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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
Tribal leaders are applauding President Joe Biden’s intent to appoint Mohegan Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba as Treasurer of the United States.
She would be the first-ever Native American to serve in the position – among duties overseeing a new office of tribal affairs and serving as a key liaison.
National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp expressed her overwhelming support saying there’s much work to do in Indian Country on economic development, governmental tax parity for tribes, and addressing capital needs.
Sharp also noted the importance of having a Native American in the Treasury Department.
Native representation in all levels of government was discussed last week at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year gathering in Alaska.
Jenifer Nelson, board chair of the Aleut Corporation, says it’s great to see Native women making history in leadership roles pointing to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
“In my culture, very matriarchal. I watched my grandmother support local policy, very heavily influenced and even in the Unangan culture women sewed the skin boats for the hunters. So, they always played an integral role in making sure that our cultures survive and our people thrive.”
Dalee Sambo, international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, echoes the role of Native women in government and hopes to see more women become leaders on a global scale.
“The role that women play in all these diverse fora really reflects the exercise of good governance. Women more often than not, they ensure inclusion and also more transparency, more effectiveness in terms of how decisions are made. When you have woman in that position able to embrace so many others and significantly, we do it in our homes where those values we’re really able to carry them and practice them at all scales.”
Sambo and Nelson made the comments during live coverage of the NCAI conference in Anchorage on Koahnic’s sibling radio station KNBA.
The White House on Tuesday announced the president’s intent to appoint Malerba as Treasurer of the U.S.
Leaders from Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, and Minnesota are testifying Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about Indian boarding school legislation and a federal investigation.
According to the committee’s website, Chief Kirk Francis from Penobscot Indian Nation; President Sandra White Hawk from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi, Native Hawaiian Policy Lead for the Office of Former Hawai’i Governor John Waihe’e; and La Quen Náay Liz Medicine Crow, President/CEO of the First Alaskans Institute are scheduled to testify, along with Sec. Haaland.
Click here to read their testimonies or watch the hearing live starting at 2:30pm ET
A thousand juvenile Chinook salmon were released last week in a creek near Bandon, OR.
As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s the latest effort by the Coquille Tribe to restore numbers.
A tribal member sang a song to bless the salmon, which Coquille officials say are among the first of thousands more expected to be released this year.
The 2021 spawning project was done with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners, after surveys showed Chinook salmon numbers had fallen to near extinction in the area.
In a video released by the tribe, Coquille tribal Chair Brenda Meade said she’s proud.
“Proud of the fact that we are all coming together as a community to make this happen because there’s no way the tribe could have done it by themselves. We gotta keep going though, this is just step one, it feels like baby-steps. But it’s the first thousand that are going out, and it’s something to celebrate.”
Invasive bass, climate change, and pollution are seen as factors in the decline of Chinook salmon.
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