Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 185
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is moving to rein in a low-cost telephone service for low-income customers that critics say will hit Indian Country hard if fully implemented. But FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and other supporters say the reforms would close the digital divide between urban and rural Americans by ending "ongoing waste, fraud and abuse" in the program that serves more than 12 million people nationwide. The Lifeline program, established under the...
WASHINGTON-Senators John Hoeven (R-ND) and Tom Udall (D-NM), chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA), led a bipartisan group of 21 senators in introducing a resolution to recognize the month of November as National Native American Heritage Month. The resolution celebrates the heritage, culture and history of Native Americans and recognizes the many contributions Native Americans have made to our nation. "Native Americans have significantly...
According to Canada's 2016 Census, the indigenous population of the country is growing at four times the rate of the rest of the population. Nearly 1.7 million people identified as Aboriginal, which is a 4.9 percent share of the total population and a 42.5 percent increase since 2006, a growth rate more than four times that of their non-Indigenous counterparts. Statistics Canada says the spike is a result of natural growth-increased life expectancy and a high fertility...
Bear Ears Monument in Utah remains in the middle of controversy. The state of Utah has submitted maps to the Interior Department that show Bear Ears National Monument cut in size from 1.35 million acres to approximately 120,000 acres. While the Trump administration has not announced a final decision on the state's vision, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has issued a press release praising the administration's impending decree. Governor Gary Herbert's office argues that the state's pr...
MUSKOGEE, OK-The descendants of former slaves held within the Cherokee Nation are entitled to tribal citizenship, a federal judge ruled in a long-running controversy that has stretched through three U.S. presidential administrations. In the landmark decision, Judge Thomas F. Hogan settled the biggest issue in the dispute. He said a treaty signed in 1866 guarantees citizenship to the former slaves-more commonly known as Freedmen-and, by extension, to their descendants. "The...
OTTAWA—In a speech to the United Nations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada has let down its 1.4 million indigenous people and that his government would do better to improve their lives. When the prime minister was elected in 2015, he pledged that his administration would work on its relationship with aboriginals. In his September 21, 2017 speech, Trudeau noted to the U.N. General assembly the history of Canada’s colonization as being filled with “humiliation, neglect and abuse.” Indigenous Canadians, compris...
In an answer to much prayer (and a long-time prayer), Intertribal Christian Communications (Indian Life Ministries) and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Inc., form a new partnership. For many years, ILM staff and Board have been praying for a First Nations believer to join ILM as Director, and the Lord has chosen now to answer this prayer! With this new partnership, NEFC Executive Director, Kene Jackson, will provide new leadership, wisdom and experience for ILM....
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....
WINNIPEG, MB-Member of the Legislature (MLA) Wab Kinew has thrown his hat in the ring to become the leader of the Manitoba New Democratic Party (NDP). Joined by family, friends, and supporters at the Manitoba Legislature, Kinew announced he's a candidate for the NDP leadership. Kinew said he's running "for people whose voices aren't often heard" and he gave the example of an inmate at the Manitoba Youth Centre. "I want to say directly to that young person, 'I am you, and you...
WASHINGTON, DC-The United States Department of the Interior has hit a crucial milestone. It has transferred a total of $60 million to the Cobell Scholarship Fund, which was established by the historic Cobell settlement. The figure is significant because it's the maximum that can be placed in the fund under the terms of settlement. The amount also points to the success of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, another component of the settlement. A portion of every land...
OTTAWA, ON-The Canadian government announced it is increasing its spending on post-secondary education, community infrastructure and the health of Indigenous people in the most recent federal budget. Observers say this is a clear attempt to slow criticism over its handling of crises that plague First Nations and Inuit communities. The 2017 budget adds $3.4 billion additional over five years for areas of "critical need," in addition to the $8.4 billion already committed in...
Five students graduated from the Master of Arts in International Studies from George Fox University under the NAIITS program. Congratulations to Jim Sequeira, Linda Rae Coon, Joshua Grace, Shawn Hostler Jones and Donnie Begay (absent from the photo). "On behalf of the rest of the NAIITS faculty and students, 'Well done!'" stated Dr. Terry LeBlanc, NAIITS Director. See story on page 14....
