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Anchor: Art Hughes

The Duwamish Tribe in Washington State is suing for federal recognition. The suit filed this week claims the Interior Department continues to deny recognition even though Congress ratified the Treaty of Point Elliot, a document signed by Duwamish leaders.

The treaty exchanged thousands of acres of land for continued hunting and fishing rights, and creation of a reservation in what is now Washington’s most populous county. In their lawsuit, attorneys for the tribe accuse the government of discrimination by discounting the lineage of female ancestors who married non-native men.

Among those opposing the Duwamish recognition effort is the nearby Muckleshoot tribe, who say Duwamish members merged with the Muckleshoots and other tribes and don’t have a separate recognition claim. 

Tribal leaders are offering their observations following this week’s release of a report by the Department of Interior documenting abuses at federal boarding schools.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says the report is long overdue. Nearly a fifth of the boarding schools were in Oklahoma.

The Ponca News reports Chief Hoskin says the report spurs discussion about more robust examinations about places where children who died while attending boarding schools are buried and how to give them the dignity they deserve. 

Photo: Jeffrey Zeldman

Congress has cleared a short-term extension of a federal law that compensates people in the West who were exposed to radiation during the Cold War. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, supporters hope it’ll give lawmakers more time to craft a larger expansion of the program.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is set to expire in July. Several members of Congress and tribal leaders want the program extended through 2040 and expand eligibility to include more geographic areas. They also want uranium mine, mill and transportation workers who were exposed after 1971 to be covered under the law.

Navajo Nation president Jonathan Nez is urging lawmakers to increase individual compensation to $200,000.

RECA provides one-time payouts to people known as downwinders who were exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons testing. It also includes uranium industry workers, many of whom were tribal members, and suffer from various types of cancers and other long-term health problems caused by the exposure.

The U.S. Senate approved the measure earlier this month and it now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The U.S. conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1945 and 1962. The rush to mine uranium on tribal lands in the Southwest throughout the Cold War left more than 500 abandoned uranium mines, few of which have been cleaned up.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is purchasing land and buildings for their ambitious cannabis production plans. Smoky Mountain News reports the tribal council agreed to pay $15 million for 95 acres. The deal includes two motel buildings.

The tribe legalized medical marijuana use and allows possession of up to an ounce of marijuana on tribal land. For now, marijuana remains illegal in the state of North Carolina. Some Eastern Band officials say the tribe aims to operate the largest recreation cannabis outlet on the east coast. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee is also moving ahead with a $75 million project officials are calling a “themed spectacle” in Tennessee. The tribe is partnering with a French theme park company to develop 200 acres of land for an attraction organizers say will center on Cherokee history. 

After 16 years as chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, Aaron Payment is stepping down. His resignation comes after the tribal council censured him in January alleging a host of infractions including mismanagement.

Payment has held elected office with the tribe for 20 years and has had several posts in native organizations including executive leadership with the National Congress of American Indians.

He’ll continue serving on the National Advisory Council of Indian Education. 

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The U.S. Department of Interior released the government’s first-ever attempt to quantify atrocities committed at federal boarding schools for more than a century and a half. Completed largely by Indigenous staff members, the document released Wednesday acknowledges the boarding schools’ role in carrying out the official U.S. policies of dispossessing Native people of their land, and driving out Native languages, cultures and spirituality primarily by forced assimilation of Native children.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) ordered the Volume 1 report last July after revelations of unmarked graves presumably of students on the grounds of former residential schools in Canada. Sec. Haaland says the report is the start of a path toward reconciliation.

“I come from ancestors who endured the horrors of the Indian board school assimilation policies carried out by the same department that I now lead. This department was responsible for operating what we now know to be 408 federal boarding schools across 37 states, or then territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii. Now we are uniquely-positioned to assist in the effort to recover the dark history of these institutions that have haunted our families for too long.”

Sec. Haaland became emotional as she described the trajectory of her own life, born to parents who were sent to boarding schools when they were 8 years old, to go on to create what she hopes will be a foundational document for future healing.

