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The soldiers who were guarding Creator Sets Free began to mock and beat Him with their fists. They put a blindfold over His eyes, "Prophesy to us! Tell us who struck You!" they laughed, insulting Him with cruel words and twisted faces. As the sun began to rise the Grand Council of elders, along with the head holy men and the scroll keepers, (scribes) all came together. They brought Creator Sets Free (Jesus) into the council house. "If You are the Chosen One, then tell us!"...
TORONTO, ON-The Canadian government located 5,315 people who allegedly committed abuses at residential schools, CBC News reports. None are facing any charges at this point. Instead, the alleged abusers were invited to participate in hearings for the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. But only 840 people indicated interest, CBC reports. "There's not a lot in it for them to come forward," an attorney for residential school survivors told CBC. The residential...
DULUTH, MN-Four tribal citizens entered not guilty pleas after being charged for exercising their treaty rights in off-reservation areas of Minnesota. Harvey GoodSky and Morningstar GoodSky, who are from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, are accused of harvesting wild rice without a permit from the Department of National Resources. Todd Thompson, of the White Earth Nation and James Northrup, from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, are accused of...
WINDOW ROCK, AZ-The Navajo Nation and retailer Urban Outfitters remain locked in a battle over the unauthorized use of the tribe's name on a series of products. The retailer was using the "Navajo" name on products without the Navajo Nation's permission. The goods weren't Indian produced either. The tribe is seeking profits from certain "Navajo" products that were sold by the company and its affiliates back to 2008. For other products, the tribe is seeking damages, the...
LA LOCHE, SK-A month to the day after a shooter entered the school's doors and killed a teacher and an aide and wounded seven others, the doors were finally open for students at the La Loche school to return for classes. Two teenage brothers were also killed in a nearby home on the same day. The accused killer, a 17-year-old boy, who can't be named under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the January 22 shooting. H...
RICHMOND, VA-A small opposition group is conceding defeat after failing to derail federal recognition for the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia. Cheryl Schmit of Stand Up for California believes she raised important questions about the tribe's status. But she told The Washington Post that other entities will have to carry on the fight after the Interior Board of Indian Appeals dismissed her challenge. With the appeal-which was the only one filed-out of the way, the Pamunkeys will now...
If you’re going to care about the fall of the sparrow, you can’t pick and choose who is going to be the sparrow. –Madeleine L’Engle “So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to Him than a whole flock of sparrows.” –Matthew 10:31 (NLT) Charlie Brown, the comic strip character identified with the underdog, probably because he always felt like one. In one scene he was building a birdhouse when the cynical Lucy came by. “I’m building it for sparrows,” Charlie told her. “Fo...
A long time ago, I went to the Indian boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina. I met a lot of fellow Indians from across the country and most of us were from the same background-we were poor. We didn't have the money to travel to our homes during holidays. We wore hand-me-down clothes and spending money just didn't exist. One of my fellow students from that time was Phillip Martin. If you don't know Phillip, he's the Chairman of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians...
VANCOUVER, BC—Canada’s healthcare system is ineffective when it comes to serving Indigenous patients. The reason is because there has been a “lack of Indigenous governance over the way in which health services are designed and delivered.” Those are the words of Dro. John O’Neil, professor and dean of the Health Sciences Faculty at Simon Fraser University. In an Op-Ed column in the Winnipeg Free Press, O’Neil writes that although there have been partial attempts to transfer portions of the health care system to First Natio...
DURANT, OK-The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma plans to break ground on a $219 million headquarters next month. The 500,000 square-foot building will be located in Durant. The five-story facility will consolidate programs and services that are currently housed at about 30 different properties, The Oklahoman reported. "This is a tribal legacy project for the Choctaw Nation and its citizens," Chief Gary Batton told the paper. "We've waited a long time to see the beginning of this...
David Alexander Robertson Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson Highwater Press, Paper, 30 pages Ever since Tina Fontaine's brutally murdered body was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg, the cry for all the missing and murdered Indigenous women has become louder and louder. And it should. Finally, the Canadian government is paying serious attention to these thousands of families who have lost loved ones and friends. One such story that got some attention back in the 1970s was...
Dear Friends, I hope this winter is going fast for you as it seems to be here in the Northeast U.S. Either that or I have been rushing about too much. From everything I've been reading about maple sugaring, it is supposed to be a very good year because of the warmer days and cooler nights. Not only that but people are looking for healthier sources of sweet. As far as that goes, honey and maple sugar or syrup top the list. Always buy authentic maple syrup as other maple syrups...
The Revenant" is set in what is now North Dakota/Montana in the 1820s. (The film fudges a little on its location as it was shot in British Columbia, which has the Rockies versus North Dakota's mountain-less terrain). It's a time period and location seldom explored in movies-a Western in some senses, and definitely not in others. A band of fur trappers, led by Domnhall Gleeson, find themselves in conflict with the Indigenous people of that land (called by their nickname the "Re...
