Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 182
Lipan Apache Tribe wins 10-year fight for eagle feathers McALLEN, TX-Ten years after a federal agent crashed the powwow of the Lipan Apache Nation in Texas and seized their eagle feathers, the tribe won a major victory that has major implications for not only all Native Americans but all people of religious faith. "The fight wasn't for the feathers," said Robert Soto, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church of McAllen, Texas, and vice chairman of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas....
Laura Grizzlypaws from Lillooet, British Columbia, performed at the 33rd annual Gathering of Nations, the world's largest gathering of Native American and Indigenous peoples. The only female Grizzly Bear dancer in the world is of St'át'imc descent. The Gathering of Nations powwow, considered the most prominent Native American event in North America, hosted hundreds of thousands of people and more than 700 tribes from throughout the United States, Canada, and around the world...
OTTAWA, ON-One of the most maligned pieces of legislation in Canadian history turns 140 this week, but few First Nations are celebrating, chiefs say. First passed in 1876, the Indian Act received royal assent on April 12, 1876, under a Liberal government headed by Prime Minister Alexander McKenzie. The Indian Act ("An Act respecting Indians"), is the primary legislation used by the federal government to administer everything from laws to membership and elections in First...
KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, INDIA-The National Park and Tiger Reserve that Britain's Prince William and Duchess Katherine visited in April, was the focus of a brutal "shoot to kill" policy that has seen 62 people shot dead by wildlife guards in just nine years. Kaziranga National Park in Assam state has become infamous across India for its extrajudicial executions. Armed guards summarily execute anyone they suspect of poaching, and local people are reportedly offered cash...
OTTAWA, ON-After a long 17-year fight for recognition, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down a major ruling on who bears responsibility for Indigenous Peoples of Canada. It declared on April 14 that the Government of Canada is responsible for all Indigenous peoples in Canada, including Métis and non-status Indians. When the ruling was announced, there was rejoicing and emotion from the Métis and non-status leaders who were crowded into the foyer of the Supreme Court. With t...
The Festival du Voyageur is Western Canada's largest winter festival, an annual 10-day event that takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The festival, held each February in St.-Boniface, Winnipeg's French Quarter, across the Red River from downtown. Manitoba is the largest French community outside of Quebec. This year's celebration was held from February 12 to 21, 2016. "Voyageur Snow Sculpture Contest-the next generation" was held in Voyageur Park from February 6 to 11, 2016....
WASHINGTON, DC-Tribes across the United States, including the newest members of the federally recognized family, have been awarded more than $715 million in housing funds. The largest chunk of $660.2 million came from the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) Program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Recipients included the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia, whose federal status only became final late last month (see article, page 3). The tribe's grant of $50,282...
VANCOUVER, BC-A group of First Nations in British Columbia signed an agreement to protect their territory from logging. The deal bars development on about 85 per cent of the Great Bear Rainforest. Logging can occur on the remaining 15 per cent but only under strict conditions. "Over the last 10 years we have worked with stakeholders and the Province to complete a common land and marine use vision for both the Great Bear Rainforest and the Great Bear Sea," said Dallas Smith, th...
WINNIPEG, MB-Wab Kinew, well-known broadcaster, author and Native activist, pulled off a stunning surprise by announcing that he is going to run as a candidate with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Manitoba's upcoming provincial election. If elected, he will fill the spot left vacant by Jennifer Howard, who announced her departure from the legislature. "I would like to step forward as a voice of renewal," Kinew told a crowd gathered at the Gas Station Arts Centre. Standing...
SHOAL LAKE, ON-The residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nations got an early Christmas present. Well, it's more a promise of one to come in the first part of the New Year. After many years of political discussions, broken promises, and outright refusal to commit, Canada's government agreed to pay for one-third of the cost of building an all-weather road to the Shoal Lake First Nation. This decision and the eventual completion of the road will bring to a close many years of...
OTTAWA, ON-After six years of grueling research, hours of emotional sharing, and months of writing, Justice Murray Sinclair presented the Truth and Reconciliation's final report on Canada's residential school system. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in his speech before the assembly that his government will do over and above what the TRC recommendations call for. "We need nothing less than a total renewal of the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples," Trudeau...
ONAMIA, MN-Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV) today announced it has expanded its hospitality footprint with the purchase of the DoubleTree by Hilton Minneapolis Park Place Hotel in St. Louis Park, MN. The hotel marks the fourth major hotel asset purchased by MLCV in the past three years. The 297-room DoubleTree by Hilton Minneapolis Park Place is a profitable, turn-key investment for Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures and a strategic expansion of its holdings in the Greater MSP...
