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A boarding school healing ceremony was held in Anchorage, AK, this fall.

The ceremony took place as people from across the state gathered for the 2022 First Alaskans Institute’s Elders and Youth Conference.

Storyteller and cultural bearer Bob Sam from Sitka, opened up the healing event by sharing some history of boarding schools in Southeast Alaska, from the early opening of the Sheldon Jackson School to students who were sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.

Sam says it was devastating for students to be stripped of their languages and cultures.

He says some died of a broken heart. He also shared some stories of boarding school survivors talking about the trauma they endured.

Students were often told they were worthless, and many were physically, mentally, and sexually abused.


“I’ve been involved with boarding school issues for a number of years now, primarily I return bodies. I began to listen to the survivors and people who suffered from the trauma of boarding schools and from there I’ve developed a ceremony for healing. Getting comfortable to coming to terms with the issues related to trauma.”

Sam, who works on repatriation efforts, has brought home the remains of many students.

He says that work and his overall research of U.S. Indian boarding schools caused him much trauma.

He spent many years in Japan learning about Japanese culture.

He then returned home to Alaska embracing his Lingít culture. He has since fused both cultures to help him heal from the trauma.

Sam put on his traditional regalia, which he says is part of the healing process, describing each piece from his tunic to an orange apron representing “Every Child Matters,” a robe, and a woven headpiece representing Indigenous boarding school students in Canada.

Sam then told a story about raven and the return of traditional knowledge to the people. He ended the ceremony by having people form two lines. Boarding school survivors then walked down and were given affirmations, handshakes and hugs from each person as Sam sang.

Sam says the healing is for all people, especially for those who survived boarding school and those who died. Work continues to bring students home from Carlisle to tribes across the U.S.

National Native News was given permission to record and share the boarding school healing ceremony.

The Department of Interior is continuing its investigation into U.S. Indian boarding schools.

The agency is traveling across the country gathering testimony.

This fall, a stop was made in South Dakota, as Lee Strubinger reports.

78 year-old Rosalie Quick Bear attended one of the 31 boarding schools located in South Dakota.

The Sicangu Lakota describes being powdered with the pesticide DDT, spending weeks with an untreated broken leg and getting locked in a dark cement cellar for days.

Quick Bear describes her experience like this to her grandkids.

“You see all this horror stuff on TV? Real bad? That’s how we grew up. That why we are like we are.”

Quick Bear says her experience at St. Francis Indian Boarding school still affects her.

“I thought there was no God, just torture and hatred. Sometimes I’m—still to this day—I’m quiet. I’m off away from people. I still can’t really feel that love that we’re supposed to know as human beings.”

Another survivor says every boarding school story is similar.

Cheryl Angel also spoke.

“We were treated inhumanely.”

It’s stories like this the Department of Interior is collecting as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.

The initiative hopes to identify marked and unmarked burial sites across the boarding school system and the total amount of spending and federal support for the schools.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says the tour is one step among many.

“That we will take to strengthen and rebuild the bonds within native communities that the federal Indian boarding school policies set out to break.”

Listen to two hours of the healing tour event

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Native women in Arizona are getting help to launch their own businesses with expert advice.

As Alex Gonzalez reports, a unique program helps bring their business ideas to life, and a new cohort just joined the project.

Project DreamCatcher is a unique, free initiative for Native American women entrepreneurs.

In the intensive, one-week program, they’re exposed to MBA-level business classes at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Last month, 21 women graduated from the program.

Cherolyn Vanwinkle, a graduate and co-founder of AZ Native Mobile Diesel Truck & Trailer Repair, says the program has been instrumental for her, in a predominantly male-run field.

“I feel like this program just really helped me push my fears aside. I mean, I wasn’t fearful before, but it was just more I was sitting back and letting the world take me over. But now, I feel like I’m finally in control.”

Participants have access to graduate-level courses, coaching and advising sessions with business professionals, and networking activities designed to foster confidence in starting or growing a business.

According to project leaders, the last cohort graduated 67 women, who have started 30 businesses in Arizona.

Vanwinkle previously worked in the medical field and says she didn’t know much about what it took to run a mechanic business. But she’s taken her skills and experience and used them in new ways in her new company.

