loves playing with cars. His favorite is the “Cars” movie character Lightning McQueen.

Rontel Hale, his mother, says he’s growing well for a three-year-old.

“When I would go to his appointments, they would always tell me, like, he’s going to grow over six foot two inches.”

But health professionals say not every kid on the Navajo Nation – an area as big as West Virginia – is growing healthy and strong like Dorian.

Thousands of families lack access to clean, drinking water due to a legacy of neglect by the U.S. government.

They either have to haul water from community wells or drive for hours to the nearest store.

“If water is so hard to access, then what is a replacement? And so for a lot of communities, sometimes it was those sugary beverages.”

That’s Renee Goldtooth-Halwood.

She works for the Notah Begay The Third Foundation, a Native children’s health group.

She says sugary drinks like Gatorade or even Arizona Tea are cheaper and more accessible for Native communities.

This has staggering effects for children.

The foundation reports that more than 85% of Navajo kids have at least one sugary drink a day. And these numbers apply to many other pueblos and reservations.

“And we also had another statistic that said that…this is the first time that children will not outlive their parents. That’s scary.”

Hale knew these beverages can contribute to obesity and diabetes – conditions that are disproportionately high among Indigenous youth.

Her desire to keep Dorian healthy only grew after he was born.

“Your mentality is like more like, oh, is he okay? Is he, am I doing stuff right? It’s more different when you have like your own baby.”

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 Two to hear how some organizations want to help.

 

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A mountain 35 miles southeast of Eugene, OR has been officially renamed to something less controversial.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull explains, “Swastika Mountain” is no more.

The new name for the roughly 4,200 foot high peak is “Mount Halo.”

The name is derived from Kalapuya Chief Halito, whose village was 20 miles west of the mountain.

David Lewis is an assistant professor of anthropology and ethnic and Indigenous studies at Oregon State University, and a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.

He says while some people have defended the swastika as a universal symbol for many cultures, its more recent associations are troubling.

“The symbol really has negative connotations from World War II, and it’s use as a symbol of fascism. And so we need to at times revisit names that have been given to the land, and to rivers, and towns, and maybe replace those with things that have more resonance with today’s society.”

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved the name change at its April 13 meeting and it takes effect immediately.

Lewis says the entire process began a year and a half ago.

Voters on the Blackfeet Nation have elected a replacement for a council member who recently resigned following his arrest.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

Blackfeet Disaster and Emergency Services Director Robert DesRosier won the election and will take over the Browning seat on the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council.

The Blackfeet Nation held a special election Tuesday to fill the vacant post of former chairman Tim Davis.

Tribal council members last year voted to remove Davis as chairman after nine people, including family members, were arrested at Davis’ home on drug related charges. Davis continued to serve on the council.

Davis was arrested in March for disorderly conduct and threatening a public official.

The council planned to hold an expulsion hearing, but Davis resigned shortly after the hearing was announced.

After the final public comment hearing for South Dakota’s proposed social studies standards, the state board of education standards voted to approve the proposal – though strong opposition remains.

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

After well over a thousand opposing comments from South Dakotans, the embattled standards proposal sailed to passage on a 5-2 vote.

From the onset, the proposal was panned by the state’s education and Native communities.

Sherry Johnson is the education director of the Sisseton Wahpeton tribe.

She says many are unhappy with the role the Native community is slated with.

“For a great part, all of Native Americans are portrayed as warlike, and Native Americans are made to feel embarrassed about that role – that’s when Gov. Noem says she doesn’t want divisive, but that is itself divisive to Native American people. The right to vote is missing for Native Americans, the Native American Religious Act – you know that was only passed in (19)78. These things are huge.”

Testimony like that swayed some board members.

Board president Terry Nebelsick announced his opposition at the end of the hearing in Pierre.

“By statute these hearings are put in place to determine if the citizens of South Dakota have any concerns with the standards recommended by the revision committee that the statute indicates should be made up of South Dakota educators and professionals. These hearings should not be a debate with point-counterpoint. There is no win-win in this process. The longer its gone on it’s become obvious it will become a lose-lose endeavor.”

Despite the opposition, board member Phylis Heineman was unmoved.

“I have learned personally so much going through all of this. It has been – I found these standards very exciting. When I read through some of this information – first of all I gotta thank the Governor for starting the conversation.”

Within minutes of passage, a representative from Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD)’s camp sent a release applauding the passage of the standards.

Implementation of the new standards will begin in June and take place over the next two years.

 

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Public hearings on missing and murdered Indigenous people were held this week in Alaska.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin reports.

Vivian Korthius sits on a commission created by Congress to address the problem.

She says more than 300 Alaska Native people are on a missing and murdered registry.

“To me, that’s the same size of a village. A whole village. And it’s shocking to know that there’s that many people we’re missing.”

The Not Invisible Act Commission met in Anchorage to hear testimony from victims and advocates working to prevent violence.

They identified a range of problems, including a lack of services for vulnerable people and too little law enforcement in rural Alaska.

Systemic racism and trauma were recurring themes.

Several advocates told the commission that it’s hard to make federal programs work in rural Alaska, especially for small tribes.

Dana Diehl, director of wellness and prevention at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, said federal grants are not easily tailored to community needs.

“Oftentimes, the scope of our funding is very limited and narrow. But from an Alaska Native perspective, we see things more holistically, and you can’t separate things like mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.”

The commission invited family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people to testify during an afternoon session that was closed to the media.

By October, the panel is to produce recommendations on how the federal government can better prevent and respond to violence against Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

The North Dakota Legislature has passed a bill that codifies the Indian Child Welfare Act in the state.

State Rep. Jayme Davis (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians/D-ND) successfully led the passage of House Bill 1536.

Rep. Davis introduced the bill as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which seeks to keep Native children with Native families.

Under the bill, if the high court makes changes to the federal law, the changes would not apply in North Dakota unless the legislature choses to amend it in the future.

In a statement, Rep. Davis said a repeal or significant changes to ICWA by the U.S. Supreme Court could have negative impacts on American Indian and Alaska Native children, and that protecting ICWA in North Dakota protects Native children.

The bill passed 46-0 in the Senate and 91-1 in the House.

It now heads to the governor.

A Colorado news collaborative recently released a report highlighting the experiences of Indigenous communities with the media.

It also includes solutions on improving that relationship.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde reports.

COLab’s Indigenous Voices report shared how Indigenous communities frequently felt invisible.

They also mentioned how the coverage of issues important to them was very surface-level.

Here’s Tara McLain Manthey, a citizen of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and the project leader.

“The less that the community is covered in a human in-depth way, the more those stereotypes persist or become deeper ingrained.”

Some specific solutions mentioned were building trust in reporting relationships, getting Native journalists in the newsroom, and educating journalists about Native history through training.

This story is distributed by the Mountain West News Bureau, which contributed to the report.

 

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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.

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.

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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