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RAPID CITY, S.D. – When Coleman Eagle Elk first met a boy he expects to mentor from youth to adulthood, he used an ancient indigenous instrument to find common ground through song.

Eagle Elk met the 5-year-old boy and his mother at their home, then took the child to the Rapid City offices of the Friends of the Children. The new non-profit organization in western South Dakota pairs professional adult mentors with Native American children who have suffered trauma or abuse in their families.

Once at the office, Eagle Elk sat with the boy and played a ceremonial Native American bass drum while singing songs and building a bridge of trust, support and friendship that could last a lifetime.

“I set the big drum up and I told him that I’m your relative, your ‘Leksi,’” recalled Eagle Elk, 31. “I told him that the drum is not just a piece of wood with rawhide on it, but that there’s a spirit in there, so we’ll be able to be open and honest with each other.” READ MORE — South Dakota News Watch

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AUGUSTA, Maine — The Passamaquoddy tribe at Sipayik has removed its chief for the fourth time in seven years, voting to recall Chief Rena Newell ahead of a meeting proposed for next month with Gov. Janet Mills.

The ouster happened as leaders of the Penobscot, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq and Passamaquoddy consider whether to meet the governor next month at the Blaine House for the first “Tribal-State Summit” spelled out in recent legislation. So far, only one of the chiefs, William Nicholas, from the Passamaquoddy’s Indian Township, has committed to attending, the governor’s office said Tuesday.

The Nov. 17 meeting could be an opportunity for Native American leaders and the governor to clear the air before lawmakers reconvene to take up a tribal sovereignty bill in the new year.

The tribes are angry at Mills because she vetoed a bill aimed at ensuring tribes get benefits from federal laws moving forward and opposed a previous sovereignty proposal. Unlike the rest of the nation’s federally recognized tribes, Native Americans in Maine are governed by a different land claim settlement, under which they’re treated much like municipalities, subject to state law. READ MORE — Associated Press

Around the world: More than 50 Indigenous fishers in Canada face charges, Western Australia expected to repeal flawed Aboriginal heritage laws, Indigenous seed gatherers cultivate a web of restoration in Brazil, and Airways New Zealand pushes for more Māori air traffic controllers.

CANADA: More than 50 Mi’kmaq fishers face charges

Three years after the initiation of a self-regulated lobster fishery by a First Nation in Nova Scotia, federal prosecutors in Canada are moving forward with charges against numerous Indigenous fishers, APTN News reported on Oct. 19.

The charges are setting up a court fight over constitutional and treaty rights for First Nations fishers that could end up before Canada’s highest court.

“This is a treaty right that is unresolved,” said Naiomi Metallic, a law professor at Dalhousie University. “The government has tried to sidestep or circumvent this … Canada is turning a blind eye, and the Mi’kmaq are saying, ‘That’s not meeting your obligations.’” READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT

CANBERRA, Australia — Indigenous campaigners who wanted Australia to create an advisory body representing its most disadvantaged ethnic minority have said its rejection in a constitutional referendum was a “shameful act.”

Many proponents of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament maintained a week of silence and flew Aboriginal flags at half-staff across Australia after the Oct. 14 vote deciding against enshrining such a representative committee in the constitution.

In an open letter to federal lawmakers, dated Sunday and seen by The Associated Press on Monday, “yes” campaigners said the result was “so appalling and mean-spirited as to be utterly unbelievable.”

“The truth is that the majority of Australians have committed a shameful act whether knowingly or not and there is nothing positive to be interpreted from it,” the letter said. READ MORE — Associated Press

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A Navajo composer has been selected for this year’s MacArthur Fellowship. Raven Chacon was recognized for creating musical works that cut across boundaries of visual art and performance to illuminate landscapes, their inhabitants and histories. ICT’s Shirley Sneve has this interview.

It’s easy to imagine the tools of an artist: Canvas. Brushes. Oil. But what about something less? Such as art from an ordinary writing instrument. ICT’s Demi Dupavillon has this profile of a Hopi artist Quinn Honanie.

A fractured Republican party still has not elected a House speaker. ICT regular contributor Holly Cook Macarro has more on where the party stands.

WATCH

LAHAINA, Hawaii — For people around the world, the green leaves that sprouted from a scorched, 150-year-old banyan tree in the heart of devastated Lahaina symbolized hope following Maui’s deadly wildfire this summer. Teams rushed to flood its roots with water, hoping to save a magnificent tree that had provided shade for community events, a picturesque wedding venue and a popular backdrop for posing tourists.

But the fire also nearly wiped out another set of trees, one with a much longer history in Lahaina and a greater significance in Hawaiian culture: breadfruit, or ulu, which had given sustenance since Polynesian voyagers introduced it to the islands many centuries ago. Before colonialism, commercial agriculture and tourism, thousands of breadfruit trees dotted Lahaina; the fire charred all but two of the dozen or so that remained.

Now, as Maui recovers from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, one that left at least 98 people dead, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers has set about trying to save Lahaina’s ulu, kukui nut and other culturally important trees, in some cases digging down to the roots of badly burned specimens to find live tissue that could be used to propagate new shoots.

They see the destruction as a chance to restore the trees to Lahaina, to teach about their care and use, and to reclaim a bit of the town’s historic identity amid a larger discussion about whether the community’s reconstruction will price out locals and Hawaiian culture in favor of deep-pocketed outsiders seeking a slice of tropical paradise. READ MORE— Associated Press

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