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Arctic Indigenous peoples – including Inuit, Inupiaq, Athabascan, Yup’ik, Chukchi and Sami – are resilient but will be increasingly challenged by climate change. That’s according to the United Nations Environmental Program. A group of U.S. senators is asking the Biden administration to step up its attention to Arctic affairs.
The University of Lapland Arctic Center estimates Indigenous peoples make up about 10 percent of the populations of the Arctic nations of Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada and the U.S. (Alaska). Greenland is 80 percent Inuit. Arctic and sub-Arctic communities in Alaska are 60 to 98 percent Inupiaq, Yup’ik, and Athabascan. Indigenous peoples of Alaska and in other countries depend on wildlife for subsistence.
However, the Arctic is heating up at four times the rate of the rest of the planet. The ocean is warming, impacting fish and marine mammals. Wildlife is threatened by higher temperatures and habitat destruction. And infrastructure is being put at risk due to melting permafrost. Melting sea ice is opening the door to increased fishing and to development of minerals, including oil and gas, in Arctic waters. READ MORE – Joaqlin Estus, Indian Country Today
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His name should be known in the hockey-crazed country of Canada, the way baseball-loving America knows the name Jackie Robinson.
Kenneth Moore, Peepeekisis Cree Nation, was the first Indigenous person to represent Canada in the Olympics and the first to win gold, and it happened nearly a century ago. He was a member of the hockey team that topped the podium at the 1932 games in Lake Placid, New York.
Although he never played in the National Hockey League or competed for a Stanley Cup, he did win two other coveted hockey championships, the Memorial Cup and the Allan Cup. He died in 1981. READ MORE– Miles Morrisseau, Special to Indian Country Today
PHOENIX – Amid what the American Red Cross is calling the worst blood shortage in over a decade, blood providers are issuing urgent calls for volunteers to come forward to donate.
“Right now, with as low as blood supplies are, with a daily need of 600 donors to fill the needs of 62 hospitals, we need donors of all blood types,” said Sue Thew, communications manager for Vitalant, a Scottsdale nonprofit that provides blood to 900 hospitals across the U.S., including 62 in Arizona.
In January, the American Red Cross declared its first national blood crisis, noting the number of people donating had dipped 10 percent since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. COVID-19 case surges due to the delta and omicron variants also have kept donors away. READ MORE– Cronkite News
The director of Minnesota’s new Office of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Relatives has been named.
Juliet Rudie, Lower Sioux Indian Community and lifelong Minnesota resident, will lead the first office of its kind in the nation. Rudie starts on Feb. 28.
The office will be housed in the Department of Public Safety Office of Justice Programs and will focus on missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. The office will work with the 11 tribes in Minnesota; federal, state, and local law enforcement; federal and state agencies; and community-based organizations and advocates.
Rudie’s career in public safety spans almost 28 years.
“The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office continues the work of addressing the root causes of the epidemic of violence faced by Native women, girls, and two-spirit relatives,” said Gov. Tim Walz. “Ms. Juliet Rudie brings a wealth of experience to this role and this office to help coordinate the efforts of tribal nations, law enforcement, federal and state agencies, and communities, so we can ultimately end this crisis.” READ MORE – Indian Country Today
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The co-founder and executive director of Advance Native Political Leadership breaks down how to run for public office. We recap the National Congress of American Indians virtual meetings, and ‘Molly of Denali’ celebrates Elizabeth Peratrovich Day.
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- Prominent Native lawmaker charged with drunken driving: New Mexico state Rep. Georgene Louis, a Democrat, was pulled over for speeding late Sunday night, according to police.
- Anton Treuer: Keeping the Ojibwe language alive: ‘A language lives when it lives in the minds and hearts of young people’.
- Joe Biden has long-term inflation plan, but voter patience short: Part of the president’s dilemma is that reorienting a bureaucracy to promote competition takes time, and voters want to see inflation start dropping now.
- As Canada protests persist, so do challenges for Trudeau: Unsurprisingly, the pronouncement further angered the protesters and many of their conservative backers; a wave of social media posts denounced Trudeau as a tyrant.
- Investors Seek Profits by Helping Indigenous People Sue Big Companies
- Navajo Author and Illustrator Win American Indian Youth Literature Award for their Book ‘Herizon’
- Indigenous ski jumper captures Olympic bronze medal
- Pep Club Apologizes For Cowboy Outfits At Game Against Native American Team
- Longtime leader of Native American Wanapum band dead at 66
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. icteditors@indiancountrytoday.com.