“The fact that I am standing here today as the first Indigenous cabinet secretary is testament to the strength and determination of Native people. I am here because my ancestors persevered. I stand on the shoulders of my grandmother and my mother, and the work that we will do with the federal boarding school initiative will have a transformational impact on the generations to follow.”

Sec. Haaland says she will now embark on a year-long listening tour of the country to, in her words, elevate survivors and give them opportunities to share their stories and build a permanent oral history. She says it is her responsibility and legacy as a Pueblo woman to do so.

The report is overseen by Deputy Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland, who also fought back tears as he recounted the lost cultures, languages and relatives… a trauma he says, whose echoes are still reverberating.

“This has left lasting scars for all Indigenous people. There is not a single American Indian, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian in this country whose life has not been affected by these schools. We haven’t begun to explain the scope of this policy era until now.”

Looking ahead, Interior officials say the report is the Launchpad for renewed efforts aimed at language and cultural revitalization. The first steps of many, they say, toward repairing what was violently broken.

At the press conference, Deb Parker, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Boarding School Healing Coalition said the report reaffirms the stories all Native people grow up with.

“Our children had names. Our children had families. Our children had their own languages. Our children had their own regalia, prayers and religion before Indian boarding schools violently took them away.”

Sec. Haaland says she will now embark on a year-long listening tour of the country to, in her words, elevate survivors and give them opportunities to  share their stories and build a permanent oral history. She says it is her responsibility and legacy as a Pueblo woman to do so.

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Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed a bill aimed at increasing cooperation between state agencies and tribal judicial systems, particularly to get drunk drivers off the road.

The bill won approval from 96% of the legislature. In vetoing the bill, Stitt claimed it is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that hands jurisdictional authority over to the tribes.

Among the tribal leaders criticizing Stitt’s decision is Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Gary Batten. He called the veto decision “petty” and does nothing but hurt public safety. 

The former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe faces up to 20 years in prison for each of three extortion counts after a federal jury convicted him of those and another charges. Fifty-five year-old Cedric Cromwell also faces a maximum fine of 250-thousand dollars after the convictions, which also include bribery and conspiracy charges.

The jury also convicted the owner of a Rhode Island architecture-and-design firm. The jury agreed with prosecutors that Cromwell accepted three bribes, including cash, to protect the design firm’s contract to build a resort and casino.

Cromwell faces four additional related charges. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in September.

Two years after it was first introduced, a bill to establish an American Truth and Reconciliation Commission on boarding schools gets its first hearing in Congress this week.

The commission is designed to address the ongoing trauma Native Americans suffer from a century of abuse, sexual assault, and forced family separation at government-sanctioned boarding schools.

The bill was first introduced by then-Congresswoman Deb Haaland. The effort is now championed by Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. In addition to the hearing, the House Committee on Natural Resources is taking written public testimony until May 26.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition urges boarding school survivors and their families to submit their experiences to the committee.

You can watch it live on YouTube this Thursday, May 12 starting at 1pm ET.

A group of law professors is critical of a federal appeals court ruling in March that cleared the way for a land swap to create a road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska. KNBA’s Tripp J. Crouse has more on the legal battle over the swap.

In March, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 in favor of allowing a road between King Cove and Cold Bay. If approved, the road would cut across the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the Alaska Peninsula.

On May 4, 2022, a group of 25 law professors joined environmental advocates and filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit opposing the road.

During the Trump administration, Interior secretaries reversed a 2013 agency decision from the Obama administration to deny the road.

The brief outlines policy and regulatory concerns about that reversal. The law professors say the Trump administration’s secretaries did little to prove a need for the road to reverse previous agency policies. They also say the swap violates environmental laws and the Alaska National Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

The professors, who represent institutions from across the Lower 48, seek an en banc – or full-court ruling – on the decision to allow the land exchange.

