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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

The Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico celebrated Miguel Trujillo Day on Wednesday to honor the Pueblo civil rights leader. 

The Marine veteran and school teacher fought for Native voting rights in the 1940s after he attempted to register to vote and was refused.

The New Mexico Constitution held that “Indians not taxed” could not vote. Trujillo filed a federal lawsuit, which he won on August 3, 1948.

The court ruled New Mexico discriminated against Indians by restricting voting on the basis they paid state and federal taxes, but not private property tax on reservations. Trujillo set a precedent for the future of Native voting rights, which the Isleta Pueblo Voters Alliance continues to reflect on today.

“It’s just a beautiful story and it’s just refreshing now at this current day that we’ve had those leaders in place and we continue to have those types of Native leaders to amplify the voices of our people.”

Janice Lucero is a voting rights advocate and community organizer.

“Native folks and Indigenous communities are starting to step up to the table. We are starting to fight for what we know and that is our land, that is our water, that is our body and the more we get out to vote, we can be those change makers.”

Lucero says the alliance works on voter registration, voter education and advocates to get out the Native vote.

“There has to be a shift. There has to be a shift in how we vote, how we speak up, getting out there being educated. Do the research folks, find out who you align with, the values that’s so important do they align with your values? It’s important that we know those people are advocating for us. We don’t want outside people coming in and trying to take over and have their own agenda. Indigenous people have been here for years and we have our own agenda and that’s with the land and that’s with each other.”  

The Isleta Pueblo Voters Alliance was founded by community members in 2020. The alliance co-hosted Wednesday’s event with the Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of Isleta Veterans Association, and the New Mexico Humanities Council.

Listen to Native America Calling’s Miguel Trujillo Tribute

Watch Thomas Begay’s Miguel Trujillo Tribute

A new pilot project led by Indigenous support workers in Toronto is targeting mental health. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the aim is to replace calling 911 for those in need.

The new Indigenous team is made up of support workers and community resources specialists and is now available in the downtown area through a pilot project. The 211 hotline can be called for virtual and in person support at any time. And was chosen in collaboration with Indigenous language and knowledge keepers. The director of the team is Saige McMahon.

“We can offer crisis de-escalation, harm reduction support, traditional support, and medicines, basic life needs like food, water, tents, sleeping bags and then referral and after care services.”

McMahon says the team has received specialized training on suicide intervention, CPR, first aid, and drug overdoses. They also have nurses on staff who can provide more medical support. But she adds that the priority is long term follow up support.

“Our team is Indigenous led. It’s community led, We have an advisory committee who we go to who represent the community.  We have folks on the call and on the team who represent the community who have lived experience with mental health related issues, who are Indigenous and who really can represent the folks that we’re responding to on these calls.” 

McMahon says anyone who needs mental health support can use the 211 service. The pilot project is a collaboration between Findhelp, which manages 211 lines in Ontario, and Two Spirited people of the First Nations, an Indigenous youth agency and a municipal community health center.

Government sources say approximately eleven people died by suicide in Canada each day.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians are hosting the Michigan stop of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s Road to Healing Tour.

The tour is part of the Interior Department’s investigation into federal Indian boarding schools, which was launched last year.

Thirty-five tribal Nations from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa are expected to participate in the August 13 event in Pellston.

This will be Sec. Haaland’s second stop on the tour to gather testimony from boarding school survivors and descendants. The first stop was last month in Oklahoma where former students recounting traumatic memories at boarding school including physical, mental and sexual abuse.

Sec. Haaland has expressed the need to gather testimony acknowledging it will not be easy, but saying it’s a necessary part of the investigation.

Trauma-informed support will be on-site. The year-long tour will include stops in Hawaii, Arizona, and South Dakota.

Unofficial results from the Navajo Nation’s primary election on Tuesday show the top two candidates for Navajo Nation president are current president Jonathan Nez and Buu Nygren.

There were 15 candidates on the ballot for president of the tribe.

The Navajo Times reports, as of early Wednesday morning, Nez had more than 17,000 votes and Nygren more than 12,000.

More than 47,000 voters reportedly took part in the primary election.

Voters now head to the polls in November’s general election to decide who will be president.

In Kansas, unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary election show voters decided to protect abortion rights in the state’s constitution.

