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Three years ago, when the director team of Todd and Krystal Wawrzyniak came on board Indian Life Ministries, they approached their mentors and friends, Kene and Milly Jackson, asking if the couple ever read any Indigenous devotionals. The Jacksons replied that they didn't know of the existence of any Indigenous devotionals. After Todd and Krystal grew in their ILM leadership positions, Kene and Milly approached them with the idea of Indian Life Ministries publishing a 365-day...
MISTISSINI, Quebec-The Cree School Board, in collaboration with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, has announced the launch of the Cree Springboard to Nursing program. This initiative will help Cree students get many of the prerequisites they need while studying from their home and community. The goal of the two-semester program is to recruit more Cree nurses to reach the needs of those who speak the Cree langauge and to offset nursing shortages across...
REGINA, Sask.—In April, The Royal Regina Rifles (RRR) unveiled a statue honoring troops who landed on the beaches at Normandy, France on D-Day-including the quarter of the regiment who were First Nations. Of the Indigenous soldiers in the RRR, most were from the Peepeekisis First Nation. "The contributions of Indigenous veterans have really been overlooked for a long time,"historian Kelsey Loney told APTN News. "We are so proud to include the Indigenous perspective on this s...
CALGARY, Alb.—In March, the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY), a Calgary-based, Indigenous-led not-for-profit organization, celebrated the groundbreaking of the start of construction for the first Aboriginal youth centre in Calgary, which is a significant step towards supporting a vision of success for Indigenous youth now and for future generations. Until now, USAY, which was established in 1999, has been operating its programs for indigenous youth in Calgary out o...
KINGSTON, Okla.—The Chickasaw Children's Village in Kingston, Oklahoma, recently celebrated 20 years of providing a safe and nurturing home-like environment for First American youth from kindergarten age through high school. The Chickasaw Children's Village is a place chosen by many Chickasaw families for students from first-graders to high school students to live while getting their education. The village offers a safe, nurturing environment, as well as developing i...
TAHKEQUAH, Okla.—In late March, the Cherokee Nation Wings Program announced their line-up for 2024. The program schedules 17 races, which are 5K each, across Cherokee Nation Reservation. The The Wings program offers both in-person and virtual options for Cherokee Nation citizens and non-citizens to get active and stay healthy. All 5K race events are free for Wings members. “The Wings races provide a fun way for our citizens and employees to embrace an active lifestyle foc...
With Council Fire Volume 2 just being received from the printer, we are busy beavers, as we work hard to fulfill customer requests. It is proving to be more sought after than we anticipated. We ordered 6000 copies of volume 1 and have less than 500 left! Now that volume 2 is moving along, and with summer coming our way, we are working hard at getting all contributions received for Council Fire Volume 3 before people start taking vacation and aren't thinking about writing devot...
If you're attending these events, come by and meet us! If you would like ILM to participate in your event, contact Krystal at admin@IndianLife.org May 16-19: Native Youth Conference (NYC), Camp Nakamun, Alb. For details: www.nativeyouthco.org July 11-14: Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (NEFC) Annual General Conference, Regina Sk. For details: www.nefc.ca...
NEW YORK-States with the largest Indigenous populations have the worst health system outcomes for Native people, according to a new study. The report, Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report, comes from the Common Wealth Fund, a private foundation that examines health care in the U.S. to advance equitable outcomes. The data it collected included information about access to quality care for Black, white, Hispanic,...
MONTREAL, Que.-Montreal's regional health authority has partnered with Native Montreal, a friendship center, to create a new health clinic that will provide culturally safe care for Indigenous families living in the city. The clinic is starting small with a doctor available twice a week and two nurses on site, offering a range of front-line services from two exam rooms and three multi-pupose rooms. While the clinic has served around 100 people since the clinic started seeing...
CHICAGO-A study published earlier this year by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Dermatology shows that Indigenous Americans have the second-highest rates of skin cancer. The study draws on data from an Indian Health Service (IHS) population-based cancer registry from 1999-2019. Skin cancer, or melanoma, causes more than 9,000 deaths per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC, twice as many...
On the Hopi Reservation's more than 1.5 million acres of desert landscape in northeast Arizona, many residents live in villages atop arid mesas. Below ground, there's a network of copper wires that provides telephone and internet service. Hopi Telecommunications in 2004 bought the company that had installed them, but has been struggling ever since to upgrade the network to broadband speeds. Hopi Telecommunications serves both the Hopi reservation and parts of the surrounding...
