Sorted by date Results 1026 - 1050 of 1085
REGINA, SK—Jim Sinclair, one of the most significant figures in the advancement of Aboriginal interests in Canada, died November 9, 2012, at the age of 79. Sinclair was a founding member of the Native Council of Canada, now known as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, and the Métis National Council. In 1982, Sinclair led the effort, which wound up in the courts, to have Métis recognized in the Constitution. “He was a leader like none we’ve ever seen before,” Don Ross, a long-t...
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI—Rikki Schock has been a fixture on the Aboriginal scene for years on Prince Edward Island. A mother and grandmother, she is the Vice-President of the Native Council of PEI. A long-time resident of South Pinette and well-known Aboriginal advocate, Schock is Canada’s newest member of the Aboriginal Order of Canada. On October 19, 2012, Schock learned she had been chosen for the special honor at the annual meeting of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in Ott...
RAPID CITY, SD—Just weeks before he officially took office, Oglala Sioux Tribe President-elect Bryan Brewer made an unprecedented move. Brewer on November 15, made a pledge to make major reforms in regard to Lakota language policy and revitalization on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The announcement of this historic action fittingly came at the opening of the fifth annual Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Language Summit held in Rapid City, November 15-17 at the Best Western Ramkota H...
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The Jicarilla Apache Nation of New Mexico signed an agreement with PNM to provide service on the reservation. The tribe was receiving service from Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative. But a dispute over the utility’s equipment on the reservation has led to lawsuits in tribal and federal court. “The nation has been dealing with issues related to the service they’ve been getting for three decades. The nation has lost trust in NORA,” attorney Nann Winter to...
PORCUPINE, SD—Lyle “Dusty” LeBeau, an Oglala Lakota from Porcupine, has been chosen to enter the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. LeBeau is one of 11 South Dakotans selected to enter the Hall of Fame this year. He is joined by golfer Kris Tschetter, Olympian Rod DeHaven and coaches Gary Munsen, Don Meyer, Bob Schroeder and Curt Fredrickson. In addition, several athletes were selected for the honor, including Harold Thune, LeRoy Carlson and James A. “Pev” Evans. Also, ref...
BISMARCK, ND—The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is training members to work in oil service fields. The Tribal Employment Rights Office already offers a 10-day oil rig training program. The last session had 24 graduates, The Bismarck Tribune reported. “In order to enable them to get a foot in the door, so to speak, we put on these trainings,” Volney Fasthorse, the assistant director of the office, told the paper. The tribe is now starting a heavy equipment operation training program. Rock, gravel and other materials gener...
WASHINGTON, DC—Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton law firm announced that the federal judge overseeing the historic Cobell settlement authorized $1,000 payments to begin for approximately 325,000 Native Americans. “With this authorization from U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, we are working non-stop to get this first round of checks to as many class members as possible before Christmas,” said Keith Harper of the Kilpatrick Townsend law firm representing the plaintiffs. Led b...
TOHLAKAI, NM(ANS)--Calvary Chapel Tohlakai is the first Calvary Chapel on the Navajo Nation. Planted by Pastor Landoll Benally, a graduate of Calvary of Albuquerque’s School of Ministry, the church has been ministering to the larger Yahtahey region of New Mexico for over two years. Landoll became aware of Calvary of Albuquerque’s School of Ministry from a radio broadcast he heard on a local station in the Gallup, New Mexico area. As it turned out, Landoll was praying abo...
CAPE DORSET, NUNAVUT—World-renowned Inuk artist Kenojuak Ashevak died on January 8, 2013 at her home in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, at age 85. Ashevak is considered a pioneer of Inuit art. Her drawings, prints and sculptures have been bought and displayed around the world. Her work was featured on several Canada Post stamps over the years, including her most famous print,Enchanted Owl. Ashevak was born in 1927 in a camp on Baffin Island and lived the traditional nomadic life on t...
MISSION, SD—The Rosebud IHS Service Unit has achieved designation as a Baby-Friendly® Hospital, which makes it the first hospital to achieve this designation in the Indian Health Service and in the state of South Dakota. This prestigious award is given to facilities that practice the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Research shows that following the Ten Steps increases exclusive breastfeeding, and this helps to reduce obesity and diabetes in the population. Co...
NUNAVUT, NVT—Readers of Inuktitut can now read the Bible in their own language thanks to the Canadian Bible Society (CBS). The translation office in Kitchener, Ontario, worked with Anglican Church leaders from the Diocese of the Arctic for the past 30 years to produce the Inuktitut Bible. The New Testament translation, started in 1978 and finished in 1991, is now in its fifth printing. The full Bible, including the recently finished Old Testament, was dedicated in Nunavut i...
WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) chaired what was likely his last Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on November 29, 2012. Akaka took over the committee at the start of the 112th Congress in 2011. He was the first Native Hawaiian in the post. “It has been a great honor for me to serve with you as vice chairman on this committee,” said Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming). “You have been a great friend and a great teacher to so many of us who have had the...
