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The Nooksack Tribe is demanding the United Nations retract its unusual call for the U.S. government to halt the looming evictions of former tribal citizens from federally subsidized tribal housing, saying the U.N. statement was “riddled with misinformation.”
The tribe said in a statement released Fridaythat the U.N. relied on “outrageous and disproved allegations” in urging the United States to prevent the tribe’s planned evictions of 63 people in 21 families from housing on tribal trust lands over concerns they would violate human rights.
“Your statement to the United States government was riddled with inaccuracies, falsehoods and outright lies that you accepted on face value without a shred of proof,” the tribe said in the statement. “You cannot purport to speak for marginalized or Indigenous people yet try to steamroll the rights and sovereignty of an Indigenous nation.”
Attorney Gabe Galanda, who is representing those facing eviction, said the tribe’s response to the U.N.’s appeal was itself full of misinformation and an attempt to minimize the “magnitude” of the U.N.’s involvement. READ MORE. — Chris Aadland, Indian Country Today and Underscore.news
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The smell of burning diesel and the rumble of semi-trucks have become all-too-familiar in Canada’s capital city ofOttawa, as truckers and protesters continue to create blockades around Parliament Hill and along the border with the United States.
Hundreds of truckers – dubbed the Freedom Convoy – arrived in Ottawa, Ontario, in the middle of a brutal winter weekend on Jan. 29 to protest Canada’s vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
And a core group remained on Friday, Feb. 4, in Ottawa and 2,000 miles to the west in Coutts, Alberta, where truckers blocked the longest undefended border in the world. They have sparked support and copycat convoys, creating blockades across Canada and around the world. The cause became so popular that its GoFundMe campaign exceeded $8 million before being shut down.
Now, First Nations leaders have stepped into the fray, speaking out against the ongoing occupation and blockades, the protesters’ anti-vaccination stance and their use of Indigenous ceremonies and cultural items on traditional lands. READ MORE. — Miles Morrisseau, special to Indian Country Today
A South Dakota House committee on Monday killed a proposal to grant tribal citizens free access to the state’s parks and recreation areas and to provide free licenses to hunt and fish on non-tribal land.
The State Affairs Committee considered legislation offered by Rep. Shawn Bordeaux, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who said he got the idea from similar legislation in Minnesota.
The committee merged Bordeaux’s two proposals into one bill and voted 11-2 to kill it, KELO-TV reported.
Tribal governments got “raked over the coals” when the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s decided the U.S. government owed them $105 million for taking the Black Hills, the Mission Democrat said.
Bordeaux said the free access and licenses would be limited to the nine tribes who have treaties with the U.S. government connected to land in South Dakota. He said tribal citizens’ spouses and children would also have free access and licenses.
Scott Simpson, director for the state Division of Parks and Recreation, opposed the legislation.
“This is a user pay, user benefit system,” Simpson said. — Associated Press
It’s a weekday evening rush-hour in Honolulu, and Hina Wong-Kalu is driving us to a practice session of a Tongan choir she belongs to — her way of unwinding after a long day of meetings.
Kumu (“cultural teacher”) Hina, as she is most widely known, is an activist, filmmaker and cultural liaison between Hawai’i’s Indigenous community — which numbers about 150,000 — and non-Native entities such as the state’s Office of Hawai’ian Affairs, where we met her. As māhū, or a third-gender person, she is also called upon to administer spiritual rituals and serve as a touchstone for the revival of Hawaiian language and Native Hawaiians’ relationship with the land.
Looking out at suburban sprawl encroaching on tropical hillsides and eight lanes of congested freeway traffic, she says, “Hawaiians are the most colonized of everyone.”
Wong-Kalu, who is Native Hawai’ian, explains that Native people from Tonga — a Polynesian monarchy that retained its sovereignty during the era of European and American colonization — never lost their Indigenous languages and folkways, largely because they have been able to preserve their relationship to the landscapes where those cultural traditions arose. READ MORE. — Richard Flory and Nick Street, special to Indian Country Today
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Award-winning actor Zahn McClarnon joins the ICT newscast to reflect on his 30-year career. Plus, an update on looming evictions of disenrolled Nooksack people in northern Washington.
Watch now:
City officials in Roseville, Minnesota are considering paying American Indians for their thoughts on renaming a park.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Sunday that the city has been considering renaming Pocahontas Park since 2020, when high schooler Andrew Kim told the parks commission he was concerned that the name was inappropriate.
Commissioners recommended this week that the city council pay American Indians to participate in the naming process. Commissioner Darrell Baggenstoss likened the payment to hiring consultants for other city work.
No dollar amount has been determined but the Pioneer Press reports the council is open to the idea and directed the commission to keep working on the name change. — Associated Press
The descendants of tribes on the Northern California coast are reclaiming a bit of their heritage that includes ancient redwoods that have stood since their ancestors walked the land.
Save the Redwoods League planned to announce that it is transferring more than 500 acres on the Lost Coast to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council.
The group of 10 tribes that have inhabited the area for thousands of years will be responsible for protecting the land dubbed Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, or “Fish Run Place,” in the Sinkyone language.
Priscilla Hunter, chairwoman of the Sinkyone Council, said it’s fitting they will be caretakers of the land where her people were removed or forced to flee before the forest was largely stripped for timber. READ MORE. — Associated Press
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- Indigenous town protects forest from avocado growers, cartels: With a few acres of well-tended avocado trees, small landholders can send their kids to college or buy a pickup truck, something no other crop allows them to do.
- Tribes: Settlement in opioids case will foster healing:Tribes settled with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and the three largest US drug distribution companies this week for $590 million.
- Kiowa striker reflects on storied career:After 17 years in professional soccer, Chris Wondolowski moves into new role.
- Biden administration brings changes to Indian Country: Analysis: But has it been enough?
- The climate’s ‘other’ pipeline problem: Indigenous communities have long argued for rethinking risk when it comes to climate, rights.
- Some colleges working to increase Native enrollment.
- US Rep. Tom Cole says he doesn’t want to ‘overhype’ prospects for McGirt funding.
- Law school helps Indian Country energy policy.
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. icteditors@indiancountrytoday.com.
