HOPE IS ON THE 'HORIZON' FOR CHIEF LITTLE SHELL'S PEOPLE IN MONTANA: FEDERAL RECOGNITION IS STILL ON THE TABLE
12-20-16
Photo courtesy of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Heritage Center
"Standing Rock is all about sovereignty," says Gerald Gray, council chairman for Montana's landless Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, "and that's exactly what we're fighting for, to have that legitimacy for our people."
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'INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY'
IN AN UNPRECEDENTED AND HISTORIC MOVE THE MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO REPLACE COLUMBUS DAY
5-5-14
In a move of 'reconciliation' and in recognition of the rich history of Minnesota's Native American population, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously on April 25 to replace Columbus Day by officially recognizing 'Indigenous People's Day' on the second Monday of October, an historic moment at a time when Native groups struggle to get their issues heard.
In a city with a large Native American population, groups like the Native American Community Development Institute led by Jay Bad Heart Bull and Daniel Yang, created a dialog with the city council in recent months in order to have their issues of equity and justice heard. Bad Heart Bull gave credit to the struggle and decades long work of other organizations, groups and thousands of activists that led to this decision. "We're just lucky to stand on the shoulders of all these great leaders, activists and advocates in our community," he stated. "We feel like we would be doing a disservice if we didn't try to push even further and build on top of that foundation that they laid for us young folk." Members of the Native community filled the city council chambers while Clyde Bellecourt, American Indian Movement co-founder, Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council, and Deanna Standing Cloud, Red Lake Nation, addressed the city council.
Congressional Representative Keith Ellison spoke of his admiration for Native people and issues acknowledging that the very foundation of the United States, the theoretical concept of it was offered to our nation by the Iroquois Confederacy, knowledge that we aren't taught in our schools. "And, now that we have established Indigenous People's Day, every child, whether that child is Native, or whether that child is not...will learn the truth about where America really, really comes from." He stated, "This is so important because it's difficult to imagine if you're from a mainstream experience, how it feels to sit in a classroom and be told 'Oh yeah, well you know, there was this darkness and then Columbus came and then there was light.'"
Means told the diverse crowd, "We too, as indigenous peoples, have a creation story to tell. We too have a language, a culture, a government that governs our people. This is the beginning of the recognition of those contributions to the United States and indeed here, to Minneapolis."
Standing Cloud described growing up with the legend behind Columbus and how it affects the self-esteem, especially when young people are trying to find their identity. "You're celebrating a man that murdered millions of your relatives, and then, there's a national holiday for him," she said.
The resolution encourages city businesses, organizations and public entities to recognize Indigenous People's Day, and while it is only binding on city government, Bad Heart Bull has hopes that the city of St. Paul will be next to consider a similar resolution, with a long-term goal of doing the same at the state level.
UPDATE:
'IDLE NO MORE' RESPONDS TO THE ATLEO RESIGNATION
5-2-14
Alarmed that the Harper government is ignoring First Nation concerns, while rushing to pass the First Nations Education Act, Bill C-33 before summer, Idle No More leadership issued a statement urging First Nations to keep up the pressure on the AFN executive to show real leadership in the fight against Harper and his termination agenda.
Shawn Atleo resigned his position as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations on Friday, the first to do so in the history of the AFN amid criticism of his support for Bill C-33 and what is perceived by many as his weak leadership and collaboration with the Harper government on critical First Nations issues, such as the Education Act and energy development. Hereditary chief of the Ahousaht, the most populous First Nation on the western edge of Vancouver Island, Atleo served as AFN National Chief since 2009.
"Together, we helped improve opportunities for greater participation by First Nations in the economy and standards of living and quality of life on reserve, including through the Crown-First Nations Gathering in 2012," stated the Prime Minister, saddened by Atleo's sudden resignation. "We also shared a commitment to improving First Nation education and ensuring that students on reserve have the same education standards, supports and opportunities that most Canadians take for granted" he wrote.
"The First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act (FNCFNEA) is nothing more than a bogus term created by the Harper government. It goes to the heart of our identity as First Nations Peoples, and our ability to choose our own way of life,” said Idle No More activist Janice Makokis. During last years protests Idle No More accused Atleo of undermining their movement for change when he met with Prime Minister Harper without the mandate of the Chiefs in Assembly.
"The emergency Confederacy of Nations Meeting called by Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy, which is to take place in Ottawa on May 14, 2014, is the time to hold our leadership to account," said Sylvia McAdam of Idle No More leadership. "It is the time for our leadership to show they are on the side of our Peoples, our treaty and inherent rights, and self-determination. We must focus the energy of our movement against the machine of the Harper government and not allow our own people to become the instruments of our own destruction," she stated.
BREAKING NEWS!
ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS CHIEF SHAWN ATLEO RESIGNS HIS POSITION AFTER CRITICISM OVER HIS SUPPORT OF PRIME MINISTER HARPER'S PLANS TO REFORM ABORIGINAL EDUCATION
5-2-14
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Facing criticism from regional Chiefs and others over his support for the Harper government's plan on reforming Indian education, Shawn Atleo has resigned his position as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "I have fought for this work and to achieve this mandate. This work is too important and I am not prepared to be an obstacle to it or a lightning rod distracting from the kids and their potential", he stated in his remarks today. He feels the Harper proposal on education reforms is a sincere constructive effort to take a step forward on an issue that has divided First Nations Chiefs.
A vocal critic of Atleo, Pamela Palmater believes that he has stopped defending First Nations rights and is convinced that the proposed First Nations Education Act, Bill C-33 is fatally flawed and falls short of what is needed to make a difference for First Nations children, while not protecting treaty rights. A special session has been requested by Chief Stan Beardy for all First Nations chiefs from across the country to discuss the proposed bill calling for more involvement in the drafting of the legislation and the actual policy discussions.
Prime Minister Harper stated that he was saddened by Atleo's decision.
It is not known who will replace Atleo.
THE ANNUAL 'CULLING' OF YELLOWSTONE'S LAST STANDING WILD BISON HERD HAS BEGUN FOR 2014
"Yellowstone plans to slaughter between 600 and 800 bison this winter, according to park spokesman Al Nash. "We're going to seek opportunities to capture any animals that move outside the park's boundaries," he said. Yellowstone has set a "population target," or objective, of 3,000 to 3,500 animals.
"The current buffalo population numbers approxiamately 4,400 (1,300 in the Central Interior and 3,100 in the Northern range.) The Central Interior subpopulation also migrates north into the Gardiner basin and has not recovered from the last Park-led slaughter in 2008 that killed over half of the Central Interior buffalo. The government's "population target" makes no distinction for conserving subpopulations in this unique buffalo herd."
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BLM WILL RELEASE 30 WILD HORSES HELD IN CAPTIVITY BACK INTO THE 'WILD' IN MID-JULY
JUNE 11, 2013
"Thirty wild horses, rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) this January from the Diamond Complex, will be released back into the wild sometime after mid-July in an innovative project of the Battle Mountain BLM District, which spans land in both the Ely and Elko Nevada. The horses were part of a larger group, most of whom went to long term BLM holding facilities. This experimental group was held out to improve their condition prior to release back into the wild in a project to preserve the genetic health of the herd. The horses will be returned to the range along with the foals they had in captivity."