She says one of the most overwhelming parts of the journey was knowing where to begin, but DreamCatcher helps participants devise a plan.

“They had a professor come in and talk to us about how to understand revenues, expenses, gross profits, salary sheets, cash flow and owner’s equity. Those are large words for some of us that didn’t go to business school.”

Vanwinkle says having a support system as a new a business is fundamental. She encourages the next women who enroll in Project DreamCatcher to be open minded, ask questions and use the resources available to them.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses contributed over $39 billion to the economy last year, but make up only one percent of all firms.

Longtime tribal university president Lionel Bordeaux has passed away.

The enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe served as president of Sinte Gleska University for 50 years, said to be the longest serving university president in the United States.

The university is located on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota.

Bordeaux was well-known as a strong advocate in the tribal college movement.

His career also included working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Experience in Washington, D.C., was instrumental in helping Bordeaux pursue passage of legislation to support tribal colleges and universities.

Bordaeux was passionate about culturally-based Native higher education and service to the Native community.

He was a founder of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which represents the 35 tribal colleges and universities across the country. And he was a founder of the American Indian College Fund, the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium, and the Tribal College Journal.

Bordeaux passed away at age 82.

A celebration of life is planned for December first at the tribal university.

The Phoenix Suns honored the Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI) Tuesday night during a game in Phoenix, AZ.

They celebrated a 20 year partnership between the organization and the professional basketball team.

NABI hosts the largest all Indigenous basketball tournament in North America, with more than 100 teams taking part in games, each summer.

NABI’s event generates a local economic impact to the Phoenix area, and has awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships to Native college students.

The organization was involved in the Suns’ new uniforms celebrating Native culture and the showcasing of Arizona’s 22 tribal nations at the arena.

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U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with tribal leaders in Albuquerque, NM last week to discuss roadway safety in tribal communities, infrastructure investments, and how the Biden administration can work with Indigenous communities.

Leaders shared their concerns and frustrations about lack of funding, and increased traffic, which is causing faster wear and tear to roads and highways.

Former Governor of Laguna Pueblo Richard Luarkie says the department has provided resources, but stressed it’s no longer enough.

“The consideration for the formal use to determine how much funding tribe receive definitely needs to be revisited, because as you’re hearing from the rest of the leadership here, it’s not enough.”

Charles Riley, who spoke on behalf of Acoma Pueblo, says there are many challenges when it comes to applying for funding.

“Many of our tribes here in the United States do not have the resources or expertise to apply for these grants.”

The concerns for an increase in traffic going through Pueblo communities has contributed to crimes, says All Pueblo Council of Governors chair Mark Mitchell.

He says that while the Pueblo’s economy has benefited from increased transit, it has also caused more problems.

“Our enterprises and small businesses have benefited from the increased transit through our community. However, our communities also have seen rise in safety concerns as well. Dangerous activities like drug and human trafficking have found their way into our communities at an alarming rate.”

Buttigieg says he’s aware of how difficult it is to combat issues with infrastructure.

“I will candidly just say as a mayor who maintained roads and did battles with pothole and other maintenance issues for a living before I came into this role, I do know how you do it with the formula dollars for maintaining the number of lane loud roads that exist out there and take to heart the point that you’re raising that has been raised many times over about the issue of formula funds.”

The secretary committed to working with tribes.

The Center for Rural Affairs is launching new Makerspaces on two Nebraska Indian Community College campuses in Macy and Santee for making, learning, exploring, and sharing.

Eric Galatas has more.

The Makerspaces will include traditional, low-tech tools, and also significant investments in cutting-edge technologies.

Among other tools available to students and tribal members, Kristine Flyinghawk with the Center’s native communities program is especially excited to install a Glowforge.

“It can engrave and cut anything from wood to leather to glass. And then we have the new Cricut Maker 3, which can make up to a 12 foot vinyl sign. We will have a sublimation printer.”

Flyinghawk explains that a sublimation printer can print images on just about anything, from cups to cozies to keychains.

The Center also will install a T-shirt press, a sticker and button maker, a sewing machine, an embroidering machine, and a quilting machine.

