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Three Indigenous women — a water protector, an artist and a singer who have worked to protect the environment — are featured on new Canadian postage stamps as part of the country’s celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day.
For the third consecutive year, Canada Post, as the postal system is known, celebrated the June 21 holiday by issuing three stamps honoring Indigenous leaders: Josephine Mandamin, Anishinabe; Christi Belcourt, Métis; and Elisapie, Inuk.
The series, launched in 2022, recognizes leaders who have dedicated their lives to preserving their culture and improving the quality of life of Indigenous peoples in Canada, according to a statement released by Canada Post.
This year, for the first time, all those honored are women. READ MORE — Mary Annette Pember, ICT
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Bacone College’s board of trustees filed for bankruptcy last week after their attorney told them it was the only chance to keep the Muskogee campus off the market.
The Utah-based company, MHEC, has been attempting to sue Bacone for two years over uncompensated HVAC work done on the campus. MHEC has tried to put the campus on auction twice in the past two years. Each time, the sheriff’s sale was canceled less than 24 hours before the auction. Former Interim President Nicky Michael said she never knew why the sale kept getting canceled.
Current Interim President Leslie Hannah revealed in an ICT and Tulsa World interview that the sale was canceled because MHEC kept finding other creditors that Bacone owed money to, so they would withdraw the land sale, and add the other creditors to their lawsuit. The last land sale in December was canceled 40 minutes before it began, as more creditors popped up claiming to be in line before MHEC.
“MHEC is not just wanting their piece of the pie. They’re wanting the whole pie, so other people who had a claim on Bacone, MHEC just added them to the suit. They even added a John Doe space, just in case somebody else popped up,” Hannah said. READ MORE — Felix Clary, ICT + Tulsa World
On Friday, ICT was named one of the best digital publications serving Indigenous nations and peoples by the Indigenous Journalists Association.
In IJA’s announcement of the 2024 Indigenous Media Awards, the organization names over 200 award recipients for “outstanding coverage of Indigenous communities.” The awards recognizes seven divisions including one for student journalists and three for professional and associate journalists, respectively.
ICT received third place in the Professional Division III – Print / Online for Best Digital Publication. A number of its reporters and freelancers were also honored, including shared reporters Amelia Schafer, Wampanoag and Montauk-Brothertown Indian Nation descent, and Nika Bartoo-Smith, Osage and Oneida Nations descendant.
Schafer is a shared reporter with the Rapid City Journal and ICT. She received the highest accolades, first place in the Professional Division III – Print / Online for AARP Best Elder Coverage. Schafer tells the story of 90-year-old Korean War veteran Basil Brave Heart, Oglala Lakota. READ MORE — Kadin Mills, ICT
Buffalo are so iconic, Congress designated them as the national mammal in 2016. Native American oral histories estimate that 30 to 60 million once roamed the plains.
After nearly going extinct, the shaggy beasts are making a comeback and soon, many could find themselves on reservations where their kind hasn’t set hoof in decades.
A bipartisan bill pending in Congress would pay to relocate some of the 20,500 buffalo from public lands across the West and Midwest to reservation lands that were historically part of the animals’ range.
By the early 1900s, fewer than a thousand remained. The latest headcount is roughly 440,000 nationwide, mostly in commercial herds, according to the Interior Department. Over 4,000 wild buffalo live in Yellowstone National Park. READ MORE — Cronkite News
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khwat yaka haws, meaning Auntie’s Place in the Chinook language, provides culturally-centered services like first foods cooking classes, beading and drumming lessons, and more. The shelter is also intentionally staffed with people who understand the lived experiences of those who need housing to help create a safe and supportive home for Native families experiencing homelessness.
khwat yaka haws is the Native American Youth and Family Center’s latest housing endeavor — a family housing shelter in Milwaukie that will provide support to Native families experiencing homelessness through direct placement to long term housing as well as substance use counseling and peer support and mental health support.
During the opening celebration of khwat yaka haws on June 25, the kitchen got its first big use with catering from local Indigenous pop-up restaurant, Javelina.
“As a young girl, growing up, I always learned so much at my auntie’s house, at any one of my auntie’s houses in our community,” said Valeria Atenacio, citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, an adjunct professor at PSU who gave Auntie’s Place its Chinook name. “I was welcomed with open arms, was brought in and usually fed, sometimes clothed, taken care of. This is really standing as that pillar in this community.” READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore Native News + ICT
The Stanley Cup is headed back to First Nations lands for the second year in a row after Brandon Montour and the Florida Panthers edged past the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, June 24, in game seven of the National Hockey League finals.
The Panthers’ 2-1 win over the Oilers marks the first championship for the franchise in the team’s 30-year history and means Montour, Mohawk, will be able to take the trophy home to his Six Nations of the Grand River.
“All season just came down to this game,” Montour told Sportsnet soon after lifting the cup. “The boys showed up and there was no question that we were going to win this one.”
The series sparked mixed emotions among some First Nations. READ MORE — Miles Morrisseau, ICT
- A new Indigenous holiday comes of age: The holiday is seeing a surge in popularity, even as political debates about race in New Zealand have grown more divisive.
- The Mille Lacs Band will see the return of 18 acres of trust land: Of several landback bills the Minnesota Legislature considered this year, the Mille Lacs measure was the only one to return school trust lands.
- Nearly 200 people charged in $2.7B health care fraud schemes crackdown: Attorney General Merrick Garland announced charges against doctors, nurse practitioners and others across the country.
- Makerspace, new businesses bring hope for former ‘Skid Row of the Plains’: Calls about disturbances in Whiteclay are way down, and alcohol-related accidents haven’t materialized.
- Indigenous women take on soccer by inventing a sport: ‘This sport is about uniting us as women, uniting the older generations and the younger ones, who only want to go out to the big cities, where we are discriminated against. It is something that we enjoy among women, purely for fun.’
- Navajo corporal becomes first marine authorized to wear traditional Native hair.
- Tribes move to defend EPA’s tribal water rights rule.
- Secretary Haaland highlights progress to strengthen Indian Country in New York.
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.