Environmental advocates say that ruling in favor of the road would create a cascade of regulation issues on so-called national public lands.

Native residents boosted Arizona’s overall coronavirus vaccination rate, according to an analysis by the Salt Lake City Tribune of a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The report finds Arizona is the only state where vaccination rates in rural areas outpaced those in urban places. Those areas have a high percentage of Native residents.

The CDC finds Navajo and Apache counties had a vaccination rate that exceeded 86 percent through January of this year. Urban areas in the state stayed below 70%.

Health experts told the Tribune they credit the high rate to effective messaging by tribal health officials urging vaccinations to keep elders and others safe – and vaccine information printed in Native languages.

The Navajo Nation’s push for vaccinations took on increased urgency after COVID-19 infection rates climbed to the highest level in the country at the start of the pandemic. 

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A 16-foot-long killer whale totem pole is traveling through the upper Pacific Northwest. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s to raise awareness of Indigenous peoples’ calls to remove four federal dams from the Snake River.

Through May, the carving is traveling through Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, including stops with Native American tribes. The pole recently spent this weekend at the University of Oregon. Jewell James is the Lummi master carver accompanying the pole. He says the dams interfere with salmon migration, which in turn disrupts the feeding cycles of killer whales.

“We’re hoping that we’re tapping into the mind and the conscience of the observers, that we’re awakening them to the need to stand up and give voice. Our congressman, they have the power to say, ‘Okay, remove the dams. Let’s take a vote.’ And the only way they’re gonna ever support that, is if the people speak out.”

Dam supporters – largely Republican lawmakers – argue the dams provide hydropower, as well as irrigation and river navigation. 

The Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations and residential school survivors want Pope Francis to visit the Muskowekwan Indian Residential School, which is the last standing residential school in Saskatchewan.  They’re calling on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to arrange the visit when the pope is expected to travel to Canada in July. In April, Pope Francis apologized to Indigenous people in Canada for the Catholic Church’s role in the Indian residential school system.

First Nations leaders and residential school survivors gathered outside the school Monday where they held a press conference streamed live by APTN National News. Muskowekwan First Nation Chief Jamie Wolfe says the pope’s visit to their land to apologize would mean a great deal to many First Nations people.

“I wouldn’t want to watch something like that on TV, I’d want the person here in-person to have him come and say sorry for what you endured in the school.”

Vice Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations Dave Pratt was among a delegation of Indigenous people from Canada who met with the pope in Rome at the end of March and early April.

“I know we do have some work to do we’re going to continue to push for healing we know that a lot of healing has to take place for a lot of people. We know that there is no one of us that has not felt the impacts of residential schools. We all experienced terrible things within that system.”

Archbishop of Regina, Saskatchewan Donald Bolen says he supports the First Nation and school survivors, but says there are very few locations Pope Francis will be able to travel to because of health reasons.

“Pope Francis’ health is not good. I have just come from Rome and returned last night. I was at a public meeting where Pope Francis was and he is now in a wheelchair and hopefully not for too long, but he’s not in good health.”

According to the FSIN, Saskatchewan had 22 Indian residential schools that housed tens of thousands of First Nations children. Many students were physically, mentally, sexually and spiritually abused, and many did not make it home. Last year, an investigation found 35 unmarked graves at the Muskowekwan Indian Residential school.

On Wednesday, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will host a press conference to discuss her federal Indian boarding school initiative. An investigative report will be released. The press event will be held in Washington, D.C.

The Interior Department has extended the deadline for nominations for the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee for tribal leaders to have direct communication with Sec. Deb Haaland.

The extension for nominations will be accepted through May 16th.

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Lawyers in Canada representing survivors of the 1960’s Scoop class action lawsuit are requesting court approval to provide a final payment to those who signed onto the case. But, as Dan Karpenchuk reports, some survivors are calling it a slap in the face.

The so-called Sixties Scoop was controversial. Indigenous children were taken from their communities and cultures and placed into foster care with non-Indigenous families often far from their home communities. Many were abused. A class-action lawsuit argued that those affected by the program suffered significant harm, specifically the loss of their cultural identity.

