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Assembly of First Nations chiefs voted to oust National Chief RoseAnne Archibald on Wednesday, June 28, after more than a year of tensions and controversy that had already led to the organization’s first-ever female leader being suspended temporarily then reinstated.
The expulsion, taken via a Zoom call that was closed to the public, means the assembly — the national representative for First Nations in Canada — will head into its national meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 11 without a national leader, giving the chiefs the floor to themselves to explain what happened.
The chiefs indicated the vote was in response to an investigation that found Archibald had violated the AFN’s whistleblower policy and code of conduct after an investigation into five allegations of harassment and retaliation.
The vote drew 71 percent support of the 231 chiefs who voted, far more than the necessary 60 percent needed to remove the national chief, with 27 percent opposed to the proposal. READ MORE — Miles Morrisseau, ICT
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Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that federal investigators found, for the first time ever, a U.S. police department discriminates against not only Black people, but also Native Americans.
The Justice Department also made another first-time finding: the Minneapolis Police Department discriminates against Black and Native people by disproportionately using force during stops.
A two-year federal investigation sparked by George Floyd’s 2020 police murder found MPD routinely uses excessive force and discriminates against people based on race.
Investigators reviewed five years of data — about 187,000 traffic and pedestrian stops from November 2016 to August 2022 — and found MPD searches and uses force on Blacks and Native Americans more frequently than during stops of white people, even when they behave similarly. READ MORE — Minnesota Reformer
The second-largest waterfall in North America is 20 minutes south of downtown Portland, Oregon. Most Portlanders have never heard of it.
To get to Willamette Falls, you first need permission from Portland General Electric, one of the landowners whose property lines the banks of the Willamette River. This is still an industrial landscape, so you’ll also need a hard hat and bright green safety vest. Heat radiates off the pavement amid the beeps and thuds of heavy machinery. The grinding whir of the hydroelectric turbines leads you to a half-decommissioned paper mill that was only recently stripped of asbestos and lead.
Beyond the hazardous zone, there’s a narrow path outlined with green tape. Follow it carefully. An old wooden walkway opens onto a view of the Willamette Falls, and suddenly, the roar of the falls drowns out all other noise. There’s a small strip of wetlands on the west side of the walkway, where a great blue heron leans into the wind before taking off. To the east lies the flat expanse of the reservoir, stretching glassily toward the disappearing point, where it tumbles over the half-mile curve of the horseshoe-shaped falls.
But this view is accessible only via a private tour led by Portland General Electric (PGE). Many of the tribal members who have ancestral ties to the falls have never heard the roar of the water, never felt its mist kiss their face. The general public sees only a distant view from I-205. READ MORE — Karina Brown and Nika Bartoo-Smith, ICT and Underscore
SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Lakota AI Camp has returned for a second year, from June 11-30, to bring Indigenous teens to the Black Hills for a three-week AI crash course camp while simultaneously learning Lakota culture and language.
The inspiration for a youth-based code camp came from co-founder Mason Grimshaw’s, a citizen of the Sicangu-Rosebud Lakota Nation, experience growing up on the Rosebud Nation and in Rapid City. Grimshaw said when he began his education at MIT, he wasn’t entirely sure what he was passionate about. Once he discovered computer science, things just clicked.
“I had never seen it (computer programming) before while I was growing up in Rosebud and Rapid City, and I just thought if I had seen this earlier it would have been really beneficial for me,” Grimshaw said.
Indigenous people often are not in STEM spaces, according to census data American Indian individuals make up less than 0.1 percent of computer programmers, while Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native individuals are only 0.07 percent and 0.05 percent, respectively. READ MORE— Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
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Crew members from the Polynesian Voyaging Society are embarking on a new and major journey throughout the Pacific Ocean. Using traditional wayfinding to ignite a movement and bring awareness to care for Mother Earth.
Ho-Chunk citizen Talia Miracle is passionate about uplifting Indigenous communities. She believes in the life-changing power that books and literacy carry. As the program manager of Little Free Library she promotes book access, supports literacy outcomes and strengthens Indigenous communities across the U.S. and Canada.
Marie Zephier is a doctoral candidate in Indigenous health. The 2023 Bush Foundation fellow is passionate about helping people heal by reconnecting to their traditional ways. She is focused on increasing respect for the value and impact of traditional practices.
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HAINES JUNCTION, Yukon Territory — The Champagne Aishihik First Nations had a lot to celebrate as they hosted the Da Kų Nän Ts’étthèt Dance Festival. The name means “Our House is Waking Up the Land.” The gathering was held the weekend of June 23-25.
The nation’s successes include language and cultural revitalization, sovereignty, and the launch of a healing canoe. Then there’s the joy of being together after the COVID-19 pandemic. And the weather was perfect: sunny, 75 degrees Fahrenheit with a light breeze and scattered clouds. There’s also a spectacular view of the St. Elias Mountains from the Daku Cultural Center in Haines Junction, Canada where the festival was held.
Warren Smith, of the Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation, said the dance festival is “a place to come meet with family, friends, get into culture, singing, dancing with all the people of the Yukon. Just a good time, place to be.”
The main stage featured Indigenous dance group performances and, at times, live contemporary music. READ MORE — Joaqlin Estus, ICT
- TRIBE Athletics flexes basketball muscle in desert: Almost 240 Native basketball teams made their way to the Phoenix Valley for 3 days of competition
- Curfews saddled hundreds with citations, netted no money for Navajo police: An investigation into the aftermath of the Navajo Nation public safety COVID-19 measures by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found multiple breakdowns in their
- Two more tribes make historic co-management agreements: Four tribes in Oregon can now issue their own hunting and fishing licenses for their citizens under the agreements, based on harvest limits informed by tribal values
- What can we learn from Indigenous people about waste management?
- Native American artists in South Dakota travel new paths to prosperity
- Court says race can’t be a factor in college admissions
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