Credit: Around the summer solstice at night in much of Alaska, the sun lingers just below the horizon, creating "civil twilight," when there's enough natural light to carry out most outdoor activities. (Photo of Alaska sunset by Mark Byzewski, courtesy of Creative Commons)

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An Indigenous foundation in Minnesota is set to host a first-time live event on Facebook to share the cultural significance of the summer solstice to encourage traditional knowledge education.

The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year but for some Indigenous communities, it also means an opportunity to reconnect. For the Tiwahe Foundation, an Indigenous philanthropy organization that strives to support Native people within Minnesota, both the solstice and the equinox hold value to the Nakota, Dakota, Lakota and Annishinabe peoples as it plays a role in their oral history and customs.

According to the National Weather Service, the solstice occurs twice a year, first on June 21, which marks the day in which the earth receives the most daylight hours due to the Earth’s tilt which allows the sun to rise at its highest level in the sky during the noon hour. The winter solstice, Dec. 21, marks the shortest day of the year with the least amount of daylight. The spring and autumn equinox are two separate days in the fall and spring in which there is almost no tilt to the earth that gives an equal amount of both day and nighttime.

These days signify the changing of seasons, and ultimately changing of weather patterns that is for some tribes, a key factor in learning about the environment and nature that they live from. READ MORE — JoVonne Wagner, ICT

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WASHINGTON – This won’t be an easy conversation: Can tribal nations love mining? Or at least accept mining as a necessary step in the creation of a clean economy? And can governments and international mining companies figure out how to respect and work fairly with Indigenous communities?

The conversation is weighted by history. The mining industry, and governments, have to sell the idea that, this time it’s different. This time the industry will respect cultural and religious sites. This time the industry will clean up its own mess. This time it will reward tribal communities as owners instead of serving up resources as colonies.

Why would anyone believe that? Why should a tribe expect this time to be different?

“The question is how likely is it that we can hit a reset button, especially with the Indigenous populations because the history is not good,” said former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. “The history from the very beginning, beginning with colonization and leading to exploitation … And when you find minerals, say step aside, and you look at the Black Hills. No one had any interest in the Black Hills until they found gold and literally violated the Laramie Treaty. And you know, people don’t wanna hear that, but that’s the truth. And so what, what about today, would tell anyone that it was gonna be different?” READ MORE — Mark Trahant, ICT

Around the world: Inuit pride events draw crowds in Canada, Ethiopia’s vast conservation area unites Indigenous communities, an Aboriginal men’s group fosters cultural safety through yarning, and a tourism project in Indonesia draws complaints from the UN

CANADA: Pride parade spotlights changes in attitudes

Inuit pride has evolved into an annual custom, with Inuit communities such as Rankin Inlet, and Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec holding their pride parades in early June, APTN News reported on June 15.

It’s been a new tradition since 2021.

“The first year was very homemade…There were a lot more people than we expected to show up which was great,” said Tobi Nashak, a two-spirit Inuk living in Kuujjuaq and one of the volunteers for the Kuujjuaq Pride celebrations, according to APTN News.

“Going into year two and now year three, we got a lot more organization support —especially this year,” Nashak said. READ MORE— Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT

KETTLE and STONY POINT FIRST NATION, Ontario — Indigenous Solidarity Day across Canada is an unofficial national holiday that is treated as official by many throughout the country. Most First Nations administrations and schools will be closed as well as many Inuit and Métis communities’ schools and services.

The holiday is now part of the month-long Indigenous History month and things are often kicked off in a big way with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Networks annual Indigenous Day Live which this year was on June 17.

June 21 is Indigenous Solidarity Day, also known as Aboriginal Solidarity Day, which came into national consciousness in that historic summer of 1990.

On June 21, 1990 the late Elijah Harper, Oji-Cree and member of the Manitoba Legislature stood alone and voted against the Meech Lake Accord. Indigenous Peoples across the country were enthralled as the governing body voted eight times over nine days in an attempt to approve the accord, which required unanimous consent from each of Canada’s 10 provinces. READ MORE — Miles Morrisseau, ICT

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Joe Williams is one of 24 individuals whose bold visions are shaping communities around our region. He is a recent recipient of a Bush Foundation Fellowship, where he’s aiming to bring life to his dreams in the next two years. He’s currently the director of Native American Programs at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota.

It was Election Day earlier this month for citizens of the Cherokee Nation. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner were overwhelmingly re-elected as the leaders of the largest Indigenous nation in the U.S. ICT’s Pauly Denetclaw has this interview.

Last week, the Indian Child Welfare Act was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Haaland v. Brackeen. The ultimate hope of this landmark decision was meant to keep Native American families intact. ICT regular contributor John Tahsuda weighs in.

WATCH HERE:

Enbridge Inc. must shut down its Line 5 pipeline within three years and pay more than $5 million in profits to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa , a federal judge in Madison ruled Friday.

Judge William Conley reaffirmed his September 2022 ruling upholding the tribe’s claim that Enbridge has been trespassing on its land since the June 2013 expiration of an agreement that gave the energy company an easement where 12 miles of pipeline passes through tribal land.

“Enbridge has and continues to commit conscious and willful trespass by operating Line 5 on the Band’s 12 former-allotment parcels for which 20-year rights of way expired in June 2013, making an appropriate remedy necessary to address the violation of the Band’s sovereign rights and to take away what otherwise would be a strong incentive for Enbridge to act in the future exactly as it has here,” Conley wrote in his decision.

Conley also ruled that while the risk of pipeline rupture is not immediate, evidence from flooding events this spring and subsequent erosion made the prospect of a rupture “a real and unreasonable risk” in the next five years. READ MORE — Wisconsin Examiner

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