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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.

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.

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.

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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Organized Indigenous groups in Guatemala have declared victory after calling for a national work stoppage and blocking highways for two days to protest government regulations they say would cripple small farmers and poor people.

Maria Martin reports.

The protests were organized by the Indigenous group called 48 Cantones (48 villages) in the province of Totonocapan.

Other Maya organizations joined, stopping traffic at major crossroads and ports, and threatening to block Guatemala’s international airport.

The protests were sparked by a proposed law and one already in effect, which would increase taxes on small farmers – forcing them to raise the cost of staples they sell at markets.

The protests were so successful that government officials called for a dialogue.

The outcome of this was a withdrawal of the offending measures.

Indigenous leaders in Guatemala say this shows what a united front can accomplish.

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced a forthcoming deal to “reduce and mitigate” the impact of pollution flowing into Montana and Idaho from Canadian coal mines.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

On Friday, Biden and Trudeau announced in a joint statement that an agreement to reduce and mitigate selenium pollution flowing from British Columbia coal mines in the Elk River Valley could be struck sometime this summer, though no details beyond that were released.

Selenium at high concentrations can harm fish populations.

Montana, Idaho, and U.S. environmental officials have approved a lower standard for Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River to protect fish, but British Columbia has not changed its regulation.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, and the Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia are pushing the U.S. and Canada to set up a tribally led watershed board in order to address the issue.

The tribes in a press release said they will reiterate that request during a visit to Washington D.C. this week.

A Cup’ik elder, who has been one of the driving forces in the revival of Native drumming and dancing in Southwest Alaska, was honored at the Cama-i Dance Festival in Bethel last weekend.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Before John Pingayak received the award, which named him a “Living Treasure,” about two dozen of his children and grandchildren joined him on the stage to sing, dance, and drum.

At 74, John Pingayak is as passionate as ever.

As a boy, he was schooled by his grandfather, Joe Friday, who passed on his songs and traditions, despite pressure from churches to end the practice.

Pingayak said they convinced people dancing was wrong – and failed to understand that it was the Native way of making prayer.

Pingayak told the crowd it’s up to them to break free from what he called “the big lie”.

“Each and every one of you, listen to me. I’m set free, because of what I’ve done, teaching all the youngsters.”

Pingayak, who is from Chevak, says this award is not just for the work he does in his community, but for all those who make the effort to pass on their Native traditions.

He says, if you have cultural knowledge, it’s your duty to share it.

“That’s the way my elders were. They said, ‘This is not mine to keep. It’s for me to pass it on to the new generation.'”

Pingayak led one of the most moving events at the Cama-i Festival, the “Heart of the Drum”, a healing ceremony in which drummers from every dance group formed a processional and stationed themselves throughout the crowd – playing
quietly at first, then building to a crescendo.

Pingayak said he sang a very ancient song that celebrates unity, to remind people that they have the power to take back their culture.

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The former chairman of the Blackfeet Nation has resigned from his post on the tribal council following his arrest last week.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.

Blackfeet Tribal Business Council members last week announced that board member Tim Davis was arrested for disorderly conduct and threatening a public official.

The allegations are related to legal charges family members face for selling and possessing drugs, including fentanyl, at Davis’ house last year.

The council was scheduled to hold an expulsion hearing for Davis this week, but he resigned before the hearing, according to a press release from the council.

Nearly a year ago, police arrested nine people at the home of then-tribal chair Davis on drug-related charges.

Shortly after, the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council unanimously voted to remove Davis as chairman, but he continued to serve on the council. Davis denied that he knew anything about the drugs at his home.

According to the release announcing Davis’ resignation, he said “I understand the importance and high standard of conduct that each member of the Blackfeet Tribal Council must conduct oneself, which is why I am resigning.”

The Blackfeet Nation will hold a special election on April 25 to fill Davis’ seat through the end of his term in July.

Leaders of the Wabanaki Nations are calling on Maine lawmakers to recognize tribal sovereignty and help ensure a better economic future for their youth.

The first “State of the Tribes” address in two decades was recently delivered focusing on self-determination and economic collaboration with the state.

Kathryn Carley has more.

Research shows the five Wabanaki tribes could be an economic engine for large parts of rural Maine, but restrictions set in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 ensure the tribes are governed under state law.

The tribes are also not guaranteed access to federal programs like the other 574 federally recognized tribes in the U.S.

Mi’kmaq Tribe Vice Chief Richard Silliboy says self-governance would bring jobs and growth to one of the nation’s poorest areas.

“This wouldn’t just benefit the Native Americans. This would benefit the surrounding communities. This would benefit the state of Maine as a whole.”

Silliboy says Wabanaki tribes would benefit from available federal dollars, helping them to create local farming and mill jobs, or extend hours at a fishery that once fed diners in Portland.

A growing bipartisan effort is backing legislation that could avoid a veto by Governor Janet Mills, who has long opposed tribal sovereignty over concerns for land use and potential litigation.

