Sorted by date Results 826 - 850 of 1096
WINNIPEG, MB-Following Canada's recent federal election, there are signs that things are beginning to change in the relationship between First Nations and the federal government. No one seems to recognize that more so than distinguished author and advocate for Aboriginal rights John Ralston Saul. Recently Saul gave an interview to the Winnipeg Free Press to talk about "how Indigenous people are rebuilding their communities and how that process will influence Canada." Reporter...
VICTOR, NY-In late-October, the Seneca Art & Culture Center opened its new facility, designed by FdM:Arch, on the Ganondagan State Historic Site, just southeast of Rochester, New York. The Seneca Art & Culture Center will explore the histories, traditions, and cultures of the Seneca and Iroquois people, and highlight the significance of the site as a major 17th-century Seneca town. The new building, which takes design inspiration from important symbols of unity within the...
BUFFALO, NY-Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) faculty member and researcher Rodney Haring, PhD, MSW, has been named to a federal advisory panel that makes recommendations on ways to reduce health disparities among federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Dr. Haring, a member of the Seneca Nation, was appointed as an at-large delegate to the American Indian and Alaska Native Health Research Advisory Council (HRAC), which works with tribal leaders...
ORLANDO, FL-Imagine this with me. A New Testament in English, translated by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island, that reflects the beauty and profound simplicity of our traditional way of thinking and speaking. This dream is becoming a reality with the support, expertise, and experience of the Bible translation organizations of OneBook of Canada and Wycliffe Associates of the U.S. In September 2015, a group of ten Native American/First Nations people from Turtle Island,...
LONDON, ENGLAND—Award-winning actor Mark Rylance launched a new campaign to save the Kawahiva—a small uncontacted hunter-gatherer tribe in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The Kawahiva are one of the most vulnerable peoples on the planet. Their forest is being invaded by armed loggers, miners and powerful ranchers in a region of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state known for its violence, rampant illegal logging and land grabs. The uncontacted Indians are forced to live constantly on the run from invaders. Many of their relatives have be...
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-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...
MARTIN, SD—At the age of 10, Sky Garner was quickly being pushed in to the abyss of the South Dakota foster care system. Today, Garner is serving as a certified medic in the United States Army. “I think it is important that we get his story out there so that young people can look and see someone who has overcome obstacles to succeed,” said Louis Garner, Sr. After attending Bennett County schools for most of his life, Sky Garner, found himself sitting in special education classes that he would eventually overcome. At that poin...
Valued by the Anishinaabeg as a good source and a spiritual symbol, namè, or lake sturgeon, continues to be cared for and protected by the Ojibwe people today and plays an important cultural role. Namè belongs to the Ojibwe clan system, which assigns different roles for people within the tribal communities. Giigoo doodem (fish clan members) are known as the wise people: teachers and scholars within the community. They work with youth, solve inter-clan disputes, and are p...
CASS LAKE, MN-It is with sadness that we announce the passing of former Indian Life Ministries Board member, Raymond John Smith, 82, who passed away on July 16, 2015, in Phoenix, Arizona after a three-year battle with cancer. Ray was born on June 10, 1933 at the Indian Health Service in Onigum, Minnesota. An enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Ray was raised on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota. At the age of 11, Ray surrendered his life...
TACOMA, WA—Tacoma Intertribal Gathering was started ten years ago as Tacoma First Nations Gathering. The mission of TIG is to promote, spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical wellness in First Nations families and individuals through culturally respectful events by honoring Creator Jesus, the Redeemer and the Healer of all nations. Every month TIG has a potluck, birthday celebration, Native storytelling, drumming and dancing, and either a featured speaker or Indigenous dance group. They have recently started to learn t...
FORT DEFIANCE, AZ (BP)--Former Southern Baptist church planter and missions director Russell Begaye, installed May 12 as president of the Navajo Nation, calls his position a gift from the people and from God. "God gives you that position," Begaye said at his inauguration ceremony in Fort Defiance, Arizona. "When you look back, you never dream that you would be the president of the great Navajo Nation.... It's a gift, a gift first from the people. The people honor you with it....
It probably comes as no great surprise to people familiar with Browning to learn that with high rates of unemployment and financial shortages there are many folks who are homeless and/or on the streets. Recent meetings of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council have brought out speakers concerned about people on the streets and what might be done to address the issue. One entity in Blackfeet Country, the Medicine Bear Shelter, has been dealing with homelessness and poverty on...
WINNIPEG, MB-The City of Winnipeg now has an Indigenous Advisory Circle that will strive to bridge the city's Aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities. "We need to build bridges in this community," Mayor Brian Bowman, Metis, stated during a press conference at City Hall, during which he presented the members of his newly formed circle. Wab Kinew, well-known broadcaster and Associate Vice President for Indigenous Relations at the University of Winnipeg, will chair this new...
EDMONTON, AB-Ashley Callingbull, Cree, became the first First Nations woman from Canada to win when she was crowned Mrs. Universe in Belarus on August 29. "We couldn't be prouder of Ashley," said Nola Wanuch, a councillor on Alberta's Enoch Cree First Nation, where Callingbull grew up. Callingbull has received intense media attention following her win and something that brought criticism because some thought her win was receiving more media attention than the more serious...
RIVERTON, WY-James "Sonny" Goggles, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, remains in serious condition after being shot in the head in Riverton, Wyoming, on July 18, 2015. His family is raising funds to aid his recovery. Wyoming Democrats are pushing for hate crimes legislation in the wake of an attack that left one member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe dead and another with serious injuries. Stallone Trosper, 29, was killed after being shot in the head while he slept on July...
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...
The Sac and Fox Nation and two sons of the legendary athlete and Olympian Jim Thorpe are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take on their case. Thorpe died in 1953. As he was about to be buried in Oklahoma, where he was born, his widow had the body taken to a newly-created municipality in Pennsylvania called the Borough of Jim Thorpe. Along with the tribe, Bill and Richard Thorpe say their late father belongs on Sac and Fox land in Oklahoma. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals,...
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...
