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The U.S. is beginning to face its Indian boarding school history.

Both the U.S. Congress and the Catholic Church took visible steps forward last week in officially taking action on an issue that has long been ignored in the U.S.

Unlike Canada, which embarked on addressing its residential school history in 2007, the U.S. has largely overlooked its Indian boarding school history, which served as the inspiration for Canada’s schools with forced attendance and harsh assimilationist policies.

On Thursday, June 13, a bill pending in Congress that would create a U.S. Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies passed through the markup procedure in the House Education and Workforce Committee – a big step forward on its journey through Congress. READ MORE — Mary Annette Pember, ICT

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A Native American man said Gov. Kristi Noem hindered his ability to receive a fair trial when she displayed a photo of him recently as alleged proof of cartel activity on reservations.

Noem flashed three photos during a May 17 press conference while talking about the Mexican drug cartel activity she said is happening in tribal communities. She did not provide any names with the photos at that press conference, but Noem’s office had previously shared the photo with South Dakota Searchlight.

The images were sent to Searchlight in late April when the outlet asked for proof of the governor’s repeated allegations of cartel activity on reservations, and for proof of Noem’s claim that tribal leaders are personally benefiting from a cartel presence on their lands. Tribal leaders have denied those allegations.

Searchlight has independently determined and verified that the most identifiable image — a close-up of a man’s face — is a picture of Charles Cain Merrival, 32, a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. READ MORE — South Dakota Searchlight

Around the world: Ruling protects local and Indigenous communities in Suriname, Maori Indigenous techniques utilized in fish conservation efforts, Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service requests funding amid rising demand, and in Canada, a spring tornado damages Swan Lake First Nation powwow arbor.

SURINAME: Ruling protects Indigenous communities

A Suriname court halted Amazon Rainforest development, affecting lands occupied by Indigenous people. The ruling could grant Native communities autonomy and hinder future projects in primary forests, Mongabay reported on June 11.

The court approved an injunction filed on behalf of 12 Indigenous and maroon groups that were concerned about losing approximately 535,000 hectares (1,322,013 acres) of rainforest to agricultural development. The projects would have been carried out by Mennonites, the Ministry of Agriculture, and private entities.

“This gives an interim measure of protection to local and Indigenous communities,” said John Goedschalk, head of Climate Change Advocacy Services, who has been fighting the land deals, according to Mongabay. “This battle isn’t over, but this is a good first step.” READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT

SEATTLE — The U.S. government on Tuesday acknowledged, for the first time, the harmful role it has played over the past century in building and operating dams in the Pacific Northwest — dams that devastated tribes by inundating their villages and decimating salmon runs while bringing electricity, irrigation and jobs to nearby communities.

In a new report, the Biden administration said those cultural, spiritual and economic detriments continue to pain the tribes, which consider salmon part of their cultural and spiritual identity, as well as a crucial food source.

The government downplayed or accepted the well-known risk to the fish in its drive for industrial development, converting the wealth of the tribes into the wealth of non-Native people, according to the report.

“The government afforded little, if any, consideration to the devastation the dams would bring to Tribal communities, including to their cultures, sacred sites, economies, and homes,” the report said. READ MORE — Associated Press

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ICT’s Editor-at-Large Mark Trahant travels to the Quinault Indian Nation on Washington state’s Pacific coast Northwest to check in on the tribe’s efforts to move an entire ancestral village from the mouth of the Quinault River to higher ground and away from a rising sea.

The nation began planning the relocation project decades ago is just one of many Indigenous communities on the leading edge of crafting solutions to our looming climate crisis. ICT will visit many of these in the coming years as this report marks the beginning of a five year partnership between ICT, PBSNewshour and the National Science Foundation to examine the dynamic nexus between climate change and Native nations.

WATCH

Two fires on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southern New Mexico have forced thousands of residents to evacuate, with a county-wide state of emergency being declared by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The fires were first reported Tuesday, June 17 and no cause has been determined as to how the fires started.

The declaration extends to neighboring tribal lands and deployed National Guard troops after residents fled under evacuation orders Monday with little time to rescue belongings.

“The horrific South Fork Fire and Salt Fire have ravaged our lands and property, and forced thousands to flee their homes,” Lujan Grisham said. “We are deploying every available resource to control these fires.” READ MORE— Kolby KickingWoman, ICT

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