Articles from the October 15, 2020 edition


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  • Next Generation: Grappling with loss of life and connection, Native youth transform into the leaders of tomorrow

    Allie Barton, Cronkite News|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    PHOENIX-In March, Tawny Jodie was preparing to travel to Israel for her first trip overseas. By July, she was masked and delivering food boxes in rural New Mexico amid a deadly pandemic. A full-blooded Navajo, the 20-year-old said she was compelled into service when COVID-19 started ravaging her community and others across the Navajo Nation. With the virus dispropor-tionately affecting tribal nations due to health disparities, poor infrastructure and chronic under-funding to f...

  • The Life in Spice

    Sue Carlisle|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    In my last article, I began a new series about God's miracles that are all around us. I still think about that thin atmospheric line protecting us from the cold blackness of outer space. Life is fragile, yet so abundant! We usually think of miracles as a healing or something supernatural and extraordinary, but to me, as I think of that thin line, even a mundane banana is a miracle. How did we get such things as bananas onto this planet? We didn't. That is the miracle! As leave...

  • Is Anything Sure?

    Becky Kew|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    I don't know about you, but I am finding that we are living in a day and an age that is full of inconsistent information! Everybody is sure of something but nobody's stories seem to agree. Contradictions fly at us from our TVs, cell phones and our laptops. How do we know what to believe? How do we know who is telling the truth? Yesterday, I was visiting a man on a local reservation, and he was certain of a very important truth. He told me that Jesus is the way, the truth and...

  • NATIVE COOKING

    Dale Carson|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    Brown Wusswaquatomineug (Walnut) Bread Walnuts, both black walnuts and butternuts, were prized by the Narragansetts in the Northeast for their oils. While growing, the black walnut is covered with a green pulp that turns black soon after it drops off the tree. The black pulp is used as a dye for plant fabrics and leather. The nuts themselves are valuable foodstuffs. 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour 1 3/4 cups white flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, slightly...

  • How Are You?

    Crying Wind|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    I saw my neighbor, Rose, walking to her mailbox and hurried to catch up with her. Rose and I were "friendly" but not "friends." We didn't visit each other but we'd talk a few minutes if we met at the mailbox. "Hi, Rose. I haven't seen you for a while. How are you?" I asked. When you ask people how they are, they usually say, "I'm fine." Except that isn't what she said. "My hair is getting thin. My eyes are bad, and I need new glasses but I can't afford them. My hearing is gett...

  • Seneca-Cayuga Nation elects first woman chief

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    GROVE, Oklahoma-On September 30th, 2020, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation held a swearing-in ceremony for a newly elected chief, members of the Business Committee, and Grievance Committee. Sarah S. Channing was sworn in as the new chief. Channing is the first woman to be elected chief of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. In addition to electing a new chief, five other positions were filled during the most recent election. Incoming Chief Sarah S. Channing issued a statement thanking everyone...

  • OUTSTANDING NATIVE WOMEN

    K.B. Schaller|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    • First woman in her tribe to earn a Medical Doctor degree • Honored with the name of Medicine Victory Woman by her Blackfeet Tribe Mary DesRosier states that she sees the face of God in her family, friends and neighbors she chooses to serve through Indian Health Services (IHS) on the Blackfeet Reservation, in Browning, Montana-in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains where she grew up. Interested in medicine since her youth, Mary joined the University of North Dakota's Ind...

  • Grants awarded for Native American farm-to-school initiatives

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    LONGMONT, Colo.-During the summer, First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) selected four community partners that will implement an initiative to honor Native knowledge and build environmental stewardship and sustainability. Funded with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Continuing the Tradition of Indigenous Farming and Environmental Stewardship: A Native Farm to School Initiative is designed to build capacity of Native American farm to school...