Kansas is the first state to vote on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

Native women in the state were among those speaking out ahead of the election concerned about abortion bans and access to birth control.

Members of the Native community were also instrumental in holding voter registration drives and helping with voter education.

A Native radio station on the Pine Ridge Reservation is kicking off a capital campaign for a new facility.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.

KILI Radio, or KILI, has been on the air for nearly four decades.

The station is located on Porcupine Butte in Porcupine, SD. KILI was the first American Indian-owned radio station in the United States.

The original building was built by volunteers. It was constructed as a temporary facility.

Bill Means is the board president for KILI Radio.

“Our radio station outgrew its usefulness in the sense of modern-day equipment. in the sense of space for offices. We needed a new home. So this is the beginning of that adventure.”

KILI Radio is looking to build a $2.5 million dollar facility.

The station airs tribal council meetings, Lakota Nation Invitational basketball games, and a wide range of music—from traditional powwow music to country, rock ‘n roll, and hip hop.

KILI Radio is mostly powered by renewable energy—both wind and solar.

Tom Casey is the station’s general manager. He says the goal for the station is to generate 100% of its power from renewable energy.

“Obviously, as a radio station—100,000 watts—we use quite a bit of electricity. Our commitment was not only to use to be working to bring in as much renewable energy as possible, but to also show the community and show the region that it’s possible. It’s doable. Find the resources and let’s commit to using as much renewable energy as possible.”

Station officials have a goal of raising the money in two years.

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A tribe in the San Francisco Bay Area is fighting a proposal to develop a gravel pit mine on sacred land.

Christina Aanestad reports from California.

The Amah Mutsun Tribe says sacred land two hours south of San Francisco near Gilroy, must be preserved.

Valentine Lopez is Chairman of the Amah Mutsun tribal band.

“Juristac has been the most sacred site to the Amah Mutsun tribal band for thousands of years.”  

He says the land was stolen 150 years ago, and never returned to the federally unrecognized tribe, and despite repeated attempts to this day-they’ve been denied access to what’s now called Sargent Ranch.

The Debt Acquisition Co of America bought the land and is seeking a permit for a sand and gravel mine on part of the land.

The environmental impact report was just released. Lopez says it would be devastating to his tribe and the environment.

“It identified significant and unmitigable cultural resources and spiritual resources at Juristac. It also identified they will have significant and unmitigable conditions there to the wildlife, to the wildlife corridors and to the waterways, etcetera. So the impacts of the mining permits, should it be approved, would be horrendous.” 

The company disputes the land is sacred to the tribe.

The Amah Mutsun Tribe is calling on California’s governor to step in and support a land back reconciliation process.

Public comment on the mine permit at Sargent Ranch ends September 26th.

A new mural at Westmoreland Park in Eugene, OR titled “Willamette Wetlands of the Kalapuya” depicts early Indigenous people with native plants.
(Photo: Beyond Toxics / KLCC)

A campaign is underway to rename Lane County in Oregon, to recognize the region’s original Indigenous inhabitants. KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

Critics say Joseph Lane’s pro-slavery sentiments and actions against Native Americans while Oregon’s territorial governor doesn’t jibe with today’s values.

Richard Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene says he’s pushing to change Lane County to “Kalapuya County,” to reflect a more truthful narrative. 

“The Americas didn’t begin with Christopher Columbus. People have been here for at least 15,000 years. The Kalapuya are our link to that longer, deeper past. The Kalapuya people are not extinct, they are here. Their descendants are here. They’re part of our community. So by changing the name, we are connecting ourselves to a deeper history.”

Pettigrew hopes people petition county commissioners to back his efforts.

Another option commissioners have looked at is keeping “Lane County”, but in honor of Harry Lane, Joseph Lane’s more progressive son.

Cheyenne and Arapaho Television recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. 

In 2010, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes received a federal grant for an educational TV station.

Darren Brown is senior content producer.

“We’ve been here for 10 years and that is significant because there are 39 federally recognized tribes here in the state of Oklahoma, but to my knowledge we are the first and only tribes that have a TV broadcast signal. It’s licensed as a low power TV signal, which means we get a small coverage area. We’re small, but mighty.”

The TV’s Native-based programming includes “Indian Road,” “Making Regalia,” and the children’s show “Frybread Flats.”

New seasons of those shows are in the works and the new Zoom-based interview show “Red Talk.” Cheyenne and Arapaho Television is affiliated with First Nations Experience (FNX), a PBS station in California.

