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Native students, faculty, and staff at the University of Kansas gathered Wednesday to talk about plans for the handling of the remains of ancestors and cultural items.

The university acknowledged this week it has possession of Native American remains and objects.

Melissa Peterson, KU director of tribal relations, is hopeful they will return home.

“I’m pleasantly surprised that we, meaning our community, and me and my office, are getting the support. I don’t think that’s typical in these situations. They came together really quick to talk about a statement and how we can be transparent to campus and that’s kind of a big part of it, right? The transparency and the urgency for Native people to know where these remains are because that connection we have to them, a lot of good and also a lot of bad in some of our cultures.”

KU student Michael Red Bear says it’s a sensitive topic and needs to be handled in collaboration with the Native community.

“The more and more this goes on the more sensitive the information becomes because it’s so heavy and it’s been unintended for so long. So, (we’re) more focused on the mental shock that a lot of people are going to have and kind of figuring out a way where we can alleviate some of that pressure.”

In the past, some repatriation efforts were made by the university, but were never completed.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Roselyn Tso as director of the Indian Health Service.

She was nominated by President Joe Biden in March.

Her nomination passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in July.

Tso is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and served as Director of the Navajo Service Area IHS.

She has nearly four decades of working at and has lived experience using the Indian Health Service.

During her confirmation hearing in May, Tso told lawmakers working with tribes and other partners is key to providing care, especially during the pandemic.

“Throughout my career at the Indian Health Service I have worked to improve the agency to better meet the needs of the people we serve. This was most evident throughout the pandemic where I saw and was part of a true partnership with the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Paiute Tribes, the local, state, federal and private partners to combat COVID-19.”

Tso says she’ll work to strengthen business operations, improve accountability, transparency, and patient safety – and address workforce needs.

IHS delivers health care services to more than two million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The Cherokee Nation is launching a nationwide campaign to get a delegate to the U.S. House before Congress adjourns in December.

Mandated by treaty, the tribe’s first-ever delegate to Congress would be Kim Teehee.

The position was promised in the 1800s.

The Cherokee Nation says efforts to seat the position were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cherokee Nation and its citizens are mobilizing across the U.S. calling on Congress to act.

The effort includes advertising, grassroots movements and public events.

According to the Cherokee Nation, the effort has bi-partisan support and is backed by tribes and tribal organizations across the country.

The Cherokee Nation has more than 400,000 citizens residing in all 50 states including on its reservation in Oklahoma.

 

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Indigenous communities up and down Alaska’s west coast are still reeling from an historic storm that slammed into the state over the weekend.

In Chevak, 136 miles west of Bethel, the Native Village and the City declared a state of emergency during a joint meeting Tuesday.

The emergency declaration is effective immediately and comes after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok destroyed dozens of boats people use for fishing and hunting.

Many people in the Cup’ik community also report losing fishing nets, dry houses, racks, and other gear and equipment essential to the Indigenous subsistence lifestyle in Western Alaska.

Dozens of fishing and hunting camps miles upriver are also likely destroyed. Most people haven’t had time yet to check.

Residents in the village of nearly 1000 people are still advised to boil their drinking water four days after floodwaters from the storm inundated the community’s drinking water system.

The city and tribal council plan to use the community’s VHF radio system Wednesday to broadcast more information about the emergency declaration and how residents can seek assistance in create an inventory of their losses.

Communities throughout the region still have weeks of work ahead to assess damages and prepare for winter freeze up which is only weeks away.

The Alaska Native community in Anchorage is coming together Wednesday night for a fundraiser and donation drop off site to help people impacted by the storm on the west coast.

The potluck-style event will include a silent auction and raffles.

The community will be gathering donations of clothing, winter gear, boots, jackets, and canned goods.

The event at the Alaska Native Heritage Center is being hosted by First Alaskans Institute, Native Peoples Action, Native Movement, American Red Cross, and the Rasmuson Foundation.

The U.S. Justice Department is holding a tribal consultation in Anchorage this week on violence against women.

The agency will host nearly 600 participants including 55 tribal leaders.

