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TORONTO, ON—The Royal Ontario Museum’s special exhibit of Great Lakes art from the early 19th century to the present, currently on display for an “indefinite engagement,” is entitled “Sovereign Allies/Living Cultures: First Nations of the Great Lakes.” It conveys two themes: First, Great Lakes tribes helped British soldiers combat American soldiers during the War of 1812; Second, Native stereotypes continue into the 21st century. Housed in only one large display case among a l...
OMAHA, NE—The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska signed a deal to host a wind farm on the reservation. The tribe is working with Bluestem Energy Solutions. The deal calls for a 10-megawatt wind farm, enough to power 3,500 homes. “The tribe realized during its study of wind energy that it would need a significant partner with the resources to complete the multimillion dollar project,” Chairman John Blackhawk said in a press release. Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2013....
WARM SPRINGS, OR—Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have decided to spend nearly $11 million to build a new school. The vote was essentially a re-do of a referendum that failed in May due to inadequate voter turnout. Nearly three quarters of the tribal members who cast a vote in that first election favored the plan. Still, it failed due to a provision in the tribes’ constitution that requires at least 33 percent of all members over the age of 21 cast a ballot. Just by comparison, only 22 percent of reg...
Love me to the moon and stars Where black bursts into brightness You and I will fly up there Too high for night to find us Love me to the ocean black Beneath the blue to darkness We’ll go so low and deep the day Won’t ever have to part us Love me to sweet dream sleep Where striving fades to stillness Hope leaves us with a hole but healing Finds its space and fills us Love me to the Father’s heart Where peace flows like a river Leave me there for just a while Until we begin forever...
Make me like a tree by the river whose leaves of green will ever grow make me like a tree by the river who finds its strength in the river’s flow Make me like a tree by the river who fears no loneliness or shame make me like a tree by the river who calls itself by the river’s name Make me like a tree by the river who worries not about its need make me like a tree by the river whose roots reach down to the river’s deep Make me like a tree by the river that stands strong in dr...
KETCHIKAN, AK—Ketchikan Indian Community Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) continues its good work, recently wrapping up a second 16-class session with nine participants. This year’s first session, also with nine members, experienced similar success. Graduation ceremonies for the second class were held on July 26 at the KIC Clinic. The Diabetes Prevention Program is funded through the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) initially authorized by Congress in 1997. The...
CUSTER, SD—The spirit of Crazy Horse was present during a recent Native American memorial and honoring horse ride. Lakota riders from various reservations in South Dakota banded together along with non-Native American riders to honor military veterans during the almost week-long journey. Pine Ridge, Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations were well represented during the 140-mile ride, which kicked off June 29 in Pine Ridge. The Akicita Sungakan Okolakiciye, or W...
My name is Robert Little Fox Hill and I was born in Palao, California, on December 24, 1947. I know that because it’s on my birth certificate. Three days later we moved to a reservation in Oklahoma. For the next seven years, that’s where we lived. My biological father was wounded in the Korean War. His whole platoon was thought to be dead. They left the bodies in the field for three days and when they went out to pick up the corpses, they found him still alive. After that he...
Quentin Harris (Salish) is a respected Northwest Coast First Nations artist and carver. He grew up on British Columbia’s coast in the town of Maple Ridge. He has been teaching Aboriginal art and culture for School District #42 for several years. His art is balanced between pushing the creative boundaries of Native art and his discoveries of spiritual truth. He is passionate about connecting First Nations’ arts and culture with Christianity. He would like to see First Nat...
NEW LONDON, CT—The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut is set to open its first gas station this fall. The tribe has already begun work on the 24-pump station, The New London Day reported. It’s located on the reservation, near a hotel and the tribe’s casino. The paper did not say whether the tribe would offer gas at lower prices....
During the month of September I spent a week in McAllen, Texas. I had the joy of sharing the Good News of Jesus with a few people and also spent some time handing out invites for special outreach activities. As I went about visiting, sometimes door to door, I met a lot of very friendly people. I noticed that many of the doors had a sign hanging, with one word on it. Sometimes the same word was displayed on a mat in front of the door. Can you guess what it was? Yes, the word...
SPOKANE, WA—The Bark Canoe Store opened in 2000 in Spokane. Originally it began operating by making birch bark canoes and it expanded to provide birch bark for cabinet and furniture and construction. Then it expanded to accessories and things that might go along with birch bark canoes like Hudson Bay axes, packs, materials. Then came delivery of birch bark canoe building classes. “We are known for taking courses to communities, often First Nation communities,” says John Linde...
Two space probes, Voyagers 1 and 2, began their long journey across our solar system 35 years ago. They sent back images and information never before seen or imagined. Scientists not only saw Jupiter’s huge red spot up close, but they watched a volcano exploding on Jupiter’s moon Io. The spacecraft revealed icy details of Saturn’s rings and discovered atmosphere on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. Voyager 2 relayed the sight of geysers erupting on Neptune’s moon, Triton. V...