"BLM management of these heritage animals has long been criticized by the public, now joined by scientists who just completed a two year assessment through the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) which was critical of BLM."
"Wild Horse Education (WHE) launched a program called Keep Them in the Wild to address the crisis of long term holding and put an end to the inhumane treatment of wild horses and burros during roundups and in holding by finding a way to keep them on the range."
"Keep Them in The Wild is a program that WildHorseEducation.org has developed as a way to address the issues surrounding wild herds in the wild, and specifically tailored to create sane, safe, and fair management of wild horses and burros on public land. This program has specific objectives for engaging the public in current aspects of management on the range."
~~~" Wild Horse Education is devoted to gaining protection for our treasured wild horses and burros from abuse, slaughter and extinction."
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PLANS IN THE WORKS FOR OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE (SD) TO BUILD $25 MILLION HORSE SLAUGHTER FACILITY TO BOOST ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CREATE JOBS AT PINE RIDGE RESERVATION
April 18, 2013
"According to several sources, the Oglala Sioux Tribe is exploring the possibility of putting in a horse slaughter facility in Bennett County, which would make it one of a few in the nation."
"Tribal council member Craig Dillon from the LaCreek District confirmed that they are indeed looking at it but said they have a long way to go, but have also come a long way on the project."
"We’ve met with the South Dakota Dept. of Agriculture, the Veterinary Dept., Inspectors and South Dakota Secretary of Tribal Relations J.R. LaPlante and had no problems from them and they were very receptive,” said Dillon. “We still have to bridge some gaps, but this can give us a kick in the pants. We’re looking at 100 to 125 jobs if this happens."
"Dillon said the idea originally came from tribal member Mike Carlow, who brought it to tribal council. Dillon is one of the members working to make it happen because he believes it can help revitalize the area by providing jobs and helping the overall economy in the process."
"The location they are considering for the plant is just under two miles north and west of the U.S. Hwy 18 and U.S. Hwy 73 junction which is 12 miles east of Martin. The tribe owns approx. 220 acres there that Dillon said would be a good location."
"The horse meat would likely be sold to zoos for feeding animals, used for dog food and human consumption as it is popular in many European markets."
"This plant would be just one of two in the western United States,” said Dillon. “It would be on Indian land with state inspectors."
"Dillon said the facility will cost about $25 million to build."
"Dillon said most of the horses would not come from around here and there would be many controls in place to assure the quality and type of meat processed."
"In 2005, federal lawmakers removed funding for inspections at horse slaughterhouses. Without those inspections, the meat could not be exported to international markets. That contributed to the closure of domestic legal horse slaughter plants in the United States by 2007, although U.S. horses continue to be exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter."
"In 2011, Congress voted to restore funding for federal meat inspectors at equine slaughter facilities starting during fiscal year 2012."
"No equine slaughterhouses are currently operating in the U.S., but Valley Meat Co. in New Mexico, and several other companies have applied for permits or are considering opening such facilities."
"Valley Meat Co. has sued the United States Department of Agriculture and agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in federal court to challenge what Valley Meat termed “recent failure to provide inspections for horses for human consumption...in contravention of an unequivocal Congressional command.”
"Slaughtering horses ended in the U.S. in 2007 after Congress began prohibiting the use of federal funds to inspect horses destined to become food during 2006. Following that ban, two plants in Texas and one in Illinois continued slaughtering horses using a voluntary, pay-for-service inspection program. All three were forced to close in 2007 after courts upheld state laws barring the sale or possession of horse meat and horse slaughter."
"Congress added another obstacle of horse slaughter for meat when it ended its paid inspection program in 2008."
"The market shifted to Canada and Mexico, and the Senate Committee on Appropriations directed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine the issue of horse welfare and the impacts caused by the cessation of horse slaughter in the U.S."
"The GAO conducted its review from April 2010 to June 2011 and issued its report."
"From 2006 to 2010, exports of horses for slaughter increased by 148 percent to Canada and by 660 percent to Mexico."
"In 2006, the three facilities in Texas and Illinois slaughtered approximately 105,000 horses and exported 17,000 metric tons of meat valued at $65 million, the report said. Horses sent to Canada and Mexico that year for slaughter totaled 33,000. In 2010, Canada and Mexico slaughtered 138,000 horses from the U.S., equal to the number of U.S. horses slaughtered in all three countries in 2006. Canada had four horse slaughter plants at the end of 2010, and Mexico had three."
"In 1990, nearly 346,000 horses were slaughtered in the U.S., and the country had 16 slaughter plants in the 1980s. By 2002, the number of horses killed in the U.S. had dropped to 42,312 and there were only two facilities in operation."
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CONTROVERSY OVER NEW MEXICO SLAUGHTERHOUSE FOR HORSES INCLUDES VIDEO OF MEAT COMPANY EMPLOYEE SWEARING AT ANIMAL ACTIVISTS, THEN SHOOTING A HORSE IN THE HEAD
April 20, 2013
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —" An Internet video that shows a meat company employee swearing at animal activists before shooting a horse in the head highlights the increasing emotional intensity of the national debate over whether a New Mexico plant should be allowed to resume domestic horse slaughter."
"Animal rights groups this week uncovered a video posted by a former employee of Valley Meat Co., which has been fighting the United States Department of Agriculture for more than a year for approval to convert its former cattle slaughter operation into a horse slaughterhouse."
"Valley Meat Co. owner Rick De Los Santos said the employee, who was let go this week, was reacting to harassment by animal rights activists who have targeted the plant since its plans were made public about a year ago. The harassment has worsened since the video, made a year ago, was uncovered this week, he said."
"We are getting lots of threats: that we better watch our back, watch who is around us, that they hope our kids and families get killed, ugly stuff," De Los Santos said Friday."
"The video shows Tim Sappington of Dexter leading a seemingly healthy horse by a rope to a spot in a dirt road. He strokes his nose and neck, says, "All you animal activists, (expletive) you," then shoots it in the head."
"Chaves County Sheriff Rob Coon said the department is bracing for things to get worse as the company nears a final inspection by federal regulators with the hope of opening horse slaughter operations next month."
"The New Mexico Livestock Board has launched an inquiry into the shooting as a possible case of animal abuse. But the sheriff noted that it's not illegal for a horse owner to kill the animal and eat it, saying it's no different than a farmer who slaughters his pig and consumes the meat. That's because horses are considered livestock and no different under the law than cattle or pigs."
"Horse slaughter opponents are pushing legislation in Congress to ban domestic slaughter, as well as the export of horses to other countries for slaughter."
"The debate is raging amid a recent uproar in Europe over horse meat being found in products labeled as beef."
"De Los Santos has said the meat from his plant would be processed for human consumption in Russia, eastern Europe and Asia. It will also be used for pet foods."
"Last year, De Los Santos sued the USDA to resume the inspections necessary to open what would be the nation's first horse slaughterhouse in more than five years. The USDA earlier this month said it has no choice legally but to move forward with the application of Valley Meat and several other companies since Congress lifted a ban on the practice. The company's attorney, A. Blair Dunn, said earlier this week that a final inspection of the plant by USDA officials is expected in early April."
"Many animal humane groups and public officials are outraged at the idea of resuming domestic slaughter, including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who points to the iconic animal's role as a loyal companion in the West."