QUANTICO, VA—Pride is a natural trait woven into the fabric of Phyllis Hurlock’s life. As a civilian program analyst working for Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) at Quantico, Hurlock takes pride in her job. She is also a proud member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people headquartered in Shawnee, Oklahoma. If asked, she will answer to Wabnokwe, which is Potawatomi for Eastern Light Woman. Such entreaties are more common in Nov...
OTTAWA, ON—On January 8, 2013, Canada’s Federal Court ruled that 200,000 Métis and 400,000 non-status Indians in Canada are indeed “Indians” under the Constitution Act, and fall under federal jurisdiction. “Today’s decision will mark a new relationship with the government of Canada,” says Betty Ann Lavallée, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. “The recognition of Métis and non-status Indian as Indians under section 91(24) should accord a further level of respect and reconciliation by removing the const...
WASHINGTON, DC—Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn issued a statement on the passing of Chickasaw Nation Ambassador Charles Blackwell. It stated: “Today, Indian Country lost a distinguished leader whose eloquence and diplomacy in promoting self-determination for the Chickasaw Nation and all tribes was legendary. As the Chickasaw Nation’s ambassador to the United States, Charles W. Blackwell personified the nation-to-nation relationship, giving his peopl...
FORT TROTTEN, ND—American Indian male enrollment at tribal colleges and universities has risen 19 percent in the past six years, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. That translates into 5,807 male students out of a total tribal enrollment of some 18,400, according to AIHEC data. “In the settings among indigenous people where you have to consider the cultural significance we serve, it is important to help male members,” says Dr. Elmer Guy, presi...
BILLINGS, MT—The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana will be focusing once again on federal recognition, the new chairman said. The tribe was denied federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs but is appealing. The tribe is also seeking recognition through an act of Congress. “We’re starting to operate as a tribe once again,” Chairman Gerald Gray, who was just elected to a four-year term, told the Associated Press. The tribe recently opened a cultura...
SWARTZ CREEK MI (ANS)—One of the great Sunday pages of the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz shows Linus walking outside while it is snowing. He looks up, he catches snowflakes on his hand...and goes wild when he sees that two are identical. He rushes to show them off, but before his sister Lucy, or Charlie Brown, or anyone else, can see them, the snowflakes have melted. Good grief. What would have made that discovery special, of course, is that we are told that no two s...
TAHLEQUAH, OK—Google just announced that it has added Cherokee as Gmail’s 57th supported language. While Google has continuously expanded its language support for Gmail and its other services, this marks the first time that Google has added a Native American tribal language to its repertoire. Google, of course, isn’t doing this because of the large number of Cherokee-speaking Gmail users who are demanding support for their language. Indeed, the company points toward a 2002...
“...Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.” The Chief Shepherd (Jesus) said “Come to Me, all of you who work and have heavy loads. I will give you rest. Follow My teachings and learn from Me. I am gentle and do not have pride. You will have rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29 NLB)....
TORONTO, ON—On Thursday, November 15, 2012, Tyndale University College & Seminary and the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS) signed a Memorandum of Agreement to offer a Master of Theological Studies—Indigenous Studies. Dr. Terry LeBlanc, Director and CEO of NAIITS and Dr. Gary V. Nelson, President and Vice Chancellor of Tyndale signed the agreement at a public signing ceremony and celebration at Tyndale’s Bayview campus. NAIITS and Tynda...
NEW TOWN, ND—A twelve-year-old born on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota survived a deadly shooting by faking his death as he lay under his slain brother’s body. Christian Schuster told the Rev. Grant Patterson that “he laid there and played dead until the shooter left the house.” The pastor of the Bethel Lutheran Church in New Town said that he spoke with Christian about an hour after the killings. Also killed in the shootings were his grandmother and three o...
WASHINGTON, DC— Kevin K. Washburn, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. His position makes him the new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The U.S. Senate confirmed him following his nomination in August by President Barack Obama. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar applauded Washburn stating: “As we continue to strengthen the integrity of the nation’s gover...
BRASILIA, BRASIL—The Awá of Brazil, known as the Earth’s most threatened tribe, have written to the country’s Justice Minister telling him to “evict invaders urgently,” as news emerges that their hunting livelihood is being held for ransom by the activities of illegal loggers. The Awá’s letter urges Brazil’s government to evict invaders from their forest, stressing that, “Only then will we be satisfied!” Their written appeal coincides with fresh video testimony from an A...
Slain US ambassador to Libya was member of Chinook Nation SEATTLE, WA—Chris Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya who was killed in an attack on September 11, was a member of the Chinook Nation of Washington. “To all of the Chinook members and all the friends of the Chinook Nation I am hopeful that you will include the family of Chris Stevens the former Ambassador to Libya that lost his life while working towards bringing lasting peace to the region, in your prayers. Chris, along with his family are Chinook members,” Chair...