Named one of the Top Fifty Women in Oklahoma Was Founder and President, Indigenous Democratic Network Attorney and member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Kalyn Free founded and was president of the Indigenous Democratic Network, known throughout Indian Country as INDN's List, the only political organization that recruited, trained and funded American Indian candidates and staff and mobilized the Indian vote throughout America. It was the only political organization that...
GOD MOVES THROUGH OUR WORDS I want to share something that happened to me as I read Becky Kew’s “Do You Ever Wonder Why?” in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue. Becky wrote about Daisy, a horse that fell into a well and could not get out. When I read that story, it totally convicted me. It made me cry, something I haven’t done in a while. I mean the kind of cry that one may do when the Holy Spirit moves upon them. Needless to say—I was moved. Like Daisy, I fell into a well too. The difference between Daisy and myself is that she fell...
The church I attend had extensive renovations done to make the surroundings functional and inviting. We have a small central stage where a speaker shares God's Word from behind a pulpit. It's a wonderful thing to focus on the Bible and let it speak to your heart. Praise and adoration of the Savior and thoughts of God's greatness, should be the result. As well, hopefully a heart that is changed a little bit more to be like Jesus is also a result. A couple of times I have found...
Many of us Aboriginal people believe in healing. Even if you do not believe in Jesus you probably still believe in healing. That is why many Aboriginal people who are not followers of Jesus go through the way of their ancestors for different healings of some sort. The purpose of this column is not to discuss the different methods people use to obtain healing, but focus on pointing people to see Jesus Christ as their ultimate form of healing. In this life and the one to come....
All the song birds in the forest had stopped singing. They were afraid of a giant hawk that had just moved into the forest and was killing the small songbirds. They stopped singing because when the hawk heard them singing he'd swoop down, grab them with his talons and carry them away and eat them. Only the partridge was safe from the hawk because his brown feathers blended with the dirt and weeds and the partridge didn't sing pretty songs or fly higher than a bush so the hawk...
Life is a puzzle. How many of your puzzle pieces are not quite fitting into the pattern you envisioned? Like with a jigsaw puzzle, I have often looked through my life's puzzle pieces, trying to find the straight edge that completed the frame or that oddly shaped piece that filled in a scene, only to determine that I must have lost it. I rejoice the most over that piece when I find it! I recently went through a medical ordeal that consumed my life for three months. I am...
Tonto finds the near dead Ranger and with Good Samaritan care nursed him back to health. This is one of the gifts God has bestowed on Chief Silverheels-to reach, to touch, to bless... My dad, Jay Silverheels, was what you would consider Hollywood royalty. I admired my father for his success and achievements in film and leadership as the first Native American in cinema. But I didn't live with him growing up. My parents separated when I was young but I did see my dad several...
Have you been watching the political ads or the debates on TV or following election results recently? Better yet, have you been voting? In the United States, the battles have gone from small skirmishes to major battles, literally destroying candidates. Canada came through a bruising election last fall and the new government is being tested and judged on the campaign promises it made. Now it's the United States' turn and it seems to go on forever. In each of these arenas,...
The Festival du Voyageur is Western Canada's largest winter festival, an annual 10-day event that takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The festival, held each February in St.-Boniface, Winnipeg's French Quarter, across the Red River from downtown. Manitoba is the largest French community outside of Quebec. This year's celebration was held from February 12 to 21, 2016. "Voyageur Snow Sculpture Contest-the next generation" was held in Voyageur Park from February 6 to 11, 2016....
WASHINGTON, DC-Tribes across the United States, including the newest members of the federally recognized family, have been awarded more than $715 million in housing funds. The largest chunk of $660.2 million came from the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) Program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Recipients included the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia, whose federal status only became final late last month (see article, page 3). The tribe's grant of $50,282...
VANCOUVER, BC-A group of First Nations in British Columbia signed an agreement to protect their territory from logging. The deal bars development on about 85 per cent of the Great Bear Rainforest. Logging can occur on the remaining 15 per cent but only under strict conditions. "Over the last 10 years we have worked with stakeholders and the Province to complete a common land and marine use vision for both the Great Bear Rainforest and the Great Bear Sea," said Dallas Smith, th...
WINNIPEG, MB-Wab Kinew, well-known broadcaster, author and Native activist, pulled off a stunning surprise by announcing that he is going to run as a candidate with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Manitoba's upcoming provincial election. If elected, he will fill the spot left vacant by Jennifer Howard, who announced her departure from the legislature. "I would like to step forward as a voice of renewal," Kinew told a crowd gathered at the Gas Station Arts Centre. Standing...