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OKLAHOMA LIFTS 50 YEAR OLD HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN
March 29, 2013
"But animal rights groups fought hard against the plan, including the Humane Society of the United States. Cynthia Armstrong, the organization's Oklahoma state director, said she was disappointed."
"It's a very sad day for Oklahoma and the welfare of the horses that will be exposed to a facility like this," Armstrong said. "It's very regrettable."
"In addition to animal welfare concerns, opponents have said slaughtering horses for human consumption could pose a threat to human health and safety. American horses are often treated with drugs and medications that are not approved for use in animals intended for food."
"Horse slaughter opponents are pushing legislation in Congress to ban domestic slaughter, as well as the export of horses to other countries for slaughter. Many animal humane groups and public officials are outraged at the idea of resuming domestic slaughter. But others — including some horse rescuers, livestock associations and the American Quarter Horse Association — support the plans."
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COBELL: CONFUSED CHAOS OF INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION
February 23, 2013
"What became obvious from the session is how difficult, if not impossible, it will be to carry out the agency’s fractionated Indian land buy back program."
"Most controversial, is Interior’s stated intent to focus 90% of copy.55 billion allocated for fractionated land acquisition—meaning copy.39 billion—on 40 reservations, because the agency claims that 90% of the “purchasable fractionated interests” are located on those 40 reservations. Interior has compiled a “Top 40” list of tribes. As to the other 110 reservations that Interior says have purchasable fractionated interests, they would be collectively allocated the remaining 10%, or merely copy63 million. The rest of Indian Country, as many as 415 tribes, are not listed for federal buy back program funding. Interior should open the program to any tribe whose reservation includes fractionated Indian lands."
"If that were not bad enough, some of the “Top 40” tribes are encouraging Interior to restrict the $60 million in Cobell scholarship monies to only those 40 listed tribes. This, despite the fact that the hundreds of thousands of Cobell plaintiffs hail from far more than 40 and in fact hundreds of tribal communities. These issues prompted one Umatilla leader at the consultation to decry that Interior’s entire land consolidation program will, federal intentions aside, yet again divide and conquer Indian Country. She could very well be right. In any event, Interior should allow scholarships for any federally-recognized Indian student."
"When Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Mike Black was pressed, he was forced to admit that the buy back program is specifically designed to bring tribes into at least a controlling 51 percent interest in fractionated allotted or restricted lands—at which time a tribe could then, on its own volition and with its own funding, force the sale of the remaining 49 percent or other minority interest. Make no mistake about it: while Interior’s plan now disclaims that it will facilitate forced sales under 25 U.S.C. 2204, the buy back program will catalyze controversial intra-tribal forced sales."
"Finally, Interior proposes to send out mass offers to fractionated interest owners but does not seem to appreciate that for each and every potential tribal acquisition of an undivided interest, it must provide notice of that pending acquisition to the other undivided interest owners so that those owners might match the purchase offer. As a U.S. District Court noted, under the Indian Land Consolidation Act a “Tribe's right to match prior to approval of an application to terminate trust status does not equate to a blanket right to purchase without competition. While the Tribe may indeed have the opportunity to purchase trust land at appraised fair market value, this is only true once the sale is advertised, an open bidding process is conducted, and no other offers for the purchase price are made.” Middleton Co. v. Salazar (2009). Interior will need to get its printers ready to issue serial, not solitary, purchase offer notices to the fractionated masses."
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CULLING YELLOWSTONE'S BISON HERD: THE CONTROVERSY RAGES ON
2-23-13
"For Republican state Sen. John Brenden and many of his eastern Montana neighbors, the idea of bison roaming the Montana plains as wildlife is absurd — and they want to do what they can to stop it."
“Buffalo have their place in the world, but it isn’t going back to the 1850s,” Brenden said last week. “It’s no different than the dinosaurs. We’re living in a modern world, whether we like it or not. … We don’t need free-roaming buffalo.”
"Brenden, a farmer from Scobey, is sponsoring a bill to prohibit moving wild bison from Yellowstone National Park herds to anywhere in Montana except the National Bison Range in Moiese."
"His bill also creates a year-round hunting season for bison, allowing any hunter who pays $125 to shoot up to three bison."
"The wave of bison legislation is from Republican lawmakers who say they’re responding to heightened landowner concerns about bison encroaching on farms, ranches and other private property, not only near Yellowstone National Park but also in eastern Montana, where wildlife advocates are talking about possible free-roaming herds of bison on mostly public prairies."
"Opposing the bills are wildlife and hunting groups, state wildlife managers and Indian tribes, who say the bills derail a two-year-old compromise that set up a planning process with tightly drawn restrictions on how or where bison could be “translocated” somewhere in the state besides near Yellowstone Park."
"Several Indian tribes also say many of the bills trample treaty rights for tribal members to hunt bison that range outside Yellowstone National Park."
“If that happens, it’s going to be a chaotic situation,” said John Harrison, an attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in western Montana. “I guarantee there will be litigation. … When (tribes) talk about treaty rights, it’s as sacred to them as the Constitution is to American citizens.”
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INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT: SD TRIBES REQUESTING A CONGRESSIONAL HEARING AND INVESTIGATION ACCUSING THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA OF 'OVERSTEPPING THEIR AUTHORITY'
ICWA WILL BE ADDRESSED AT UPCOMING SPRING SUMMIT
2-6-13
"Congressmen Markey and Lujan React to Sioux Tribes’ Child Welfare Report with Call for Action"
"According to the Lakota People's Law Project, on Wednesday, February 6, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” aired a report by Peabody award winning journalist Laura Sullivan: “South Dakota Tribes Accuse State of Violating Indian Welfare Act”. Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ben Luján (D-NM) called for more information from the State of South Dakota and for a Congressional hearing."
“It makes you angry. I hope it makes people’s blood boil. This is emotional and it’s real and it’s not right.” Congressman Luján was most upset by what he felt was a lack of information from the State of South Dakota according to the NPR broadcast. “If they won’t do it in a public way, then someone needs to go in with subpoena authority to get to the truth of the matter.”
"Markey expressed his frustration with the BIA's delay in taking action: “We cannot stand idly by as Indian children are ripped from their homes and placed in foster care unnecessarily." The promise of a spring summit has been renewed by Kevin Washburn, the new assistant secretary of Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior. In a letter to the Representatives, Washburn announced that he has created a BIA working group to increase employees’ knowledge of the Indian Child Welfare Act and he also committed himself to attending the summit. Other lawmakers in addition to Luján and Markey also want to attend."
"State officials reportedly told NPR that they are not acting illegally when they remove native children since they always obtain a court order. However, according to the broadcast, tribal leaders and legal experts claim that the State is still failing to place the children with relatives, tribal members, or Indian families. Judge BJ Jones, a national expert on the Indian Child Welfare Act and a tribal court judge in South Dakota, countered the assertion of state officials: “You don’t have any tribal court judges passing orders saying put the kid in a white home.” Jones faults the state for not doing an adequate job of placing children with their extended families and relatives, as is required by the ICWA."
"Raymond Cournoyer, the Indian Child Welfare Act Director for the Yankton Sioux Tribe and co-chair of the ICWA directors' coalition, was quoted in the broadcast: “We can’t give up. We got to keep moving forward even if we make a lot of people mad at us. We’re always not in the driver’s seat. It’s time to take control.”
