Tulalip News

Interior Expands Land Buy-Back Process Across Indian Country

Source: Department of the Interior

In Response to Tribal Consultation & Feedback, Buy-Back Program Announces Solicitation for Cooperative Agreement Applications from Tribes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to help strengthen Indian communities, and following nation-to-nation consultations with tribal leaders, the Department of the Interior is expanding the implementation strategy for the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program).

The move to engage a significant amount of tribal governments expands on the Department’s initial plan to launch pilot efforts with less than a dozen tribes, allows for a greater amount of engagement across Indian Country, and provides more flexibility and transparency for tribal governments. The cooperative agreements would make funds available to tribal governments to implement key aspects of the Buy-Back Program, such as owner outreach and education. Tribes have the opportunity to actively participate in the process, including identifying acquisition priorities, which will improve the program’s effectiveness and efficiency while minimizing administrative costs.

“This is a major step forward toward strengthening tribal sovereignty by supporting consolidation of tribal homelands,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “We are moving quickly to establish individualized cooperative agreements, which address the specific needs of each tribe and provide resources for tribal communities to implement the program. Although the task ahead is challenging, we have been given a historic opportunity to work together with Indian Country to meet this challenge.”

The Buy-Back Program was created to implement the land consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The Settlement provided for a $1.9 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund (Fund) to consolidate fractional trust or restricted land interests across Indian Country. The Buy- Back Program allows interested individual owners to receive payments for voluntarily selling their land. All lands sold will immediately be held in trust for the tribe with jurisdiction.

Interior holds about 56 million acres in trust for American Indians. More than 10 million acres are held for individual American Indians and nearly 46 million acres are held for Indian tribes. The Department holds this land in more than 200,000 tracts, of which nearly 94,000 – on about 150 reservations – contain fractional ownership interests available for purchase by the Buy-Back Program.

This solicitation will expand the program implementation work already underway and requests tribes to work with Interior to determine the estimated schedule in which they wish to ultimately conduct outreach and engagement. An open solicitation period will be held through March 14, 2014, during which tribes with jurisdiction over these most fractionated locations are invited to submit letters of interest or cooperative agreement applications for participation in the program.

Additional solicitations will follow this initial period. Significant outreach, mapping and mineral evaluations are already occurring at many locations.

“We have heard from tribal leaders and individual landowners that they want predictability and transparency on the timing of implementation efforts,” said Kevin K. Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “This open solicitation puts much of the timing in the hands of tribal governments and will allow the program to move on a quicker timeline.”

Implementation decisions will still rely on a number of factors, such as the severity of fractionation; degree of ownership overlap between tracts; geographic location to maximize efficiency and resources; appraisal complexity; and overall interest of the tribe as indicated by their cooperative agreement application.

More information on this solicitation is available here.

Outreach and tribal engagement will also continue with the tribes that represent the locations with the remaining 10 percent of fractionated lands. Flexible purchase ceilings will be used to protect against the risk of premature exhaustion of the available funds.

The program also released an Updated Implementation Plan today, which builds upon significant consultation and feedback from tribal nations over the past year. Updates outlined in the plan include a number of steps that tribal nations can take now to prepare for involvement in the Buy- Back Program. These steps include increasing owner awareness of the value and benefits of participation in the program and designating an authorized tribal point of contact to engage with the Program.

The Updated Implementation Plan can be found here.

Mi’kmaq Anti-Fracking Protest Brings Women to the Front Lines to Fight for Water

Courtesy Ossie Michelin, APTN National NewsThis photo of 28-year-old Amanda Polchies kneeling before Royal Canadian Mounted Police while brandishing an eagle feather during anti-fracking protests in New Brunswick has become iconic as a symbol of resistance to destructive industrial development—and of women's role in fighting for the water. — Courtesy Ossie Michelin, APTN National News
This photo of 28-year-old Amanda Polchies kneeling before Royal Canadian Mounted Police while brandishing an eagle feather during anti-fracking protests in New Brunswick has become iconic as a symbol of resistance to destructive industrial development—and of women’s role in fighting for the water.

By Martha Troian, Indian Country Today Media Network

As Amanda Polchies knelt down in the middle of the blocked-off highway with nothing but an eagle feather held aloft separating her from a solid wall of blue advancing police officers, she prayed.