They’ll provide recommendations to the agency on funding, programs, and enhancing the safety of Alaska Native and American Indian women, and ways to improve access to crime information databases and criminal justice information systems.

National Voter Registration Day was Tuesday to raise awareness of voter registration opportunities and reach voters who may not register otherwise.

As Eric Tegethoff reports, a Native vote group in Montana is working to make sure people are ready for the November election.

With less than two months to go until Election Day, efforts to ensure people can cast their ballots are ramping up.

Natanya O’Neill, field director for Western Native Voice, said her group has been working in communities to check voters’ registration status, which will make it easier on Nov 8.

“They have all of the information that they need, they’re prepared, got their identification with them, and they know that they are able to vote. With the changes in the laws last year, it is a learning curve for a lot of people.”

In 2021, Montana lawmakers passed legislation affecting voter registration.

One measure tightens voter identification laws so people who are registering with a student ID, for instance, need a secondary form of identification.

Another measure eliminates Election Day voter registration, requiring people to sign up to vote by the Friday before Election Day.

A judge in Yellowstone County District Court has heard challenges to both laws and could make decisions on their legality before the November election.

In the meantime, O’Neill emphasized people should be prepared to vote in what will be a consequential election.

Because of the 2020 census results, Montana will have two congressional districts for the first time in 30 years.

“With the changes in the congressional seats that we’ve got, we need to make sure that people are aware of how much this will impact them,” O’Neill urged.

Montana is also in the middle of redistricting on the state level, although maps will not be finalized until after the election.

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Indigenous villages in Alaska have begun recovery efforts after a storm devastated the state’s western coastline over the weekend.

On Saturday, the governor declared a disaster and is preparing to request federal assistance to help with recovery efforts.

Five communities were heavily impacted, according to the state.

Many others are also dealing with severe storm impacts.

Communities scattered along nearly 1,000 miles of Bering and Chukchi Sea coastline saw severe flooding, damage to airport runways, loss of power and some communities were put on boil water advisories.

The storm claimed smokehouses and fish drying racks.

The damage to those resources is serious.

People in most of the communities impacted rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing for food.  There have also been reports that fish, berries and meat gathered this summer and already put away for winter has been lost.

With winter fast approaching in Alaska, it’s unclear how construction materials and supplies to repair damages will be delivered in communities hardest hit.

The summer season to deliver these kinds of shipments by ocean barge is coming to a close.

In recent years, Alaska coastal communities have seen an increase in the severity and frequency of fall season storms due to climate change.

The season is only beginning.

A Tlingit clan house in Sitka, AK, was recently returned to its home clan after decades.

Its new legal owner hopes the historic exchange will spur a greater conversation about repatriation. KCAW’s Tash Kimmell reports.

In Sitka, AK this July, a Kiksadi clan house was repatriated after nearly 20 years in the possession of another clan.

Jerrick Hope-Lang, a Juneau-based member of the Kiksadi clan, now holds the deed.

Although no longer physically standing, Hope-Lang says the Point House still holds immense cultural significance.

“Conceptually, we all know that we refer to our people as from the point house, so the physical structure may not exist. But we as a people do. So the concept of the house being gone. That’s just a physical structure.”

Now, he plans to have the house rebuilt as a “mixed use” gathering space.

He hopes the revitalization of his clan house will spark a broader conversation around repatriation. 

“I think it starts here with this land back concept, and how we identify that as individual clans, beyond our tribes and how we move forward in that and act in that. I’m excited that future Kiksadi  children can walk into a place and say, this is my clan house.”

According to the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, there were once 43 standing clan houses in Sitka’s Indian Village District. Now only 9 remain.

This would be the first 21st century clan house built in Sitka.

One of the few remaining clan houses in Sitka is the Porch House. Chuck Miller is its caretaker.

“I mean, growing up for me here, I live down the street literally. And I remember coming into this clan house when I was a very small young child. And having all my family here family functions, meetings, food, etc. having a clan house rebuilt here would be something pretty huge I think, and applaud the Kiksadis for wanting to get this done and taken care of.”

After 25 years as caretaker, Miller says the Porch House is more than a building, it’s a point of pride. Hope-Lang wants to see the exact same thing for Point House – for the clan house —to be rebuilt now or at least in the lifetime of those generous enough to return it.  