Workshops will help people get hands-on experience with each new tool.

The Makerspace also aims to facilitate experimentation, where people can test out new ideas for a side hustle or a full-on business.

Angelina Magerl with the Center says financial support and expert guidance for creating a business plan will also be available to help people realize their goals.

“It gives you that step-by-step process in seeing what realistically – like time-wise, money-wise – what you can do. With a business plan, it kind of lays it all out for you, what needs to be done, and what the outcome is of having accomplished that in your plan.”

Flyinghawk says in addition to workshops the MakerSpace will also offer open hours, where folks can spend time with people from all ages and walks of life, to share skills and learn traditions that have been passed down.

“They can still come and bring their beadwork, or whatever kind of project that they are working on, if they want to work in a shared space with others and have that fellowship and community.”

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For the first time in the history of the state of Minnesota, off reservation land has been returned to tribal hands.

As Barbara Jean Meyers reports, a ceremony to celebrate the land return took place last week.

The returned land, a stretch of beach along Lake Superior’s North Shore outside Grand Marais, MN, was once part of a larger Native settlement known as Chippewa City.

The historic occasion was celebrated with a ceremony at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino.

John Morrin, a Grand Portage Tribal elder, was one of the keynote speakers.

“I heard many stories from my mother and aunts and uncles about growing up in Chippewa City and walking, and running and playing on the beach that we’ve now gotten back. So it’s a very personal day for me and a very historic day for the state of Minnesota, Cook County, and the Grand Portage homeland.”

The celebration was also very personal for area historian, author, and Grand Portage tribal descendent Staci Drouillard.

Like John Morrin, Chippewa City and was home to many of Drouillard’s ancestors.

“Nishkwakwansing is the Ojibwe name which means the edge of the forest or the place where the trees stand, which I think is a beautiful name for the place.”

Drouillard’s book Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe helped raise awareness in the broader public about the significance of the area.

Bobby Dechampe is the Grand Portage Tribal Council Chairman.

“To end 2022 like this for Indian country is just unbelievable. Nett Lake got 27,000 acres back. Fond du Lac got Wisconsin Point Back. Now Grand Portage got Chippewa City Back!”

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe in southeastern Montana is slated to receive $52 million in federal funding to expand broadband to nearly 2,000 homes on the tribe’s reservation.

Aaron Bolton has more.

Funding  from the infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden earlier this year is expected to connect 1,700 homes on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation to high speed internet.

According to a Broadband Now report, a little over half of reservation residents have access to high-speed internet, but none of the available services are considered affordable for low-income people.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Blackfeet Nation were both awarded nearly $75 millions in grants through the same Internet for All initiative earlier this year.

Roughly $3 billion of federal funding has been set aside to help tribes across the country improve broadband access.

In Alaska’s U.S. House Race, Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) is still on track to win.

Absentee ballots counted on Friday now give her 49% of the vote.

She needs more than 50% to win, a number she is expected to reach on Wednesday – when second choice ballots are added to the totals under Alaska’s new system of ranked choice voting.

In August, Peltola was elected to serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK)’s term, which made the Yup’ik from Bethel the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.

In the race for a full term, the Democrat is ahead of two Republicans, former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich.

Two New Mexico Pueblos, Ohkay Owingeh and Santa Clara, recently signed an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to restore habitat in Española, which is located 25 miles north of Santa Fe.

The Española Valley Ecosystem Restoration Project is a $100 million project to restore more than 900 acres of aquatic and riparian habitats along the Rio Grande River and its tributaries.

The tribes will be working with the Army Corps Albuquerque District team.

The agreement is said to be the first of its kind between the Army Corps and the Pueblos and includes a provision to greatly reduce the cost share with tribal partners.

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved decommissioning of Pacific Corps Klamath Dams in Northern California.

It comes after years of demands from tribes and environmental groups.

Christina Aanestad reports.

The largest dam demolition and river restoration plan in the world is closer to becoming reality.

U.S. regulators approved the removal of Pacific Corps’ four aging Klamath Dam structures.