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A disparaging pamphlet that resurfaced on the Pine Ridge reservation prompted a series of actions by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council to regulate church ministries.

The tribal council initially voted to suspend all Christian missionary work, only to rescind the action a day later, instead requiring all outside religious organizations to register with the tribe.

The offending flyer is a duplicate of one distributed years ago that uses the Lakota word for the Creator, calling it a ‘demon idol” among other things. It instead claims Jesus is the “one true God”.

Early in the month, the tribe ousted Matthew Monfore from the Jesus Is King Missionary for distributing disparaging pamphlets.

They then ordered an investigation into the non-denominational Christian Dream Center, which some members claimed was associated with Monfore.

During the emergency meeting, Oglala citizen Bernice Redbear addressed representatives of the Dream Center, asking how they intend to reach out to Pine Ridge residents with such harmful language.

“If you wanted to save me, how would you do it. What kind of message would you give me instead of saying that the God that I pray to is a demon idol…?”

The founder of the Dream Center denies any connection with Monfore or the offending pamphlets.

Lori McAfee says her organization is the victim of false rumors and innuendo.

“You can say anything to anybody, you can post anything and people believe it. All I know is God sent us here to love the people. We didn’t just come here, and I see a lot of people come. But I’ve been here 21 years and all of a sudden this is happening?”

The discussion over the fliers sparked references to the abuses by Catholic priests and other religious leaders at boarding schools designed to eradicate Native culture and language.

Some members also talked about how Pope Francis’ visit to Canada to apologize for abuses in that country opened wounds for boarding school survivors.

Pine Ridge has a long history of concerns about Christian missionaries exploiting the reservation to raise money.

A federal judge has dismissed libel lawsuits against media companies filed by a former Kentucky Catholic school student who was the center of criticism stemming from a 2019 encounter at the Lincoln Memorial.

Nick Sandmann was among students wearing Make America Great hats at a rally in the U.S. Capitol.

A video of him standing face to face with Nathan Phillips who was drumming and singing went viral.

Some of the students mocked Phillip’s singing.

Many viewers interpreted Sandmann’s facial expression as a sign of disrespect.

Sandmann sued several news outlets including the New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine.

The suit centered on repeating Phillip’s claim that Sandmann was blocking him from moving past.

The judge said the claims are “objectively unverifiable and thus unactionable claims.”

An attorney for Sandmann tells the Lexington Herald Leader they are planning on appealing the decision.

The Duwamish Tribe is pushing for representation on Seattle’s inaugural Indigenous Advisory Council.

Fox 13 Seattle quotes Tribal Chairwoman Cecile Hansen as saying that denying the Duwamish a seat contradicts the council’s legitimacy and intention to be inclusive and reparative.

She notes the irony of excluding the voice of the tribe whose notable chief from the mid-1800s is the city’s namesake.

The Duwamish is not federally recognized.

The council was established last year to provide input on issues related to the city’s Indigenous populations.

Five of the panel’s nine members are assigned by the city council. The remaining are appointed by the mayor.

The Navajo Nation is headed into its tribal primary election Tuesday with at least 15 candidates for president.

One of them is incumbent President Jonathan Nez, who faces challengers including the tribe’s former Vice President Frank Dayish and former Attorney General Ethel Branch.

The top two vote-getters go on to the November general election.

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Anchor: Art Hughes

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) signed legislation extending state recognition to Alaska’s 229 tribes.

All of the Alaska Native tribes are already federally recognized. The approval comes as supporters were pushing a public referendum this fall to accomplish the same thing.

The governor’s signature means the referendum vote is unnecessary.

The new law is mostly symbolic as there are no new legal provisions. But supporters say it paves the way for better consultation between the tribes and the state.

Two influential U.S. senators are calling for an investigation into whether Freedmen should receive federal benefits offered to Native Americans under the nation’s treaty obligations.

The hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is the first ever in that chamber to address the status of the descendants of Black people enslaved by Native nations.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) chairs the committee. He acknowledged the difficult and emotionally charged nature of the discussion. But he says disagreements are not resolved in silence.