  • More North American sports teams make changes

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Right on the heels of the Washington Redskins changing their name, other sports teams in North America are making changes to show respect for Indigenous people. Edmonton football team changes name On July 20, the Edmonton Eskimos football club announced that they have dropped the word Eskimo from its team name, after many in the Inuit community have said the name Eskimo was offensive. Until a new name is selected, the organization will be known as the...

  • Mi'kmaw fishers face conflict

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    HALIFAX, Nova Scotia-Mi'kmaw fishers dropping lobster traps as part of their livelihood are facing intimidation and vandalism at the hands of protesting Acadian commercial fish harvesters from communities around southwestern Nova Scotia. Sipekne'katik First Nation is the first band to start its own Moderate Livelihood fishery, with two other bands, Paqtnkek and Potlotek, soon to follow. The band has seven licenses, but only three of them are being fished right now, with 50 tra...

  • Algonquin Nation seeks moose hunting moratorium

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    La Verendrye FAUNIC RESERVE, Quebec—Tempers have stirred in Quebec as the Algonquin Nation has blocked access to hunting trails until a proposed moose-hunting moratorium is called. Dozens of sports hunters angered by the move recently blocked a stretch of Highway 117 in Quebec’s La Verendyre Faunic Reserve in protest—on what was supposed to be the first day of gun hunting for big game. After more than two hours, officers with the provincial police force finally persuaded hunters to leave. The hunters pay thousands of dolla...

  • Teamwork and technology

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    Chickasaw Nation STEM Academy, Maintenance and Cabinet Shop work together to save money ADA, Okla.-Safety for employees and visitors has been the first priority of the Chickasaw Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. As protective measures have been enacted, plastic barriers to protect against the spread of COVID-19 were needed in facilities where staff works closely with the public. Mark Factor, director of property and facilities for the Chickasaw Nation, was tasked with...

  • $5.5 million available for IEED energy mineral development program grants

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    WASHINGTON—Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that approximately $5.5 million is available for Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) Energy Mineral Development Program (EMDP) grants to help federally recognized American Indian tribes, Alaska Native entities and tribal energy resource development organizations identify, evaluate or assess the market for energy or mineral resources to be developed. EMDP will fund about 25 to 30 grants. The application deadline is Dec...

  • Relationships with energy industry help grow Alberta First Nation's economy

    Gregory John|Updated Oct 14, 2020

    GOODFISH/WHITEFISH LAKE FIRST NATION, Alberta-Tom Jackson has watched his small northern Alberta First Nation evolve into a community with a growing economy thanks to abiding relationships with the energy industry. Jackson, who lives on the Goodfish/Whitefish Lake First Nation, is CEO of the Goodfish Lake Business Corporation, which is 100 per cent-owned by the band some 200 kilometers northeast of Edmonton. Even amid a global pandemic, the community has seized economic...

  • School buses equipped with Wi-Fi to aid student learning

    Updated Oct 14, 2020

    WASHINGTON, D.C.-In late 2019 the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) launched an innovative school bus internet connectivity project with the goal of using its 25 longest bus routes to keep students connected to learning, and now that project is nearing completion. Well before COVID-19 hit the United States, the Bureau had begun to transform the designated school bus fleet into extended classrooms so that students remained connected while traveling, in some cases over 200 miles...

  • Miss Navajo Nation is a "glimmer of hope" for community during pandemic

    McKenzie Allen-Charmley, Luce Foundation-Southwest Stories Fellowship|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    PHOENIX-After winning the title of Miss Navajo Nation in September 2019, Shaandiin Parrish immediately got to work on the cultural preservation and advocacy efforts central to the role. At times, she attended five or more events in a single day, traveling across the 27,000-square-mile reservation to speak to elementary school students and attend conferences. "You really hit the ground running," Parrish recalled. "There's no event too small. There's no event too big." But in...

  • The Crying Warrior

    Jack White|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    You were chosen by God the Father long ago. He knew you were to become His children. You were set apart for holy living by the Holy Spirit. May you obey Jesus Christ and be made clean by His blood. May you be full of His loving favor and peace. 1 Peter 1:2 NLV When I was born they gave me a number. I was 643. That means I was the 643rd child born on Walpole Island Reserve in Ontario, Canada. I don't remember much about my early childhood. The only thing I do remember is that...

