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The highest U.S. Census undercount of Native Americans in decades will result fewer federal dollars for tribes and their citizens over the next ten years.

The Census Bureau estimates it missed a full 5% of Native Americans during the 2020 count. As a comparison, the agency says it came within a quarter of a percent for the U-S population as a whole. The agency could release a state-by-state breakdown of the undercount as early as next month.

Rollcall reports Native Americans are typically under-counted. But the most recent Census count was also hindered by the pandemic. Critics also fault the Trump Administration for creating confusion around the deadline to fill out the form and for unsuccessfully fighting to insert a citizenship question into the Census.

Several members of Congress are pushing the bureau to address the undercount before the numbers are added to funding formulas.

A White House report says Native Americans face persistent, unnecessary barriers to voting. The Interagency Steering Group on Native American Voting Rights released the report last month saying Indigenous people face language barriers, extreme physical distances to polling places, and lack of accessibility for voters with disabilities, among other issues. Recommendations in the report include passage of the Native American Voting Rights Act.

Tribal citizens in Southeast Alaska who are experiencing addiction have access to a new, free online treatment, as Claire Stremple reports.

It’s called Culture Heals and it’s offered by the new mental health program at the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Dr. Tina Woods leads the Council’s Community and Behavioral Health Services team. She says the goal is to remove barriers for people seeking information or care.

“Half the battle with behavioral health is being able to choose the right words to describe how you feel, to describe what you need. And Culture Heals Addiction is a platform that will allow people with resources all in one place to learn about something that they might be struggling with.”

She says the Culture Heals tool addresses issues that underlie addiction like generational or childhood trauma.

William Andrews joined Dr. Woods’ team last year and will lead men’s healing groups. He says he got involved after therapy with the tribe helped him through the pandemic. He says that was the only therapy he could access because other local resources were unavailable.

“I think this is one of the most important things that we’re doing as far as taking leadership in our community, to help meet unmet needs that not just our citizens, but our community has.”

Culture Heals is available online and is mobile-friendly. It has links to information, culturally relevant videos, and an emergency hotline.

In Maine, lawmakers cleared legislation that gives the Passamaquoddy Tribe the ability to regulate its own drinking water. The Portland Press Herald reports the bill faces a possible veto by Governor Janet Mills. The bill would solve the tribe’s concerns over current-drinking-water quality by allowing the tribe to drill wells on tribal land. The tribe could also work directly with federal officials instead of going through the state.

Previous legislation limited the tribe’s ability to act as a sovereign nation, something most tribes across the country take for granted. Opponents of the bill say it gives the tribe power to remove tribal land from the tax rolls without consent from local municipalities.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Alaska Native advocates are supporting legislation that would expand testing and regulations for trace amounts of PFAS chemicals in Alaska’s groundwater that’s been linked to cancer and other serious health conditions. State Sen. Jesse Kiehl (D-AK) has sponsored legislation that would police seven varieties of the so-called “forever chemicals” that don’t break down and often enter the environment from firefighting foams used at airports.

“These things are bad for people in extremely small amounts. We’re talking about parts per trillion in your drinking water.”

The Juneau Democrat’s bill comes in response to Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s move to water down Alaska’s regulation of PFAS which are a manufactured compound found in industrial and household items including non-stick cookware. Jackie Boyer, policy director of Native Peoples Action, an Indigenous rights group in Anchorage, told Alaska senators that American Indians and Alaska Native people are at a risk for contracting certain types of cancers.

“This impacts individuals, families, babies and children and animals and fish, and there may be more in the future. Additionally, the contamination may compound an individual already exposed by continuing to practice our ways of life by hunting and fishing contaminated sustenance.”

Alaska’s senators also heard from local officials in Yakutat, a predominantly Tlingit community of 600 people that has PFAS contamination in wells near the airport. The tiny community is facing a $6 million cost of extending water mains to supply households and businesses whose groundwater is contaminated by the “forever chemicals.”

Indigenous people in Maine are working on a plan to boost tourism for the state’s five Wabanaki Nations. As Lily Bohlke reports, they’re set to take part in a state tourism conference this week.

The Wabanaki Cultural Tourism Initiative has received both a federal grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a state grant from the Maine Office of Tourism.

