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Dear Nidobak(friends), Whenever the sun is out and you are, too, it is time for a party. You can be as formal and fancy as you’d like or keep it totally simple. I put some ideas below so you aren’t so busy. As with all things, organizing is the key. Some dishes go with everything, others don’t. If you are having more than six people, it’s a good idea to have a card table size table to keep drinks separate from food. In summer, we all sort of mix our ethnicity by prepari...
I was walking my dog Rd on a gorgeous afternoon. My neighbor was outside doing some yard work, so Rd and I crossed the road to say hi. As we were visiting, Rd stretched out the leash that I was holding and sat on the grass to watch my neighbor's cat. They were both watching each other intently and neither one was making a move; we kind of laughed and wondered if they were making friends. About ten minutes later, a much younger dog came trotting down the road and wandered into...
Cathy decided to meet her friend Jane after not seeing her for several months. When they met, Cathy exclaimed: “Jane! How did you lose all that weight?” Jane replied: “It’s my husband. He never washes his dishes, he leaves his dirty laundry everywhere, his work papers are all over the place, and each night I run around the house cleaning up after him.” “That’s horrible!” Cathy said. “You should confront him.” “Oh I will,” answered Jane. “In six more pounds!” Maybe you’d like...
Frank Dragon grew up with loving parents who taught him well. But his world broke apart when he was 17 when his dad was killed in a mining accident. For several years he wandered around aimlessly, without purpose or passion. Then someone introduced him to a person who not only loved him but accepted him just the way he was. That person was Jesus. Is your life seemingly without purpose or hope? Are you overcome with grief? You can have the same hope and purpose that Frank has. • Tell God that you want to accept His way to know...
HOLLYWOOD, CA-"I'm so grateful to represent my people, my culture and my language," says Eugene Brave Rock Eugene Brave Rock has been travelling the world, chasing his dream of making it big in Hollywood since he was 17. Now, with a role in the box office smash Wonder Woman, Brave Rock is breaking new ground in his career. He's also become a hometown hero for the Blood Tribe in southern Alberta, where he was born and raised. "It's overwhelming, but it's great," said Brave...
So here's the thing we've got to keep in mind: the bar for Wonder Woman is ridiculously low. After the total disaster that was Batman v. Superman, the exercise in tastelessness that was Suicide Squad, and the extremely questionable choices of Man of Steel, all we really want is a DC Comics movie that doesn't suck. Like a gambling addict on a losing streak, we keep ponying back up to the table, ever more desperately convinced that our luck will change eventually. In my...
Book Review: Firewater How Alcohol is Killing My People (and Yours) by Harold R. Johnson University of Regina 180 pages Trade Paper Firewater is a tough read. What Harold Johnson writes is the hard truth about the devastating impact alcohol has had on our Indigenous peoples. Johnson, from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, was a prosecuting attorney. He writes about tribal traditions, spirituality, and modern medical research to take on the stereotype of "lazy drunken Indian."...
FLATHEAD, MT-A public school district in Montana is apologizing to a student from the Blackfeet Nation who wasn't allowed to wear a painted cap for graduation. Zephrey Holloway, 17, was allowed to attach an eagle feather to his cap at the June 2 ceremony. But the cap itself had to be plain-instead of the one painted by his grandmother, a traditional Blackfeet artist. "It's beautiful," Holloway tells Montana Public Radio. "It's awesome that my grandma took the time for my...
WHILE IT LASTED Though an Atheist, having spent 26 years in Nevada's Supermax, the last 10 years in its hole, I'm now in a mental health unit. A place where the squirrels had stashed all their nuts.... Rhetoric aside. I'm a 55-year-old Shoshone-Sioux mixed with a lot of Mediterranean ethnicity, who just wanted to say thanks for Indian Life while it lasted. I'll have received four copies of it before, like the end of life itself, it becomes extinct and out of reach to those...
My Native Brothers, do you believe you can honor your tribe and treat the women in your life with less honor? Do you believe you can honor our ceremonies and teachings and treat the women in your life with less honor? Do you believe you can honor Turtle Island and treat the women in your life with less honor? Do you believe you can honor your brothers in the faith and treat the women in your life with less honor? If your children or grandchildren, dog or cat (if they could talk), had to testify under oath, would you be...
INDIAN LIFE was awarded First Place in the category of Excellence for National Newspapers at the Canadian Church Press Conference in Quebec City, June 22. We also placed third in the Biographical Category for the First Person article "Witness to the Truth". This article appeared in our November-December 2016 issue and recounts the horrendous story of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of church clergy in the American southwest. Congratulations to our writers and...
Crazy things are happening in our world these days. Strange attacks on populations in the United Kingdom and closer to home in Flint, Michigan. To say nothing of the attacks that happen almost every waking hour in homes and communities across Turtle Island. These are powerful and heartbreaking reminders that life is uncertain and we never know when the end will come. Back in April, when the Board of Intertribal Christian Communications, publisher of Indian Life, announced that this issue (July-August 2017) would be the last...