Editor’s Note; Hope-Lang urged KCAW to respect the privacy of the two former owners of Point House. KCAW obtained the deed to independently verify the donors, but agreed not to interview them for this story.

The Navajo Nation on Monday issued a health advisory to inform Navajo people of three new confirmed cases of monkeypox on the reservation.

The total number of cases is now four.

In each case, it appears the virus was caught off of the Navajo Nation.

The first monkeypox case on Navajo land was confirmed in August.

 

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Washington state’s most populous county is getting ready to pay more than $5 million to settle a lawsuit threatened by the Suquamish Tribe over more than six million of gallons of sewage spilled into Puget sound.

The Seattle Times reports the tribe filed an intent to sue in 2020, documenting almost a dozen times sewage overflowed from the West Point Treatment Plant in Seattle over 2018 and 2019.

The proposed settlement includes a timeline for almost $600 million in improvements to the plant, including new pipes, pumps, batteries, and other power supplies to keep pumps running in the event of a power outage.

The spills generally happened during foul weather or blackouts.

About half of the $5 million will go into a mitigation fund held by the tribe, the other half will go toward a new environmental project of the county’s choosing, and the county will pay $240,000 toward the tribes legal fees.

The proposed settlement, which was discussed and agreed to by the tribe and county officials earlier this year, passed the county’s environment committee on Thursday, and goes to the full council for a vote as early as later this month.

Actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather formally accepted an apology by officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The event at the Academy Museum comes nearly 50 years after she was booed and professionally boycotted for her speech during the 1973 Oscar Awards broadcast on behalf of Marlon Brando declining his award for best actor.

Casting Director and former President of the Academy David Rubin read from a letter of apology first presented to Littlefeather in June.

“For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this we offer our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.”

Rubin said the Academy is at an inflection point for inclusion and representation.

Littlefeather’s 1973 speech called attention to the ongoing conflict at Wounded Knee, SD and called out the poor representation of Native people in popular media.

At the recent event, Littlefeather said she understood the gravity of her role that night.

“I was representing all Indigenous voices out there. All Indigenous people. Because we had never been heard in that way before. And if I had to pay the price of admission then that was okay, because those voices had to be open.”

Billed as a “healing event”, her appearance included a discussion with producer Bird Runningwater, the co-chair of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance and former head of the Sundance Institute’s Native Lab.

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation is fighting for mineral rights against the state of North Dakota.

The state reaffirmed an ownership claim over the bed of the Missouri River as it flows through Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, despite legal and historical precedent, and a memo from the U. S. Department of the Interior that confirms tribal ownership.

InForum News reports that more than $ 115 million is at stake in oil and gas royalties.

The dispute is pending before a U.S. District court judge in a lawsuit filed by the tribe after the Trump administration reversed decades of federal policy recognizing the tribes ownership in a series of legal decisions going back to 1936, and two treaties from 1825 and 1851.

The Biden administration reversed that Trump order back in February this year, and the tribe has been trying to get a full accounting of royalties owed ever since.

But the state’s solicitor general wrote a letter to oil and gas producers claiming ownership based on the constitution’s equal footing doctrine, which declares a state holds ownership of navigable waters within its boundaries.

Mark Fox, Chariman of the MHA Nation, says the state is showing a lack of respect for legal precedent and “the people who have paid with their lives to preserve these fragments” of the tribe’s ancestral lands.

 

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The federal government is following through on a promise to increase tribal input in managing federal lands.

The Department of the Interior announced on Tuesday new guidance and policy establishing co-stewardship of federal lands and waters.

The National Park Service, along with the Bureau of Land management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will work directly with Native tribes, Alaska Natives entities, and Native Hawaiian communities, giving tribes a greater voice in protecting cultural assets and sacred sites.

USA Today reports co-stewardship would give tribes decision making legal authority, collaborative management responsibilities, and, in some cases, complete self-governance.

In addition, the policy calls for the NPS to reach out to tribes directly, rather than waiting for tribes to come to them, on any plans or activities that would impact native interests, practices, or traditional use areas.