COLEMAN, FL-Family and supporters of Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in prison, were devastated when former U.S. President Barack Obama chose not to pardon or commute his sentence. They had placed their hope in the fact that of all the American presidents who have served since Peltier has been incarcerated, President Obama would be the most likely one to set him free. But this would not be the case. Among this prisoner's most prominent supporters was Pope...
WASHINGTON, DC-Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04) invited former Tulalip Tribal Board Member Deborah Parker from Washington State to join her in the House of Representatives to listen to U.S. President Donald Trump's first speech to a joint session of Congress. Parker joined her "to help stress our shared moral imperative to safeguard our nation's most vulnerable." Rep. Moore was very disappointed that this administration while making a commitment to national security, failed...
TORONTO, ON-After a long eight-year wait, a landmark decision has finally been reached that will have a profound effect on thousands of children who were taken from their homes and placed in non-Indigenous homes, a government action that became known as "the Sixties Scoop". An Ontario judge ruled on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2017, that Canada's government failed First Nations children during the 1960s by placing them with non-Native families which in most cases caused...
CANNONBALL, ND-When the announcement was made in early December to block the Dakota Access pipeline, it was like an early Christmas gift from the United States government. Celebrations went on for quite some time by those at the protest sites. These included 2,000 U.S. military veterans who had joined the protests on December 2 to protect them from the authorities. Prior to this there had been confrontations, some of them violent, between tribal protectors and their...
OTTAWA, ON-There is a plan in the works that is going to transform the way the Canadian government deals with Indigenous peoples. If things go according to hopes and planning, it will mean big changes to the way Ottawa transfers funds to the country's 634 First Nations. According to reports, there's a small committee of federal politicians and Indigenous leaders who have been quietly working on this transfer plan. If it's successful it will be the "single most significant...
OTTAWA, ON-Canada is investing up to $500 million to bring high-speed internet access to 300 remote communities by 2021. Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains stated that the "Connect to Innovate" program is the modern equivalent of building roads or railway spurs to remote locations, providing Internet access to schools, hospitals and First Nation band offices. "Our government is committed to ensuring that all Canadians, businesses and institutions have access to the...
WASHINGTON, DC-At President Barack Obama's final White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, he announced that his administration will pay 17 Native American tribes a total of $492.8 million to settle long-standing disputes over mismanagement of tribal lands by the Department of the Interior. The settlement comes amid ongoing protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Federal authorities manage almost 100,000 leases on nearly 56 million acres of trust lands on behalf...
OTTAWA, ON-The Canadian government, along with the government of the Province of Ontario, signed a historic agreement with the Algonquins of Ontario to give back large sections of eastern Ontario to the First Nations people along with as much as $300 million. The Honorable Carolyn Bennett, Indigenous Affairs Minister and her Ontario counterpart, David Zimmer signed the agreement which eventually will give back to the Algonquins about 36,000 square kilometers (almost 22,370...
GALLUP, NM—“Spotlight: A Public Discussion about Faith, Journalism, and Protecting Children from Sex Abuse” was held on September 24 at Gallup’s El Morro Theatre. The event was held in conjunction with two free screenings of “Spotlight,” the 2015 Best Picture Academy Award winner. At that panel discussion were panelists Terry McKiernan, of Boston, the founder of BishopAccountability.com and a consultant to “Spotlight”; Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, who represented 18 clergy sex abuse claimants in the Diocese of Gall...
TADOULE LAKE, MB-The Canadian government formally apologized to the Sayisi Dene on Tuesday, August 16, when Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett issued an apology to the survivors of this northern Manitoba community. "It is unbearable to consider what you lost in those years in Churchill," Bennett stated. "All we can do now is offer our apologies." Along with the apology, Canada offered a $33.6-million compensation fund that will be invested as a trust,...
BISMARCK, ND-In mid-August, the U.S. government gave final approval for the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which when completed will run for 1,172 miles to transport crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken oilfields to Patoka, Illinois. When it was learned that the pipeline was approved, hundreds of protesters, primarily Lakota and Dakota from surrounding reservations gathered at the edge of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to voice their anger and...