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"State officials have taken issue with NPR's series last year examining the issue. NPR found the state receives almost $100 million a year from the federal government for all of the state's foster care children, more than half of whom are Native American. According to the state's budget, the state receives at least $45 million in federal funding, including administrative costs and federal grants under a program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The state also receives tens of millions more in Medicaid reimbursements."
"More specifically, Native American children are provided health care by a federal program directly through the Indian Health Service. Officials with that agency say that when native children are placed in foster care, South Dakota and other states generally move the children onto Medicaid, which is heavily subsidized by millions in federal dollars."
"The tribes, in their report to Congress, found a similar accounting of federal dollars."
"South Dakota state officials, however, have said the amount of federal money the state receives is insignificant, and by their estimation, is between $18 million if only native children are taken into account, or at the highest, $39 million for all children. They have declined requests to provide additional detail about that summation."
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LET THE BUFFALO RETURN 'HOME' TO THE TRIBES!
CONTROVERSY IN MONTANA OVER EXTERMINATION OF 400 FEMALE BISON IN PLAN TO 'CULL' YELLOWSTONE'S HERD
Please sign Petition:
"Two new bills introduced in the Montana legislature would usher in a zero-tolerance policy for wild bison, potentially opening the way for a return to the shoot-on-sight practices of years past."
"Under a proposed bill in the state Senate, Department of Livestock officials would have the leeway to exterminate all wild bison. And a bill in the state House of Representatives would allow landowners to kill any bison that sets foot on private property. The legislation pits farmers angered by the huge bison’s foraging against a consortium of wildlife advocates, Native Americans and hunters who had hoped that rules banning the bison were easing."
"“Why do you want to spread this creeping cancer, these woolly tanks, around the state of Montana? We’ve got zero tolerance left in our bones,” said John Brenden, a state senator from Scobey, Mont., who is chairman of the Senate Fish and Game Committee and authored that chamber’s bill."
"Over the last three decades, around 7,000 bison from Yellowstone National Park, descendants of the less than two dozen free-range bison in America known to have survived the great slaughter of the 1870s and ’80s, were killed for migrating from federal parkland into the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
"Yet in Montana, where most Yellowstone bison have been shot or shipped to slaughterhouses, the state agreed last year for the first time to allow bison access to 75,000 acres of public land north of the park for a few months each year."
"Last spring, around 60 healthy Yellowstone bison were also moved some 500 miles northeast to a fenced pasture on Montana’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The move, celebrated by Sioux and Assiniboine tribe members, marked the first time in decades that any Yellowstone bison were allowed to leave the park alive and the first time since the 1870s that wild bison lived on Fort Peck land."
"But John Youngberg, vice president for government affairs for the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, said that because wild bison were exterminated by the time Montana became a state in 1889, landowners have the right to live without them."
"Agribusiness lawyers also sued last spring to prevent some Yellowstone bison from being moved from Fort Peck to the Fort Belknap Indian reservation, some 200 miles of rolling prairie to the west. Mark Azure, director of Fish and Wildlife at Fort Belknap, testified last week before a House committee in Helena, Mont., that anti-bison bias still hurts Native Americans.
“These animals are part of who we are — they’re part of our culture and also part of where we’re trying to get economically to help our people,” Mr. Azure said. He added that the tribe had invested $100,000 in building a bison pasture that now sits empty because of the lawsuit."
"Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks department is considering allowing bison year-round access to cattle-free pockets of public land on Yellowstone’s northwest side. Officials are also working on a statewide bison management plan that could allow the reintroduction of a few disease-free bison to some of the most remote parts of the state, possibly including the million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Montana."
"THEY CAME FOR THE CHILDREN"
A REPORT PUBLISHED BY THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION OF CANADA
Cover photographs: Clockwise starting from the upper left: Department of Indian Affairs and Northern
Development fonds, Library and Archives Canada, 1973-357, Shingle Point, 1930; a102086; The General
Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada, M2008-10 (P14), Gordon’s school, 1953; P75-103 (S7-184),
Old Sun School, 1945; P2004-09 (348), St. Cyprian’s School, 1952.
Design: Doowah Design Inc
"In order to educate the children properly we must separate them from their families. Some people may say that this is hard but if we want to civilize them we must do that."
Hector Langevin,
Public Works Minister of Canada, 1883
"It is unlikely that any Tribe or tribes would give trouble of a serious nature to the Government whose members had children completely under Government control."
Indian Affairs school inspector J.A. Macrae, 1886
"For over a century, generations of Aboriginal children were separated from their parents and raised in overcrowded, underfunded, and often unhealthy residential schools across Canada. They were commonly denied the right to speak their language and told their cultural beliefs were sinful. Some students did not see their parents for years. Others—the victims of scandalously high death rates—never made it back home."
"This is a story of loss. Residential schools disrupted families and communities. They prevented elders from teaching children long-valued cultural and spiritual traditions and practices. They helped kill languages. These were not side effects of a well-intentioned system: the purpose of the residential school system was to separate children from the influences of their parents and their community, so as to destroy their culture. The impact was devastating. Countless students emerged from the schools as lost souls, their lives soon to be cut short by drugs, alcohol, and violence. The last of the federally supported schools and residences, of which there were at least 150, closed in the 1990s."
"While many people who worked in the schools were inspired by an impulse to “save” and to “civilize” Canada’s Aboriginal people, government had other motives. To gain control of Aboriginal land, the Canadian government signed treaties it did not respect, took over land without making treaties, and unilaterally passed laws that controlled nearly every aspect of Aboriginal life. No other Canadians were subject to this level of regulation. No word better describes these policies than “colonialism.” The schools were central to the colonization of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada."
"For much of our history, all Canadian children—Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike—were taught that Aboriginal people were inferior, savage, and uncivilized, and that Aboriginal languages, spiritual beliefs, and ways of life were irrelevant. Aboriginal people were depicted as having been a dying race, saved from destruction by the intervention of humanitarian Europeans."
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CANADA'S RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS HAVE LEFT A LEGACY OF 'GENOCIDE'
2-11-13
WINNIPEG - "The chairman of Canada's truth and reconciliation commission says removing more than 100,000 aboriginal children from their homes and placing them in residential schools was an act of genocide."
"Justice Murray Sinclair says the United Nations defines genocide to include the removal of children based on race, then placing them with another race to indoctrinate them. He says Canada has been careful to ensure its residential school policy was not "caught up" in the UN's definition."
"That's why the minister of Indian affairs can say this was not an act of genocide," Sinclair told students at the University of Manitoba Friday. "But the reality is that to take children away and to place them with another group in society for the purpose of racial indoctrination was -- and is -- an act of genocide and it occurs all around the world."
"About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend the government schools over much of the last century. The last school closed outside Regina in 1996."
"The $60-million truth and reconciliation commission is part of a landmark compensation deal between the federal government, the Crown and residential school survivors. It is about halfway through its mandate and has visited about 500 communities, where it has heard graphic details of rampant sexual and physical abuse."
"Their legacy has left an indelible impact on Canadian society, he added. The commission has heard stories of survivors continuing the cycle of abuse with their own children."