My father taught me strong moral values and personal responsibility. He taught me honesty and trust. He taught me to be compassionate and respect all life. He also taught me the value of education. He loved sports and taught me how to play and enjoy sports. He also taught me to have fun and to laugh. But above all else, my dad taught me the meaning of love. The kicker was that I was 17 years old when my father was killed in a mining accident in Campbell River in January 1979....
LAKE WINNIPEG, MB-Over twelve years ago, the plan to create a national park including lowlands along the northwest shores of Lake Winnipeg were squashed by then Indigenous leader Ovide Mercredi. Now it is back having been resurrected from the grave but again it is creating a lot of debate and controversy. The Canadian government included funding for it in this year's budget by indicating financial support for the 4,400-square-kilometre proposed park. Supporters of the park...
WINNIPEG, MB-Manitoba could become the first Canadian province to recognize Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) by setting aside an official day. Bill 221 or "The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Honoring and Awareness Day Act" passed in the Manitoba Legislature on May 25. It came into effect at the end of the legislative session on June 1. The bill was introduced by Winnipeg's NDP St. Johns representative Nahanni Fontaine and states that every year...
WINNIPEG, MB-Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre along with the Canadian Mental Health Association have launched a major program to train Indigenous support workers to better aid and support people going through mental health crises. They are expecting as many as 2,000 people will be able to take this training. The plan is set to begin training workers providing them what they need to deal with mental health crisis situations. The program is called safeTALK and is a two-year program...
CHEROKEE, NC-The new leader of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is quickly settling into the job on the North Carolina reservation. Chief Richard G. Sneed was elevated to the tribe's highest post following the historic impeachment of Patrick Lambert. He's already assembled a new team and is calling for unity and healing, The Cherokee One Feather reported. "It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to be a tribe again," Sneed said at an event for tribal...
WASHINGTON, DC-The National Congress of American Indians held its mid-year conference in Connecticut the second week of June. Top officials from the U.S. government were among the major speakers at the event, which kicked off on Tuesday, June 13. Heading the list was Secretary Ryan Zinke, the new leader of the Department of the Interior, who addressed attendees during the opening session. The appearance was Zinke's first before NCAI, the largest inter-tribal organization. But...
WINNIPEG, MB-According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) more than 3,000 Indigenous communities in Canada have been added to Google Maps and Google Earth. Steve DeRoy, from the Ebb and Flow First Nation in Manitoba has been involved in this mapping for the past seven years. "It's important to me because there are so many Indigenous groups across the country and to not see them as an important fabric of a base map, just to not be recognized, it's insulting," DeRoy...
WINNIPEG, MB-Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman along with other Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, attended the signing ceremony for Winnipeg's Indigenous Accord on June 20. Mayor Bowman, along with the full city council and representatives of dozens of Winnipeg organizations signed the accord during a two-and-a-half-hour ceremony at Oodena Circle at The Forks. The accord states that those who sign the document must publish an annual report...
WASHINGTON, DC-The White House is finally filling out its leadership team at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Gavin Clarkson, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, will be serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development at the BIA. He is the first senior political hire at the agency since Secretary Ryan Zinke, the new leader of the Department of the Interior, came on board in March. The job is not the top political one at the agency. That would be the...
SACRAMENTO, CA-Controversy is stirring over a bill in California that offers tax relief for tribes whose land-into-trust applications have been approved but have not yet been finalized. Land placed in trust is not subject to local and state taxation. But appeals in the courts and through the administrative process can tie up tribes for years. That's the situation facing the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Although the BIA approved the tribe's application for 1,400 acres...
BISMARK, ND—The North Dakota Public Service Commission has scheduled a hearing to discuss the disturbance of tribal artifacts during construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. According to the commission, the firm waited too long—10 days to be exact—to notify the state after stone cairns and other artifacts were uncovered at a construction site last October. The firm also slightly modified the route of the pipeline without informing the state, the commission said in issuing a $15,000 fine against the wealthy backers of th...
WASHINGTON, DC-A landmark decision from the U.S. Supreme Court threatens the long-running case against the Washington NFL team's racist mascot. A group of young Native activists, led by Navajo Nation citizen Amanda Blackhorse, had secured victory when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said the team's symbols were "disparaging" to Native peoples. A federal judge agreed. But on June 19, 2017, the nation's highest court, in a complex ruling, changed the game. By a majority...
Eight Canadian cities hosted concerts from Halifax to Montreal, Toronto to Winnipeg, Calgary to Edmonton, Yellowknife to Vancouver. Performers included Metis Don Amero and Rick Leaf's Tribe of One, Burnt, and the Inuit Throat Singers Choir. Special guest singer was Nelly Furtado who performed from Winnipeg....