NPS director Chuck Sams says he knows some native communities will hold doubts, having heard similar promises before that bore little fruit.

But this time, he says, they have friends in high places. Both Sams and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland are tribal citizens who have been working on getting more native input into federal decisions for decades.

The policy specifically includes “non-federally recognized tribes, relocated Indigenous people with a historic link to the area, and other traditionally associated peoples,” aiming to add influence for people who have been overlooked in the past.

The Cherokee nation passed its largest ever budget this week — $3.5 billion.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says his top priority is expanding and strengthening the criminal justice system following the supreme Court’s McGirt decision, which changed the processes of tribal criminal cases.

Anadisgoi reports the budget increases funds for the Cherokee National Marshall Service by $6 million and adds money for more attorney general and judicial staff.

All told the budget forecasts 5,600 new tribal government employees.

The plans also include more drug and mental health treatment facilities, and expanding transportation services and infrastructure, including public housing.

One of those investments is $400 million dollars to replace a nearly four decade old hospital that was originally designed to serve 60,000 patients a year, but has been seeing more than half a million patients in recent years.

Hoskin said the new hospital will be six stories tall and more than twice the size of the current one, and that construction will begin within a year.

The budget also sets aside more than $5 million for the government to transfer inmates who have sentences longer than six months to a facility in central Texas.

KOKH news reports with the McGirt decision expanding the prison population, even inmates found guilty of a crime could be released unless the transfer takes place. Hoskin says it’s simply a matter of safety and capacity.

The entirety of the Yakama Nation Council faces possible recall following allegations of misusing funds and efforts to protect six of its members from suspension.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports an audit of Land Enterprise, a Yakama initiative that oversees and administers tribal land, revealed the alleged misuse of funds.

The tribe’s Code of Ethics Board performed the audit and investigation.

The recall was sparked by audit’s findings that allegedly the Land Enterprise managers received incentives, payouts, and wage raises while workers in other divisions were put on furlough or dismissed.

The committee members that oversee Land Enterprise were accused of failing to impartially investigate those financial benefits and have been suspended without pay for 60 days.

Four of them refused to cooperate with the investigation and were placed on probation until they comply.

A recall meeting has been scheduled for October 12, when voting tribal members will decide if the council will be removed.

 

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Leaders on the Navajo Nation report progress in the effort to clean up hundreds of abandoned uranium mines on and near the reservation.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, federal officials recently traveled to the area for a firsthand view of the decades-long issue.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan met with tribal officials in Cameron, AZ on the Navajo Nation.

During the trip, he announced the creation of two federal field offices in the tribal capital Window Rock and in Flagstaff, AZ that’ll work with the Navajo EPA to facilitate the mine cleanup and removal of radioactive waste.

U.S. EPA officials also say they’re working to conduct assessments and prioritize the more than 300 abandoned uranium mines that haven’t yet received funding for remediation.

According to Navajo President Jonathan Nez’s office, Regan also visited an abandoned uranium mine site located within feet of occupied homes.

The effort to clean up the more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on and near the Navajo Nation has been ongoing for years and only a handful have been fully remediated. The tribe says about 200 sites currently have funds available for work, but progress has been slow.

Tribal leaders describe the legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation as devastating, causing decades of negative environmental and health impacts among residents and former mine workers.

Between 1944 and 1986, 30 million tons of uranium ore was extracted from the area to support the Manhattan Project and Cold War-era nuclear weapons development.

A new partnership between Black Hills State and the Indian University of North America expands a student support program. This summer, it gave 25 undergrads a chance to jump-start their college careers.

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

The Seventh Gen summer program prepares Native students for success in college.

Joshua Rudnik is director of the Indian University at Crazy Horse Memorial. He says the program helps teenagers take the next step.

“Seventh Gen summer program here at Crazy Horse is for high school students who have just graduated and looking to move into higher education. During the summer they participate in their first semester of college. They earn 12 credits – those are general education credits.”

Along with classes, students live on a small campus and work a credit-eligible internship at the memorial.

Rudnik says the experience goes beyond the classroom.