"Canada will have to work hard to undo the damage done by the schools long after the commission has finished its work, Sinclair suggested. Generations of children -- both aboriginal and non-aboriginal -- have been brought up on a curriculum that dismissed aboriginal culture and history as worthless and inferior."
The Canadian Press
Published Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012 9:28PM EST
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ATTORNEY GABRIEL GALLANDA QUESTIONS 'LAND COSOLIDATION' PART OF COBELL SETTLEMENT
January 29, 2013
"Taking full advantage of that newfound goodwill, the Department of the Interior also announced its “Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations” just before Christmas. Backed by copy.9 billion of the Cobell settlement dollars, which Congress disbursed to resolve tribal member historic land and money mismanagement claims against the U.S., Interior announced its plans to now purchase fractionated allotment land for tribal governments."
"Freeing up fractionated lands for the benefit of tribal nations will increase the number of acres in tribal land bases, stimulate economic development and promote tribal sovereignty and self-determination,” said Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes in a release."
"As I wrote last year, “Interior’s proposal is ripe for disaster because it would spawn property ownership clashes of enormous legal and socioeconomic consequence. In many instances, the fight would be between tribal governments and impoverished tribal members—pinning tribes against their own citizens, and causing actionable intra-tribal conflicts of interest for the United States.”
"Interior, which, let’s not let it forget, must fulfill the United States’ trust responsibility to both tribal governments and members, cannot reconcile those BIA conflicts of interest that are inherent in consolidation; specifically in regard to the agency’s stated strategy of “identify[ing] tracts with relatively low fractionation and a few ‘large’ interest owners, the acquisition of whose interests could bring a tribe to a controlling level of interest in that tract with a minimal number of acquisitions.”
"Interior’s plan does not contemplate how the BIA will even attempt to resolve its trustee conflicts in any way that will avoid breach to either the tribe or member(s). Meanwhile, Interior feigns that its new buy-back program is only for “purchase fractional interests in American Indian trust lands from willing sellers.” It is not; recall the above-quoted strategy of bringing tribes into a “controlling level of interest” in allotted lands—in veiled reference to the forced sale provision of Section 2204. Make no mistake, the program will purposefully encourage more forced sales, against unwilling Indian sellers."
"What is more, Interior will pay itself $285 million of the copy.9 billion earmarked in Cobell for land consolidation, to administer the program. In other words, 15 percent of those settlement monies will be used to pay Interior to cause the sale of member-owned lands to tribal governments. Interior’s approach counsels for austerity, especially considering alternatives such as funding Native-administered programs to stem fractionation. While professing encouragement of “tribal sovereignty and self-determination”—and with NCAI shilling for the program on behalf of tribal governments—Interior does not appear to have seriously considered grassroots Indian solutions."
"Professor Wilkins continues: “Despite reams of evidence and several court opinions that the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Interior had mismanaged Indian trust account funds for well over a century, the Bureau, the major culprit in the mismanagement, was entrusted by Congress with the authority to use copy.9 billion of the settlement package to devise a land consolidation plan to address the problems that the Bureau itself had spawned and perpetuated.” Now, Interior is entrusting itself with $285 million to correct those age-old problems. Yet another federal Indian bureaucracy, to be managed by career BIA employees—what “lessons learned?”
"Do folks other than Professors Nash and Wilkins not see the acute philosophical and practical, and impending constitutional and legal, problems with what Interior is now proposing? Indian lands are now not only at risk of continued federal trust mismanagement for reasons Professor Wilkins offers, but of being forcibly sold out of tribal member hands—as they were starting in the late 1800s. Only this time the forced takings will not be caused by non-Indians; but instead by individual Indians’ own tribes, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States—those Indians’ trustee."
"With Interior soon set to “dialogue with tribal nations” about its plan—on January 31 in Minneapolis, February 6 in Rapid City, and February 14 in Seattle—hopefully tribal member landowners will also stand, and be allowed, to voice their concerns. In turn, hopefully Interior will start to take American Indigenous Peoples’ ideas about their property rights into account, before the U.S. repeats its same mistakes of the last 125 years."
Gabriel S. Galanda is a lawyer with Galanda Broadman, PLLC, in Seattle, and a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/dont-believe-land-consolidation-hype-147293
CHIEF THERESA SPENCE VOWS TO CONTINUE THE 'FIGHT' AS SHE ENDS HER 43 DAY 'SPIRITUAL' FAST
"The fast may be over, but the fight continues."
"That was the message delivered Thursday as Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and Elder Raymond Robinson officially ended their weeks-old fast."
"Spence and Robinson officially agreed to end their fast based on a 13-point plan endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations, the Native Women’s Society of Canada, the NDP and Liberal caucuses. The plan calls for such things as proper funding for education, respecting treaty rights and consulting First Nations on changes to their lives."
"Spence, however, was facing pressure from her own band council to end the fast and a delegation from Attawapiskat was to leave for Ottawa Wednesday to hand-deliver a letter urging her to quit the protest or face removal as chief."
"We end our hunger strikes with signed commitments from elected First Nations leaders and opposition parties to urgently carry forward our action plan which ensure that our treaty rights are recognized, honoured and fully implemented,” said Spence in a released statement. “Indigenous peoples have lived well below the poverty line in a country that is considered one of the wealthiest in the world. We are no longer idle and precedence has been established over this past six weeks. There’s no going back, our voices have been heard and now I ask for your involvement to move our agenda forward."
"The opposition leaders said they will use the 13-point declaration as a “blue print” going forward to push Prime Minister Stephen Harper on First Nation issues."
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"Before agreeing to end her six-week-long liquids-only fast, Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence and her supporters crafted a Declaration of Commitment consisting of 13 points centering around adhering to treaty relationships, approaching negotiations from a nation-to-nation perspective and taking measures to improve the lives of First Nations people."
"Among the 13 points is a call for a national inquiry into the hundreds of disappearances and murders of aboriginal women that go unsolved, improving education and housing, and fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration of Commitment is endorsed by the AFN National Executive Committee, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada Parliamentary Caucus and the New Democratic Party National Caucus. It will officially be signed by the parties on January 24 by First Nations leaders and representatives of the opposition parties “to carry on her fight,” as The Globe and Mail put it."
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NASA SATELLITE IMAGING OF GAS FLARES OF THE OIL FIELDS OF WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA
"Natural gas flaring is common practice in North Dakota and at oil wells throughout the world where natural gas pipelines are not available. It occurs at locations where natural gas pipelines can not be justified by the value of gas that is produced. It occurs at wells where oil is being produced ahead of a natural gas pipeline connection. It also occurs where new wells are being tested for their production potential."
"Natural gas flaring is not good stewardship of a valuable natural resource. That gas is lost forever without any human benefit. Property owners do not collect income when their resource is wasted. The state does not collect tax. The combusion of natural gas also causes pollution without any human benefit."
"The oil field that supports all of these wells is over the Bakken Formation, a tight shale that just ten years ago was not considered to be a high-potential source of oil. However, once horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing were applied to wells in the Bakken Formation it became a prolific source of oil and natural gas."
"Drilling the Bakken has been so lucrative that oil and gas companies were in competition to lease valuable properties as rapidly as possible. The resulting production has made North Dakota the #2 state in the nation for production of crude oil (see production graph at right). All of this drilling for oil progressed but the developmenet of natural gas infrastructure has lagged. That is why the satellite image at top right shows so many flaring sites."
