News Archives - Page 191 of 447

Vice Chairman Parks delivers annual State of the Tribes address

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

“In 1996, Marysville and Tulalip had just built a bridge, the 88^th Street Bridge,” began Tulalip Vice Chairman Les Parks as he delivered the annual Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce State of Tulalip Address. He recalled the direction Tulalip was moving in when he first served on the tribal council, and how it has changed over the last 20 years, noting the focus and success of building an economy that is mutually beneficial for both Tulalip and Marysville.

“On the east side of this bridge was a brand new corridor–and it was a big day for the Marysville Tulalip area.” Today, it is a shopping plaza that includes Haggens, Starbucks and other retail stores. “But on the west side of the freeway there was nothing but a stand of cedar trees,” he recalled. “We went to work building Quil Ceda Village. One of the greatest feelings is to do what we did here at Tulalip, for our Indian people, and the dream and the vision that we had of economic success has become a reality.”

Since the construction of the 88^th Street Bridge in 1996, the Quil Ceda Village business park experienced a rapid growth in economic development, creating a successful economy which continues to grow today. In that time, Quil Ceda Village also received a charter as a federal municipality, now operating as a city, governed by the Tulalip Tribes, and yet, separate from the tribal government. Because of that structure, Quil Ceda Village has been able to contribute immensely to the greater economic development and growth of Snohomish County. Since the establishment of first federal city, Washington D.C., Quil Ceda Village is the second federally chartered city in the nation. A dream realized after more than 50 years, the village is a thriving success which has the Tulalip Tribes poised to reclaim taxes.

“The Federal Register now contains language that prohibits states and counties from assessing taxes on building improvements on and off reservation when it’s Indian owned-land and affirmed by the Great Wolf Lodge case this September in the Ninth Circuit,” continued Vice Chairman Parks. “We are currently in the process of developing an Assessor’s office so that we can begin to assess those taxes we’ve always known were ours. Tulalip itself, and I know it has been told to the Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce many times, put a ton of money into the infrastructure, in the ground we’re sitting on, to the tune of about $65 million. Now I believe we are in excess of $100 million.”

“And who gets to benefit from the tax?” he asked. “Marysville does, Snohomish County does, the state does, but Tulalip gets zero,” Vice Chairman Parks explained.

There are a number of Tulalip public works projects that are underway, planned, or in the planning process that will ease some of the stressors and impacts which accompany economic expansion. Most notably are the utilities project known as the Big Water project, and revisions to the 116^th Street Freeway Overpass to streamline traffic flow. Currently, the overpass is a bottleneck, with one lane in each direction, and a center turn lane for each freeway onramp.

Parks announced, “Next month we’re going to put out to bid to start construction of the bridge. In eighteen months, we’re going to see a six-lane bridge, which is what everybody’s been waiting for,” he said. “Largely, Tulalip is the lead on that project; we invest a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of effort. We know we have been responsible for the traffic nightmare, we know Marysville has been partially responsible, but we have taken the lead. We do that because we want to be good neighbors. We want our success to be your success, and your success to be ours. Thank you Marysville, thank you everybody that’s contributed to that project,” said Vice Chairman Parks.

“In about two years we’re going to have water pumping through that new water main. 36 million gallons a day, that’s a lot of water. We may not need all that water yet but future generations will. When we decided to invest in that line through a negotiated settlement with Mayor Ray Stephanson, and the City Council of Everett, we wanted water to enhance and augment our stream flows, where our salmon are being raised, and we wanted to do that due to the loss of habitat. We want water back at Tulalip, and we’re going to use water for our people, and we’re going to us water for our salmon. For me, particularly exciting is we’re going to be able to ground inject some of that water into our streams that have low flow during the summer months, and we are going to start seeing more salmon. More salmon for our people, because that’s who we are, salmon people. That water main is two years away and stream augmentation is right behind it.”

Vice Chairman Parks emphasized the importance of Tulalip youth and the fact that they are the next generation of Tulalip leaders. Much has been set aside for them but what has been done to prepare them to manage their success? Chairman Herman Williams, who spoke at the State of the Tribes Address following Vice Chairman Parks, said he and Tulalip Board of Directors have made it clear that education is an important focus of their administration.

