Sorted by date Results 376 - 400 of 1025
SASKATOON, Sask.-In late May, 64 teams of gamers from Indigenous communities across Canada squared off against each other on Playstation's NHL 20 series for a chance at a cash prize and being announced as the country's best Indigenous online hockey team. "It's the neechi Stanley Cup of online gaming," Cameron Edwards, one of six players from the Lake Manitoba Eagles team, told CBC News about the Fred Sasakamoose "Chief Thunderstick"National Hockey Championship online. The annu...
STITTSVILLE, Ont.-COVID-19 may be keeping people home this year, but you can still enjoy the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival online until June 21. The festival will feature a long lineup of local emerging and established artists. Live streamed performances will include: local Inuit throat singers and Juno finalists Silla & Rise with DJ Trio, award-winning Métis and Inuit duo Twin Flames, Amanda Rheaume, Cody Coyote and many more. You can also participate in interactive...
CHEYENNE RIVER, S.D.-With the recent arrival of Covid-19 on South Dakota's remote Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, the Cheyenne River Youth Project has continued to adapt its programming and facilities to meet the challenges of the ongoing public health crisis. Not only is the nonprofit youth organization pursuing remote learning opportunities for its teens, it also has transformed its gymnasium into a massive learning space. According to Julie Garreau, executive director,...
ADA, Okla.-Art lovers and buyers can maintain responsible distancing while browsing Chickasaw and Southeastern artists' works online at ArtesianArtsFestival.com. Chickasaw and Southeastern Indian art buying has found a home virtually with sales available now through July 31. "The Chickasaw Nation will host the site," said James Wallace, director of visual arts media and design for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Arts & Humanities. Each artist will have the opportunity to...
Even though they couldn't make the mortgage, Edgar Villanueva's church gave. They took on significant risks, supporting missionaries, responding to natural disasters, helping hungry families. They felt called to make major investments in the community, so they did. Even though it was scary, God always just provided, Villanueva said. It was biblical, he said, to continue toward their calling and trust that things were going to be OK. "Helping generate wealth in diverse...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-In late May, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released the much-anticipated Final Rule modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a regulatory framework that features landmark provisions designed to incentivize increased access to capital and credit for tribal governments, communities, and citizens. Leading up to the release of the Final Rule, NCAI, the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA), and our partners had...
PHOENIX-Arizona tribal leaders told House lawmakers Tuesday that moves to reopen national parks are being made without needed health safety measures to protect tribal members or park visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comments by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Havasupai Council Member Carletta Tilousi come as the Interior Department is moving to reopen parks. That includes Grand Canyon National Park, which began allowing visitors on a limited basis last...
HULBERT, Okla.-Construction on the Cherokee Nation's eight new efficiency homes in Hulbert was recently completed, and the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation continues to take applications for future tenants. Construction began in November 2019 on the one-bedroom, 720 square-foot efficiency homes that will be used as income-based rental units for Cherokee Nation elders. "In times like these, it is important that our Cherokee Nation elders have a place they can call...
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-While most people in the United States have focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision to revoke the reservation status of a Native American tribe's more than 300 acres in Massachusetts has gone relatively unnoticed, according to the Native American International Caucus of The United Methodist Church. In a recent statement, NAIC leaders raised concerns about the Secretary of the Interior's decision to disestablish tribal lands of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe...
LAC LA BICHE, Alb.-The Resource One Aboriginal Business Association (ROABA) recently hosted a local fundraiser and supplies drive for evacuees of the Fort McMurray flooding last Saturday in Lac La Biche, Alberta. The flood damaged more than 1,200 structures, forcing more than 13,000 people from their homes after an ice jam on the Athabasca River caused flooding. The ROABA collected a full trailer of supplies outside of their offices within two-hours. The items included...
OTTAWA, Ont.-Fishing is part of First Nations culture and identity. It sustains First Nations peoples and economies and is a constitutionally protected inherent and Treaty right. In the spirit of reconciliation and raising awareness of our shared history and future, the Assembly of First Nations National Fisheries Committee, by direction from Chiefs-in-Assembly, declared the Monday preceding May 25 a National Day of First Nations Fishing Rights. This year, National Day of...
SAN CARLOS-As she looked at the Disney characters decorating the walls of the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Dental Clinic and at the smiling, laughing children watching dental health demonstrations, Suzanne Haney thought back to what a trip to the dentist used to be. "Back then, it was so different, it was in the '70s you know, the treatment wasn't great," said Haney, a grandmother and primary caretaker for three children under age eight. "It made you afraid to come to the...