On March 1–3, 2024, Indian Life Ministries partnered with Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and FamilyLife Canada to co-host an Indigenous Couples' Retreat at the Courthouse Hotel in Thunder Bay, Canada. Kene and Milly Jackson from from the Whitefish Lake Band #128 Plains Cree Nation and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada blessed conferees through their music ministry and led worship. During the weekend, Gord and Bev Mills, from the Moose Cree First Nation in Sudbur...
SCOTTSDALE—The bustling Arizona Indian Festival showcases Native singing, dancing and art to promote tourism and awareness of Arizona's tribal communities. Visitors can learn about Indigenous culture and history through vendors, art and demonstrations. To ensure that visitors to the festival, which was Saturday and Sunday, interact with real Native art, an Arizona Indian Festival committee vets all festival vendors for authenticity. Vendors are also required to show a certific...
Seeking to help restore hope, healing, and honor among the Indigenous people of North America takes many ministries working together . . . the task is vast, but we at Indian Life are committed to partnering with other ministries. One of these is CHIEF, Inc. CHIEF, Inc. was founded in 1975 by Tom Claus. As he went to individual Native reservations and met with pastors, lay leaders, and missionaries, he observed, firsthand, the need for culturally relevant evangelism that would...
As we mentioned in the directors’ column, ILM moved to a new physical office this month! We are very excited about this as for the last three years, our director team, Krystal and Todd Wawrzyniak have been running the office out of their home office. They say, “The Lord’s timing is perfect, as having the office at home allowed us to focus on some of the needs of our children while still remaining focused on the running of ILM. With our move into the new office, we are anticipating growth! Growth in workers and growth in minis...
If you're attending these events, come by and meet us! If you would like ILM to participate in your event, contact Krystal at admin@IndianLife.org April 25-28: BC Native Christian Conference-Kamloops, B.C. May 16-19: Native Youth Conference (NYC), Camp Nakamun, Alb....
Prince Rupert, B.C.-Tne Prince Rupert, B.C. court system recently encountered a new defense tactic. A man was being prosecuted for creating child pornography and sending graphic pictures and videos of himself to young girls. The defendant's plea? That he should get leniency because he said he was of Indigenous heritage. The defendant was not raised Indigenous, nor had he pursued DNA testing or researched family genealogy, but he said he self-identified as Métis. He had simply,...
CALGARY, Alb.—The Nisga'a Nation in northwestern British Columbia is partnering with a Texas-based firm, Western LNG, to buy the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project from Calgary-based TC Energy Corp. "Today is a historic day for the Nisga'a Nation and represents a sea change in major industrial development in this country," said Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga'a Lisims government, in a news release. "In taking an equal ownership role in this pipeline, we are s...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-At the recent Reservation Economic Summit, Janet Yellen, of The United States Treasury, announced a new, third round of approvals for tribal support under the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a 2010 program aimed at helping open new avenues to credit by supporting funding institutions. This third funding round during the past nine months brings the number of SSBCI-support tribes to 80 and the total amount awarded to $265 million. Tribal...
Navajo Nation-Federal energy officials took the unusual step of denying permits Thursday to several pumped hydropower projects proposed on the Navajo Nation, citing a new policy that gives tribes a greater voice in projects on their lands. The tribe and environmental groups had urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny applications for several of the pumped storage projects, saying they worried about the impact of the projects but had not been consulted by...
AJO, Ariz-Jesse Garcia was first introduced to farming in his grandmother's garden. As a child, he recalls not quite understanding the true purpose of growing and how important it is. It was in high school that he first started taking an interest in farming and agriculture. After graduating, he had a number of jobs, but he did not feel passionate about any of them. It was then that he found the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Arizona farmers are aging. With a hope to s...
VICTORIA, B. C.-In December, Leonard Marchand was named as the first Indigenous person to be appointed as the chief justice for the Court of Appeal in British Columbia. He will also serve as chief justice on the Yukon Court of Appeal. A member of the Okanagan Indian Band, part of the Syilx Nation, Marchand began his practice as a lawyer in Kamloops, B.C., where his practice included pursuing civil claims of historic child abuse in institutional settings, and he represented...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-In December, the third annual White House Tribal Nations Summit was held, bringing together tribal leaders and top administration officials to address critical issues facing tribal communities. During the event, U.S. president Joe Biden signed an executive order reforming federal funding and support for tribal nations and aimed to promote the next era of tribal self-determination. The critical issues addressed by the summit included co-stewardship agreements...
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-In January, Lily Gladstone made history as she became the first Indigenous actress to win a Golden Globe. Gladstone was awarded in the "Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama" for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in the film, "Killers of the Flower Moon." "This is a historic win and it doesn't belong to just me," Gladstone said. Gladstone, whose background is Blackfeet and Nez Perce, and who grew up on the Blackfeet Nation, is the se...