On March 29 of this year, the Marysville School District held a summit on education and what role it should play in the success of students. There, Troy McClelland, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County said, “Snohomish County is first in the state in manufacturing. We are second in the technology field. There are many successful economies in the state, but what makes us different is, in Snohomish County, we build things. There is a place for every student to succeed, if we continue to provide the competitive economy.” Chairman Williams noted that he has spoken with Marysville Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg about this very issue, saying that what students need most for our local economy are tools. They get an education, yet lack the tools and skills to succeed.

Parks said, “For the first time in the United States, a Indian TERO program is able to certify apprenticeships in the state in which we live. Chairman Williams has had a dream that we will have a full-fledged vocational training center on the reservation. And he’s talked about this for years, he’s talked about educating our youth, and he has walked his talk over the years. He knows how important it is to educate our youth, but he also knows that when they leave high school not all of them want to go to college. Some of them want to enter into the trades, some of them want to get trained in computers; and so he’s wanted this vocational training center. The TERO commission really has taken the first step in getting that done with the apprenticeship program. I know that in the very near future, Chairman Williams is going to continue to push, and we will soon have a full-fledged vocational training center on the reservation.”

Vice Chairman Parks ended the State of the Tribes address by thanking the Tulalip and Marysville communities for their coordinated efforts to support the victims and their families of the Oso Landslide, calling it one of the most tragic events in Washington’s history. “The Oso tragedy brought back to memory a piece of Tulalip history in 1830,” he said. “We lost many of our ancestors in a slide right off the tip of Camano Island. That slide buried many, and the subsequent Tsunami drowned many more that were subsisting in villages on the beaches of Hat Island. Our Oso brothers and sisters were welcomed by our Tulalip brothers and sisters at Heaven’s gates. Today I ask that we honor and remember those lost in both tragedies,” he said.

Groups want to see Montana judge’s racist emails

In this June 23, 2011, file photo, Chief Judge Richard F. Cebull makes a speech during a naturalization ceremony at the federal courthouse in Billings, Mont. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, James Woodcock, File)

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A group of American Indians wants a court to preserve and eventually release an investigative file containing inappropriate emails sent by a federal judge, including a racist message involving President Barack Obama.

Two Indian advocacy groups from Montana and South Dakota and a member of the Crow tribe filed a petition in U.S. District Court in California asking for the file to be preserved as evidence.

The groups want to know if Chief District Judge Richard Cebull made biased decisions from the bench. Their next step will be to file a lawsuit seeking public release of the documents, plaintiffs’ attorney Lawrence Organ said Wednesday.

Cebull was investigated after forwarding a racist message involving Obama. A judicial review panel found he sent hundreds of emails from his federal account that showed disdain for blacks, Indians, Hispanics, women, certain religions and others. He was publicly reprimanded and retired last year.

The investigation found no evidence of bias in his rulings. Organ said the only way to know that for sure is through the release of the emails.

“The fundamental principles of our entire legal system fall apart if a judge doesn’t come in with a neutral position,” Organ said. “If there are other decision makers involved, we’re not asking for their private email accounts. All we want to see are the emails accounts they used as government officials.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said its file on Cebull is confidential.

Plaintiffs in the case are South Dakota-based advocacy group Four Directions, Montana-based Indian People’s Action, and Sara Plains Feather, a member of southeastern Montana’s Crow Tribe.

Four Directions was involved in a voting rights lawsuit that sought to force several Montana counties to establish satellite voting districts on reservations. Cebull ruled against the Indian plaintiffs in that case, which was later settled after the 9th Circuit overturned his ruling.

Cebull himself and 10 others requested the misconduct investigation after The Great Falls Tribune reported the judge forwarded an email in February 2012 that included a joke about bestiality and Obama’s mother. Cebull apologized to Obama after the contents of that email were published.

The investigation looked at four years of Cebull’s personal correspondence sent from his official email account.