Charlene Virgilio is with the Four Directions Development Corporation, the first Native Community Development Financial Institution in Northern New England. As a member of the Penobscot Nation, she says cultural preservation is central to the project. Its goal is to create unique experiences to share the ways that Wabanaki people have long been stewards of the land and water.

“Canoeing, kayaking along the ancestral rivers that we have. Traditional fishing methods, whatever – those kinds of things that will help preserve culture, but also help tourists experience that culture.”

Virgilio adds authenticity is a key component for many Wabanaki communities interested in boosting tourism. Matthew Lewis, also with Four Directions and a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, says in addition to preserving and sharing culture, this effort is a way to bring more revenue to Maine’s indigenous communities and boost the local economies. He says there are so many artisans in the community to engage with, for instance.

“Tourism can sometimes have a negative connotation with some communities, saying we don’t want folks just driving through, taking pictures, doing the sort of like Disneyland package – we want meaningful engagement with the community, and meaningful engagement with the culture.”

Lewis adds as they map out the robust four-season tourism industry they hope to achieve by 2030, they also have to consider what infrastructure is needed from hotels and restaurants to workforce development and hospitality training.

The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM announced this week a partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute. 

The partnership is intended to increase youth programming. It will offer a summer internship for one IAIA student and five to eight mini-grants for Indigenous youth.

A livestream event is planned for May 12th and will feature guest speakers including Dr. Jane Goodall.

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Hundreds of geographic features and landmarks in the United States will soon have new names, including 28 sites in Wisconsin. Those sites currently hold the name of a derogatory term for Indigenous women. WXPR’s Erin Gottsacker spoke with a mother and daughter from the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa about what the change means to them.

Dee Ann Allen is used to hearing slurs slung her way because of her race. She went to Lakeland Union High School at the peak of the spearfishing controversy, and was taunted by protesters and classmates alike.

“It was always a negative, foul swear word they were saying to bring you down,” she recalls.

A generation later, those derogatory terms haven’t gone away. Allen’s daughter, Kenadi Mayo, reports similar experiences.

“I was a good volleyball athlete, so even in high school, in the areas up here, at the schools I’d go to, I’d be slurred at from the stands because I was so good, but also because it was very obvious I was a native player, and a woman.”

These jeers and slurs aren’t just thrown about casually by high school rivals, they’re written into the names of streets and lakes and creeks across Wisconsin. That includes the Northwoods, in Vilas, Forest, Lincoln, Langlade and Price counties. But soon, some of those names will change.

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has ordered geographic features with the offensive term to be renamed. For indigenous women like Allen, that is a big deal.

“This is one word – s**** – that will give hope to Indigenous women, that they mean more than that term.”

Federal officials are now seeking ideas from the public for new names for these sites.

Allen hopes some can take on the names they were originally given by Indigenous people hundreds of years ago.

“It’s like we’re carrying those messages from our mothers and grandmothers that are no longer here, that have fought so hard back then in more difficult situations, and hopefully they are up there looking down and smiling that it’s gotten to this point in time.”

It’s a point in time that Allen hopes marks a shift, so that her newborn granddaughter can grow up in a better world.

A new medical facility on the Navajo Nation in Arizona is nearly complete. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, it’ll eventually serve thousands of people on the Southwest portion of the reservation.

Construction of the 154,000-square-foot Dilkon Medical Center began in 2019. Crews faced setbacks along the way because of shortages of building materials and COVID-19-related supply chain issues. Nonetheless, the facility is set to open this summer almost two years ahead of schedule.

The medical center includes isolation rooms that were specially built to separate COVID patients, and the hospital will utilize solar panels and natural lighting to lower energy costs. It’ll also include on-site housing to accommodate more than a hundred staff members and medical personnel. Tribal leaders including Navajo President Jonathan Nez recently toured the facility, which they say is 95 percent complete. Currently, residents of Dilkon and other surrounding rural communities have to drive 40 minutes to the off-reservation city of Winslow for the nearest medical care.

Officials will hold an opening ceremony in July and expect the hospital to begin accepting patients in August. The limited number of medical facilities on the Navajo Nation faced critical staff, bed and supply shortages during the height of the pandemic, and COVID patients were frequently taken off the reservation for care. At one point in 2020, the tribe had the highest per capita rate of new coronavirus infections in the nation.