BILLINGS, MT—Joshua Peppers, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, is back in the U.S. after being injured in Afghanistan. Peppers, 27, stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while on patrol. He’s in recovery at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland after his right foot was amputated. “He said he felt pretty lucky to be alive considering what had happened,” his mother, Rae Peppers, told The Billings Gazette. “His spirits are positive and he is...
EAU CLAIRE, WI—William R. Fredenberg, a decorated combat veteran who was a member of the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin, died on July 21. He was 89. Fredenberg enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1942. He served in World War II, when he was shot down in France and taken as a prisoner of war. As a prisoner, Fredenberg led a daring escape of 13 fellow prisoners. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters for his efforts. Fredenberg enlisted in the Air Force a second time in 1950 and ser...
WINNIPEG, MB—Aboriginal and political leaders are set to meet in Manitoba for the third National Aboriginal Women’s Summit. According to Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Eric Robinson the summit will be held November 1 and 2 in Winnipeg. He said the summit is a “critical opportunity” to focus on ending violence against Aboriginal women and girls. “We all have a stake in stopping the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable women and girls in Canada,” he said. “This summit is a critical opportunity for governments to conti...
Healing is a huge need within our Indigenous communities. The widespread effects of everything within the colonial effort have caused heartache. Yet, in addition to the things that have happened to our people, in the past, there are everyday situations, in the present, that also affect us. The Bible has many verses that deal with healing. How do we go beyond just seeking an apology? How do we discover true healing and freedom that brings about the full redemption of the past?...
SPRUCE GROVE, AB—Joe Jespersen, 70, fought his final battle and was released from this earth to his heavenly home on July 29, 2012. Joe was a regular contributor to Indian Life for a number of years. Joe grew up on a dairy farm near Spruce Grove, Alberta. His family was always generous to the Aboriginal people who stopped by their farm. When a Metis neighbor was evicted, Joe’s dad moved the fellow’s house to the Jespersens’ land, where he lived the rest of his life rent fr...
APPRECIATED EDITORIAL Greetings! I just want to say that I appreciate your magazine, and that I especially appreciated the editorial you put in the last issue about trusting God. Well said. George Mueller has been my greatest spiritual model since childhood. What a man of faith. I have also gone through many times (I am no longer young) when my faith was on trial, and I really appreciate that the usual spiritual accolades just aren’t enough at those times. It is easy to say ...
We are at a crossroads! It is crisis time in America. In less than two months, Americans will be going to the polls to vote for the next President of the United States. They will also be choosing members of Congress, state governors, judges, council members, school superintendents—basically all those in authority. This is perhaps the most uncertain election Americans have ever faced—certainly in my lifetime. Not only uncertain about the election results but also the dir...
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (ANS)—One of the marvelous facets of living in New Mexico is the Native American influence found in the cultural life of the state. New Mexico turned 100 years old this year—2012, admitted as part of the United States in 1912, with most of the political groundwork laid by President Theodore Roosevelt. Yet, President William Taft signed the Proclamation of Statehood on January 6, making New Mexico the 47th state of the United States of America. Though New Mex...
LONDON, UK—Usain Bolt’s frisky relationship with Olympic solemnity is some of the best entertainment at the London Games. But when it comes to ranking the greatest Olympians ever, Bolt is nowhere near the top of the list. The worship Bolt shouts for belongs more rightly to a 100-year-old dead man who hardly ever spoke up for himself, Native American Jim Thorpe. Bolt has sprinted hard into immortality; he is indisputably the fastest man ever, and maybe one of the most cheerful,...
DESORONTO, ON—Early in the morning on August 22, 2012, we lost a great leader, warrior, motivator and organizer. Ross Maracle, 66, died from injuries sustained in a car accident in Upstate New York. He was known across Canada and many parts of the United States as the host of Spirit Alive TV program. He was also founder and president of the National Native Bible College for almost 20 years. A member of the Mohawk First Nation, Ross was also dedicated to Native young people w...
VANCOUVER, BC—The Lower St’at’mx First Nations have a world of opportunity at hand as they become part of energy developments that make new opportunities available. Douglas First Nation partnered with Cloudworks Energy to help bring hydro-electric power into Douglas First Nation for the first time in history. This benefits Douglas and other In-SHUCK-ch member-communities of the St’at’mx Nation. There are less than a dozen villages left in the St’at’mx Nation, and four of those are known as In-SHUCK-ch, but the people of these...
TULSA, OK—Tribes across the nation have been exercising inherent governmental powers since the 1970s. Nowadays, tribal sovereignty and self-determination are considered a part of everyday business. But, when did tribes start really using their governmental powers and who helped this government-to-government relationship develop? He is best remembered for political spying during the Watergate scandals of the early 1970s, but U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and his a...