A settlement was reached a couple of years ago, in which the government in Ottawa set aside $750 million to compensate First Nations and Inuit children who were subjected to the scoop between 1951 and 1991. By January of last year, nearly 15,000 claims were approved, including interim payments of $21,000 to each claimant. Lawyers are now asking for an additional $4,000 each, but some survivors like Colleen Rajotte say there is no way the current compensation is acceptable.

“We’re not going to sit by and watch rich lawyers get even richer and we’re going to walk away with barely anything.”

Another Scoop survivor is Brenda Lee Marcoux from British Columbia.

“There is no amount of money they could give us that would give us back what we lost. To lose your family. To lose your language. To lose your culture. To lose everything. You can’t pay me back for that.”

She and others call the $25,000 an insult and feels like more abuse, something that’s never going to end. Some want more than compensation, an apology and for those responsible to be held accountable.

Photo: Aaron Bolton

Dozens of people walked across Browning, Montana last week to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous people. As Aaron Bolton reports, the walk comes as the college on the Blackfeet reservation is launching a database to help resolve unsolved cases.

Dozens of Blackfeet Nation residents whose loved ones were murdered or are missing walked across Browning as a drum circle played. Rhonda Grant-Connelly’s nephew Matthew Rattlesnake Grant was found dead in 2016.

“Our family would leave the comfort of their warm homes to search in blizzard conditions. We searched for our nephew for two weeks without help of the Blackfeet PD, the sheriff’s department.”

Wilma Fleury shares the frustration that cases fall through the cracks due to jurisdictional issues between tribal, county, and federal law enforcement. She says the people who murdered her son Willy Pepion won’t be brought to justice.

“I never got justice on my boy. They dropped the federal charges against the people that did it because not enough evidence. So, they turned it over to tribal. All tribal could do is do misdemeanors.”

A new database could help families connect law enforcement agencies more quickly after a loved ones go missing. Blackfeet Community College Extension Agent Drew Landry says families can log onto mmipmt.com and report a missing person, including their last known location anywhere in Montana.

“If we get a report of a missing person, it’s also carbon copied to tribal police and we’re working on having all the tribal nations on board by the end of this summer.”

Landry says the site will even help connect families with law enforcement off reservations or even in other states. He hopes to have a report later this year on how many cases reported into the database have been solved.

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May 5th marked Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. Events have been held throughout the week including in Springfield, OR to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women. KLCC’s Brian Bull has more.

Roughly 40 people came to hear poems about relatives and friends lost to violence or abduction. Co-organizer Marta Clifford is a Grand Ronde tribal member. She worked with students from the University of Oregon and Lane Community College on the ceremony.

“Our voices have power. And we spoke to the people that are missing and murdered, and we know they heard us.  So that’s what I want the students to take away, that their voices matter, they made a difference tonight.”

The event hit home for Megan Van Pelt, a U of O junior from the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

“I know too many aunties and too many cousins, I know too many of my friends who’ve gone through sexual assault, and I guess today’s making space for ourselves. And we are here for our lost sisters, our lost cousins.” 

The Indian Resource Law Center says over half of Native women have experienced sexual violence.

Tribal advocates met this week to discuss the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It provides a framework to help ensure their survival. The UN adopted the declaration back in 2007, but the U.S. has yet to implement it.

Keith Harper, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is the first Native American to become a U.S. ambassador. He points out America’s position is that the declaration is aspirational in nature. But he says: “The fact that they’re aspirational rather than binding, I don’t think should be of much import because you still should have a plan to reach the aspiration.” 

Countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Mexico are taking steps to implement the declaration. Tribal advocates in the U.S. say one outcome would be closer consultation with tribes on key issues.

Some Alaska Native elders must make the tough choice of whether to give their Native corporation shares away to be eligible for federal programs like SNAP. As KNBA’s Tripp J Crouse reports, legislation may help.