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A Washington state agency wants the public’s help in its effort to rename 18 geographic features in the state that use a derogatory name that refers to Native American women. Spokane Public Radio’s Steve Jackson reports.

The word in question, you have probably heard. And it’s something that has been considered to be derogatory to Native Americans for years.

“I’m not going to say that word, no. It’s not a word I’ll say.”

That’s Sara Palmer, chair of the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names. The word has been commonly used by non-Natives as the word for a Native American woman, but in fact is considered highly offensive. And at the moment, it appears in the names of eighteen geographic features in Washington.

 “It is a term that has been used in a very negative way, and in a sexual way sometimes about Indigenous women.”

Palmer’s committee has been charged by the U.S. Department of the Interior to help determine new names for the 18 features, and they want the public to submit some ideas. Palmer says suggestions from Interior tend to miss the mark.

“These proposed replacement names don’t really capture our local history. We end up with names like Columbia, because the Columbia River goes all sorts of places, right? Or Bonneville, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And they’re not really names that make sense or preserve our state’s history.”

The committee wants to hear proposals that include traditional place names, Indigenous place names, or names that reflect individual historical women. Palmer says the general public and tribal members are all invited to participate. The deadline for public comment ends on April 25th.

Photo: City of Klamath Falls via KLCC

The city council in Klamath Falls, OR recently voted to rename a park, dropping the name of a frontiersman and government agent known for committing atrocities against Native Americans. Councilors unanimously voted to rename Kit Carson Park to Eulalona Park, the Associated Press reports. The park’s new name is after a Native village, which was near the site before the creation of the city. 

The city started the name change process last year and solicited names online.

The survey for a new name received nearly 400 responses.

Another First Nation in Canada is preparing to search for unmarked graves at a former residential school.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, this time it will be in northern Manitoba.

The Pimicikamak Cree Nations has announced plans to search the site of the former St. Joseph’s Residential School. It was operated near Cross Lake by the Roman Catholic Church in northern Manitoba, between 1912 and 1969. The chief of the Pimicikamak Nations is David Monia. He says the reserve has identified the names of 85 children who died at the school.  However, he adds that surviving records are incomplete.

“Many of them are listed as boy, as girl, 40% of them have first names only. Where did these kids come from?”

Investigators say they will use ground penetrating radar to search the site, which is now a neighborhood with homes.

“You know they don’t describe it as a school. More like assimilation camps, torture camps, or death camps and really that’s an international crime.”

No start date for the search has yet been determined. It was just over a week ago that the Pope apologized at the Vatican to a Canadian Indigenous delegation, for the role of the Catholic Church in the abuses at Canada’s residential schools. Thousands of Native children were abused at the schools, many died.

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The Alaska State Senate recently passed its version of a bill that would clear the way for the state and tribes to begin work on education compacting. The legislation will now head to the House. As KYUK’s Olivia Ebertz reports, the Senate bill has been updated to give tribes more time to plan out pilot projects.

The bill, SB 34, was originally written to allow the state department of Education and Early Development to allow a series of tribal compacted pilot project schools. Under this version, the schools would have opened as soon as the fall of 2023. The Senate Education Committee substituted it with another bill that gives the education department and tribes more time to flesh out what the five pilot projects will look like.

The bill also establishes a firm deadline for tribes to sign up to be a part of the pilot program. Once the schools and tribes have plans in place, then, the Department of Education will have to present its final plans to the next legislature. Education Department Tribal Liaison Joel Isaak said this extra time is critical for the tribes to plan the schools they want, and to get legislators on board.

“So, the immediate effect is the time to scope, the time to come up with a plan, and it brings tribes directly into the process.”

The bill says five schools will be chosen for the pilot projects, and, if all goes well, the five pilot project schools could open as soon as fall 2025. In tribal education compacting, tribes can tailor their students’ education to their own needs, which they hope could rectify the low rates of graduation and attendance among Alaska Natives. Tribal-education compacting in Alaska is based on the success of tribal-compacted schools in Washington state.

According to a study done by Evergreen State University, students at three compacted schools in Washington showed improvement in the following areas: graduation and retention rates, reputation, enrollment, teacher recruitment and retention, and student connection to culture.