Cebull told the 9th Circuit panel that his “public shaming has been a life-altering experience.” Nominated by former President George W. Bush, he received his commission in 2001 and served as chief judge of the District of Montana from 2008 until 2013.

Named as defendants in the case were the office of 9th Circuit Executive Cathy Catterson and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Ninth Circuit spokesman David Madden said he could not comment on the pending petition.

The plaintiffs attempted in May to directly petition the 9th Circuit. That was rejected by the court’s clerk, who said the petition needed to be filed first at the district court level.

Task force fights back against drugs, gangs on tribal reservations

By Raeanna Marnati, KBJR 6

Red Cliff, Wisconsin ( NNCNOW.com)— It’s a rising problem on the Red Cliff Reservation. “We see a lot of marijuana, prescription medications are huge problem in our community, we’re starting to see heroin and methamphetamine come in, cocaine’s always been here,” said Red Cliff Police Chief Bill Mertig.

But tribal authorities are tackling the problem head first, thanks to the formation of the Native American Drug and Gang Initiative formed in 2007.

“We are able to focus on and share information on future gang trends, drug problems and then also to we can take these experts in the field and be able to work these investigations, knowing the community, knowing the players and be able to almost surgically identify and remove these threats,” said Bryan Kastelic, Native American Drug and Gang Initiative Task Force Commander.

The task force is made up of ten tribal police departments throughout Wisconsin.

It’s a collaboration between tribal, local, state and federal authorities to help with drug and gang identification on the reservation.

“It has the ability to shut the drug trade down be it for a few days or a few weeks but it still has the ability and it sends a signal that we will be back and that we are out there,” said Kastelic.

NADGI recently played a role in the arrest and apprehension of five people taking part in illegal drug activity on the Red Cliff Reservation.

Cash, guns, marijuana, and prescription pills were seized in the bust. But for the police, they have just scratched the surface

“We are not stopping at what we did, this is the start. We have a long way to get to the finish line,” said Mertig.

Officials with NADGI say a lack of support, manpower and funding among tribal police departments led to the formation.

Macklemore joins group demanding Duwamish river clean-up

by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – A newly formed group of community leaders who say they represent residents, Tribes, workers, fishing families and others, is demanding a better cleanup plan for the Duwamish River.

The group kicked off its “River for All” campaign with a new billboard on Highway 99 South where it crosses the Duwamish. It features their celebrity member, Seattle hip hop artist Macklemore.

Macklemore released a statement on his website, saying “We are Seattle. No bridge, boundaries or invisible man-made lines divide us. This is our home, our people and our community. This is our city’s only river.”

Group member BJ Cummings said the current plan proposed by the EPA properly addresses removal or capping of hot pockets of contamination in the river but calls for a natural recovery method for less contaminated sites. That depends on the river use its natural downriver migration of clean silt to cover the toxic areas over time.

Cummings said that is not good enough to protect the health of the residents along the Lower Duwamish who already face higher pollution exposure rates than most parts of the city.

The EPA is working on a response but has not issued it yet.

Resources

Duwamishcleanup.org

EPA Cleanup Plan

Win a kayaking trip with Macklemore

Unintentional state waiver lets FERC pre-empt state Coastal Zone rules

The Hydro Review

WASHINGTON, D.C.

06/26/2014

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a declaratory order that FERC hydropower licensing under the Federal Power Act pre-empts state regulation under the Coastal Zone Management Act in an instance in which the state of Washington unintentionally waived its CZMA permit authority.

The June 19 ruling blocks a state-imposed stay of construction and allows work to begin on the 600-kW Admiralty Inlet Pilot tidal project (No. 12690) to be installed in Washington’s Puget Sound. FERC issued a hydrokinetic pilot project license to Admiralty Inlet on March 20. FERC and the state of Washington agreed in 2009 to coordinate procedures and schedules for reviewing hydrokinetic energy projects in state waters of Washington.

As a pre-requisite for FERC licensing, a state agency has six months from application in which to issue a shoreline management permit under the Coastal Zone Management Act.