“So it’s a busy summer, not only with the classes but the 20 hours they work. In addition to the classes and the internship, we have a co-curricular program that seeks to explore culturally significant sites here in the Black Hills.”

Rudnik says the new partnership will provide some Black Hills State professors for classes and help students connect.

“Well, if you’re looking into getting into college, our program is a good start. Not only do we provide your first semester of college with those twelve credits, but we also have a pretty strong student advising and student success team that will guide you through the process of entering college.”

Applications are closed for the summer 2023 program.

Rudnik expects them to reopen in the coming months.

Tribal leaders were among those to join President Joe Biden for a celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act on the White House lawn this week.

The president signed the bill last month.

The new law authorizes funding, including tribal-specific funding, to address climate issues and energy.

It also seeks to lower health care costs and tax high-income people and large corporations.

 

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Mary Peltola (Yup’ik), a former state lawmaker from Bethel, AK, was sworn into the U.S. House Tuesday, becoming the first Alaska Native person to ever serve in Congress.

Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin reports from The Capitol.

Rep. Peltola is 49, a mother of seven, and a salmon fishing advocate. She gave a brief speech on the House floor.

“It is the honor of my life to represent Alaska, a place my elders and ancestors have called home for thousands of years, where to this day, many people in my community carry forward our traditions of hunting and fishing.”

She’s the first Democrat to win Alaska’s sole house seat in 50 years. She’s vowed to carry on the bipartisan legacy of her predecessor, Republican Don Young, who held the seat for Peltola’s entire life, until his death in March.

“Like all Alaskans, I mourned his passing. In Yup’ik when we lose a loved one, we say Tawaingunrituq. This isn’t the end.”

Ana Hoffman was at The Capitol to witness the moment. She’s co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives and Peltola’s classmate from Bethel.

“It feels like she’s bringing a completeness to the House of Representatives that’s been missing. As she was speaking, the thought that kept coming into my mind is the people’s house.”

Peltola won a special election to serve the remainder of Young’s term.

She’ll have to win again in November to keep the seat for the next two-year term.

Another Native woman also made history in Washington, D.C. this week.

Chief of the Mohegan Tribe Lynn Malerba was sworn in as Treasurer of the United States becoming the first Native American and Native woman to hold the office.

Her signature will now appear on currency.

In remarks, Malerba talked about the Biden administration’s commitment to Indian Country saying her appointment is a promise kept – and demonstrates respect for tribal sovereignty and understanding of the government-to-government relationship.

The Treasurer directly oversees the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and is a key liaison with the Federal Reserve.

Malerba will also oversee a newly established office to communicate directly with tribes and be a hub for tribal policy.

She became chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut in 2010 and was the first woman to serve as top leader in the tribe’s modern history.

 

The Department of Interior has removed a racial slur from 650 geographical features in the U.S.

Taylar Stagner has more.

The S-Q word is a slur for an Indigenous woman.

This affected hundreds of natural landscapes and around 70 tribal nations submitted suggestions for name changes, many of which were granted.

It’s an issue Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has been working on since taking office.

Crystal C’Bearing is with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Her office deals with protecting cultural landmarks on and off tribal lands. She says it’s about time.

“It was a name that totally degraded women and dehumanized our native woman and just made them seem less than.”

Questions still exist involving certain places with incorrect or inconsistent spelling of Native languages, what name to use when two tribes suggest different names, and features that span multiple jurisdictions.

 

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U.S. Rep-elect Mary Peltola (D-AK) is being sworn in at the Capitol Tuesday.

Peltola beat Sarah Palin and Nick Begich in a special election for Alaska’s sole House seat.

She becomes the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress. Before heading to Washington D.C. this past weekend, Peltola returned to her hometown of Bethel, Alaska.

KYUK’s Nina Kravinsky is in Bethel.

Peltola supporters gathered at the library for a feast. Dishes, potluck style, filled a long table. In front of it, the Bethel Russian Orthodox choir sang.

Peltola wiped away tears as the choir switched into a Yup’ik rendition of “God Grant You Many Years.”

Bethany Kaiser is a paralegal from Bethel. She cried, too, when she heard the election results.