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FROM THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS TO THE '60'S SCOOP'... CANADA'S NATIVE 'MILLENNIUM SCOOP' CHILDREN ARE STILL 'LOST' WITH DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH NUMBERS OF CASELOADS FOR CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY/FAMILY AND CHILD SERVICES, A PRIVATE CORPORATION FUNDED BY CANADA'S FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
"The federal government will spend $125 million over its projected budget this fiscal year to fund out-of-court-settlements for residential school survivors."
"Abuse claims from the Aboriginal victims of the residential school system have risen dramatically since Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology to survivors in 2006. That year, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada awarded over $30 million in legal settlements to 582 people."
"A lot of these survivors were putting their claims off because testifying about the abuse they suffered brings back so many scars," said Chief Robert Joseph, who runs the Indian Residential School Survivor Society. "But then when the deadline came up, the government was flooded with tens of thousands of claims. It's not about money, people want to see justice done, they want some sort of resolution."
"The federally run residential school system was implemented as part of the Indian Act in 1876. For the 120-year period the schools were in place, generations of First Nations children were taken from their communities, deprived of their ancestral culture and, in the most extreme cases, subjected to physical and sexual abuse."
"Groups like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - created to help tell the stories of residential school survivors - have suffered from funding shortages and managerial troubles. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which saw its funding expire in 2008, provided survivors across Canada with community-based healing initiatives."
"There's a vacuum right now, a void in that really needs filling in our community," Joseph said. "The scars we suffered have affected our children and their children. It's a cycle that needs to end."
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"An Ontario court is being asked to determine how much Canada owes to tens of thousands of former inmates of church-run residential schools that were part of a campaign to “take the Indian out of the child.”
"Aboriginal groups and the commission created to reveal the truth about what happened behind the walls of the schools that operated for 130 years say the full story cannot be told without ready access to millions of documents that are now buried in government archives."
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was created by that deal, argues that the government is not living up to its part of the bargain by failing to retrieve and organize as many as four million documents that relate to the residential-schools experience. Those records were to become the basis of the resource centre set up at the University of Manitoba."
"The Library and Archives Canada website says the government departments do not know what records they have or how to find them. “Millions of records are at issue and we don’t know where they are,” said Mr. Falconer."
"Stuart Wuttke, a lawyer for the Assembly of First Nations, said the commission was established as a national truth-telling process. The facts about the residential school system are in the voices of survivors, but they are also in the national archives, he said."
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"After decades of wrestling with the impact of the residential school system -- and then with the "Sixties Scoop" that placed so many aboriginal children in non-aboriginal homes -- First Nations are now facing another tragedy of lost children in the new millennium."
"There are more First Nations children in care right now than at the height of the residential school system. That system was a national disgrace that prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to apologize for its catastrophic impact on natives."
"Instead of being at home with their parents, brothers and sisters, tens of thousands of First Nations children are in foster homes, staying with distant relatives or living in institutions."
"It's a culmination of decades worth of social ills," Beaucage says.
A disheartening mix of poverty, addiction, history and politics has conspired to separate First Nations children from their parents."
"Former auditor general Sheila Fraser estimated First Nations children were eight times more likely to be in care than other Canadian kids. She pointed out that in British Columbia, of all the children in care, about half are aboriginal -- even though aboriginals are only about eight per cent of the population."
"Troubled children are increasingly being removed from their homes, but about half the time, they are placed in other First Nations homes, says Trocme. About 90 per cent of them eventually wind up back home at some point, perhaps as an adult, he says. So the family ties are not being broken as in the past."
Lynn Donaldson for The New York Times
Bison that were relocated from Yellowstone National Park to the Fort Peck reservation in Montana.
LAWSUITS DISMISSED IN CONTENTIOUS MONTANA BISON CASE: MIGRATION OF BISON HERDS PROTECTED
1-8-13
"BILLINGS – Montana’s decision to let migrating bison roam freely across 70,000 acres outside Yellowstone National Park was upheld by a court ruling Monday that dismissed a pair of lawsuits challenging the policy."
"Thousands of bison flood out of Yellowstone during severe winters. In the past, the animals were subject to mass slaughters over fears they could spread the disease brucellosis to livestock."
"The slaughters were blocked by former Gov. Brian Schweitzer two winters ago after cattle numbers declined outside Yellowstone and federal officials reduced the penalties for states that have brucellosis outbreaks."
"But when hundreds of bison were allowed to return to the Gardiner Basin, local officials said they posed a threat to safety and destroyed private property."
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"Until just recently, Bison were the only native wildlife species that were still unnaturally confined to the political boundaries of Yellowstone National Park for any part of the year. In the year of 2008, more than 1,400 bison (about one-third of the current size of Yellowstone’s bison population) were captured and slaughtered by government agencies while Yellowstone in search of food due to the severity of the winter."
"But this week a Montana judge ruled to allow the bison to migrate freely across 70,000 acres outside Yellowstone National Park. Now they’ll be able to roam freely without threat of being hazed or slaughtered."
" However, the Park County Stockgrowers Association, Montana Farm Bureau Federation, and Park County, Montana, sought to block implementation of the new policy in two lawsuits filed in May 2011. The lawsuits would require state officials to adhere to outdated plans for bison hazing and slaughter. They also raised concerns about the potential for bison to infect cattle with brucellosis."
" The NRDC and other conservation organizations are also committed to continuing their work with government agencies and private landowners to help mitigate potential conflict areas outside of Yellowstone where bison should have more room to roam and be treated like Montana’s other wildlife."
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CANADIAN FEDERAL COURT RULES THAT METIS AND NON-STATUS INDIANS 'QUALIFY' AS 'INDIANS' ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION ACT OF 1867
1-8-13
"I’M ECSTATIC ABOUT THE MÉTIS VICTORY IN THE FEDERAL COURT IN THE CASE OF DANIELS V THE CROWN"
Tony Belcourt, Founding President, Native Council of Canada
"We, the prairie Métis leaders at the time formed the Native Council of Canada, expressly to gain recognition of the obligations of the federal government to the Métis people – its obligations to regard us as “Indians” within the meaning of 91.24, which sets out that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction to legislate for “Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians”.
"This, we felt, was the only way we could get restorative justice for lands taken away or swindled away from us. This, we felt, was the only way we could gain access to sorely needed health, education and economic development benefits. Benefits in lieu of opening the way for the Government of Canada to bring into Confederation all of the lands of Rupert’s Land… all the territory of the rivers and tributaries that flow into James Bay and Hudson’s Bay and the resources and wealth that came with those territories – a huge land mass stretching from the northern parts of today’s Québec and Ontario and most of present day Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta."
"But while I see hope, I also know that waves of discrimination against us will be manifest. I know that the federal government will fuel fears of the consequences of this recognition and that their message will be rampant throughout the media. I especially regret the impending backlash we will experience from some First Nations leaders."
"In addition there is reason to question why I would be so elated, the reality being that the federal government will almost certainly appeal this decision and it will therefore refuse to take any positive action consistent with it. I’m overjoyed because I have finally seen the day when the mere declaration that the federal government has jurisdiction for Métis has been made and in my soul, I know there is no turning back."