“I prayed for the women that were in pain, I prayed for my people, I prayed for the RCMP officers,” the 28-year-old Elsipogtog First Nation member told Indian Country Today Media Network. “I prayed that everything would just end and nobody would get hurt.”

As Polchies faced off against hundreds of RCMP officers on the highway near her community, she couldn’t help but notice how many of those beside her were indigenous women—the keepers of the water, fighting to keep fracking chemicals out of the ground.

“So many people got hurt,” she said as she recalled “looking around, seeing all of these women.”

$Mi'kmaq women face police in anti-fracking protest on October 17, 2013, in New Brunswick near Elsipogtog First Nation. (Photo: Twitter)$

Mi’kmaq women face police in anti-fracking protest on October 17, 2013, in New Brunswick near Elsipogtog First Nation. (Photo: Twitter)

Polchies was just one of the dozens of indigenous people who grappled with fully armed RCMP officers just south of a town called Rexton on October 17, 2013. Very early that morning, the RCMP had moved in on an encampment of Mi’kmaq Warrior Society members and others as they slept. They were enforcing an injunction against the blockade of a worksite for SWN Resources Canada, the company that has been searching for shale gas in the area since spring.

Photos and video of the raid show several snipers wearing camouflage or dressed all in black lying in surrounding fields. Hundreds of photos have emerged on social media from this day that show Indigenous people—both men and women of all ages—confronting police. But it’s hard not to notice how many of those images show indigenous women. Many women can be seen drumming, singing, praying and even smudging RCMP officers with the cleansing smoke of sage, cedar, sweetgrass or other traditional medicine.

By the time Polchies arrived that afternoon, the situation had become a standoff. On one side, RCMP officers in a straight line across the highway. On the other, opponents to shale gas—the majority of them Mi’kmaq. Before long, the situation became a fight. Arguments erupted, women screamed, and weaponry was raised. The RCMP used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and even dogs. Polchies saw two women hit with pepper spray in the face. Seeing these women in pain “spoke to” her, she said.

“I just realized I had a feather in my hand,” Polchies said. “I just knelt down in the middle of the road and I started praying.”

Polchies didn’t realize it at the time but a reporter with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network snapped a photo from behind with his phone and posted it to Twitter. That image of Polchies kneeling down with a raised eagle feather, facing a line of officers in front of her, has come to symbolize the conflict between First Nations and the government-supported oil and gas companies that covet the resources under their land. And central to that conflict are women, the defenders of the water.

Mi’kmaq women stared down RCMP officers near Elsipogtog First Nation on October 17. (Photo: Twitter)

SWN Resources Canada, a subsidiary of Texas-based Southwestern Energy Company, has a license to explore 1 million hectares in the province of New Brunswick. While the company has only been searching for shale gas deposits, protesters believe that once they find them, it won’t be be long before the company employs the controversial technique known as fracking to get at it. Many fear that the practice, which involves injecting toxic chemicals into cracks in the rock to loosen the deposits, will contaminate and destroy local water systems. Protesters want to see SWN pack up and go home. Many women have been arrested, jailed and even injured as they passionately defend their life-giving water supply. Protests have been ongoing since June.

Indigenous women are traditionally responsible for water, said Cheryl Maloney, who is from Shubenacadie First Nation, a Mi’kmaq community near Truro, Nova Scotia, and is president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association.

“Women have a connection to the water based on the moon and our cycles,” Maloney told Indian Country Today Media Network. “But that alone doesn’t explain the intense connection that our young people, the seventh generation have.”

There is an awakening going on, she said, with young women revitalizing their culture after years of seeing it being oppressed and taken away from their families through residential school.

“All the prophecies are pointing to these young people,” she said. “Our young people are spiritually awakened. Make no mistake, they are spiritually driven and following their ancestors.”

Haley Bernard, 22, of Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia, heeded the call. The recent graduate of Cape Breton University in Mi’kmaq Studies gave her support on the front lines on October 17, answering her best friend Suzanne Patles’ cry for help.

“Women are protectors of the water, we have water in our body, we carry a child, and they’re covered in water, so we’re meant to do that. We’re supposed to do that,” said Bernard. “We know the law, we know our treaties, we know what we’re supposed to protect.”