It will reopen hundreds of miles of California river to imperiled salmon after years of advocacy by environmental groups and California Native American Tribes including the Hoopa and Karuk Nations.

Richard Glick is chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“The dam removals make sense in large part as it relates to fish and wildlife protection. I think also the discussion of the impact on tribes and the ability for tribes to be able to have their practices and traditions improved as it relates to water quality and fisheries and other resources. I think it’s an important issue.”

The Klamath Dam deconstruction will also return the lower half of California’s second-largest river to a free-flowing state for the first time in more than a century.

The Klamath River Renewal Corporation – a non-profit group will lead the dam removal effort.

The states of California and Oregon will take over PacifiCorp’s license for the purpose of demolishing the dams.

Preparations to remove the dams will begin in 2023 with deconstruction by 2024.

The Navajo Nation Council has chosen a new speaker.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, it follows the resignation of the former legislative leader just days before the November election.

Delegates elected Otto Tso as speaker during a special session in the tribal capital of Window Rock.

He’ll lead the 24^th Navajo Nation Council in its final days before the next one is seated in January.

Navajo Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne administered the oath of office in council chambers Wednesday, and Tso pledged to continue providing vital services to the tribe and to create a smooth transition into the next council.

He’ll head all departments and programs in the Navajo Nation’s legislative branch.

Tso represents Tuba City, the reservation’s largest community, and has served on multiple committees including as vice-chair of the Law and Order Committee.

It comes after Seth Damon’s resignation as speaker earlier this month.

In October he was photographed slumped over and appearing inebriated in front of a gambling machine in Las Vegas while on a family trip.

He later admitted to being intoxicated, and resigned as speaker as the council considered legislation, sponsored by Tso, to put him on indefinite leave.

Tso will serve until January 10, 2023 when the next council begins and delegates will again elect a speaker.

Longtime South Dakota water protector and pipeline opponent Joye Braun has passed away.

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

Braun, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation, passed away in her home at the age of 53.

Braun was an organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.

A statement from the organization says Braun was a proud servant for her people.

She was a nonviolent direct-action organizer who trained hundreds of people over the years.

Her work including organizing a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline near Cannonball, North Dakota in 2016.

Friend of Braun and fellow activist Madonna Thunder Hawk says Braun was an authority outside the public eye.

“She kept track behind-the-scenes what the different corporations were doing, what the legislative issues are, and those types of things that had to do with public utilities. Those kinds of legislative updates. She kept up with that. She did the research, and she stayed current, and she kept the rest of us in the know.”

Thunder Hawk reflected on the weight of Braun’s contributions.

“She’s going to be a part of our modern-day American Indian history. She made her place in the protection of our world as Indigenous people of this land. She’s made her mark for the time she was here on this Mother Earth – she made it count.”

Funeral arrangements for Braun have not yet been announced.

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The Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to keep a treaty promise to the Cherokee Nation by the United States to seat a Cherokee Nation delegate in the House.

Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. testified Wednesday before the House Committee on Rules.

Hoskin discussed the promise made in the 1800s.

“Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation alone is the tribe that is in the part of the Treaty of New Echota and the Treaty of 1866. Cherokee Nation has in fact adhered through our obligation under these treaties. I’m here to ask the United States to do the same. It’s time for this body to honor this promise and seat our delegate in the House of Representatives.”

Hoskin says it’s a binding commitment, which guaranteed the Cherokee Nation a voice in Congress in exchange for forcing them from their homelands.

They were moved west on what became known as the Trail of Tears.

The non-voting delegate chosen by the Oklahoma tribe is Kim Teehee.

According to the Cherokee Nation, the House has the power to seat the delegate and no further action is needed by the administration or the U.S. Senate.

The latest voting tallies in Alaska for the U.S. House at-large seat added to the lead of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) over the second place candidate, former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), who has 26% percent of the vote.

Although Peltola has 48% of the vote, she needs more than 50% to win under Alaska’s new system of ranked choice voting.

This will require votes from those who ranked her as a second choice. So far, only first choice votes have been counted. None of the candidates appear to be close to crossing 50%.

Second and third rankings will be counted on November 23.

Rep. Peltola is expected to win.