This tribal education compacting bill is part of a larger effort this year by the Alaska State Legislature to tackle poor student outcomes in Alaska. This legislative session, House and Senate committees have considered improving student achievement through secondary trade school, bilingual education and reading standards. 

The Senate passed SB 34 with only one nay vote, from Eagle River Senator Lora Reinbold. Reinbold said she opposed it on the grounds that she doesn’t understand how tribes get their members. 

“We need to know exactly what the Tribe is, what they stand for, who’s allowed to be in, etcetera.”

Several tribes from the YK Delta have expressed strong interest in tribal education compacting. Tribal Education Liaison Joel Isaak says that list includes, but is not limited to: Hooper Bay, Akiak, Akiachak and Tuluksak. He said the Association of Village Council Presidents is also interested.

The Senate bill will now head to the state House, where it will meet up with its House counterpart, HB 351. The House version differs from the Senate version, but the two will likely be reconciled in the House. Both the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Department of Education support the Senate’s version of the bill.

For the first time in two years, students, staff, and the public took part in the University of Kansas First Nations Student Association’s Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival on Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas. People were eager to celebrate after the annual event was put on hold due to the pandemic. Rhonda LeValdo has more.

Hundreds of people came to experience the KU First Nations Student Association or FNSA powwow and festival. It had many activities beyond the powwow including lectures, storytelling and cultural demonstrations. Lori Hasselman, Native American Student Success Coordinator, says they heard great comments.

“It is a really nice day and I think that brought people out and this is the first powwow we had since the pandemic and the first one outside, it is going really great. “

One of the panels included Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS / Ho-Chunk) talking about her children’s book Sharice’s Big Voice and how she wanted all people to feel included in her writing as not only one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, but the first openly LGBTQ+ congressperson to represent Kansas in Washington.

“When I was going through and deciding what kind of stories I wanted to tell…so many different paths to exist and they are all okay, there is not one right way to do life.”

One special guest was Director of KU Basketball Operations Fred Quartlebaum, who brought the 2022 Men’s NCAA National Basketball trophy to the powwow, which thrilled many fans.

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The Blackfeet Nation tribal council on Thursday voted to remove Chairman Timothy Davis from office. Blackfeet law enforcement recently arrested nine people at his home, including members of his family, on drug-related charges. Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council unanimously voted to unseat Davis. In a text to Montana Public Radio, Davis said, “It was unanimous including my vote for relinquishment based on the arrests of my adult children, four who are still incarcerated.”

The FBI along with tribal law enforcement last week arrested nine people at Davis’ home on charges for the sale of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Drug possession and child endangerment charges were also filed. All who were arrested pleaded not guilty. Davis was not home at the time and does not face any charges. The council voted to select Iliff Kipp Sr. to replace Davis as chairman. Kipp said in a statement quote “The Blackfeet Nation will continue to move forward in a positive way for all Blackfeet people.”

Navajo Nation health officials have further loosened COVID-19 restrictions as new infections continue to decline. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, more people will be allowed into businesses and to gather socially.

The Navajo Department of Health issued three emergency orders Tuesday that transition the tribe from orange status to the less restrictive yellow status. Under the relaxed rules, businesses like restaurants, hotels, and the tribe’s four casinos can now operate at 75% capacity. In addition, up to 25 people are now allowed to gather for social functions, traditional ceremonies and church services, and capacity limits for school sporting events have also been increased. The orders keep in place a reservation-wide mask mandate that applies to schools and all other public spaces for both tribal members and visitors.

The Navajo Nation was hit particularly hard by the pandemic and at one point in 2020 had the highest per-capita infection rate in the U.S. as a result, tribal officials have kept several mandates in place long after surrounding states like Arizona and Utah rescinded their own. The Navajo Nation experienced all-time-high levels of COVID cases in mid-January. But in recent weeks, new infections have slowed to levels not seen since the summer.

The Yurok Tribe celebrated the grand opening of the first tribally operated visitor center within California’s state park system Thursday. The Chah-pekw O’Ket-toh Stone Lagoon Visitor Center, located in Humboldt County, is now operated by the tribe in a partnership with California State Parks. Recently renovated and renamed, the center contains displays that reflect the tribe’s longstanding cultural connection to the lagoon.  Yurok interpreters will share the tribe’s history from pre-contact to contemporary times with visitors.