For her part, Polchies never planned on becoming a symbol. When the line of RCMP officers moved forward, she remained on her knees.

“I heard someone behind me saying, ‘Keep praying if you’re not going to get up.’ That’s what I did.”

All she could see was darkness from the uniforms that surrounded her.

“I just closed my eyes and held my feather and prayed for protection,” she said. “Then all of a sudden there was light.”

Polchies said that’s when RCMP officers moved to the other side of the road and started arresting people. One of the women Polchies saw was 66-year-old Doris Copage, a respected Mi’kmaq Elder from the Elsipogtog First Nation.

“I got pepper sprayed, I didn’t know what that was and I didn’t think they would do anything to the women,” Copage told Indian Country Today Media Network.

Armed with only a crucifix, Copage had set out that day with her husband in response to a call for help from the protest site. Seeing the gravity of the situation, Copage started to recite the rosary with the community’s priest, also present.

“The [RCMP officers] were really mocking at us, talking and laughing,” Copage said, adding that she questioned one of them at the frontline.

“I asked him, ‘Are you really ready to kill the Natives?’ ” she said, and was shocked by his answer.

“He looks at me and says, ‘Yes, if I have to,’ ” Copage said. “I said, ‘How many are you planning to kill?’ He didn’t say how many. He put his three fingers out.”

Copage told the officer that the indigenous people had no protection and that she had only came out as an Elder to pray. She intends to continue standing up for her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and the community.

“I want to call it ‘protect,’ ” said Copage, rather than “protest.” “We are here to protect our water, our land. We have a river. It’s a beautiful river, we love it and we respect it.”

Of the 40 people arrested, three men are still in custody, with no trial date in sight. Aaron Francis, Germaine “Junior” Breau and Coady Stevens, members of the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society, pleaded not guilty in New Brunswick Provincial Courthouse on Friday November 8, according to a statement from the society.

“I am happy they have entered their plea of not guilty,” said Susan Levi-Peters, former Chief of Elsipogtog First Nation, in a statement on November 8, “and I am saddened that they are still locked up for protecting our women and elders who were for fighting for our water and land.”

Dozens of Bambis Stage Sit-in on Road in Japan’s Nara Park

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Blockades have been in the news lately, given indigenous resistance to fracking and other industrial invasions around Turtle Island.

But a different sort of blockade is happening across the Pacific at the tranquil Nara Park in Japan, about 300 miles southwest of Tokyo. It’s a deer park, meaning it is filled with gardens and deer—the Sika deer, Cervus nippon to be exact, also known as the Japanese deer—that are spotted and thus appear fawnlike.

“The park is home to hundreds of freely roaming deer,” according to the website Japan-Guide.com. “Considered in Shinto to be messengers of the gods, Nara’s nearly 1,200 deer have become a symbol of the city and have been designated a natural treasure.”

Shinto, the site explains, means “the way of the gods” and is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people, “as old as Japan itself.” It and Buddhism are the main religions in the country today.

Visitors can buy little crackers to feed the deer. Though the animals can get feisty if they think you’re about to hand over a cracker, they are for the most part tame, the site says, even bowing when offered food, as the website Kotaku.com notes.

In August the deer staged a sit-in of sorts on the road that bisects the park.

Reps. McCoy, Sells express interest in vacant Senate seat

Reps. John McCoy and Mike Sells have said they intend to seek former Sen. Nick Harper’s Senate seat.

By Jerry Cornfield, The Herald

A successor for former state Sen. Nick Harper of Everett could be known by Thanksgiving, and Democratic state Reps. John McCoy of Tulalip and Mike Sells of Everett are both seeking the position.

Democrats in the 38th Legislative District will meet Nov. 26 to nominate three people for the seat which opened up when Harper unexpectedly quit Saturday. He announced his resignation following the Legislature’s special session.

Under party rules, the district’s 28 elected and appointed precinct committee officers are eligible to vote. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Everett Labor Temple.

Names of the top three candidates receiving votes will be forwarded to the Snohomish County Council, which will choose one of them to take Harper’s place.

The County Council could make its decision the very next day — which is the eve of Thanksgiving. Council Chairwoman Stephanie Wright said if it can’t be done that quickly, it will happen the following week.

