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A more detailed memorial will follow in the next issue....
SEATTLE, Wash.-For the first time, air travelers have the option of shopping at an airport store owned by Native Americans. The Sacred Circle Gift Shop, owned and operated by United Indians of All Tribes Foundation has found a home at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Located inside the main terminal on Concourse A, Sacred Circle offers authentic, Native-designed items from Northwest Coast and Coast Salish, including jewelry, clothing and accessories, art, glassware an...
WASHINGTON-"Just Google it." Carroll Onsae says it's a joke among Hopi, who have broadband internet in only some pockets of the reservation. And even there it works slowly. "Our area is economically disadvantaged. It's a hardship for families to not have service to broadband services," said Onsae, the general manager of Hopi Telecommunications Inc. Only about 29 percent of Hopi households have access to broadband, compared to 79 percent in Arizona and 78 percent nationwide,...
SULPHUR, Okla.-Since its launch in October 2018, Mahota Textiles LLC has already made waves in the Native American art world. The First American Art Magazine named the founding of Mahota Textiles to its Top 10 Native Art Events of 2018. "I think the story really begins with Mahota and the Chickasaws," Margaret Roach Wheeler explained, referring to a Chickasaw matriarch in her lineage-the namesake for both her co-op and the new business. "In 1844, she came from Mississippi...
GANADO, Ariz.-At precisely 6:55 each school day morning, Freddie Yazzie puts his bus in gear and cautiously pulls out of the bus yard beside the Ganado Unified School District main campus. For 26 years, Yazzie has driven school buses for this quiet Navajo community, and in that time, he shaped his role beyond that of a chauffeur for the elementary, middle and high school students on his route. As Yazzie sees it, he changes lives. From the outside, his school bus, No. 153,...
Senior Shandiin Herrera came to Duke understanding she wouldn't find many other Native American students on campus. The first year was harder than she expected. Four years later she leaves as Duke's first Native American Udall Scholar and as a campus leader who has advocated for more institutional support for Native students. Herrera has helped members of the Native American Duke community better connect and make their presence known on campus. "It's important to understand...
Recently a Native American youth from Warm Springs, Oregon was named the International Miniature Saddle Bronc World Champion. Isaiah Florenda, a sixth-grader from Warm Springs academy, enjoys several sports each year, but rodeo tops the list with his attending about 80 rodeos a year. This is not the first win for Isaiah. He's been winning buckles since he was eight years old and now has a collection of 14 champion buckles. However, the most recent rodeo at the International Mi...
SACATON-Sprouting through the cracked floor of the Sonoran Desert, tepary beans thrive in the dry heat and carry with them centuries of resilience from the Indigenous Pima people of southern Arizona. "We have our water. It's our life. It's our livelihood, and it's our culture," said Ramona Button, owner of Ramona Farms. Ramona Button and her husband, Terry, have been farming traditional native foods on the Gila River Indian Community for more than 40 years, including the...
Raymond, you're not white. You shouldn't mark that box," one of my coaches told me in front of the whole team. I was quite embarrassed and very angry when I went home. My mom had always told me that when I was asked or had to fill out any papers, I needed to check the box that said I was white because I was Caucasian. When I got home that day, I asked my mom why she had me mark the box "white" when I really wasn't white. My mother finally told me the truth. "You are Hopi and...
WINNIPEG, Manitoba-The City of Winnipeg has announced plans to hire a contractor this summer to dismantle homeless camps and collect used needles from parks and other public areas. They have accordingly put out a request for proposals (RFP). The move comes as a surprise to some organizations that work with people at risk, including Main Street Project. The director of transitional housing, Adrienne Dudek, told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC.ca) reporters she hopes...
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.-The Cherokee Nation gave nearly half a million dollars to 136 rural Oklahoma fire departments in May during the tribe's annual Volunteer Firefighter Ceremony. Each year, rural fire departments rely on fundraisers, membership dues and the help of good Samaritans to maintain their operations. To honor them the firefighters, the Cherokee Nation provided each department with a check for $3,500, totaling $476,000, to help with equipment, fuel or other items needed...
FAIRFIELD, ON-The United Church of Canada is returning a significant piece of land to the Eelünaapéewi Lahkéewiit people of Delaware Nation. Fairfield is a historic village in Bothwell, between Chatham and London Ontario, that was first settled by the Lenape people 227 years ago. A ceremony being held on the site will officially mark the paperwork to execute the land transfer. "I think the community is going to be really proud of getting that piece of property back because it...
Just to let you know that there are a few men in here with me that see the difference between mass media news and your newspaper, and they all came to the same conclusion. And that is that the Indian Life newspaper is all positive actions, nothing being reported about any harm to others or applying fear to the reader. It is unique to them and as for me, being in prison since the age of 19 now, all I've seen is what the worst a man can inflict on another. So to be introduced...