While license applicant Snohomish County Public Utility District No. 1 filed a CZMA application with the Washington Department of Ecology in March 2012, Snohomish and Ecology advised FERC by joint letter in September 2012 that they had agreed to extend the state’s review period. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which administers the CZMA, found extension of the review period did not comply with federal regulations and, as a result, Ecology waived its CZMA authority.

In May 2014, Ecology issued a shoreline permit for Admiralty Inlet incorporating conditions set by Island County, Wash., under state CZMA regulations including a requirement that project construction be delayed until appeals of the permit are concluded.

“The district argues that this stay would prevent it from implementing the terms of its license, which authorizes immediate construction of the project after the commission grants the necessary pre-construction approvals,” FERC said. “Because Article 410 of the license and biological opinion require that construction can only occur during a work window of July 16 to October 14, the district argues that it could miss this work window and construction could be delayed by one to two years.”

FERC agreed to Snohomish PUD’s request for a declaratory order upholding Federal Power Act pre-emption of state regulation.

“Because Ecology waived its consistency certification under the CZMA, a Shoreline Permit under Washington’s Shoreline Act is no longer required as a matter of federal law,” the commission said. “Therefore, we grant the district’s petition and declare that the FPA pre-empts any supplementary or inconsistent state or local requirements under Washington’s Shoreline Act. The district need not comply with the state-imposed stay provision of condition 23 of its Shoreline Permit. To hold otherwise would be inconsistent with the FPA, because it would allow the state permit to stay a commission hydroelectric license.”

FERC noted that Snohomish has informed Ecology and Island County that it intends to comply voluntarily with all provisions of the shoreline permit except the stay of construction.

“As a general matter, the commission encourages licensees to comply with state and local requirements to the extent that they do not conflict with the commission’s requirements or frustrate the purposes of the FPA,” FERC said. “We recognize, however, that under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, federal law pre-empts state and local laws when Congress occupies the field by enacting comprehensive legislation that leaves no room for supplemental state or local regulation.”

“This is significant for licensees who attempt to implement license obligations but are barred or delayed by state and local regulatory authorities with standards that conflict with the license,” said Mike Swiger of law firm Van Ness Feldman, which represented Snohomish.

Subsea cable operator challenge pending

FERC said it would address in a subsequent order a challenge by Pacific Crossing, owner of PC-1, a subsea telecommunications cable linking the United States and Japan, to the licensing of Admiralty Inlet.

Pacific Crossing unit PC Landing Corp. previously requested rehearing of the licensing order, saying the project would pose a risk to its nearby fiber-optic cable in Washington’s Puget Sound.

FERC also denied a requested stay but said it would address a rehearing request by the Tulalip Tribes of Washington who contend the project would affect access to its fishing grounds.

Quapaw tribe announces discovery of historic burial site in Arkansas

By The Associated Press

QUAPAW, Okla. — Members of the Quapaw tribe are teaming up with descendants of African-American slaves to research and preserve an archaeological site that contains the remains of their ancestors.

The burial sites were discovered on land that the Quapaw Tribe purchased in 2013. The land was part of the Thibault Plantation near the Little Rock Port Authority. Before that, it was part of the Quapaw’s historic reservation.

John House with the Arkansas Archaeological Survey estimated that the Native American graves at the site date back to 1400 to 1600, while the African-American graves in the same location probably date back from before the Civil War to the early 1900s.

House also said it is not uncommon for a prehistoric grave site to later serve as a grave site for other cultures.

“This is a very special place on the landscape,” House said in a statement. “So much of Arkansas’ history is told only through the lens of what occurred after white Europeans came here. But there were centuries of prior history, very much of it involving the Quapaw Tribe and other Native American tribes.”

John Berrey, chairman of the tribe, said, “We aren’t sure yet exactly what we will do at the site, so the immediate desire is to simply not disturb it.”

Tribal members recently met with members of the Preservation of African American Cemeteries to discuss the preservation of the site, but both groups said they wished to keep the burial site’s exact location a secret to prevent looting for historic artifacts.

This discovery comes on the heels of a similar one last summer, this one near Osceola, in northeastern Arkansas.