Before the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK) died, he introduced House Resolution 437. The legislation would amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to exclude certain payments to Alaska Native Elders when determining eligibility for need-based federal programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The U.S. House Subcommittee for Indigenous People held a hearing for testimony on a series of Tribal-related measures, including Young’s legislation. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) is Acting Ranking committee member.

“This discrepancy between the types of income from ANCs can place many Alaska Native Elders in the position of having to choose between accepting settlement trust interest on one hand or qualifying government assistance on the other — and obviously that’s not a situation we would want to put anyone in.”

During testimony, Chugach Alaska Corporation board chairman Sheri Buretta spoke before the subcommittee.

“Perhaps one of the most meaningful benefits we provide is annual dividend distributions, which are a critical income source for our people this is particularly true for our Elders, many of whom live in our remote communities and face a harsh environment, limited transportation, supply chain challenges, surging living cost and food security issues…it is my understanding that the effect of this bill on the budget is marginal, but the impact on our Alaska Native elders is significant.”

House Resolution 437 was introduced in January and was referred to the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples.

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Advocates across the country are holding events this week to raise awareness about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Robyn Vincent reports.

Last year, Congress designated May 5th a day of awareness. Native women and girls face murder rates more than ten times the national average. Northern Cheyenne member Hanna Harris is one example. Her death inspired the resolution in Congress. The 21 year-old went missing and was found murdered in 2013 on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana. May 5th was her birthday.

In Colorado, Gina Lopez, a Ute Mountain tribal member, is working with state lawmakers on a bill to create an office for missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“I’m an adult childhood sexual abuse survivor, and survived intimate partner violence as an adult. And these are unfortunately experiences that are all too familiar to our communities, to our sisters, to our moms.”

Advocates are using the day of awareness to elevate the Colorado bill. The state could join several others in our region that are trying to address this crisis. 

Photo: Brian Bull

The possible overturn of Roe vs. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed heavily on women’s rights groups and supporters.  This included participants Wednesday at an annual observance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Springfield, OR.

Samantha Fernandez is a first-year student at the University of Oregon and is of Klamath descent. She says losing abortion rights and access at the federal level would be harsh on an already suffering group, that’s seen inconsistent health care and disproportionate rates of sexual assault and domestic violence.

“For tribal people everywhere, it’s difficult. And they’re going to have to seek refuge in other states and it’s just going to make them more vulnerable. It’s just going to put them in an even tougher position and being able to protect themselves and speak out for themselves without facing any backlash, or anything like that.”

The event drew roughly 40 people, who heard poetry and remembrances of Native women either killed or who vanished without a trace.

“The Removal of the Miami Tribe, 1846” by John Fitzgibbon

The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma would remove any cloud on title to land, about 2.6 acres of farmland in eastern Illinois. In exchange, the Miami Tribe seeks a one-year window to bring its case to federal court to seek compensation for the land’s transfer and sale without Tribal consultation or payment. KNBA’s Tripp J Crouse reports.

Douglas Lankford is chief of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. He spoke before the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indigenous People during a hearing on a number of related Tribal issues.

“All this bill grants to us is our day in court and we still have to prove our case, but the landowners in Illinois once it’s signed they receive immediate relief.”

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced House Resolution 6063 for equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois. The land was part of an 1805 treaty to the ancestral homelands of the Tribe, an area south of the Great Lakes and what are now the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Over time, the United States transferred or sold that land to non-Indians without negotiation or payment to the Miami Tribe. Because the Tribes say the conveyance happened through treaty-recognized title, it says it’s entitled to compensation for the loss. In exchange for the Tribe extinguishing the cloud on title, it seeks a one year window for the Tribe to bring its case before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, but extinguishing the cloud of title would happen regardless of the Tribe’s court case.

“That’s really the biggest hurdle is once the law becomes law, is to take this and go win our case which we very much intend to do.”