Harper resigned Saturday with a year left in his term, saying he needed to give up the job he won in 2010 in order to spend more time with his wife and two young children.

His successor will serve in next year’s legislative session and would have run for a full-term in 2014.

Candidates for the appointment are starting to surface.

McCoy, the retired general manager of Quil Ceda Village, was first elected to the House in 2002. Sells, the secretary-treasurer of the Snohomish County Labor Council, was first elected to the House in 2004.

Kelly Wright, who worked for former state Rep. Liz Loomis and ran for Marysville mayor in 2011, said Monday he would put his name in, too. But he said he intended only to be a caretaker of the seat through the next session and would not run for a full term afterward.

If Sells or McCoy is selected for the Senate, a similar process will be conducted to fill the vacant House seat.

Veterans Day ceremonies, events

Source: The Herald

Veterans Day Memorial concert, 6 p.m. today, First Presbyterian Church, 2936 Rockefeller Ave., downtown Everett. Choirs and handbell groups from several churches plan to participate. Free admission.

Veterans Day Ceremony, 11 a.m. Monday, Veterans Monument in Library Park, 15429 Bothell-Everett Highway, Mill Creek.

Snohomish County Memorial Central Committee’s 95th annual Veterans Day ceremony is 11 a.m. Monday at the eternal flame in the Snohomish Courthouse campus courtyard, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. Participants include the Everett High School Navy JROTC and representatives from Naval Station Everett. Call 425-258-4201.

Arlington Veterans Day Parade, 11 a.m. Monday, Olympic Avenue, sponsored by Arlington American Legion Post 76.

Veterans Day ceremony by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1040 of Lynnwood, 11 a.m. Monday, Lynnwood Veterans Park, 44th Avenue and 194th Street SW. Participants include Northwest Junior Pipe Band, Navy veterans Fred Ensslin, John Beam, Glenn Ledbetter and Ray Colby, Marine Corps veteran Martin Spani, Army veteran Brian Seguin, VFW Post 1040 Honor Guard and local Boy Scouts.

Veterans Day at Edmonds Memorial Cemetery, 11 a.m. Monday includes a tour of the graves of all veterans buried there, including those who fought in the Civil War, led by local history buffs Betty Deebach Gaeng and Dale Hoggins. Highlights include the life stories of war veterans buried at the cemetery, as well as the first-time telling of the story unlocking the mystery of the unidentified headstones located by the flagpole. The cemetery was founded in 1891 and is on the state Register of Historic Places. Call 425-776-1543.

Veterans Day Ceremony in Sultan, 1 p.m. Monday, Veterans Memorial Wall, First and Main streets. Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Robert Reese is the speaker.

Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, in honor of Veterans Day, plans to waive fees for visits to the forest today through Monday. State parks also are open free to the public during the weekend.

Military veterans are to be honored with an outdoor Wall of Thanks and a Veterans Tribute at Imagine Children’s Museum, 1502 Wall St, Everett. The museum, usually closed on Mondays, is scheduled to be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday in honor of Veterans Day. All veterans and their immediate families get free admission for the day. The Wall of Thanks, near the museum entrance, is an annual project featuring artwork created by the children and families of Snohomish County. At 3 p.m. Monday, the Veterans Tribute includes a presentation by the Everett High School NJROTC. All veterans in attendance will be honored during the tribute.

The Silvertips hockey club plans to play its first-ever Veterans Day matinee game, 2:05 p.m. Monday against the Vancouver Giants at Comcast Arena. All military veterans are to be honored. VFW Post 2100 plans to distribute Buddy Poppies and the local Veterans Heritage Museum plans to set up displays of military uniforms.

Marysville-Pilchuck High School’s Tomahawk Company hosts its 19th annual Military Parade from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the school gym. The event, dedicated to military veterans, includes participation by Naval Station Everett.

Harbour Pointe Retirement complex plans to host a presentation by artist and veteran Michael Reagan at 1:30 p.m. Friday, 10200 Harbour Place, Mukilteo. Reagan, a portrait artist, created the “Fallen Heroes Project” honoring men and women who have died in military service. He draws portraits free as keepsakes for fallen soldiers’ families. The public is welcome to attend. Call 425-493-8555.