She made history in August, becoming the first Alaska Native to ever serve in Congress.

She won a special election to fill out the remainder of the late-Congressman Don Young’s term.

Photo courtesy of Coquille Tribe

After years of dwindling returns, the Coquille Tribe is excited to see at least 150 breeding pairs of fall Chinook Salmon this year.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, that’s one of the highest returns in nearly two decades.

Replenishing the salmon numbers has been an intensive team effort among the Coquille Tribe, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Port of Bandon, and Coquille Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program.

John Ogan is the assistant executive director for Natural Resources for the Coquille Tribe.

“Last year it was 24 breeding pairs, the year before that it was three, and then in the neighborhood of 20 for a couple of years prior.  In 2017, there were 88 breeding pairs collected. As I mentioned, the goal is 75. This year, we kinda smashed that record with over 100 breeding pairs.”

Fertilized eggs will be kept in incubation tanks, then moved to another hatchery where juvenile salmon will hatch.

Eventually they’ll be released into the Coquille River system.

The Coquille tribe declared an emergency last year, given the hard dive the chinook numbers were taking due to invasive bass, predators, and environmental challenges.

This week, California Indian Nations College celebrated a $5 million state budget allocation to help the tribal college in its effort to gain federal accreditation.

State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano and Cahuilla/D-CA) helped secure the funding.

A celebration was held at the college campus in Palm Springs.

The funding is in the 2022-23 state budget.

The lawmaker is hoping the college will help boost higher education attendance among Native American students in California, who have low rates of going to college.

There are 35 tribal colleges and universities across the country, which are federally accredited.

There is not one located in California.

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This week in California, state lawmakers broke ground on a statue of Miwok cultural leader and dancer Bill Franklin.

It’s located at the state’s Capitol Park where a statue of a Catholic missionary once stood.

Christina Aanestad reports.

California tribes and state lawmakers gathered at the Capitol Park in Sacramento for the ground breaking of a statute paying tribute to a Northern California Miwok Tribe.

The new statue will replace a monument of Junípero Serra, who founded the mission system in California that enslaved Native Americans.

It was torn down in 2020.

Assemblyman James Ramos is the only Native American in the state legislature.

“We can now commit ourselves to changing the why behind shameful history, that needs to come forward. A shameful history that needs to be taught in history books, attested to in the college system. But, also we need to make sure that we lift up our elders and our ancestors and resilience that runs deep within us to make sure their voices always being heard because that’s the reason we’re here today.”

In Southeast Alaska Monday, a number of Native organizations celebrated Walter Soboleff Day.

The Lingít leader was born on November 14th, 1908 and was the first Alaska Native person to be ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian church.

He lived to be 102.

Sealaska Heritage Institute observed his birthday with a panel discussion in Juneau about the Presbyterian church’s decision to close Soboleff’s church in 1963.

After the church was torn down, services moved to the Northern Light United Presbyterian Church, which had a mostly White congregation.

Soboleff, who gave sermons in his Native language, grieved quietly and never spoke out against the church.

Earlier this year, the Native ministries committee from Northern Light successfully petitioned national Presbyterian leaders to make a formal apology.

But Myra Munson, an attorney who worked with the group, fought for more than an apology.

“If that’s all it is, does it mean anything?”

In a recent agreement, the church will receive a million dollars over the coming years to make reparations, money that will be spent to promote healing and education about the harm racism causes.

Rosita Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, thanked the Native Ministries Committee for their work.

“I know that this story, the story of Dr. Soboleff, the things that happened to him and what you have done to rectify those wrongs, will be living on through our children as they learn about our history. Gunalchéesh.”

As part of the reparations, the church has also been renamed, Kunéix Hídi, which means House of Healing.

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The Cherokee Nation is calling on Congress to honor a commitment made by the U.S. government in the 1800s to seat a non-voting delegate from the Cherokee Nation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kim Teehee has been chosen as the delegate.

Rhonda LeValdo recently spoke with Teehee about a national campaign started by the Oklahoma tribe to get her seated.

Kim Teehee, Cherokee Nation citizen, has served as a senior policy advisor for Native American affairs during the Obama administration, and she feels that not only would she represent her Nation but all Nations across Indian Country.