Berry said at that time that it was a Quapaw settlement, part of the area where Quapaws made contact with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1541, their first contact with Europeans.

Berrey also said that increased revenue that tribes have now from casinos and other businesses aids them in protecting tribal artifacts and cultural sites.

EarthFix Conversation: Is There Hope For Salmon In Northwest Cities?

Alan Yeakley is the director of the School of the Environment at Portland State University and co-author of Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. | credit: Courtesy of Portland State University

By Cassandra Profita, OPB

Swimming through cities is a fact of life for many salmon in the Northwest. With all their pavement and pollution, cities add to the challenges salmon face as they make their way to the ocean and back to their spawning grounds.

Alan Yeakley is the director of the School of the Environment at Portland State University and co-author of Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. The book sets out to answer a key question: Can wild salmon populations coexist with humans in urban areas?

EarthFix reporter Cassandra Profita sat down with Yeakley to talk about exactly why cities are such a problem for salmon and steelhead in the Northwest, and what urban-dwellers can do about it.

Cassandra Profita: Tell me what got you interested in this topic. I think of it as salmon in the city.

Alan Yeakley: When the focus has been so strongly and of course rightly so on the wild land areas, agricultural areas, forested areas, the hinterlands. That’s most of the land surface, the land area, but yet it has always been recognized that these fish have to go through these lethal urban areas. So, any fish going through the entire Willamette Basin has to go through Portland. Any fish going in the Columbia Basin has to at least go through the area between Portland and Vancouver, and with those toxics coming off the streets with the sediments coming in the higher temperatures that city environments create, it’s quite a challenge for fish to go through those areas and yet it represents such a large part of the Pacific Northwest that they have to pass through twice in their lifetime.

Profita: So, are you looking at what challenges salmonids have in urban environments?

Yeakley: Yes, they range across a whole suite of issues. And it ranges from physical impacts from sediment coming into the streams at higher rates coming off of our roads, the toxic elements that are coming in either from automobile exhaust or waste, or from fertilizer that people are applying to their yards, from industrial sites. Just all manner of – you know that toxic soup that is produced from cities that hits these streams.

Every time somebody steps on the brakes in their car – including me. Today I drove my car in so that had some impact on salmon. And we’re all doing this. We’re all having these tiny little impacts that add up. We know from copper in the brake pads that has a sub-lethal effect. In other words, it’s an effect that won’t kill the fish but it will reduce their ability to function, just having some presence of copper in the water that’s coming off those brake pads. So, these everyday practices that we do, watering our lawns too much so that the water doesn’t just soak into the lawn but goes out into the street and moves into the street, particularly if we put too many pesticides, herbicides or insecticides. The insecticides affect the insects in the stream and those insects are part of the salmon’s diet. So any extra insecticides we’re putting in our yards that go into the stream will then affect the fish. These are indirect effects, but they’re still effects.

Profita: Did you look into how salmonid populations are actually doing in urban environments? Did you look at their numbers?

Yeakley: From the city of Portland we work with Chris Prescott. He and others are doing comprehensive surveys of these salmonid populations. They do them on a routine basis every year. trying to understand population levels of salmonids. And recently Chris sent me some data about a month ago, actually, from some some encouraging results for native fish populations in Portland urban streams including salmonids that are on the uptick. So there are some encouraging results from Portland. There are also encouraging results from other cities such as Boise and Seattle and some of the other surrounding metropolitan areas in the Pacific Northwest in terms of some of the salmon numbers coming back. Of course, they’re not in any substantial numbers yet, but at least there is some presence of salmon in some of the area streams now.

Cassandra Profita: Can you tell what kinds of environments are seeing the uptick in salmon and what kinds of areas are not?”

Yeakley: “Yes, where municipal efforts have been most successful and most intense we’re seeing the best return. For instance in the Johnson Creek watershed, there have been a number of very large restoration sites, recovery sites that have been conducted by the city of Portland, the city of Gresham and with some help from other entities. All of these people working together have been able to recover stream segments’ entire floodplain areas, and that’s really notable so they’re to be lauded.