For veterans

Carl Gipson Senior Center of Everett plans to host its eighth annual USO dance from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday. Veterans of all wars are invited to bring their guests to this free event, which features a 16-piece swing band. Reservations: 425-257-8780, or stop by at 3025 Lombard.

Veterans Day Dinner, Arlington American Legion Post 76, 4 to 6 p.m. Monday at 115 N. Olympic Ave., Arlington. Free ham dinner for all veterans from throughout the region. Call 360-435-2492.

Veterans Day at Hibulb Cultural Center, noon Monday, 6410 23rd Ave. NE, Tulalip. Free admission for veterans and families. Light lunch, followed by veterans healing forum at 1 p.m.

The Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour is honoring U.S. and Canadian military veterans including active duty military with free admission on Monday at 8415 Paine Field Blvd., Mukilteo. Call 425-438-8100 or go to www.futureofflight.org.

Monroe Family YMCA offers free admission on Fridays in November for veterans and current military personnel and their immediate families. Military identification is required. In addition, on Monday, the facility is open for free for veterans. Call 360-804-2175.

Marysville Family YMCA offers Military Family Night on 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 16. The evening includes dinner, door prizes, swimming, dodge ball, basketball. Military identification is required. Call 360-651-1607.

A hiring expo for military veterans is set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at Safeco Field, 1250 First St., Seattle. More than 40 companies plan to attend.

Shooting Stars for Veterans Day: Taurid Meteors Honor Our Warriors

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The very skies are set to honor veterans on their day this year, as the North Taurid meteor shower descends, peaking late in the night of November 11 into November 12.

The shower itself lasts for weeks—officially this shower began on October 12 and goes through December 2—but it reaches its maximum on Monday night. It overlapped slightly with the South Taurids, though those were not very visible to denizens of Turtle Island. The North Taurids “usually don’t offer more than about seven meteors per hour,” according to Earthsky.org, and neither did their fainter counterparts, the South Taurids, which peaked earlier in November.

The two showers are fed by two meteor streams that “are very spread out and diffuse,” Earthsky.org notes.

“Typically, you see the maximum numbers at around midnight, when Taurus the Bull is highest in the sky,” Earthsky.org reports. “Taurid meteors tend to be slow-moving, but sometimes very bright. In 2013, a bright waxing gibbous moon will bleach out all but the brighter meteors during the evening and wee morning hours. But the moon will set after midnight, providing lots of predawn darkness for watching the North Taurids on the morning of November 12.”

Those who do not feel the need to stay up late in hopes of an elusive Taurid may simply opt to feast the eyes on the spectacle of Venus, which is especially bright this month because of its position relative to the sun.

“Soon after sunset, Venus emerges to shine like a beacon over the southwestern horizon,” said Space.com, quoting the Hubble Space Telescope science team. “A telescope provides a slightly better view. Late in the evening, look for magnificent Jupiter in the east. Watch as it climbs higher into the autumn night sky.”

This was quite evident a few days ago, when Venus and the crescent moon were seen together on the horizon.

Venus has phases just as the moon does, and at the moment it is growing in apparent size as it orbits closer to Earth, even though it is at the same time thinning to a crescent. When it is “full” it is on the other side of the sun from us, so is much smaller, Space.com explains. If one was to look at it through a telescope it would be a perfect half circle. Its proximity makes it exceedingly bright. In addition it sets about 2.5 hours after sundown around this time, Space.com says, so it is more than double the size it looked in July—perhaps looking similar to the dazzling light that confused an Air Canada pilot last year.

So there is plenty to see in the coming days, though some of it may require visual aids such as binoculars or a telescope. However, in terms of shooting stars, there will be plenty of those to wish upon, for patient observers with a dark sky.

“Remember,” Earthsky.org reminds us, “even a single bright meteor can make your night!”

Southeast weavers to gather at Tlingit clan conference

November 7, 2013

By Amy Fletcher Juneau Empire

When Clarissa Rizal completed her apprenticeship with 96-year old Chilkat weaver Jennie Thlunaut in 1986, she wasn’t fully aware of the responsibility she’d been entrusted to carry. She didn’t know that Thlunaut, one of the last and finest Chilkat weavers of her generation, had taken on only one other apprentice, her daughter, who was no longer living. Rizal also didn’t know that only a very few other women, such as Maria Ackerman Miller, possessed an in-depth knowledge of Chilkat weaving traditions at that time.