PHOENIX, Ariz.-Arizona tribes were among those who could get too much-or too little- COVID-19 relief funding under a Treasury Department funding formula that is based on "probably not the best numbers," according to the author of a new report. The policy brief from the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and the University of Arizona's Native Nations Institute criticized the formula used to allocate the first $4.8 billion of relief to tribes under the Coron...
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.-Recently, people of Ireland donated a substantial amount of the $3.6 million raised to help 4,300 Hopi and Navajo, in what some people consider a payback for a good deed performed by the Choctaw Nation in 1847. In 1831, people of what is now the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma were pushed onto the trail of tears, removed from their homeland, forced to the Indian Territory. At least 4,000 Native Americans died by disease, starvation, and severe weather in the...
SPLIT LAKE, Manitoba-Recently, four Cree nations conflicted with Manitoba Hydro over work at the Keeyask Generating Station in northern Manitoba during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the nations learned that during a shift change, 700 people would leave the project near their communities and bring in another shift of more than 1,000 different people, some from outside Manitoba, they set up blockades on the Keeyask south access road. The Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Fox Lake Cree...
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.-The Naabik'íyáti' Committee of the 24th Navajo Nation Council heard from programs and utilities Friday, May 22 on the water infrastructure needs aimed at providing clean, piped water to the Navajo People. The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) Navajo Area Office reported together to the 24-member Committee that a total of more than $700 million is needed to address the w...
TORONTO, Ont.-According to a report several months ago, Indigenous-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are showing that they are highly adept at breaking into foreign markets, according to a new report jointly released by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and the Office of the Chief Economist of Global Affairs Canada (OCE-GAC). The report, Indigenous-owned Exporting SMEs in Canada, finds that, based on CCAB survey data, nearly a quarter (24...
JAMES SMITH CREE NATION, Saskatchewan-Sometimes it just takes one person with a caring heart and a clever idea-and determination to act on it-to make a difference. And thanks to Tanya Sanderson, hunters are joining the team to make a difference for the James Smith Cree Nation. When Sanderson heard that COVID-19 had hit Saskatchewan, she was concerned about the 3412 fellow members in the nation near the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. Even though Sanderson and her husban...
WASHINGTON-In mid-March, United States Senators Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA) Vice Chairman Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled the Tribal Medical Supplies Stockpile Access Act, legislation that would guarantee that the Indian Health Service (IHS), tribal health authorities, and urban Indian organizations have access to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), a federal repository of drugs and medical supplies that can be tapped if a public...
TULSA, Okla.-The Cherokee Nation contributed more than $6 million to 108 school districts during the tribe's annual Public School Appreciation Day Thursday. This year's disbursement is the largest since the tribe began its annual contributions in 2002. Aside from the millions of dollars the Cherokee Nation and other tribes provide to the state of Oklahoma for education funding each year through the tribal-state gaming compact, the Cherokee Nation also allocates 38 percent of...
WASHINGTON-Dean Seneca didn't mince words after the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's "damaging news" in early March about the spread of the novel coronavirus that has killed thousands of people worldwide. "I want to make sure that I stated that tribes are not prepared for the coronavirus," he texted Indian Country Today a day after an interview in which he was more cautious. "I don't think that we are as prepared as we should be," Seneca-who has worked more than 18...
OTTAWA, Ont.-Following the Federal Court of Appeal's decision on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says the federal government must ensure that First Nations' rights, title and jurisdiction are respected. "First Nations' rights and title holders must be respected in all proposed development, and this, of course, includes the Trans Mountain pipeline. Government and industry must do a better job of...
LOS ANGELES-In a city renowned for its green policies, Prius drivers and biodegradable straws, it was only a matter of time before officials would vote to move away from coal-powered electricity. To transition to clean energy, the city sold its shares of a coal-powered generating station on the Navajo Nation in 2016, ending a decades-long relationship. What seemed like a bright new sustainable future for Los Angeles presented a harsh reality for the tribe, whose members...
Ottawa, Ont.-The Trudeau government has promised $305 million to help Indigenous communities deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the $305 million Indigenous community support fund as part of a broader $82 billion aid package to help Canadians and businesses deal with the fallout from COVID-19. Trudeau announced last week that Indigenous communities could draw from a $100 million envelope that was part of a $1 billion investment to boost...
WASHINGTON-In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, tribal nations -comprised of some of the most vulnerable communities in the United States-have been left out of the conversation. As the COVID-19 pandemic has now reached all 50 states, tribal governments also face heightened challenges to protect their citizens, and have inadequate federal funding and resources to do so. "We cannot ignore the elevated risks faced by Indian Country from this virus," said...