“It is our goal today to start a respectful dialogue to listen to different perspectives both in a formal setting and informally among members of Congress, tribal leaders and freeman advocates. And to educated the committee and the public with informed accounts relating to our nation’s two greatest failures: the removal of Native peoples from their homelands and the enslavement of Black people.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) agreed with Sen. Schatz’ call for a review of federal policy.

The Cherokee Nation is the only one of the Five Tribes of Oklahoma to fully recognize Freedmen as citizens.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Junior told the committee the efforts by the Cherokee Nation to make amends with Freedmen has made him a better chief.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe is suing the federal government over inadequate law enforcement on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports the lawsuit lists a total of 33 tribal law enforcement officials to patrol more than 3 million acres of land.

The tribe says those officers handle around 134,000 emergency calls in a year’s time. That translates to as much as 80 hours of overtime for the six to eight officers working at any one time.

The lawsuit says the reservation would need at least 140 officers to comply with Bureau of Indian Affairs standards.

The Argus Leader reports the lack of adequate law enforcement means citizens don’t feel safe and businesses are forced to pay for private protection for their property and employees.

Representatives from the tribe traveled to Washington D.C. to discuss the problem, but the lawsuit says they were met with indifference.

The South Dakota state legislature also recognized the problem during this year’s session with a resolution requesting the federal government “fulfill treaty obligations by fully funding” the tribe’s police department.

James Welch (1988) by James G. Todd

The first inaugural James Welch Native Lit Festival is underway in northwest Montana.

The festival aims to create a space for Indigenous writers to share their work. Aaron Bolton has more.

The three-day festival in Missoula is named after Montana author and poet James Welch, who was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in 1940.

Welch wrote several novels and one book of poems.

His 1986 novel Fools Crow, about the arrival of white settlers in the Blackfeet Nation, won the Los Angeles Times book prize for fiction.

Welch died in the early 2000s.

The festival named in his honor will feature talks by 19 Indigenous authors from around the country over three days, including multiple New York Times best-selling authors and Pulitzer Prize winners.

The festival runs through Saturday.

All of the talks will be streamed online.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Midway through his six-day visit to Canada, Pope Francis traveled from Edmonton to Quebec City and issued another apology for the abuses committed at residential schools. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the pope expressed shame and sorrow for the actions that took place at residential schools.

Before making his address at Quebec City’s historic Citadelle, the pope met privately with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, who is Canada’s first Indigenous governor general.

In his speech, Francis said the deplorable residential school system, which separated many children from their families, different local Catholic institutions had a part. And he again asked for forgiveness for the wrongs done by so many Christians to Indigenous peoples.

Before he spoke, Mary Simon called his visit an important step.

“I acknowledge and applaud what has been achieved. What Indigenous communities have achieved this week’s visit. It’s Indigenous peoples who worked, waited and prayed for an apology on Indigenous lands in Canada. They never gave up.”

Holy Mass at the National Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupré in the Plains of Abraham, Quebec with Pope Francis on Thursday

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also described the visit as important, but also suggested it was only the beginning.

“As your holiness said, begging pardon is not the end of the matter, it is a starting point, a first step. Monday morning I was sitting with survivors and I felt their reaction to your apology. Each will take from it what they need, but there’s no doubt you had an enormous impact.”

Some Indigenous leaders have said the pope’s apologies have fallen short.

Earlier, crown Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said there were gaps in the apology that could not be ignored such as the omission of sexual abuses against Indigenous children at the schools, and that the pope had referred earlier this week to the evil committed by individual Christians, but not the Catholic Church as an institution. 

Kansas will be the first state to vote on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Next week, voters will decide if the state’s constitution should continue to protect abortion. Members of the Native American community are registering voters for the election. And as Rhonda LeValdo reports, some Native women say they’re concerned about an abortion ban and access to birth control.

The Kansas City Indian Center (KCIC) is part of the Native vote movement, not only registering voters in Missouri, but also in Kansas as they straddle the state line. They want to get younger voters engaged in the process by doing registration drives anywhere they can, Executive Director of KCIC Gaylene Crowser (Standing Rock Lakota) explains.

“There’s a ton of voting laws that people who haven’t voted before don’t know. We do like to engage young voters and get them into a lifetime of voting and let’s face it democracy is Indigenous, they got this from us.”

And as Kansas will be the first state to vote on an abortion amendment to their constitution, Carole Cadue Blackwood (Kickapoo) and Lawrence school board member says this vote is about treaty erosion.

