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OWASSO, Okla.-Cherokee Nation and its film office celebrated the opening of the Cherokee Film Studios, Owasso Campus, with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday. The tribe's state-of-the-art facility is the first of its kind in Oklahoma and Indian Country. Cherokee Nation leadership and executives from the tribe's business arm, Cherokee Nation Businesses, joined state officials, local community leaders and industry professionals in commemorating the area's...
PRIOR LAKE, Minn.-In the Spring, the University of Minnesota hosted the fifth annual Native American Nutrition conference. Two dozen videos of various presentations from the conference are now online for attendees and also for those who did not come to the conference. The theme for the conference was: "Decolonizing and Indigenizing our Diets for Health."During the three-day conference, Indegenous experts, elders, and others spoke at the event. Speakers included Michael Yellow...
New York-Raven Chacon has become the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. Hs composition, "Voiceless Mass," is a large ensemble work that was commissioned by the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ, Plymouth Church UCC, and Present Music. It was composed specifically for the Nichols & Simpson organ at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but can be performed in any space of worship with high ceilings and pipe...
LAUSANNE, Switzerland-In July, Jim Thorpe was reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm. The change was announced by the Internation Olympic Committee (IOC) on the 110th anniversary of King Gustav V of Sweden proclaiming him as "the greatest athlete in the world." Thorpe was stripped of his gold medals when Olympic authorities determined that he had broken the Olympic amateur rules because he had received payment to play in minor...
VANCOUVER, B.C.-A new online business school is being launched for First Nations people in Canada with the first course being Indigenous Entrepreneurship 101 for those interested in starting a business. Activ8, the developers of the online business school, point out that the untapped potential of Indigenous communities combined with government resources in education and funding through economic reconciliation has created a rise in Indigenous entrepreneurship. Indigenous...
QUEBEC CITY-In late May, legislators in Quebec passed Bill 96 after the Charter of the French language was overhauled after a year of contentious debate. Indigenous leaders are among those who are concerned about the bill, joining the English-speaking communities in the province. Bill 96 limits the use of English in the court system and throughout other public services. It also puts more restrictive language requirements on small businesses and towns. Businesses with 25 or...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-THE Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law recently, codifying the historic tribal provisions that strengthen tribal sovereignty and safety in Indian Country. The reauthorization of VAWA, passed as part of the Omnibus Spending Package for Fiscal Year 2022, empowers Tribal Nations to exercise restored jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of child violence, sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, crimes against tribal law enforcement and...
BROKENHEAD OJIBWAY NATION, Man.- Cities and rural posts in Manitoba are suffering from a shortage of nurses across the province, and now, First Nation leaders in northern Manitoba have declared a state of emergency. The Keewatinohk Inniniw Okimowin Council, made up of chiefs and councillors from the 23 First Nations represented by Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, made this declaration in late May. "It has always been critical, there's always been a crisis, but it's only been a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Indian Health Service is announcing $5 million to target resources directly to tribes, tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations, and IHS direct service facilities to address Alzheimer's disease within tribal communities. This marks the first time IHS will allocate for this critical need. This funding will support tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to develop comprehensive and sustainable approaches to addressing Alzheimer'...
Two recent moves aim to benefit water access for tribal communities in the Colorado River basin. One, a bill in the U.S. Congress, could increase access to clean water. Another, the release of a "shared vision" statement, outlines the goals of tribes and conservation nonprofits. Tribes in the basin hold rights to about a quarter of the river's flow but have often been excluded from negotiations about how the river's water is used. At the same time, tribal communities often...
TSAWWASSEN FIRST NATION, B.C.-In late April, Chief Ken Baird and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced that the Tsawwassen First Nation and the Government of Canada have reached a settlement agreement of the English Bluff Specific Claim. As part of the settlement, the Tsawwassen First Nation will receive $7.7 million in total compensation. "We at Tsawwassen First Nation are pleased to bring closure to this long-standing issue," said...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska-The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) recently was awarded $35 million dollars to help alleviate broadband and communication challenges in the state's remote geography. The award was the largest to date given by through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. The connectivity program is sponsored by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, with the agency announcing 19 new grants totaling $77 million in...
YELLOWKNIFE, TREATY 8 TERRITORY, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES-Northern, remote and Indigenous communities in Canada face unique housing and infrastructure needs. The Government of Canada recently announced a new pilot project that will advance community-led housing solutions. The Government of Canada is providing $200,000 a year over three years to the Dene Nation to create a Housing and Infrastructure Secretariat that will support and coordinate housing-related initiatives...