The big challenge, of course, is these habitats are not sufficient still to recover very large populations of salmonids. And they sometimes are not connected together well enough. So there will be a big stretch of nice habitat and then they’ll go through a concrete, very narrow concrete passage like an LA stream-type channel where you don’t have any riparian, any side channels, any overhanging vegetation. So it’s kind of like a Mario game where you have little stretches where the fish are really doing OK and suddenly it gets really tense again and the numbers are not going to not come back very strongly until we reconnect and get rid of some of these really lethal habitats that still remain in their path.

Profita: What have you found needs to change to accommodate fish in urban areas and what’s realistic?

Yeakley: The realistic question is really the challenge. Part of what needs to be done is just what municipalities like the city of Portland are already doing. It just needs to be continued. More of it. Because it’s working but it’s not sufficient for full recovery.

So that’s the first thing. We just need to continue what cities like Seattle, Portland and others are already doing. But then more needs to be done in the same area, so all the streams still in damaged conditions have lots of toxics going into them have lots of nearby homes that don’t have a lot of mitigation, a lot of bioswales or other retention ponds to intercept the pollutants as they come off these urban lawns. Those still need to be continually upgraded in terms of adding more interception of those toxic pollutants and more reduction of the toxic impacts of either the urban residents or of the commercial areas or industrial areas.

Alan Yeakley is the director of the School of the Environment at Portland State University and co-author of Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest.

First Nations ceremonial shaming rite targeted at federal government

An ancient First Nations ritual steeped in symbolism is going to take place in the nation’s capital this summer.

by Carlito Pablo on Jun 25, 2014, Straight.com, Vancouver BC

First Nations carver Beau Dick says a copper shield, like the one he holds, will be shattered in Ottawa in a symbolic gesture of anguish.Carlito Pablo — First Nations carver Beau Dick says a copper shield, like the one he holds, will be shattered in Ottawa in a symbolic gesture of anguish.
Carlito Pablo

A copper shield will be smashed on Parliament Hill, an act believed never to have been done before in Ottawa. Called copper cutting, the ceremonial shaming practice will evoke what many consider to be a broken relationship between the federal government and Canada’s aboriginal people.

“Our coppers are a symbol of justice, a symbol of truth, a symbol of balance,” according to Beau Dick, a renowned carver from Vancouver Island’s Namgis First Nation.

At his UBC studio, the resident artist in the department of art history, visual art, and theory explained that breaking copper constituted an insult in old times.

“It is banishment. It is an expression of extreme disappointment and anguish,” Dick explained to the Georgia Straight.

The ritual, indigenous to Natives of the Pacific Northwest, had not been practised for decades until the 59-year-old artist revived it last year.

After marching for a week from the northern tip of Vancouver Island with relatives and supporters, Dick shattered a copper shield in front of the B.C. legislature in Victoria on February 10, 2013.

During a gathering at UBC later last year to celebrate his artist residency, the idea was born to perform the ceremony in Ottawa. One of those present at that social event was Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw. Also a famous carver, Guujaaw is a former president of the Council of the Haida Nation.

When aboriginal representatives meet on Parliament Hill on July 27 for the shaming ceremony, it will be Haida copper that will be split.

“We’re facing a federal government here that has shown total disregard for the environment, for the wildlife, for the people of the coast, and we want to express that in the best way that we can and that’s in the breaking of the copper,” Guujaaw told the Straight in a phone interview.

Foremost among the grievances is Ottawa’s recent approval of Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway oil pipeline, a $7.9-billion project that has divided First Nations in B.C.

“It’s a one-show pony over there. They’re only interested in oil,” Guujaaw noted.

The Haida artist also mentioned cutbacks to Fisheries and Oceans Canada undermining the conservation of marine resources that many Native groups rely upon for food and cultural purposes. Guujaaw said he doesn’t expect anything to change on the part of the government anytime soon.

As to what aboriginal people want to put across to Ottawa, Guujaaw said: “The message will be the ceremony.”