“I am voting no because it will ban abortion and access to contraceptives. This is treaty erosion. As a Kickapoo woman we were forcibly removed, we were disposed of our land and placed in Kansas and we are going to have more laws regulating us and regulating our bodies. I don’t think people understand when you get down to it, it is treaty erosion.”

The Value Them Both Amendment vote on August 2nd will either uphold Kansans rights to abortion or potentially end them.

Drug overdose deaths during the early days of the pandemic spiked significantly among Indigenous populations. That’s according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Aaron Bolton has more.

According to the recently published CDC study, drug overdose deaths nationwide increased 30% from 2019 to 2020.

The rate increased by 39% among Alaska Native and American Indian populations, nearly double the increase for whites during that same period.

The study found that health and economic disparities likely contributed to the spike in overdose deaths among Indigenous populations.

The study says overdose prevention efforts need to incorporate culturally responsive interventions and address poly-substance use in order to reduce drug overdose death disparities.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Pope Francis continued his Canadian visit with an outdoor mass in Edmonton on Tuesday. Nearly 70,000 people attended the event.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, there’s still mixed reaction to the apology the pope made to Indigenous people on Monday for church run residential schools.

A day after the pope’s historic apology on Canadian soil, many Indigenous people are still talking about it with anger and sadness being expressed over the apology.

Elizabeth Sackanay is a residential school survivor. She says she does not accept the pope’s apology because he was forced to come to Canada to ask for forgiveness.

Sackanay says the Vatican has still not released files or documents related to the Residential School era.

“I would like the pope and the churches to get involved in what we’re doing. We’re doing healing. And we need help. He can’t just come to Canada and say I’m sorry. He’s got to touch base with us. He’s got to get his workers to help us heal in this journey.”   

The pope’s public mass in Edmonton has also been called a missed opportunity.

Corbiere Winkler, an Indigenous priest in Ottawa, says the mass could have been used to celebrate Indigenous traditions and cultural practices, but it was not.

The pope blessed and kissed babies and young children. And the mass focused on grandparents, the elderly, and the family. But Winkler says he was devastated when the eucharistic prayer was delivered in Latin, a language that many Indigenous students heard at the residential schools.

Later in the day the pontiff traveled to Lac St. Anne, north of Edmonton, to take part in the community’s annual pilgrimage.

Wednesday he leaves Edmonton and travels to Quebec City for the next stop in his six day visit.

Indigenous people continue to account for a disproportionate number of missing persons in Montana.

That’s according to the latest report from the Montana Department of Justice. Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

According to the report, Indigenous people accounted for nearly a third of all 2021 missing person reports in Montana, despite only making up roughly 7% of the state’s total population.

There were 650 reports of missing indigenous people last year, most under the age of 18. 

About two-thirds of missing indigenous people were located within a week’s time.

As of June of this year, eight indigenous people remained missing.

Photo: Brian Bull

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, a large cultural gathering recently returned to eastern Oregon.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports on the 30th anniversary Tamkaliks celebration.

Dozens of dancers dressed in feathers, beadwork, and porcupine quills marked each pow-wow’s grand entry.

Regional drum groups played as well with a procession of Appaloosa horses circling the gathering for other events. 

The Tamkaliks gathering is for descendants of the Wallowa Band of Nez Perce who were forced off their lands in 1877 and pursued by the U.S. Army just shy of the Canadian border.

Bobbie Conner is one of the event organizers.

“We believe the land hears our prayers. Feels our footsteps on the earth. And the land is happy to welcome us back. But we also believe that there is a light in the earth that lights up when we bring ceremony to the landscape. And it lights up our hearts when we gather to celebrate this magnificent country that we come from.”  

Another event commemorated Native children who went missing during the boarding school era. 

One cause for celebration this year, besides renewing Tamkaliks, is the Nez Perce Tribe’s recent acquisition of 148 acres that formerly formed an ancestral village in the town of Joseph.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

It was a day filled with emotion for many Indigenous people in Canada as Pope Francis made an apology for church run residential schools. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the long-awaited apology took place on Canadian soil.

The pope traveled to Maskawacis, south of Edmonton, on Monday to the site of a former Indian residential school where he made history begging forgiveness.

“I am sorry (applause). I ask forgiveness, in particular for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time.”

The Catholic church ran 60% of the government-funded, church-run residential schools. They operated from the late 1800’s to 1996.