“Cherokee Nation is the direct recipient of being of my one constitute the Cherokee Nation government, but I’m mindful that the fact that Indian Country has too few advocates as it is.”

When talking about if and when she’ll be appointed, Teehee feels it will be done this year.

And if not, the Cherokee Nation will cross that bridge when the time comes.

She pointed out all the Native women leaders that are making history now and feels the time is right.

“The stars are aligned to get this right, if it doesn’t happen this year we’ll keep fighting.”

Teehee says the U.S. should honor their words and treaties, especially the long overdue commitment to seat a Cherokee Nation delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Photo: Jimmy Emerson via Flickr CC

Organizers behind an effort to assist Indigenous voters at the polls in last week’s election in North Dakota say there were some issues people encountered when casting their ballot.

Mike Moen has more.

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) worked with groups such as North Dakota Native Vote to station trained poll watchers at various sites.

NARF staff attorney Michael Carter says there were situations, for example, where a voter had issues tied to the state’s ID law.

“There were, in fact, some Native voters being turned away improperly, and the matter was able to be corrected – the voters were able to come back and vote and have their votes counted.”

North Dakota Native Vote says it saw only one instance of a voter not returning to complete the process.

Carter says ahead of the election, they met with the Secretary of State to make sure all parties were on the same page in handling these matters.

He says it’s vital for the state to detail these instances in reports in between elections, as part of a consent decree that stemmed from challenges to the ID law.

This election was the first since the state’s latest redistricting process, in which two new state House sub-districts were created in tribal areas.

In districts 4-A and 9-A, two Native candidates won their races.

North Dakota Native Vote’s Nicole Donaghy says these are strong examples of why tribal communities need more seats at the table when these voting maps are drawn.

“We cannot elect our own people unless there’s a focused effort to create a district that is majority Native American.”

However, one of those newly created sub-districts is being challenged in court by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, with leaders saying the lines still dilute the voting power of tribal members.

Two incumbent state lawmakers with tribal roots, including Fargo-based State Rep. Ruth Buffalo (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation/D-ND), lost their re-election bids.

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The Cherokee Nation is calling on Congress to honor the commitment made by the U.S. government in the 1800s to seat a non-voting delegate from the Cherokee Nation in the House of Representatives.

Cherokee Nation citizen Kim Teehee has been chosen as the delegate.

Rhonda LeValdo recently spoke with Teehee about a national campaign started by the Oklahoma tribe to get her seated.

The government and the Cherokee Nation reached an agreement through a treaty nearly 200 years ago that committed a Cherokee delegate – a seat in the House. The Senate ratified it, and President Andrew Jackson signed it into law.

The tribe says the longstanding agreement does not expire.

This fall, the Cherokee Nation, its citizens, and its allies mobilized across the country to call on Congress to act during this session before Congress adjourns in December.

Teehee spoke on the efforts to do that.

“We’ve had a lot of questions and we’ve had to go back deep into historical documents, federalist papers, to answer questions, but we have not heard opposition. We’ve just heard a lot of questions and that thankfully we’re being asked, and we’re being afforded the opportunity to respond to.” 

Teehee also talked about her priorities for the Cherokee Nation like adequate funding for services, infrastructure, broadband, but also to take action on a language bill to help preserve Native languages. 

“Language perservation is a huge priority. We have a bill pending in Congress now called the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act, and it’s named for the late-Durbin Feeling who was what we call our modern day Sequoia who revitalized and enhanced all the language preservation efforts we do today. 

Teehee has served as the tribe’s vice president of government relations and was a senior policy advisor for Native American affairs during the Obama administration.

A House committee is set to hold a hearing on the Cherokee Nation delegate on Wednesday.

A program that aims to train Alaska Native people to become rural pilots opened a new facility recently in Anchorage.

Emily Schwing reports.

The new hangar is now the central spot for students interested in pursuing a career in Aviation, CKT owner and Certified Flight Instructor Jamie Klaes told a crowd of nearly 60 people there are holes to fill when it comes to aviation in rural Alaska. 