In the past, copper was a marker of Native wealth and status, according to Eldon Yellowhorn, chair of SFU’s department of First Nations studies. When chiefs held a potlatch, the metal was given as a gift, said Yellowhorn, who hails from Alberta’s Piikani First Nation.

Although the planned breaking of copper may be symbolic, he noted that it’s indicative of Native sentiment about processes around projects such as oil pipelines. “Many of them feel that they haven’t been consulted,” Yellowhorn told the Straight by phone, “so I’m sure this is a way of illustrating to the government that they’re not pleased.”

Like broken metal, frayed relationships can be restored, but there should be amends, according to Dick. “There has to be atonement,” he said.

On Wednesday (July 2), Dick and Guujaaw will meet at the UBC First Nations House of Learning for ceremonies to kick-start a cross-country journey to Ottawa. Dick’s five-year-old grandson and an almost 90-year-old aunt are coming along.

“We as a First Nation group want to move forward together in unity with our fellow men to create a better world,” Dick said. “I think that this is where we start this notion of reconciliation and unity.”

Navajo Nation Makes Historic Agreement With DHHS to Handle its Tribal Foster Care

Courtesy Navajo NationOn June 27, Navajo Nation Presient Ben Shelly signs the Title IV-E funding agreement with the DHHS. — Courtesy Navajo Nation
On June 27, Navajo Nation Presient Ben Shelly signs the Title IV-E funding agreement with the DHHS.

Suzette Brewer, Indian Country Today

Window Rock, Arizona—On Friday, June 27, the Navajo Nation made an historic pact with the U.S. Department of of Health and Human Services to execute a direct funding agreement through the Title IV-E program under the Social Security Act that will reimburse the tribe and its child welfare agencies for federally eligible foster care, adoptions and guardianships.

The reimbursements cover maintenance, including room and board; administration, including determination of Title IV-E eligibility, placement of the child, development of a case plan, and other administrative duties under the act; and short- and long-term training for the tribe, including child welfare agencies and court personnel. Title IV-E reimbursements are open-ended and are not a grant, according to the DHHS.

The Navajo Nation tribal jurisdiction covers three states: New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, but if a child was placed into state care, each of those states made the eligibility determination and placed the child. Meanwhile, the tribe’s social workers had to plead with each of the three states to return the child to the Navajo jurisdiction to be placed with one of its licensed foster homes. Additionally, the tribe only received funding from the state of New Mexico. Arizona and Utah did not provide Title IV-E reimbursements to the tribe.

Through this agreement with the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, however, the Navajo Nation will now make its own eligibility determinations and home placements within its jurisdictional borders in all three states and receive federal funding to assist the foster families to help in taking care of its own children. In qualifying for this direct funding agreement, the Navajo Nation is setting a national precedent for other tribes to follow.

“The Title IV-E is a model program for other Indian tribes throughout the United States,” said Sharon Begay-McCabe, director of the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services. “Because tribes have an input on how their program will be administered and [how to] incorporate their tribal culture into the plan. Native Americans, including Navajo, believe that children should be raised within their immediate family or within their Indian tribe. The family bond Navajo is their matrilineal clan system and families can exercise these traditional customs by keeping the children in kinship and permanent placement. Our children are the future leaders of our tribes and we must continue to hold them sacredly and keep them safe.”

Begay-McCabe, said that the tribe had been working since 2011 to qualify for the federal funding with a $300,000 planning grant. According to tribal officials, Title IV-E is an annual appropriation with specific eligibility requirements and fixed allowable costs for uses of funds. In fiscal year 2010, the direct funding provision was made available to Indian nations, tribal organizations and tribal consortia with approved plans to operate the program. The Navajo Nation is the first tribe to qualify for the funding.

“The Navajo Division of Social Services requested a one year extension and used its own resources to complete the Title IV-E plan, including the assistance from the Casey Family Foundation,” said Begay-McCabe. “Once the Title IV-E plan was submitted for approval, it took additional time to finally obtain the approval from DHS.”