  • Editorial Viewpoint

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    It was early September, and as the first green tree morphed to yellow, the thought came to me, "Here we go again-pretty soon the snow'll be flying!" In Cree we'd say Kiiyipa wii mispoon. No matter how you say it, there's no getting around the changing seasons! It also brought to mind the passage in Genesis 8:22 of how the seasons came to be. It came out of God's promise made to Noah after the worldwide flood was over. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold...

  • The Council Speaks

    Nattie Flett-Jim Keesic|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    Q: I served my time as a serious offender but am having many doubts that God can forgive me for what I've done. How do I know for sure I am forgiven? A: Nehemiah 9:17 says, "But Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of a great kindness and forsookest them not." When we come to Him in repentance, sorry for our sins, and ask Him to forgive us and to come into our hearts, He will surely do so. Psalm 103:10–13 says, "He hath not dealt with us a...

  • System could help tribal members past one voter registration hurdle

    Calah Schlabach, Cronkite News|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    WASHINGTON, D.C-Advocates said a new policy that lets Arizona residents without traditional street addresses register to vote online is not perfect-but it's a vast improvement over the old process. "It's critical," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said of the change this month by the Arizona Secretary of State's office. "This is a very important election, I think, across the country, and we want our votes to be counted." The change allows prospective voters with...

  • U.S. District Court of Appeals rules in favor of federally recognized tribes in CARES Act litigation

    Updated Oct 13, 2020

    WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently determined that Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) are not “tribal governments” under the CARES Act and are not eligible for CARES Act funds. The Court’s ruling is a significant victory for the tribal plaintiffs, including the Navajo Nation. However, the defendants in the case are expected to petition for rehearing, or will seek to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. “We thank the U.S....

  • DOI Signs Agreement to Increase Infrastructure on Federal and Tribal Lands

    Updated Oct 13, 2020

    WASHINGTON, D.C.—During the summer, the Department of the Interior (DOI) forged a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by signing the National Programmatic Agreement among the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Programs, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for Sequencing Section 106 (USDA-RD NPA). “Having the Bureau of Indian Affairs as part of the USDA’s National Programmatic Agreement will greatly enhance the t...

  • Cherokee Federal company lands Pacific Air Forces contract

    Updated Oct 13, 2020

    TULSA, Okla.-Cherokee Nation Management & Consulting, a company within Cherokee Federal, recently signed on to continue its support of the United States Air Force and other Department of Defense agencies. "It is an honor and privilege to serve Pacific Air Forces and its important mission," said Steven Bilby, president of Cherokee Federal. "I'm extremely proud of our Cherokee Nation Management & Consulting staff and their commitment to serve our customers." Through a recent...

  • As providers turn to telehealth during COVID-19, calls rise for more resources in Indian Country

    Allie Barton, Cronkite News|Updated Oct 13, 2020

    PHOENIX-Before COVID-19, Joshuaa Allison-Burbank spent his days traversing the Navajo Nation, stopping at homes, libraries and schools to provide speech therapy and reading support for children with developmental disabilities. Now he sits at a computer in Waterflow, New Mexico, grappling with how to keep helping kids whose families may have no internet or laptops or iPhones-or, if they do, are coping with far more than a telehealth appointment that may or may not go off as...

  • Lands added to Chippewa First Nation

    Updated Oct 13, 2020

    OTTAWA, Ont.-In early September, the Honorable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, together with the Honorable Greg Rickford, Minister of Indigenous Affairs Ontario, and Chief Jason Henry, Chief of Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation, announced the addition of lands to Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation. A federal Ministerial Order sets apart 45.992 hectares (113.629 acres) of land as an addition to reserve to Chippewas of Kettle & S...

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