"We are victorious today. I celebrate this victory and I toast to all those who have fought to see this day, especially my dear friend, Harry W. Daniels."
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“Today’s decision will mark a new relationship with the government of Canada,” said Betty Ann Lavallee, national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
“This case was all about fairness, dignity and self-worth.” The failure to recognize all natives’ rights in the past has led to “many, many years of suffering for off-reserve aboriginal peoples,” Lavallee said.
The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and several Metis and non-status Indians had taken the federal government to court in 1999 alleging discrimination because they were not considered "Indians" under a section of the Constitution Act.
They argued they are entitled to some or all of the same rights and benefits as First Nations peoples living on reserves, including access to the same health, education and other benefits Ottawa gives status Indians, such as being able to hunt, trap, fish and gather on public land.
The federal government issued a statement saying it was looking at Tuesday’s decision."
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HOUSE GOP BLOCK THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: A BILL THAT WOULD PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR THOUSANDS OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN
1-3-13
" Despite a late-stage intervention by Vice President Joe Biden, House Republican leaders failed to advance the Senate's 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, an embattled bill that would have extended domestic violence protections to 30 million LGBT individuals, undocumented immigrants and Native American women."
"The House leadership would not bring it up, just like they wouldn't bring up funding for Sandy [hurricane damage] last night," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a key backer of the Senate version of the bill, in an interview with HuffPost. "I think they are still so kowtowing to the extreme on the right that they're not even listening to the moderates, and particularly the women, in their caucus who are saying they support this."
"House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) had been guiding House negotiations on the matter, huddling with Republican congresswomen last month and even working directly with Biden to try to get a deal. House-Senate talks appeared to have broken down over House Republicans' refusal to accept a key protection for Native American women that was included in the Senate bill."
Murray said she is "absolutely" planning to reintroduce the bill in 2013. If the Republican Party is concerned about its relationship with women, she added, it should "put that concern to action."
"They have the opportunity to do it now," Murray said. "They have the opportunity to take up this bill and show women and men that they understand that women's rights are important."
"As far as easy to pass bills go, this one seemed like a slam dunk. The Violence Against Women Act was approved by the Senate by a 68 to 31 vote and was crafted by a liberal Democrat (Senator Patrick Leahy) and a conservative Republican (Senator Mike Crapo). It was passed in 2000 and reauthorized in 2005 without any hassle."
"Senator Patty Murray, the Democratic point person on Violence Against Women Act, said in a statement:
“The House Republican leadership’s failure to take up and pass the Senate’s bipartisan and inclusive VAWA bill is inexcusable. This is a bill that passed with 68 votes in the Senate and that extends the bill’s protections to 30 million more women. But this seems to be how House Republican leadership operates. No matter how broad the bipartisan support, no matter who gets hurt in the process, the politics of the right wing of their party always comes first.”
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"Arthur Michaels is a tribal prosecutor in Espanola. He says the court ruling is just wrong. "It’s abhorrent and it’s injustice not to have non-Indians prosecuted on Indian lands when they commit the crime on Indian lands."
"Michaels says that this ruling keeps tribal communities from obtaining justice. He explains that when a non-native abuses or kills a native woman, the case goes to federal agencies like the FBI, and this could take up to two years to prosecute. "First, they have to determine if you did it. They have to determine if it’s a misdemeanor or a felony; then they have big case loads. So, justice is not done, justice delayed is justice denied."
"This past year, tribes fought to get their power to prosecute non-natives back through a provision in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The bill stalled last year because of continued concerns about the non-native defendant’s civil rights. But, advocates say these concerns are unfounded, because the proposed law protects their rights, like the right to a public defender The bill also provides funding for domestic violence services."
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"“We have serial rapists on the reservation — that are non-Indian — because they know they can get away with it,” said Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center in Lake Andes, S.D. “Many of these cases just get dropped. Nothing happens. And they know they’re free to hurt again.”
"Asetoyer was talking about the loophole that prevents tribal authorities, who have jurisdiction over crimes committed on Indian territory by Indians, from having any authority over non-Indian male abusers. That’s despite the fact that non-Indian men account for an estimated 80 percent of rapes of Indian women, and that the astronomical rate of abuse of Indian women is well documented by the federal government."
“It’s immoral that the Congress of the United States would stand there and say that Indian women are less than their white counterparts, that we shouldn’t have the same equal protection under the law,” said Asetoyer.
"Technically, such crimes fall under federal jurisdiction, but in practice, that requires the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, sometimes located hours away from reservations, to investigate and potentially bring charges, which has been extremely rare. If the crime is less than a felony, it tends to slip through the cracks. And that’s if the crime is even reported."
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RUSSELL MEANS, LAKOTA AKI'CITA, AIM LEADER AND ACTIVIST, PHILOSOPHER, AUTHOR, ACTOR, TEACHER/MENTOR PASSES INTO THE SPIRIT WORLD LEAVING A LEGACY OF 'TRUTH' AND 'FREEDOM' FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
October 22, 2012
Hello our relatives. Our dad and husband, now walks among our ancestors. He began his journey to the spirit world at 4:44 am, with the Morning Star, at his home and ranch in Porcupine. There will be four opportunities for the people to honor his life to be announced at a later date. Thank you for your prayers and continued support. We love you. As our dad and husband would always say, “May the Great Mystery continue to guide and protect the paths of you and your loved ones.”
The wife and children of Russell Means
444 Crazy Horse Drive
Pahin Sinte, Republic of Lakotah
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:17:34 +0000
From: Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Subject: Leonard's Statement for Russell Means
October 22, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Leonard’s Statement for Russell Means
Greetings my relatives and friends
I wish I was there to talk with you in person and share with you the sorrow that I feel with the passing of Russell Means, my brother, my friend, and inspiration on many levels. Russell Means will always be an icon whenever the American Indian Movement is spoken of and whenever people talk about the changes that took place, the changes that are taking place now for Indian people.
One thing about Russell I always remembered, and I think someone else once said it, you may have loved him, or you may have disliked him, but you couldn't ignore him. I'll always remember when an elder said one time, I was at a ceremony and I asked what this half shaped moon circle on the ground meant, and he said it was a symbol of the circle of life, the never ending of the circle of life, and I said there is only half a circle, and he said the other half was unseen, it is the spirit world. For Indian people it never ends, we don't have a linear existence, so I know I will see Russell again, and I take comfort in that thought. For men like Russell Means don't come along in a lifetime very often. He was truly an inspiration for all of us younger guys at the time. He had good words to say, he was eloquent when he spoke them, and he spoke English as clearly and precisely and as articulate as any one I have ever heard speak. And he knew what he was talking about. And I know all of you out there, as well as myself, will always remember our friend, our brother and fellow activist, and how he stood with us to recapture the freedoms we've lost, and protect the ones that we still have, and bring about a better future for our people, and all people of this Mother Earth, who's nature is in peril.
I really don't know what else to say about our brother Russell, other than to Russell himself, "We'll see you again my brother Russell, in some other time and in some other place, we will always be your friend, and we will always look forward to seeing your face. Mitakuye Oyasin."
In the spirit of Crazy Horse, and Russell Means.
I'll close for now.