During a virtual celebration Thursday, the center’s manager Rosie Clayburn, Yurok Cultural Resources Department Director and Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer, talked about how the public will be able to learn about tribal history, culture and little-known facts about the park.

“We have so many exhibits. We have so many stories to tell here. This place is so deep in history and there’s such a significance here…bringing back the Jump Dance in 2012 that hadn’t been danced in over 100 years, telling the story of how this land came to be state parks. And then, telling the story how this has always been Native land that Yurok people have always had a connection to this place and it’s never gone away, it’s just a continuation through time.”

The tribe also celebrated work to reintroduce the California condor. Later this month, the tribe and Redwood National Park plan to release four condors. They’ll be the first to take flight in the region since the late 1800s. That effort has been underway by the tribe since 2008.

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The Blackfeet tribal court has released the names of the nine people who were recently arrested on drug charges at the home of the Blackfeet Nation tribal chairman. Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports, the arrests came after the Blackfeet Nation declared a state of emergency following a series of fentanyl overdoses and deaths. 

The Blackfeet Tribal Court’s chief justice initially sealed the case following the arrests last week. The court and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Blackfeet Tribe Josh Lamson unsealed the case, releasing the names of the nine individuals arrested at the home of Blackfeet Tribal Business Council Chairman Timothy Davis. Six of those arrested share the Davis last name. Charges range from criminal sale and possession of dangerous drugs to child endangerment.

Chairman Davis was not home when law enforcement searched his residence and has not been arrested. In a text message to Montana Public Radio Davis said quote, “this terrible miscarriage of justice is a sham and was fake news and a political witch-hunt against me and my family,” end quote.  All eight who were charged pleaded not guilty. A pretrial date has been set for later this month.

A Montana court blocked two state laws on Wednesday that advocates say hinder Native American voting rights. One measure would have ended Election Day registration, which Native voters rely on to cast votes. The second measure would have blocked paid ballot collection. Native voters on rural reservations often rely on the service of ballot collectors. The Montana 13th Judicial District Court of Yellowstone County granted the preliminary injunction.  The challenge to the laws was by the Native American Rights Fund, the ACLU of Montana, the American Civil Liberties Union and Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic on behalf of two Native vote organizations and four tribes.

A number of Alaska tribes are backing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. One of the tribes supporting Jackson is the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson says that, while she doesn’t have the most experience in Indian Country law, Jackson is by far the most qualified candidate nominated to the Supreme Court in recent years.

“So, I think her given aptitude for it is a plus for us. You know, we want people to adjudicate on the letter of the law and we think the letter of the law favors a lot of the tribal cases.”

Other tribes and tribal organizations across Alaska have sent letters of support to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, including the Association of Village Council Presidents, which represents 56 tribes in Western Alaska. The letter states that her record of fairness makes her a good choice for the Supreme Court. Jackson also has support from Kawerak, Inc., Hydaburg Cooperative Association, Craig Tribal Association, Native Village of Eyak, Akiak Native Community, Noorvik Native Community and Tanana Chiefs Conference. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced this week that she would support Jackson’s nomination. Jackson is expected to be confirmed Thursday, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

The National Native American Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday it received a grant to create an exhibit at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. Interviews of people inducted into the hall of fame will be used in an oral history exhibit. Part of the hall of fame’s mission is to educate the public about contemporary Native Americans by sharing their stories. The exhibit is expected to open in November. The award is from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. 

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Navajo Nation leaders are pressing members of Congress to reauthorize and expand benefits for western residents sickened by radiation exposure during the Cold War. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the Radiation Compensation Exposure Act is set to expire in July.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez met with several members of Congress in Washington, D.C. last week to advocate for the law known as RECA. It was enacted in 1990 and provides compensation for people called downwinders who’ve experienced health problems as a result of past nuclear detonations and working in the uranium industry.

A bill was introduced last year to renew the benefits, increase payments and expand the geographical areas covered by the law. President Nez says the reauthorization is crucial for calculating how much radiation exposure was endured by former uranium mine, mill, and transportation workers, many of whom are tribal members. While Navajo officials support the law’s proposed expansion, they want Congress to go even further to include additional categories of uranium workers and more types of cancers and illnesses and increase individual payments to at least $200 thousand dollars.