In 2019, The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma worked with the Illinois Farm Bureau to draft legislation that would be fair to Illinois farmers.

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Tribal advocates are discussing the need to advance the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as the Mountain West News Bureau’s Robyn Vincent reports.

Advocates say it’s a human rights imperative. The declaration recognizes Native peoples’ survival and self-determination, their land and culture, and political participation. Countries such as Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand are taking steps to implement it. Tribal leaders and advocates here say it’s time for the U.S. to do the same. For example, they want the government to have closer consultation with tribes on key issues.

Attorney Walter Echo-Hawk is a member of the Pawnee Nation. He says the Obama administration endorsed the declaration in 2010, but there’s been little movement since.

“We have no national plan here in the U.S. to attempt to implement the declaration and the Biden administration appears strangely silent on the implementation effort here.”  

Echo-Hawk points out the federal government is investing billions in protecting the rights of Ukrainians. He wants to see similar measures enacted here to protect Indigenous peoples.

This spring in the southwest Alaska region of Bristol Bay, the Traditional Council of New Stuyahok partnered on a program that connects rural communities with Alaska Native artists. KDLG’s Izzy Ross talked with one of those artists who wants to help people use art to heal.

Danielle Larsgaard, a commercial fisher and a domestic violence counselor, recently embarked on a new business endeavor: A traveling art studio called Aliiraq Arts. She wants to hold workshops on how people can use art to process emotions and address trauma.

“Bridging the gap between modern art and bringing back traditional art, our minds, our bodies, our hands, our souls. We heal best when we are practicing our cultural lifestyles, traditional lifestyles.”

Larsgaard brought her studio to New Stuyahok during the last week in April, as part of AmeriCorps’ Resilient Alaska Youth afterschool program. It partners with Tribes, schools and nonprofits in rural communities statewide to support youth activities. The program teamed up with New Stuyahok’s Traditional Council to have Larsgaard lead the art workshops.

She teaches a traditional drum-making class, where students craft 15-inch, sixteen-sided instruments. She also hosts an art therapy paint night with parents.

Mathias Suskuk with the Traditional Council says at least 22 kids participated in the workshop, so many that a few had to work on the project as a team.

“We started with drum making, we sanded the drum part – the circle thing – so it could be smooth for the deerskin we’re gonna use today. And then while that’s drying up, we’ll probably do painting.”

For Larsgaard, these aren’t just art projects; she wants to address the generational gap created by boarding schools and other historical traumas.

“A lot of generations didn’t learn how to preserve grass, or to go out and get hides and to stretch them and make drums and make rain gear and stuff like that. And so, with that generational gap, I’m fulfilling it with teaching these traditional classes for individuals who didn’t have an apa or an ama to walk them alongside and teach those things, or mom and dad to teach them how to live off the land or how to live off the water.”

The New Stuyahok workshops weren’t limited to kids in the afterschool program; the whole community was able to get involved. The Resilient Alaska Youth program will open applications for new community partners this month.

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The Yurok Tribe, in collaboration with national and state parks, are releasing two condors on Tuesday in Northern California’s redwoods. They’ll be the first to take flight in the region since the late 1800s.

The effort has been underway by the tribe since 2008. For the Yurok Tribe, the recovery of the species is part of restoration of the ecosystem and for the people responsible for taking care of it.

The condor plays a principal role in the Yurok creation story and is prominently featured in the tribe’s White Deerskin Dance and Jump Dance.

Yurok Wildlife Department Director Tiana Williams-Claussen, in a video message, shares the importance of the restoration for future generations, including for her young daughter.

“She is going to grow up with condors in her sky for her entire life. She is not going to know what it is to miss condors. She will always live in relationship with condors, which is really what this project is all about — bringing condor home, back into our communities, back into our conversations, back into our households, and into the minds and hearts of our children on behalf of the hearts of our elders.”