Over more than a century, about 150,000 Native children were taken from their homes and forced to attend the schools.  Thousands were physically, sexually, and/or emotionally abused; their languages and cultures stripped from them.

Many Native leaders welcomed the apology saying it might bring closure to some, but for some it would also open old wounds.

George Arcand Jr. is the grand chief of the Confederation of Treaty Six First Nations. He says the apology is only the beginning.

“The wrongs of the past need to be righted. I see Pope Francis’ apology today as only a first step in the church making amends towards our people. After meeting with the pope and hearing his words today I believe there is a path forward.”

The pope also met with parishioners at the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, Canada’s only designated indigenous church.

Today the Pope is holding an open air mass in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.

Lakota journalist Tim Giago is being remembered for his dedication to Native American news and Native rights. He passed away on Sunday. South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.

Tim Giago was many things in the news world—a publisher, columnist, journalist, television personality.

He started several newspapers, including the Lakota Times, Lakota Journal, and Native Sun News.

Giago got his start in journalism during the Korean War when an editor for the base newspaper was transferred.

The commanding officer saw how well Giago typed and made him the editor.

Giago brought his newsgathering skills back to Pine Ridge Reservation, where he started his first newspaper.

Here’s Giago in 2021, talking about his start in journalism on South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s In The Moment.

“35,000 people on the reservation and we didn’t have our own newspaper,” Giago said. “I felt we needed to have something that would provide information, report the happenings in the school and tribal government and places that weren’t being reported upon. That’s the main reason I started it. Then I found out, going along, that there were things we could do as advocates for Indian rights.”

Giago’s papers led an investigation into bank housing loans that prompted the Department of Justice to look into unfair practices. Giago worked alongside Governor George Mickelson to form a year of reconciliation in 1990. He also wrote extensively about boarding schools in South Dakota.

“We worked together as colleagues and rivals for 40 years.”

That’s Mark Trahant, editor for Indian Country Today. Trahant says Giago leaves behind an extraordinary legacy.

“I mean, he took on subjects that are really well known, but when he started they weren’t. I think, perhaps, the greatest legacy, though, may be the number of people he inspired to become journalists. A lot of young people he opened doors for.”

Giago was 88 years old. Funeral plans have not been announced.

The FBI on Monday announced an effort to address missing and murdered Indigenous people in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.

A list of 170 names was released to improve reporting on missing Indigenous people and to draw attention to unsolved cases.

The list can be found online at fbi.gov/mmip.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Pope Francis has arrived in Canada at the start of a six-day official visit. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, he’ll meet this week with residential school survivors and is expected to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the schools.

He arrived late Sunday afternoon in Edmonton, Alberta, where he was welcomed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon.

On hand were other church, Indigenous and political dignitaries.

In a message on his twitter account, Pope Francis wrote:

Dear brothers and sisters of #Canada, I come among you to meet the indigenous peoples. I hope, with God’s grace, that my penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken. Please accompany me with #prayer.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 24, 2022

But the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Roseanne Archibald, was not happy that she was not included in the official welcome.

“We don’t feel it’s been about survivors. It has been about the church promoting the church’s idea. Fundraising for the church when they’re asking people to pick up their tickets. We have to focus on what we’re really doing here and that’s about survivors accepting or not accepting and listening to that apology from the pope.”

Chief Archibald says she’s also disappointed that there were no women in leadership roles for the Edmonton welcome.

The pope is to visit a former Indian residential school south of Edmonton Monday and is expected to deliver his first public statement in Canada, and he’s expected to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the church’s role in the abuses they suffered.

It’s estimated about 150,000 Native children were forced to attend the residential schools across Canada from the late 1800’s to the late 1900’s. Thousands were physically, sexually and emotionally abused.  Many died. 

More than 60% of the schools were run by the Catholic Church.

The Menominee Nation has announced a partnership with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to try, again, to open an off-reservation casino in Kenosha, WI.

Chuck Quirmbach from station WUWM in Milwaukee reports.

The Menominee made the announcement just hours after a village board okayed giving a company linked to the Seminole up to two years to buy 60 acres for the casino project.

This is the second collaboration for the Menominee and Seminole Tribes.

Seven years ago, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker blocked a casino plan. But Menominee Chairman Ron Korn, Sr. says his tribe is still looking for ways to support its members. 