Leonard Peltier
RUSSELL MEANS' AUTOBIOGRAPHY, "WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD"
CHILD ABUSE AND ENDANGERMENT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS IN WHITE CLAY DEMONSTRATION
9-8-12
10 year old Wakinyan Conroy was maced by law enforcement officials during a peaceful demonstration in White Clay, Nebraska on Aug. 27. where protesters were marching against the amount of alcohol being sold in White Clay liquor establishments to Pine Ridge residents, a 'dry' reservation. A 14 year old boy was also arrested by law enforcement. Later that evening, 5 members of Deep Green Resistance were arrested and hauled away in a manure-contaminated horse trailer. Below is a petition site calling for an investigation and charges in the incident.
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Video of the macing incident...
Photo Credit: Deep Green Resistance
Video Credit: Native Impact
'TRIBAL JUSTICE' UNDER DISCUSSION
AT TRIBAL LEADERS SUMMIT IN BISMARCK
9-6-12
Tribal chairmen from North and South Dakota met in a tribal leaders summit in Bismarck on Thursday, along with officials from The Department of Justice, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Attorney's offices from across the country where the Tribal Law and Order Act was under discussion.....
"In the more than six years William Zueger served as chief tribal court judge for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, no council member ever approached him about cases in the court system. The retiring judge oversees a system independent of the tribal council, with law-trained judges and attorneys, with trained court personnel."
Contrast that with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, which has a court system in “chaos,” according to Chairman Merle St. Claire. St. Claire says hundreds of cases are at risk of being dismissed because of missed time limits and the judicial board tasked with straightening out the situation has been served with restraining orders to stop them from reviewing cases."
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"Fifteen U.S. attorneys from Alaska to New York, who make up the Department of Justice’s Native American Issues Subcommittee, met in Bismarck to discuss public safety issues with tribal leaders. U.S. attorney Brendan Johnson of South Dakota is chairman of the group; Timothy Purdon of North Dakota is vice-chairman."
""Tribal officials from the Dakotas told the federal prosecutors that law enforcement funding and resources continue to lack in Indian Country."
"The top federal prosecutors in the Dakotas said they have made crime in Indian Country a priority among issues."
"Johnson said criminal prosecutions have increased 20 percent in the past year in Indian Country in South Dakota, while Purdon said the increase in prosecutions in North Dakota is up about 30 percent."
"They said the numbers do not necessarily reflect a jump in crime, but an increase in cases taken up by federal prosecutors."
“We’re spending more time in Indian Country than we ever have and we’re spending more time with tribal leaders,” Johnson said. “When you do that, you usually get results.”
"Purdon said he has assigned assistant U.S. attorneys to each of North Dakota’s reservations and will have them visit their assigned reservations monthly to work with tribal prosecutors."
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WHITE EARTH OJIBWE NATION IMPLEMENTS THE TRIBAL LAW AND ORDER ACT (TLOA)
9-3-12
"Murderers, rapists, child abusers and other violent criminals on many of the nation's Indian reservations will soon be facing a more powerful courtroom opponent -- the federal government. Offenders on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota are poised to be first in line."
As a result of the 2010 Tribal Law & Order Act, plans are now taking shape for some tribes to seek federal help in prosecuting crimes in Indian Country, where crime rates are more than double the national average -- and up to 20 times the national average on some reservations."
"The White Earth Band jumped at the chance for federal help and has been meeting for the past year at least monthly with county, state and federal law enforcement officials to figure out how to implement it."
Read more....
http://www.startribune.com/local/168409406.html?refer=y
THE ENVIRONMENT: FRACKING ON THE BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION CAUSES TRIBAL DIVISION AND THE CONCERN OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
Photo: In the fading evening light, tepees meet the mountains along Highway 2, between Browning, the reservation’s largest town, and East Glacier. (Credit: Rich Addicks for The New York Times)
"Tapping Into the Land, and Dividing Its People"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/us/montana-tribe-divided-on-tapping-oil-rich-land.html? r=1&smid=FB-nytimes&WT.mc_id=US-E-FB-SM-PIX-TIL-081612-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click*"Yes, there is beauty here on the Blackfeet reservation, but there is also oil, locked away in the tight shale thousands of feet underground. And tribal leaders have decided to tap their land’s buried wealth. The move has divided the tribe while igniting a debate over the promise and perils of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in a place where grizzlies roam into backyards and many residents see the land as something living and sacred."
*"Chas Cartwright, the superintendent of Glacier National Park, has asked for a full-scale environmental review of drilling on the reservation. In a July 31 letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he raised concerns about how drilling might affect grizzly bear populations, air quality and the vistas from mountain perches inside the park.
*"Oil companies have leased out the drilling rights for a million of the reservation’s 1.5 million acres, land held by the tribe, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They have drilled 30 exploratory wells this year alone, and are already engaged in fracking many of them, pumping a slurry of water, sand and chemicals to crack open underground rock beds to pry out the oil."
*" The tribe’s approximately 16,500 members each got $200 in trickle-down payments from the drilling last year, and the oil companies have donated money to the local basketball team and to buy children toys and jackets last Christmas."
*"Ron Crossguns, who works for the Blackfeet tribe’s oil and gas division, has oil leases on his land, a 10-foot cross in his yard, and little patience for that kind of pastoral veneration. He called it “movie Indian” claptrap, divorced from modern realities. Mountains, he said, are just mountains.
“They’re just big rocks, nothing more,” Mr. Crossguns said. “Don’t try to make them into nothing holy. Jesus Christ put them there for animals to feed on, and for people to hunt on.”
PE SLA AUCTION CANCELED!
BREAKING NEWS!
Andrew Ironshell
Pe' sla auction per Brock auction house has been cancelled. They have no other comments. See their web page. No other word at this time. Will keep you posted. - Stay tuned for further updates...
http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/un-special-rapporteur-calls-for-us-to-address-pe-sla-auction.html
GENEVA – "The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, urged today the United States Government and the local and state authorities in South Dakota to address concerns expressed by the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples about an impending private land sale in the Black Hills region of the central-northern state, that will affect a site of great spiritual significance to them."
PROTECT OUR GOOD RED ROAD BY DEBRA WHITE PLUME
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/08/lakota-debra-white-plume-protect-our.html?spref=f
"One part of the Good Red Road is a prairie area called Pe Sla, in Treaty Territory that the US stole when gold was discovered. Unilaterally approving laws in violation of the Treaty, the US made land available to settlers through gradual encroachment. The Reynolds family began obtaining parcels of land on Pe Sla 136 years ago. Local legend has it they tried to mine for gold there, but found none, no one did, so they bought out the other settlers, one by one. Now the descendants of the early settlers want to sell the land through auction on August 26 in Rapid City. Every bone in my body tells me this is wrong. Not just illegal, but wrong. It tears at my heart to think part of our Good Red Road is being auctioned. Pe Sla is a place that fills your heart with love and joy, and when you go there, you just want to cry, and the healing tears fall, the power there is so strong. It is a place where generations of Lakota have sent their voices to the Universe. We want our generations to be able to go there, too. All of our Lakota way, belongs to our children’s children, and so on. We are keeping care of the Lakota way, for them, to carry on. So we are in a dilemma."
PROTECT PE SLA!
NOT TOO MUCH TIME LEFT BEFORE PE SLA IS AUCTIONED OFF!
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