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For the first time in history, an Arizona governor signed an executive order to officially establish a task force focused on addressing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis.
“For too long, our state has ignored tribal leaders’ pleas for help addressing the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said.
Hobbs signed the order on March 7. She was joined by Attorney General Kris Mayes, Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, Gila River Indian Community Lieutenant Governor Monica Antone, First Lady of the Navajo Nation Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, study committee members and advocates.
“This issue is extremely important to our tribal communities, who are relying on this work to be done,” Hatathlie said, adding how the previous study legislative committees did a lot of work over the last two years looking into the systems and structures that are failing Indigenous communities across the state. READ MORE — AZ Mirror
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Inupiaq musher Ryan Redington — grandson of the co-founder of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race — won the 998-mile event on Tuesday, March 14, becoming the sixth Alaska Native musher and second Inupiaq to win the storied race.
Redington and his team fended off 25 mph headwinds and a last push by Peter Kaiser to overtake him in the final leg of the race to cross the finish line in Nome, Alaska, just before 12:13 p.m. Alaska time.
Redington finished the race in 8 days, 21 hours, 13 minutes and 58 seconds after it started in Willow.
At the finish line, Redington talked about what it meant to him to bring the trophy home.
“It took a lot of work and a lot of patience,” he said, crediting his family’s support. “We had a lot of help and a lot of support. It’s something we all worked for every day.” READ MORE — Richard Arlin Walker, Special to ICT
Around the world: Indigenous groups in Brazil fight a railway project, Ukrainians rediscover their language, Indigenous women play key roles in Canada and Australia, and 3-D printing could help preserve an important tradition.
BRAZIL: Indigenous groups fight soybean railway
Indigenous groups in Brazil are demanding a voice in a soybean rail project that could cause deforestation in hundreds of thousands of acres of land, Mongabay.com reported on March 7.
The Ferrogrão railway project – designed to reduce transportation costs between the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Pará, where soybeans are a key export – would cross several Indigenous territories in the Xingu River Basin, Mongabay.com reported.
A study by the Federal University of Minas Gerais concluded the railway line could cause loss of more than 568,000 acres of rainforest to deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso, of which more than half would be in the Xingu Indigenous Park. READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT
LAC DU FLAMBEAU, Wis. — The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and a northern Wisconsin town have reached an agreement under which the tribe will temporarily reopen four barricaded roads that are the subject of a decadelong dispute and a recent lawsuit.
Officials with the town of Lac du Flambeau on Saturday accepted the Lac du Flambeau tribe’s offer to remove barricades blocking the roads for 90 days in exchange for $60,000 as negotiations continue for a more permanent solution, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.
On Jan. 31, tribal officials barricaded the roads, which traverse tribal land, cutting off non-tribal residents who live on about 65 properties from the only access for vehicle traffic to their homes.
Tribal officials said the easement agreements for the roads expired more than 10 years ago. They argue that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and the title insurance companies that handle the properties had not negotiated in good faith to extend the agreements. READ MORE — Associated Press
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Cece Meadows, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the makeup line Prados Beauty, has found a lot of success along a difficult road. As a cancer and domestic abuse survivor, Meadows has persevered to make her dreams come true. The makeup line, launched in 2019, can now be found in JCPenny stores around the country.
The United States Postal Service unveiled its latest collection of Forever Stamps. Called “The art of the Skateboard.” It goes on sale next week. Two of the four stamps for this collection were created by Indigenous artists. Di’Orr Greenwood used her Navajo culture to bring her stamp to life.
The Biden administration gave the green light for the Willow Project earlier this week, which is a drilling project on the North Slope of Alaska by the company ConocoPhillips. The decision was widely-criticized by climate advocates, but celebrated by several lawmakers. The Willow Project decision came from the Bureau of Land Management which is an agency overseen by Secretary Deb Haaland. ICT regular contributor John Tahsuda has more.
The province of British Columbia on Canada’s Pacific Coast has taken the most radical step yet in North America’s unending and losing war on drugs.
They have surrendered. Now they are trying to bring the wounded back home to heal.
The province is decriminalizing possession of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA, known as Ecstacy, in amounts less than 2.5 grams, meaning a person possessing drugs for personal use will no longer face charges or confiscation.
In an area with one of Canada’s largest Indigenous populations, the move is expected to have a significant impact on Métis, First Nations and Inuit peoples who are already over-represented in the Canadian justice and prison systems. READ MORE — Miles Morrisseau, ICT
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We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org