The federal government conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1945 and 1962. Many residents in parts of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and other states and tribal lands have developed lung, thyroid, and other forms of cancer, along with leukemia and other long-term conditions.

The top leader of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma discussed the tribe’s legal fight against drug makers and distributors involving opioid claims. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. testified Tuesday in a U.S. House subcommittee hearing titled “The Opioid Crisis in Tribal Communities.”    

Hoskin told lawmakers, for more than two decades, opioids have impacted the tribe’s economy, health services, schools, and families. He says hundreds of millions of pills have flooded the reservation, and the tribe is holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for contributing to the opioid crisis. Five years ago, the Cherokee Nation sued drug makers and distributors. In 2021, the tribe settled with three distributors for $75 million, and earlier this year a settlement was reached with Johnson and Johnson for $18 million. Claims remain pending against pharmacy chains. Hoskin Jr. says settlement money will help increase investments in mental health treatment and substance use disorder.

“My administration plans to put $15 million of our settlement dollars towards the construction of drug treatment facilities over the next three years. A minimum of $15 million. These treatment centers will help bring about transformational change and provide some measure of justice by bringing healing to our people using funds from the very industry that injured us.”

Hoskin says the settlements will not be enough to end the opioid crisis. He says the federal government needs to fulfill its trust obligations to tribes and fully fund these types of recovery programs. The hearing was held in the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Other witnesses were from tribal health organizations and the National Border Patrol Council.

Photo: H2rty

The Alaska Federation of Natives is expressing gratitude to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for backing federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. This week, Sen. Murkowski said she will support the confirmation of Judge Brown Jackson after holding a series of meetings with the nominee. The Alaska Federation of Natives on Tuesday thanked Sen. Murkowski for her commitment to the federal judicial nomination process. Native organizations and tribes have been closely following the confirmation process stressing the need for the next justice to uphold sovereignty, treaty rights and federal trust responsibilities. Judge Brown Jackson did express knowledge of tribes during confirmation hearings. She’s expected to be confirmed this week.

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Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) has asked federal officials to start a process that will swap nearly 37,000 acres of state land on the Flathead Indian Reservation for federal lands elsewhere in the state. Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports the swap is part of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ federal water settlement.

In a letter to the secretaries of the U.S. departments of Interior and Agriculture, Gianforte called for talks between the state, CSKT, and the federal government to begin. As part of the CSKT water compact passed by Congress in 2020, the parties have five years to complete the land exchange. Many of the state trust lands on the Flathead Reservation are difficult to access and are primarily used for agricultural and livestock grazing leases. Gianforte says the state aims to trade those to the tribe in exchange for land from the federal government with more access and ability to generate revenue. The final say on which state lands on the reservation will be swapped for federal properties will be up to the state Land Board.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently visited a First Nation in British Columbia, where an investigation is underway into deaths from former residential schools.  As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Trudeau also came with money for support.

Trudeau says the nearly $3 million dollars will go to continue support healing for those who survived the school and for families that did not. Ottawa already provided nearly one and a half million dollars earlier this year for research efforts into the deaths and disappearances of children who attended the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School near the Williams Lake First Nation, in British Columbia. Trudeau says there will also be more money to come.

“It’s not just the history of Indigenous people, it’s Canada’s history. And it is on all of us to be part of the learning, the grieving, the truth and the reconciliation.”

Trudeau says it’s also important to ensure that everything is done to make sure that the information, all of the records be made fully available to the community, to find the truth and to honor the memory of all the lives that were lost. Trudeau said he was also there to listen to the elders and community members about what the path forward looks like. He also met with school survivors and others at Williams Lake, including the chief and council members. Earlier this year the possible remains of more than 90 bodies were found on the site of the former schools.  The St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School closed in 1981.