For the last couple years, my wife, Milly, and I have been involved with what are called "grief camps." This is rapidly becoming a real focal point on our schedule, one of those, "I don't want to miss this for anything" type events! It's where people who've lost someone close to them in the last few months can come and find some hope and healing-a five-day reprieve from the storms and pressure of their everyday journeys. As we get to know those who've come, we try to provide...
There are times When...I can feel... The blood coursing Through my veins As... I behold The many injustices Suffered... Injustices...still being suffered Within...the tribes In the forgotten worlds Of depression... Where...inner turmoils Instilled hatreds... And mistrusts Haunt...the survivors And the cultures Which... Are beginning to... Flourish anew And it's here... That I sit In deep Prayer And contemplation A warrior...yes... Called...and named Humbled...before... The...
Question: I am a First Nations person who was taken from my parents as a child and placed in a non-native foster home. I am an adult now and want to know who my biological parents are, if I have any siblings, and I want learn about my culture. I have mixed feelings on this and wonder if it would be a good thing to reconnect with my family? Nettie Flett There are many stories in God's Word that can help guide our thoughts, emotions, our hearts and comfort us. There are stories...
TORONTO, Ont.– A holistic approach to bringing emerging digital technologies to Indigenous businesses and communities is urgently required to ensure their participation in the new economy, according to a report released by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Called “Digital Directions: Towards skills development and inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the new economy” the report contains sweeping recommendations to ensure the Indigenous workforce and youth have access to th...
ROCKVILLE, M.D.-The Indian Health Service Office of Urban Indian Health Programs has awarded grants totaling more than $7.5 million to 30 urban Indian organizations in 17 states across the country. These grants will make health care services more accessible for American Indians and Alaska Natives residing in urban areas and will support operations at urban health care facilities. Funding will be used to support four health program areas: health promotion and disease...
VANCOUVER, B.C.-The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls congratulates more than 100 organizations that successfully applied for funding to host community gatherings and events. These will further the healing of families and survivors of violence, and mark the end of the National Inquiry's mandate. The National Inquiry received applications from coast to coast to coast, from large city centers to remote communities. A list of all organizations...
SPOKANE, Wash.-In 2016, the Cayuse Mountain Fire was Washington state's second-largest fire. Fire crews from the Colville Tribes and the Kalispel Tribe helped the Spokane Tribe fight the blaze, which jumped the Spokane River onto the reservation. Making the fire devastation even worse, water ran low and pumps stopped working when the electricity was cut off and homeowners couldn't defend their property. Crews couldn't get into active wildfire areas to replace burned power...
YUKON TERRITORY-The incarceration rate is dropping in Yukon, and officials are citing Indigenous efforts as part of the reason. Between 2016 and 2018 Yukon's adult incarceration rate, and its number of admissions, dropped more than in any other province or territory. According to Statistics Canada, Yukon's adult incarceration rate of inmates in any kind of custody per day dropped by 30 per cent between 2016 and 2017. The total number of admissions to adult correctional service...
Winnipeg, MB-The Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) and the federal government signed a new agreement in early May that will bring $160 million to help Métis citizens improve skills and find good jobs. "This new agreement for Métis Employment and Training marks another important milestone on our journey towards reconciliation with Canada," said David Chartrand, President of the MMF. "This agreement reflects the partnership between the Manitoba Métis Federation and the Gov...
ADA, Okla.—Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby recently announced a partnership between the U.S. Census Bureau and Chickasaw Nation to help ensure Native Americans are counted accurately during the 2020 census. “There has been an undercounting of certain populations and, as Native Americans, we have had a long-term issue that affects us,” Governor Anoatubby told census officials. Native Americans were undercounted by about 4.9 percent, a rate more than double the next population group. The Chickasaw Nation has forme...
WYOMING-The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) applauds the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion issued May 20 in Herrera v. Wyoming, a tribal treaty rights case. The dispute initially arose in 2014, when Herrera and fellow Crow tribe members were hunting on their reservation in Montana. They followed elk that crossed into the Bighorn National Forest in neighboring Wyoming, shot the elk there and took the meat back home. Fighting his Wyoming state convictions for hunting...
Winnipeg-In April, Indian Life newspaper received the Award of Merit in the Evangelical Press Association's annual Awards of Excellence contest. The contest had more than 1200 entries overall, in a couple of dozen categories. The judge said, "I have been judging a lot of publications this go-around. And none of them have matched Indian Life's commitment to telling the . . . stories of Indigenous people who have suffered pain over the generations. This newspaper not only...