In its recent report, a Guatemalan human rights monitoring group says attacks against human rights defenders, including Indigenous leaders throughout the country are on the rise.

Maria Martin reports.

The Union for the Protection of Guatemalan Human Rights Defenders (UFEDEGUA) says in 2022, they documented over 3,500 attacks.

These ranged from the criminalizing of independent judges and prosecutors to threats and arrests of Indigenous leaders opposing mining and palm oil projects, to organized smear campaigns on social media.

UFEDEGUA says vengeance against its political and economic enemies has become Guatemala’s public policy.

“Vengeance is definitely a strong word” says Brenda Guillen of UDEFEGUA, “but when you analyze what’s happening, we see retaliation using the system against Indigenous and other human rights defenders.”

The government has not yet responded to the report.

 

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In the 1970s, in Cook Inlet in the Anchorage area, thousands of beluga whales could be seen – so many whales, that you could feasibly walk across their backs without falling into the water.

That’s according to Mandy Migura, an author of a map studying the challenges Cook Inlet whales face today.

Four decades later, Migura says you’d be lucky to see seven whales at a time, as Hannah Bisset from our flagship station KNBA reports.

The population stands at around 280 as of 2018, according to the Marine Mammal Commission.

“We’ve lost over a thousand belugas in this population… that’s a huge, significant loss.”

Migura is the author of the project, which is focused on pinpointing the reasons why this might be happening to the belugas.

According to Migura, the population decline is due to several factors that can be categorized as point-source pollution and non-point-source pollution.

Point-source polluters have a permit and pollution comes from a known source.

“That would be things such as wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater drains, seafood discharges.”

Non-point-source polluters don’t have a single point of the entrance like point-source polluters.

“Examples of that would be runoff from roads or on the airport or when it rains or when the snow melts, that all just kind of runs into the inlet.”

These threats are building up for the whales, causing issues like food insecurity, compromised immunity, and noise distractions that serve as a death by a thousand cuts.

According to Migura, over long-term exposure, these factors will continue to decrease the population we see today.

Catching up with U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK), who was sworn into office in January.

She’s the first-ever Alaska Native person to represent the state in Congress.

Rep. Peltola was recently at the U.S. Capitol for the annual Alaska Week.

She says she was able to discuss many important matters, including key Alaska Federation of Natives issues.

“We talked about a lot of high-level things. AFN is so good at helping frame our priorities as the largest statewide native political organization, they’re really good at looking at things kind of zooming out, looking at things not beyond just details and beyond just regional issues. They’re really looking at Alaska in terms of our place globally.”

Rep. Peltola is addressing a number of priorities for her home state such as fishing, Medicare and Medicaid, and marginalized groups in Alaska.

“I think we need to be thinking about veterans, thinking about elders, really thinking about our young people. We need to be looking for solutions on our homeless. 40% of people living in Alaska who do not have a house are children. As an elected person, it really does impact everybody, and I want to be one of the people at the table coming up with solutions.”

Rep. Peltola’s next goal is to continue prioritizing protecting fish and reducing bycatch by tracking National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expected revisions to some of national standards which govern allocation and fishery dependent community participation.

Alaska Native artist Crystal Worl’s work will soon be on a postage stamp, as KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is officially launching a set of four stamps called “The Art of the Skateboard.”

Worl’s illustration showcases the Northwest Coast Formline style of design, which she is known for.

Worl, who’s Lingít and Athabascan, used blue and indigo colors to depict a salmon, which she says is important to Alaska Natives, because it’s fed them for thousands of years.

Worl is not the first Alaska Native to have her art featured on a stamp.

Her brother Rico designed a raven stamp for USPS two years ago.

The two are business partners who sell their designs on t-shirts, jewelry, playing cards, and even snowboards.

 

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Montana’s days of partisan balance in interim committees could soon come to an end.

While the GOP wants more power between legislative sessions, there was wide support to leave one committee — that’s the liaison between the state and tribal nations  — unchanged.

Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin has more.

Senate Bill 176, which has already passed through the Senate, would restructure interim committees to have more members from the majority party.

It passed an initial House vote closely along party lines Tuesday.

Representative Amy Regier from Kalispell, says this change better reflects the makeup of the legislature, and the GOP’s supermajority.

A 50/50 makeup of interim committees does not reflect the will of the voters. Senate Bill 176 would correct that.

Before the House voted in support of the policy it amended it with a carveout to keep equal bipartisan balance on the State-Tribal Relations Interim committee.

State Rep. Tyson Running Wolf (Blackfeet Nation/D-MT) said that since the majority of the state’s American Indian Caucus members are Democrats, changing that committee’s structure would negatively affect tribal representation.

Fewer tribal members on State Tribal, would decrease the understanding of these the unique differences in it can sometimes bring policy that is not in the best interest of the tribes

Six tribal lawmakers sat on this ten person committee last interim to study issues like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons and tribal economic development.

The amendment passed with strong bipartisan support in the House on Tuesday.