A sacred stone (Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe) in a park in Lawrence, Kansas, is being returned to the Kaw Nation. The 25 ton stone is culturally and spiritually significant to the tribe. In 1929, it was removed from its natural location at the confluence of two creeks, and dedicated to pioneers as part of the city’s 75th anniversary. Kaw citizens have been requesting its return for years. The Kaw Nation, the city and community organizers are working with the University of Kansas to ensure safe relocation of the stone to land held by the Kaw Nation. On Monday, the Mellon Foundation announced a grant to help support the stone’s relocation, build infrastructure at the natural site and develop an interpretive program there, and at what will be the stone’s former site in Lawrence. The grant is among four new monuments projects. In 2020, the foundation launched the monuments project to assess monuments across the U.S., and to preserve the stories of those who have often been denied historical recognition.

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York is considering a name change. Tribal voters will have an opportunity to approve or reject the proposed new name “Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe” in a referendum in June. Years ago, tribal citizens renamed their zip code to Akwesasne.

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A new bill just signed in Washington state creating an alert system for missing Indigenous people could be a model for other states.

The Olympian reports the bill signed by Governor Jay Inslee is the first to establish an alert system for missing Indigenous people. The bill was introduced by State Representative Debra Lekanoff, the only Native person in Washington’s legislature, and was created in consultation with area tribes.

The bill creates a hotline to take in reports from the public, and alerts law enforcement officials and sends out public messages when Indigenous people go missing.

The system is similar to the Amber Alert system for children who have been abducted. The Olympian reports State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says other states have already contacted him about implementing similar legislation elsewhere.

Photo: Robert Ashworth

The Navajo Nation is considering repealing its ban on same-sex marriage. Emma Gibson from the Mountain West News Bureau has more.

The Navajo Nation lies within Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and has approximately 400-thousand members. And almost 20 years ago, it banned same-sex marriages.

Alray Nelson heads the LGBTQ Indigenous advocacy group, Navajo Nation Pride. He says the ban has resulted in problems for partners who want to adopt, build a house, have joint health issuance and more.

“In order for us to really feel safe in our own communities living on the Navajo Nation. The Nation has to open up those doors and send a message to the rest of the country that the largest tribal nation in the United States is inclusive. And you’re a part of our family.”

He estimates out of the 574 federally-recognized tribal nations in the U.S., there are about a dozen bans still in place.

Next, the proposal to repeal the ban will go to one of the tribal government’s committees.

A tribe in Connecticut is supporting a town’s continued use of a mascot that includes an arrowhead and a profile of a Native man.

NBC Connecticut reports the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation passed a resolution recently to support the city of Derby using the nickname “Red Raiders” and the logos, as the town tries to retain funding that is jeopardized by its use of the mascot and imagery for local school athletic teams.

According to a resolution passed by the tribal council, it supports the use of the images “as a public means of sustaining Native American culture and history of Connecticut’s first citizens.”

Under a law passed last year, Connecticut municipalities whose athletic teams use Native American names or mascots must get written support from a state or federally recognized tribe. Failing to do so means possibly losing grants funded by revenue from the state’s two tribal casinos.

Photo: Ken Lund

Tribal and federal officials say an agreement to hand over more than 400 acres of land to the Rappahannock Tribe in Virginia is a triumph of collaboration among the tribe, the federal government, and private land owners.

The agreement returns a small portion of the tribe’s ancestral homeland along the Rappahannock River. The tribe will manage conservation and management with the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service.

In a statement, Interior Secretary Debra Haaland said the department looks forward to drawing on tribal expertise and Indigenous knowledge toward managing the area’s wildlife and habitat.

The agreement creates a permanent conservation easement that restricts how the sacred land can be used.

Photo: Pax Ahimsa Gethen

New DNA evidence has confirmed what a tribe in California has always maintained: That it is not extinct.

USA Today reports an anthropologist wrote in 1925 that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe from the San Francisco Bay Area was “extinct for all practical purposes.” But the tribe has always disputed that claim, and now living Ohlone tribal members have found a DNA link to their ancestors.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found genetic links between current tribal members and ancient inhabitants of the Bay Area. It used a type of genomic research that has only been developed over the last decade. It was also innovative because researchers and tribal members worked together closely.

It’s a surprising discovery given the decimation following the Spanish conquest starting in 1769. The number of Native Americans declined from over 1 million to less than 20,000 in the 1920s.

The Ohlone have petitioned the US Government for federal acknowledgement for 30 years. They’re hopeful the study will support the effort.

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