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Greetings, relatives.
A lot of news out there. Thanks for stopping by ICT’s digital platform.
Each day we do our best to gather the latest news for you. Remember to scroll to the bottom to see what’s popping out to us on social media and what we’re reading.
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Lora Ann Chaisson, principal chief of the United Houma Nation, delivered a land acknowledgment Monday at the 80th annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians in New Orleans. She has welcomed many to her homelands over the years, but this time felt extra important. Depending on the outcome of a vote this Thursday, Chaisson’s nation and 23 other member tribes could be excluded from the organization’s voting membership.
“I’m just broken-hearted about this really,” Chaisson told Underscore News and ICT. “For you to come here and want to question me — I know who I am and I won’t let nobody bully me. I won’t let no tribe bully me.”
On Thursday, NCAI members will vote to elect a new president. They will also vote on a controversial constitutional amendment. If passed, the amendment would exclude tribes recognized by a state – but not by the federal government – from voting membership.
As principal chief of the United Houma Nation, a state-recognized tribe, Chaisson has been vocal in her opposition to the proposed amendment. It’s a policy that she and other tribal leaders say would go against the founding principles of NCAI. READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News + ICT
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A former comptroller has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling more than $670,000 from a tribal organization, federal authorities said Tuesday.
They said 36-year-old Savannah Sandoval, of Camp Verde, also was ordered to pay more than $650,000 restitution to the Yavapai-Apache Nation.
Prosecutors said Sandoval pleaded guilty in August to embezzlement and theft from the tribe and was sentenced last week.
As comptroller and executive director of the Yavapai-Apache Nation Housing Department in the Camp Verde area of north-central Arizona, Sandoval was the supervisor of the accounting department and oversaw day-to-day activities and financial transactions.
Authorities said she had access to housing department credit cards and knowledge of its vendor accounts.
It was discovered last year that there had been hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases on tribal credit cards.
Authorities said that on at least 184 occasions, funds were fraudulently transferred by Sandoval into her personal accounts.
Between August 2017 and May 2022, Sandoval was accused of embezzling $670,908 from the tribe including over $133,000 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Indian Housing Block Grant Funds. — Associated Press
Three Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe officials are being challenged in federal court for banning two former Dupree educators after allegations of child abuse.
In a November 3 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, longtime teacher Sarah Shaff and superintendent Keith Fodness challenged their banishment by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
On August 18, 2023, Shaff was formally excluded or banned from the reservation after allegations of child abuse were made by two tribal members. Fodness and Dupree Elementary School Principal Cindy Lindskow were banished for failing to report allegations of child abuse.
The Cheyenne River Detectives Division completed its investigation and referred it to the Pierre FBI office. Tribal court records show three individuals were allegedly found to have violated the terms and conditions under which non-tribal citizens are allowed to enter and exit the reservation. It is unclear if any of the educators have been charged. READ MORE— Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
Around the world: Canadian community honors First Nations veterans, Kenyan government destroys Ogiek property in Mau Forest, and the US Montagnards rally against oppression in Vietnam
CANADA: Legion honors its First Nations founders
The Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community is paying tribute to the pioneering World War II veterans who founded Canada’s sole First Nations Royal Canadian Legion in Quebec, CBC News reported on Nov. 8.
The community is featuring a hometown heroes banner initiative that displays the names and photographs of the 15 original charter members who founded the Mohawk Legion Branch 219 legion in Kahnawà:ke more than 70 years ago.
It was the first and remains the only First Nations-operated legion situated with an Indigenous community in Quebec. READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT
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A Minneapolis organization devoted to Native youth has a new home. This after a devastating fire on May 29, 2020, destroyed Migizi’s building. ICT’s Shirley Sneve toured the new facility and interviewed President Kelly Drummer. Staff and volunteers salvaged some of the building materials and artwork from the fire and used it in the new building.
Congress is once again debating a solution on how to fund the federal government. From Washington, ICT regular contributor John Tahsuda has more.
A sitting United States Senator, Markwayne Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, challenging Teamster leader Sean O’Brien to a rumble during a hearing. This wasn’t the only physical drama on Capitol Hill. NBC News reported that Rep. Tim Burchett – a Republican from Tennessee – accused former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the hallway while he was talking to reporters.
WATCH
A South Dakota woman who said she would ban Native Americans from her hotel cannot manage the establishment for four years and must publicly apologize under agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.
The federal agency announced the apology last week as part of a consent decree with owners of Rapid City’s Grand Gateway Hotel.
Hotel co-owner Connie Uhre in March 2022 posted on social media that she would no longer allow American Indians on the property because of a fatal shooting at the hotel involving two teenagers who police said were Native American.
“We will no long(er) allow any Native American(s) on (our) property,” Uhre wrote in a Facebook post, while offering a “very special” hotel rate to travelers and ranchers. READ MORE — Associated Press
What’s trending on social media:
- Alaska Natives file brief with Supreme Court over Pebble Mine: Proposed project puts states’ rights, economic impact on environmental permitting at stake
- Who is running for NCAI leadership?: Meet the candidates for president of the National Congress of American Indians
- The Lost Children:Overrepresentation of Native American children in the South Dakota foster care system
- White Earth group has been quietly rewriting wrongs, correcting Native veterans headstones
- Worsening warming is hurting people in all regions: US climate assessment
- Biden, Xi hold first talks in a year. Global conflicts, fentanyl and stable ties top their agenda
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.
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