“There’s a lack of service there due to pilot shortages, due to a mechanic shortages.” 

CKT Aviation contracts with Alaska Excel to provide pilot training to students from communities off the road system.

Alaska Excel offers additional intensive courses beyond general high school curriculum to students from rural Alaska school districts. 

Lori Evan graduated from high school in Upper Kalskag last year. She first started taking classes in Excel’s aviation program when she was in 7th grade. 

“They help with career paths, college scholarships and aviation was one of my favorites. Because I actually flew a plane unexpectedly and I flew it all by myself and that like inspired me to come and do more. It was my goal for years.” 

Lee Ryan is the President of Ryan Air, an Alaska-based airline that serves most of Western Alaska. He says he wants to hire pilots who grew up like he did – off the road system in Unalakleet. 

“They understand the importance of safety, the importance of one foot in front of the other, the importance of navigation, situational awareness, the culture. They just, they get it right, so it makes it so easy. To serve the people you’re trying to serve. So it’s like the missing piece of the pie, it’s what we need.” 

Ryan recently hired one commercial pilot out of the Alaska Excel program and he’s got his eye on the progress of at least one other.

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Native veterans across the country are being honored as the U.S. observes Veterans Day.

Recently in Alaska, a group of Indigenous women were recognized for their military service during the opening ceremony at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage.

Emily Schwing has more.

For more than a decade, Alaska Native veteran Benno Cleveland has led a color guard procession at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. But this year, he did something a little different.

“Today you see the veterans in front of you and if you notice when we marched in, we had our women veterans up front… because when they talk about our native veterans, most people, they think about the men.”

Following the presentation of colors, five Alaska Native and American Indian women were met with a standing ovation as they exited the convention hall.

Juanita Mullen is from the Seneca Nation in New York State. She just retired as the American Indian and Alaska Native veterans liaison for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“For the female veterans actually putting them first in line was the first time I have ever seen them do this, and so I think it was amazing.”

According to a 2020 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, only 11% of American Indian and Alaska Native veterans are women.

“They just started letting females in the battalion – in the Navy when I joined.”

That’s Flossie Davenport. She grew up in Nome. She served as a Seabee (Construction Battalion) in the Navy from 1998-2003. She said she never thought about being a woman in service until she started to notice some of her superiors started to treat her differently.

“I still had a bunch of salty dogs around me. And they were always like let me lift this, let me do that.”

Cleveland said he asked all of the veterans who came to present colors at AFN if they’d be willing to honor the women. He says not a single man was opposed to supporting the women who served along side them.

In Washington, D.C., Native veterans will be honored Friday at the National Museum of the American Indian.

They’ll be recognized for their military service during a formal dedication of the National Native American Veterans Memorial, which is located outside the museum.

A Native veterans procession and the dedication ceremony will take place as part of a three-day celebration.

Events feature films, performances and a veterans hospitality suite.

More than one thousand veterans are expected to take part in the procession along the National Mall from the museum to a ceremony stage in front of the U.S. Capitol.

The museum will livestream the procession and dedication starting at 2 p.m. EST.

The U.S. House Committee on Rules is holding a hearing next week on legal and procedural factors to seating a Cherokee Nation delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is calling on Congress to honor the commitment made in the 1800s to seat a non-voting delegate from the Cherokee Nation in the House.

The government and the Cherokee Nation reached an agreement through a treaty nearly 200 years ago.

The Senate ratified it and President Andrew Jackson signed it into law.

The Cherokee Nation says the longstanding agreement does not expire and what’s needed now is for the House to seat the delegate.

Cherokee Nation citizen Kim Teehee has been picked as the tribe’s delegate.

“Our first mission is to get seated this year, that is our ultimate goal.”

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. nominated Teehee in 2019.

Teehee has served as the tribe’s vice president of government relations and was a senior policy advisor for Native American affairs during the Obama administration.

She has served in multiple leadership positions on Capitol Hill, including the bipartisan Native American Caucus in the House, and in the Cherokee community.

The hearing is scheduled to take place Wednesday morning.

Tune in to National Native News next week to hear more from Teehee about the importance of having a Cherokee Nation delegate and her plans for the position.

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