“We have a really difficult time meeting the needs of the members of our tribe, and so we’ve always looked for ways to generate additional revenue to help meet those needs. That’s been our goal for a very long time, and it remains our goal today.”

Korn notes that Walker, a Republican, is no longer Wisconsin Governor. Democrat Tony Evers is.

“That would be my point of view maybe, that he’d be more favorable.”

The Governor’s office is only one of several government entities which would need to okay the casino. So would the city and county of Kenosha, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Evers says he’s a long way from making a decision. But he doesn’t rule out approval.

“I have approved casinos in the past. It’s not like I’m anti-gambling. In fact, I think the tribal nations of Wisconsin have the right to do that. I’ve approved sports gambling and some other things.”

But Evers is in a re-election fight against Republicans this year.

So the fate of the Menominee and Seminole project may not be known for some time.

Native journalist Tim Giago passed away on Sunday in Rapid City, SD.

He was a co-founder of the Native American Journalists Association and started several newspapers.

A GoFundMe was recently set up for Giago seeking assistance after he had major medical issues.

His family posted on social media that he passed away peacefully surrounded by his daughters and wife.

He was 88 years old.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Pope Francis is set to arrive in Canada on Sunday for an official six-day visit.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, there are high expectations of an official apology on Canadian soil to Indigenous people for the wrongs done by the Catholic Church during the residential school era.

In the lead up to the trip, the pontiff sought prayers for his penitential Canadian pilgrimage.

Indigenous people are looking for this visit to bring healing and even action as the Catholic Church has failed to raise all the money it promised to compensate the survivors of residential schools.

Rose LeMay is the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group.

“My fear is that the apology will be words alone. And there’s been so many requests for the Catholic Church to do good on its settlement, its residential school payment.”

Rose LeMay (Screenshot: The IRG / Facebook)

Also at issue are documents still held by the church relating to the residential schools and for those responsible for the schools to be held accountable.

The pope is scheduled to arrive in Edmonton on Sunday.

The following day he will meet with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people.

Tuesday he will celebrate mass at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, then take part in a pilgrimage to Lac St. Anne, likely to be the largest annual Catholic gathering in western Canada.

Wednesday he flies east to Quebec City where he will meet the governor general and the prime minister, and on his final day he will travel north to Iqaluit and meet with students of former residential schools.

Alaska hands over ICC leadership to Greenland

The Inuit Circumpolar Council wrapped up its three-day general assembly meeting on Thursday.

The non-governmental organization represents Inuit peoples from four Arctic nations.

As Emily Schwing reports, Greenland will assume the chairmanship of the ICC for the next four years.

International chair Dalee Sambo Dorough of Alaska handed over leadership of the Inuit Circumpolar Council to Greenland’s Sara Olsvig.

“By acclimation and for the 2022 to 2026 term, congratulations Sara.”

Olsvig served in both Denmark’s and Greenland’s parliaments between 2011 and 2018. She is also a member of Greenland’s Human Rights Council and Constitutional Commission and an anthropologist.

She gave a brief speech to ICC delegates from Alaska, Canada, Chukotka, and Greenland.

“We are crossing uncharted waters. The pandemic has changed the conditions under which we work and the new geopolitical reality puts pressure on us as a people and to the world around us and on the Arctic as a whole.”

Olsvig says international security and safety for ICC members, including those from Chukotka, in Russia’s Far East is a priority as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.

“As an Arctic people, we Inuit are acutely and painfully aware of the difficult situation that we are in and we are in it collectively across the four nation states that we live in and we are going to row our boat slowly and in a careful manner in the years to come to make sure we are all in the boat.”

She also plans to continue the ICC’s focus on formal participation within the United Nations, including in both the Food and Agriculture and International Maritime Organizations to address concerns about food security and the impacts of increasing industrial marine traffic in the Arctic.

Olsvig says engaging Inuit youth perspectives in that work is paramount.

“I think that we have a task in both reaching and understanding what the youth expects from us as an Indigenous peoples organization.”

An emerging leaders initiative has provided the ICC’s executive council with recommendations that outline those expectations.

The ICC will hold an in-person gathering next summer in Ilulissat, Greenland. Canada will host the next general assembly in 2026.

This coverage is made possible with support from the Climate Justice Resilience Fund.

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