Having passed its final vote in the House, the bill will be returned to the Senate for approval on the amendment.

A lawsuit is taking the state of Alaska to task for failed salmon runs in Western Alaska, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

It claims that the state has not only mismanaged the fisheries but also violated the state constitution.

As reported in the Alaska Beacon, the case was heard on Monday in a courtroom in Bethel, one of many communities hit hard by the salmon crisis on the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers, where runs have been so weak, traditional Native subsistence harvests have been restricted or banned.  The state’s management of the salmon runs has pitted different regions of the state — and different Alaska Native groups — against each other.

Joe Geldhof, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, argued that the state has failed to follow the constitution’s principle of “sustained yield,” which requires a balance between harvesting fish and maintaining their numbers.

Geldhof’s case is one of the first to challenge the state in court over the salmon disasters.

Western Alaska fishermen have pushed state managers to restrict fishing on the Alaska Peninsula, to protect salmon that are being caught incidentally, as fishermen target other species of fish.

The state asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

It argued that it should be thrown out, because it doesn’t challenge any specific management decisions. It said citing poor salmon runs isn’t enough to build a case against the state.

The judge could take six months to decide if the case will go forward.

Fans crowded into the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage this week to cheer on their favorite teams during state basketball championship games. KNBA’s Jill Fratis has more.

This year, a unique partnership is bringing together basketball and Native art.

Artists are set up on the third floor of the center for the inaugural Alaska Native Art Market.

Fannie Perry is a Yup’ik artist whose table was full of crocheted hats, and seal and otter fur slippers.

Perry says it’s important for Alaska Native artists to be successful selling their work because, for many, their livelihood depends on it.

For Perry, returning to the arena is like coming back to her old stomping grounds.

“I’m a huge basketball fan, I love basketball. 20 plus years ago, my team was actually down the court, and so I love things like this, I love seeing all the people coming together and enjoying themselves.

The Alaska School Activities Association teamed up with the Alaska Native Heritage Center for the art market.

Video of Yup’ik artist Fannie Perry (by Antonia Gonzales):

 

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A Guatemalan Indigenous environmental activist says there was an attempt on his life this week – as a bus ran into the car in which he was driving on a highway in northern Guatemala.

Maria Martin reports Bernardo Caal Xol (Maya Q’eqchi) has been criminalized for many years as a result of his work trying to save a Guatemalan river.

The 51-year-old teacher, union activist, and environmental leader from the Northern Guatemalan province of Alta Verapaz was released from prison last year after serving four years on charges Amnesty International says are spurious and retaliatory.

The human rights organization has declared Caal a “prisoner of conscience”, saying he’s been criminalized for his work opposing a hydroelectric project on the Cahabon River, which the Q’eqchi Maya consider sacred.

On Monday, Caal reported on a Facebook video that his car had been deliberated hit from behind after he’d left court for a mandatory appearance in the city of Coban.

He complained of back and rest pain, standing alongside his almost totally destroyed vehicle.

He says he fears for his life and is asking Guatemalan authorities to investigate the incident.

But some analysts doubt that Bernardo Caal Xol will get justice from the same system that’s worked to criminalize him and other Guatemalan Indigenous activists for years.

A bill in the Washington legislature seeks to make it easier for people who commit crimes on Native American reservations to face justice.

Steve Jackson reports.

The bill had a hearing in the Senate Law and Justice Committee this week.

Watch the March 20 hearing

Swinomish tribal prosecutor Melissa Simonson says in many cases it can be very difficult to get those charged with a crime committed on a reservation back to face trial if they flee.

“In the judicial system, if a tribal court issues a warrant, for serious crimes – assaults against children, domestic violence, sexual assaults, stalking – and that individual leaves the reservation, there is no access to justice. The warrant cannot be collected on by any Washington State officer.”

This measure would allow a tribal prosecutor to go to the state Attorney General’s office or the local prosecutor’s office to seek a warrant.

Some who testified spoke of current agreement between tribes and individual counties to bring people to justice.

Russel Brown of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys expressed some concerns with the way the bill is currently written.

He said there might be a better way to achieve the goal with less complexity.

“Each tribe could enter into an agreement with the governor of Washington. There wouldn’t need to be simple agreements with all the counties, you wouldn’t need 39 counties agreeing with 29 tribes, you would have one state compact that the tribes could enter in to.”

The bill passed the House March 1.

Former president of the Navajo Nation Ben Shelly passed away from a long-term illness on Wednesday at the age of 75.

Shelly served as a member of the Navajo Nation Council for more than a decade beginning in the early 1990s before being elected as vice president in 2007.

He went on to becoming president of the tribe through 2015. He also served as a county commissioner.

Shelly is being remembered for his longtime leadership, and is credited for establishing the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, which was created to achieve greater sovereignty over the tribe’s natural resources.

A private service is being held, but the tribe is working on a public memorial.

Flags on the Navajo Nation are being flown at half-staff in Shelly’s honor.

 

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