“I think she really can relate to not just Bethel but rural Alaska in general. I think she can really relate to coming from a small town and knowing the challenges that we all face out here.”

Challenges that include resources and infrastructure.

Bertha Nagasiak hopes Peltola being in Congress will bring better family and homeless services to Bethel. She’s hoping for more community spaces for families and support for people recovering from alcohol addiction.

“And I pray that she follows through on what she says and how she’s going to help the people of our community.”

Others said they wanted her to address the low salmon runs in the region. That issue was a big part of Peltola’s campaign – she describes herself as “pro-fish” and wants to place stricter bycatch limits on trawling.

Peltola told KYUK before the community event that she’s still working on the specifics, but she hopes to craft legislation that will benefit the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta.

“My perspective, my worldview is from this region. So I think it will be interwoven into every single thing that I do.”

Peltola now heads to D.C. where she’ll be sworn in to serve the last four months of late Congressman Don Young’s term.

She’s running again in November to serve the next full, two-year term.

Advocates for keeping the Badger-Two Medicine in northwest Montana free from oil and gas development say the legal fight over the land is far from over.

This comes after a federal judge last week reinstated a decades-old lease on the land that’s sacred to the Blackfeet Nation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

Washington D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered the U.S. Interior Department to reinstate Solenex’s lease in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, which was first issued in the 1980s.

Read Judge Leon’s opinion

The federal government canceled the lease six years ago saying it was issued illegally. Leon in his ruling said the government didn’t have the authority to cancel it.

The lease is on undeveloped land considered the cultural homeland of the Blackfeet Nation. Blackfeet Historical Preservation Officer John Murray is one of the intervenors in the case.

“The fight is far from over. The Badger-Two Medicine will remain the way it is today.”

The Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance also said in a statement it would fight the ruling, although the alliance and other groups have not yet said when they may appeal.

The Mountain States Legal Foundation, which is representing lease holder Solenex, says it will be ready to defend the ruling if appealed.

The Interior Department declined to comment on the case.

The Solenex lease was one of over 40 oil and gas leases that were issued in the Badger-Two Medicine and is the last remaining lease on that land. Others were either voluntarily relinquished, canceled by the Interior Department. or retired through private settlements.

Listen to Montana Public Radio’s podcast Shared State about Badger-Two Medicine

 

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A federal appeals court has ruled that fishermen in Alaska’s only Native reserve should not need state permits to fish in waters they’ve traditionally relied on, even outside reservation boundaries.

As KRBD’s Eric Stone reports, the decision is a significant victory in Metlakatla’s decades-long fight for fishing rights.

The Ninth Circuit’s 28-page opinion is broad and unambiguous: the 1891 law that created Metlakatla’s reservation gives tribal members the right to fish in much of southern Southeast Alaska, even outside the Annette Island Reserve’s boundaries.

Metlakatla Mayor Albert Smith called the decision “a very well-reasoned and strongly worded opinion.”

“We’re still going over it, but we’re excited and grateful that the Ninth Circuit confirmed our fishing rights,”

The ancestors of Metlakatla’s Tsimshian people relocated from their former home in British Columbia in the late 19th century at the invitation of the U.S. government.

In 1891, Congress passed a 101-word statute creating the Annette Islands Reserve “for the use of the Metlakahtla Indians.”

That law doesn’t specifically mention fishing rights, but the tribe argued in its 2020 lawsuit against the state of Alaska that Congress intended the Annette Islands to be a permanent, self-sustaining home for the tribe — and that wasn’t possible without the ability to fish outside the reservation’s marine boundaries.

A federal district court judge sided with the state of Alaska and dismissed the case last year, but the Ninth Circuit disagreed, as Metlakatla’s attorney Christopher Lundberg explains.

“The key question that the Ninth Circuit resolved in Metlakatla’s favor was whether Congress in 1891 granted, when they established the reservation, also granted the community the right to fish on a non-exclusive basis in waters outside the reservation,”

The appeals court sent the case back to district court for further consideration.

Alaska Department of Law spokesperson Patty Sullivan called the decision “perplexing and disappointing” in a written statement and said the state is evaluating whether to appeal.