MADISON, WI-Two Wisconsin tribes received a prestigious award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Wednesday. The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Menominee Nation were selected for the Culture of Health Prize. They will each receive $25,000 in recognition of their efforts to promote longer, healthier and more productive lives in their communities. "This year's RWJF Culture of Health Prize winners are inspiring examples of communities that are weavi...
WINNIPEG, MB-On Wednesday, September 2, 2015, Sheila North Wilson became the first woman Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO). A former television journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the CTV Network, she defeated not only incumbent MKO Grand Chief David Harper but also William Elvis Thomas from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. North Wilson is a member of the Bunibonibee First Nation. She is married to Rob Wilson, whose known...
OTTAWA, ON—Prior to the October 19 federal election which brought in the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the leaders of Canada’s three major political parties all promised to negotiate a massive settlement on a land-claim with the Manitoba Métis Federation. This is a deal that is estimated to cost the Canadian government billions of dollars. With a new government just installed in Ottawa, it remains to be seen what will transpire. This discussion began as the result of a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2013...
WINNIPEG, MB - The "Sleeping Giant" has awakened according to First Nations leaders following Canada's election on October 19, which elected Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, 43, in a landslide victory allowing them to form a majority government. The Conservative Party's government went down to a resounding defeat which returned former prime minister Stephen Harper to form the Official Opposition Party. Ten First Nations candidates were elected, highlighted by the election...
WINNIPEG, MB-Winnipeg will host a summit on combating racism on September 17-18, hosted by Winnipeg's Mayor Brian Bowman, Metis, and will be held at the Canadian Museum for Civil Rights. "Winnipeg came together in one, unified strong voice to say, 'Yes, we do have a problem here," Bowman said referring to an article that appeared in the January 22 Maclean's magazine which labeled Winnipeg as "Canada's most racist city." "Cities across our nation have the same...
DURANGO, CO-A top New Mexico official vowed to support the Navajo Nation in litigation against the Obama administration as questions mounted amid a multiple state and tribal environmental catastrophe. At an occasionally emotional session of the Navajo Nation Council, delegates complained that they still haven't been formally notified by the Environmental Protection Agency about the spill at the abandoned Mine in mid-August. More than three million tons of waste entered the wat...
BEARS EARS, UT-More than two dozen tribes are calling on President Barack Obama to designate a new national monument to protect 1.9 million acres of sacred and historic land in Utah. New designations are controversial among Republicans but tribal leaders hope that strong support from Indian Country will help make the case for the Bears Ears National Monument. They will also settle for the creation of a conservation area in the southeastern portion of the state. "We've never...
WINNIPEG, MB-Manitoba became the first Canadian province to offer an apology to thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their homes during the 1960s and adopted out to families-mostly non-Native, and a majority of whom went to the United States. Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger offered a formal apology on June 18, to the survivors of the '60s Scoop and their families. "Today, I would like to apologize on behalf of the province for the imposition of this practice,"...
MILTON, ON-A partnership has been formed between Rain Ministries and OneBook to translate an English paraphrase of the New Testament created especially for and by First Nations people. The goal of the First Nations Version is to enable over seven million English-speaking Indigenous people on Turtle Island to read and hear 'Creator's Eternal Word' in the words that reflect their heart languages. Due to forced assimilation, the great majority of First Nations peoples lost the...
Washington, DC-The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has adopted a new policy in regards to how tribes can apply for federal recognition. According to BIA's Assistant Secretary, Kevin Washburn, the federal acknowledgement process which was formally adopted in 1978, will no longer allow some tribes to gain recognition or affirmation of their status through other means. This new policy puts an end to that. "The recently revised Part 83 regulations promote fairness, integrity,...
OTTAWA, ON-The last week of May and first week of June were set aside for a national gathering of Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people who came together to pay their respects and honor the fallen-over 6,000 Native children and youth who died in Residential Schools over a period of about 150 years. It was also a time to listen, reflect, to apologize and to forgive and to learn how to begin the long process of healing. Over ten thousand marched through the streets of Canada's...
AKWESASNE, NY-The Aboriginal homeland of the Six Nations Iroquois (the Haudenosaunee) stretched from Lake Champlain and the Hudson River in the east, the Niagara River-Lake Erie in the west, Delaware River and the central Pennsylvania mountains to the south and the St. Lawrence River to the north. Included in this region are not only large sections of New York but parts of Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Within this area dwelt many tens of thousands of Iroquois along...
WINNIPEG, MB-On March 31, 1960, then-governor general of Canada Georges Vanier gave royal assent to the bill that gave Inuit and First Nations peoples the right to vote for the first time. This was a right that had been denied to them on reserves under the Indian Act. To mark the anniversary, a celebration was held in downtown Winnipeg, hosted by Robert-Falcon Ouellette and Rebecca Chartrand two federal candidates for the Liberal Party in the expected fall federal election. In...