OTTAWA-A new report reveals racism against Indigenous people within the health system in and around Ottawa. Indigenous-Specific Racism & Discrimination in Health Care Across the Champlain Region was commissioned by Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health and Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition to uncover stories of anti-Indigenous racism in health care across the Champlain health region-which includes the city of Ottawa and Prescott and Russell, Sormont, Dundas and Gengarry, North Grenvil...
The sun was shining as we drove away from our home one Friday morning. The roads were dry; the sky was blue. Driving west through the prairies, watching the grasses blow in the breeze, you could almost hear a gentle whisper in the air. My view from the passenger seat maintained this prairie panorama for countless hours as we passed through Alberta and into Saskatchewan. About 30 minutes west of Brandon, the weather changed to blowing snow. This caused a white out and hid the...
In the coming months, you can meet Indian Life staff at these events! Make sure you stop by and say, "Hi!" June 3–5: Indigenous Couples Getaway- Red Deer, Alberta, Canada June 24: Siksika Tent Meeting-Canada July 7–10: Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (NEFC) conference-Alberta, Canada July 23–24: Native Peoples Tour, Rosebud Reservation and Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, United States July 25: The Gathering (see note on Native Networking) July 28–31: Beaver...
July 25, 2022—The Gathering. Native pastors, Native churches and cross-cultural missionaries will gather to discuss a joint effort to bring the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Native Peoples Tour to continue the revival among the Native people in the Dakotas. For more information or to attend contact laura.long@the-harvest.org...
In our March/April issue of Indian Life, in the column “What’s Up with Indian Life,” we included the paragraph: “Over 40 years ago, a dream came to fruition. George McPeek, Ray Gowan and Chuck Olson came together with the sole purpose of restoring hope, healing and honor within the Indigenous community of North America, through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Intertribal Christian Communications was formed!” We inadvertently listed Chuck Olson instead of Chuck Fiero. We honor Chuck Fiero as one of the founders of Intert...
NORMAN, Okla.-Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen Galen Cloud complained about traffic during the 10-hour drive from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, to his tribe's homeland near Oxford, Alabama-before recalling how his ancestors had to walk that distance against their will. "You think about it and you're filled with madness, and then you just feel the pain and then you just hate to imagine what all they went through, just to get here," Cloud said. He was headed to Oxford, where city and...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-On May 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released its historic Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, which serves as a formal investigation into federal Indian boarding school policy. The report identified 408 federally-run Indian boarding schools and discovered more than 500 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) or Native Hawaiian child deaths at these institutions. These initial findings are considered...
RAPID CITY, N.D.-Native American Christian leaders came together in South Dakota with a powerful focus on sharing Jesus with Indigenous people who've faced generational hardships. The gathering is ahead of the Native Peoples Tour with Will Graham this summer. They came from Texas and Saskatchewan, South Carolina and Wyoming, Alberta and Kentucky. They carried the names of their tribes with honor: Lumbee, Chippewa, Navajo, Apache, Sioux, Hopi and more. Altogether, more than...
BUSBY, Alb.-On May 19-22, 2022, more than 150 youth gathered at Camp Nakamun in Alberta, Canada for the Native Youth Conference (NYC). The students came from eleven communities between British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskachewan. "We didn't even know if kids were gonna show up," said Chris Steinhauer, one of 11 NYC committee members from 4 communities and the Native churches, who helped plan the event. "And then to see over 150 kids show up blows my mind. Especially after...
WASHINGTON-Native American Tribes are hopeful an update to a century-old law will spur tribal economies and create a uniform approach to contracting procedures involving the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. The Buy Indian Act, created in 1910 to set aside government procurement contracts for Native-owned businesses, affects only the BIA and IHS. Still, in 2015 the Government Accountability Office reported only 12 percent to 15 percent of IHS contracts...
Victoria, B.C.-The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), is implementing a new graduation requirement for students in British Columbia's K–12 education system. Expected to take effect in the 2023-24 school year, this requirement will ensure all secondary students complete Indigenous-focused coursework. The program may also broaden to other Canadian provinces. While more than 90 percent of B.C. students graduate w...
EDMONTON, Alb.—Even though prices are skyrocketing on the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, Indigenous groups are still lining up, hoping to purchase the pipeline. The 1,150-km Trans Mountain pipeline carries 300,000 barrels of oil per day, and is Canada's only pipeline system transporting oil from Alberta to the West Coast. The expansion will raise daily output to around 890,000 barels, which will expand Canada's crude oil production and expand t...