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there are questions about a renewed relationship between the crown and Indigenous people in Canada.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the head of Canada’s largest First Nations group says the crown needs to apologize to Indigenous peoples.

RoseAnne Archibald is the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. She says when she met King Charles in May before he became king, she felt he was honest about wanting to be part of the solutions to problems plaguing Canada’s Indigenous people. But Archibald says there must be more.

“There needs to be an apology by the crown for the failures. And particularly for the destructiveness of colonization on First Nations people.  And the role of the Anglican church and the crown as the head of that church in many of those institutions of assimilation and genocide.”

Many First Nations people offered their condolences over the death of the Queen, many also spoke of the complicated history with the British crown.

The crown began entering into treaties with Canada’s Native people in 1701.

There are now eleven treaties in Canada.

Some Native historians says Britain had a sense of superiority and felt it had a right to come in to Canada and civilize everyone else.

They says that colonial policies like the residential schools are still having a harmful impact today.

One of the nearly 100 calls to action from Canada’s truth and reconciliation commission was for the crown to issue a royal proclamation. That call has not yet been addressed.

The Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States is holding a legislative hearing Wednesday on a number of tribal land bills.

Tribal leaders from California, Washington, and Kansas are expected to testify.

Lawmakers will also consider amending the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act to advance public safety in tribal communities.

 

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In the James Smith Cree Nation in north central Saskatchewan the healing begins after Sunday’s stabbing rampage that killed 10 people and wounded 18 others.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, people gathered at the reserve for a news conference, the day after the arrest and death of the prime suspect, Myles Sanderson.

There was a ceremonial fire, a sweat lodge, and an honor song.

It was an emotional event, one man who’s sister was killed in the attacks wrapped his arm around the widow of one of the suspects and talked about forgiveness.

Wally Burns is the chief of the James Smith Cree Nation.

“I’m trying to hold myself together with the words that need to come out. We ask three things. Three things from the governments. We ask that we have our own tribal policing, we ask for awareness of addictions, we ask for treatment centers, so things won’t happen like this to any nations.”

 Burns also issued a plea for an end to the violence. He thanked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe for their support in the wake of the tragedy.

And with news of the death of Queen Elizabeth, he also offered his gratitude for a message she issued just a day before, offering her condolences to the community.

The Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police attended the event adding that the police force is open to working towards a self-government police force in the community.

A trust fund is being set up to accept financial donations and provide help in the wake of the attacks.

Members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona have filed a request with the Ninth Circuit  U.S. Court of Appeals to rehear a case involving a sacred site.

They’re hoping to block a massive copper mine slated for Oak Flat on national forest land.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, their request to the court is rarely granted.

Members of the group Apache Stronghold this week traveled from the San Carlos Apache Reservation east of Phoenix to San Francisco to make the petition and hold a day of prayer.

In June, a three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision denying the group’s attempt to halt the Resolution Copper mine.

It’s planned for Oak Flat, which tribal members describe as their most sacred site and key to many religious ceremonies.

Apache Stronghold hopes the court will grant a new hearing in front of 11 judges.

Such a move by the circuit court would be very rare, and only a handful are allowed each year out of hundreds of requests.

Circuit court officials say justices could take several weeks or longer to decide whether to rehear the case.

Becket Law, which represents Apache Stronghold, says they’re hoping for a decision by early October, and they also plan to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2014 Congress approved a federal land exchange that paved the way for the copper mine.

Tribal groups, environmentalists and religious advocates say it would destroy Oak Flat along with the area’s desert ecosystem.

The University of Arizona celebrated the grand opening of a new tribal micro-campus this week.

The campus will serve the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in Tucson.

It’s intended to help tribal members obtain college degrees, certificates, and access the university’s technology, research, and tutoring services.

The 5,000 sq ft space is located east of the reservation, in a building of a former middle school.

University officials say the new campus is part of their commitment to Native communities and they hope to establish future campuses for other tribes in the state.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s education department worked with the university to develop initial curriculum.

Classes offered are areas in Indigenous governance, leadership, management, and policy.

The fall term begins in October.

 

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