The condors are voluntarily entering a designated staging area with access to the outside world. If the birds do not enter the transition zone by late afternoon a second attempt to release the birds will occur on Wednesday.  The carefully designed release procedure is part of a comprehensive management plan for the reintroduction. Two more condors will be released at a later date.

The New Mexico Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force is holding an awareness event on Thursday. May 5th is recognized across the country as National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. The group has been meeting virtually due to COVID-19 precautions.

Thursday’s event will take place in-person in Albuquerque. Members of the task force will discuss their response plan for the state.

Cabinet Secretary of Indian Affairs Lynn Trujillo talked about the importance of the May 5th awareness event during a task force meeting in April.

“To listen to our communities, to reflect on our work, our accomplishments and celebrate that and then continue to look forward and think about to what’s next for all of us.”

The task force was established in 2019 to address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. Members have since released findings and recommendations to the state’s governor and lawmakers.

In California, tribal leaders, lawmakers, and the state Department of Justice will discuss violence against Native Americans at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday. They’ll take part in a press conference and legislative hearing to share what actions are being taken to reduce and solve violence against California Native Americans, particularly women and girls.

Assembly members James Ramos, chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs, and Cristina Garcia will host the news event in the morning on capitol steps.

Later in the day, the two lawmakers will chair a joint informational hearing on the issue. The hearing is expected to include testimony from law enforcement, tribal leaders and advocates.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to hold advisory committee meetings next month regarding COVID-19 vaccines, including emergency use for younger children. Currently, adults and children five and older are eligible for vaccines. There’s yet to be approval for children under five.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on Friday told a group of journalists the FDA has a written request for emergency use authorization from Moderna, but the FDA does not have complete data. Califf says they’ll act as quickly as possible, but stresses the need to analyze all information and data before making a decision.

“There will be no delays, but we can’t set dates until we see what’s in them.”

Vaccines for younger children could become available as early as June. That’s when advisory committee meetings are tentatively scheduled.  Califf says they’re waiting for Pfizer’s application.

He took part in a question-and-answer panel in-person at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2022 conference in Austin.

Advocates with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition would like to see the Catholic Church apologize to American Indian and Alaska Native people for the church’s role in U.S. Indian boarding schools. The coalition also would like the church to make available boarding school and mission records to tribal nations, tribal citizens, boarding school survivors or descendants, and Native organizations to review. This follows Pope Francis’ apology in April to Canada’s Indigenous people for the Catholic Church’s role in the Indian residential school system.

Healing coalition board member Joannie Romero says the pope’s apology is a step.

“There’s so much momentum happening right now and much like our Métis, our Inuit, and First Nations relatives in Canada, we want an acknowledgement as well in the United States. And, it’s important to also understand each community and their respective experience are going to be very different as what they define as reparations, what that could look like…I think the next opportunity would be for the pope to come to the United States and begin having those conversations with our communities.”

Healing coalition deputy chief executive officer Samuel Torres says the coalition has helped with legislation in Congress to establish a truth and healing commission similar to the one in Canada.

“Canada is in some ways, shape or form a bit ahead of the United States as it relates to work of the coalition. We helped to write both HR 5444 and Senate Bill 2907 the Truth and Healing Commission Bill on Indian Boarding School Policy Act. We are generating a lot of interest doing a lot of education work and advocacy around the bill, but this is work that needs to be codified into law and needs to be included within the political discourse of the United States.”

The healing coalition is seeking a response from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops about efforts in the U.S. to address the harms committed against Indigenous people across the country.

The pope’s apology to Canada’s Indigenous people followed meetings at the Vatican with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit delegates in late-March to the beginning of April.

Quapaw Nation Chairman Joseph Byrd has been selected to represent eastern Oklahoma as a liaison to the U.S. Department of Justice.

He’ll serve on the Tribal Nations Leadership Council representing the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Eastern Oklahoma District, which includes nearly 20 tribes.

The council is set to meet with the U.S. Attorney General this month to discuss funding, the implementation of VAWA’s reauthorization, missing and murdered Indigenous people and public safety in Indian Country.

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