In addition to the Casey Family Foundation, the tribe also partnered with the Navajo Nation Judicial Branch, Division of Public Safety, Office of the Chief Prosecutor, Office of the Chief Public Defender, Department of Dine’ Education, Division of Health and the Office of the President and Vice President in getting the direct funding agreement approval.

“The Navajo Division of Social Services is the first tribal program in the country to administer the Title IV-E program,” said Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly. “I commend Sharon McCabe and her staff for making this possible. Our kids are important and we must do everything we can to protect them.”

Tribal officials said the program is set to go into effect on October 1, 2014. Until that time, the tribe’s Department of Family Services will begin trainings, which will include the Navajo Nation Courts and other tribal programs that will cover eligibility requirements for the children and families receiving Title IV-E and the requirements of language in the courts’ rulings.

Currently, the tribe only receives funding for six children, but the new program could impact up to 200 Navajo children currently in foster care, said Begay-McCabe.

“Title IV-E enhances tribal sovereignty, [because] the Navajo Nation will receive direct funding from the federal government,” said Begay-McCabe “Before, the Division had to work with the three states – Arizona, New Mexico and Utah – individually to receive Title IV-E. The Division had to follow the process of eligibility, which differs in each state and was not culturally sensitive. Now, the Division will administer the whole Title IV-E program for the tribe, [which] will keep our children safe, provide permanency, and incorporates Navajo culture that will enhance our tribal sovereignty.”

Breaking News – Climate Activists Blockade Oil Terminal, Demand Halt to Crude-By-Rail traffic in Pacific Northwest

By: Global Justice Ecology Project

PORTLAND–This morning, climate justice activists with Portland Rising Tide shut down the ArcLogistics crude oil terminal in Northwest Portland.

Portland resident Irene Majorie, 22, locked herself to a 55-gallon barrel filled with concrete that was placed on the railroad track leading into the facility. Train cars enter from a nearby yard to offload oil into 84 storage tanks, before it is piped onto oceangoing ships bound for West Coast refineries.

Majorie’s arm is locked to a piece of metal rebar embedded in the Attempts by law enforcement to move her and the barrel simultaneously would likely result in grave injury; likewise, any train traffic would threaten her life.

Irene Majorie this morning

“This is about stopping the oil trains,” said Majorie. “But beyond that, it is about an industry and an economic system that places the pursuit of profit before the lives and relationships of human beings seeking survival
and nourishment, and before the communities, ecosystems, and planet of which we are a part.”

Oil trains are coming under increasing scrutiny recently owing to their propensity to derail in fiery explosions. Portland Rising Tide, however, disputes the notion that an oil train is ever safe, since crude oil is only transported to be burned. Whatever the risk of explosion, the guaranteed result is a worsening of the climate crisis, which is already wreaking ecological havoc and claiming human lives.

US crude oil production has risen from ~5 million barrels per day in the late 2000s to ~7 million barrels per day currently. Increased extraction is North Dakota’s Bakken Shale has resulted in a dramatic rise in oil train traffic, with 250% more oil trains traveling Oregon rail lines in 2013 than in the previous year. Governor Kitzhaber has expressed “deep concern” about oil trains but thus far done nothing to stop them.

“Society should be engaged in a rapid, radical decline in fossil fuel use,” said David Bennett. “Instead, policymakers—even those who claim to understand the magnitude of the climate crisis—are forcing us to engage in an absurd conversation about creating ‘safe’ oil trains and building more fossil fuel infrastructure.”

The ArcLogistics terminal, which began operation in January, is one piece of infrastructure facilitating increased oil production. When ongoing construction is completed, the facility will have the capacity to transport 16,250 barrels of oil per day.

In April, Portland Rising Tide entered the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s offices in downtown Portland, issued termination letters to employees at their desks, and announced the formation of a new People’s Agency, which would carry out DEQ’s mandate free of corporate influence. This is the first enforcement action of the nascent agency.

“If our policymakers listened, we would demand an immediate halt to oil train traffic in Oregon and the closure of all crude oil terminals,” said Emma Gould. “Since they don’t, we’re halting oil trains ourselves.”

Activists at the ArcLogistics crude oil terminal in Northwest Portland today.