Photo by Peter MetcalfeChloe French weaves her first Chilkat robe during a weavers' demonstration at the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference at Centennial Hall in 2009. — Photo by Peter Metcalfe
Chloe French weaves her first Chilkat robe during a weavers’ demonstration at the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference at Centennial Hall in 2009.

When Thlunaut herself died just a few months after their apprenticeship was complete, and Miller a few years later, Rizal gained a keen awareness of the importance of her role in carrying her mentor’s teachings forward.

Nearly 30 years later, sharing Thlunaut’s teachings is still a huge part of Rizal’s life, but the sense of urgency she felt in her 20s is gone. In the last few decades, the art form’s fragile position in being understood by only a few weavers has been strengthened by a wave of renewed interest across multiple generations of Tlingit women, and a few men.

“If Jennie Thlunaut could see the number of weavers out there now who are actually weaving, it would make her so happy,” Rizal said. “At the time — 30 years ago — she couldn’t find anybody.”

Some of these committed weavers will be gathering for a public weavers’ demonstration at the “Sharing Our Knowledge” conference over the next three days at Centennial Hall. The demonstration, which will include Chilkat, Ravenstail and cedar bark weaving, will take place off the lobby of the conference center. Those who aren’t attending the conference can access the weaver’s demonstration on Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for those who are not participating in the conference and includes access to the conference’s artists’ market.

The demonstration was organized by Lily Hope, Rizal’s daughter, who, like her mother, weaves and teaches both Chilkat and Ravenstail styles. Hope said she’s lined up nearly 20 weavers, who will share works in progress, talk about materials and techniques and answer questions from the public.

Hope, who won first place in the 2010 Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Juried Art Show in the traditional category for her weaving “Copper Child,” will be among the weavers demonstrating Chilkat in the lobby.

Rizal, who is in Colorado and probably won’t make it to this year’s conference, said the last time the weavers held the demonstration, at the 2009 clan conference, it was a huge hit. Initially scheduled for a two-hour slot, the event spilled over into an all-day event due to public interest.

In the intervening years, interest in weaving has continued to grow, Rizal said, a trend she attributes in part to the connections made possible by Facebook and other social media sites. One traditional weavers’ group on Facebook has close to 400 members.

“The Native community has jumped on board with Facebook,” Rizal said. “It’s just crazy what’s taking place now with weavers.”

Though this is good news for the continued strength of the art form, the influx of so many new weavers also brings up interesting questions about how the art form is learned and practiced, questions rooted in deeper issues of what it means to those who do it.

For Hope and her mother, who are Ravens of the T’akDein Taan Clan, weaving isn’t a past time, or even a craft. It’s an activity that’s deeply connected to their identity as Tlingit women and an integral part of their spiritual lives.

Hope will lead a presentation that touches on some of these topics during the conference. Her talk, “Tuwulatseen x’óow. Strength Giving Robes: Origins and Spiritual Meanings of our Ravenstail and Chilkat Weavings,” is based on her experiences as a weaver and teacher, and on her historical research of written and oral records. It begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Egan Room on Saturday.

“In the past few years there’s been a discussion about the ‘rules and laws’ of Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving, and I wanted to talk about that in professional place, with my peers, where we can continue the discussion,” Hope said.

Hope will also talk about the differences between the two forms. Ravenstail is an older form than Chilkat, one that had actually passed out of practice when it was rediscovered by Canadian artist Cheryl Samuel in the 1980s. When Samuel began teaching the form in 1989, after years of research, Rizal was in her first class.

Hope said it’s significant that Chilkat came down to students through the teachings of a living master weaver, Thlunaut, while Ravenstail did not; in her talk she will discuss how this difference manifests in the spiritual development of the two styles.

For Rizal, the spiritual aspects of traditional weaving became clear to her only when she started weaving Chilkat robes on the advice of one of her students, Ann Smith. Prior to that she was weaving smaller projects, such as aprons. The experience of trying a robe changed her life in many ways, she said.

“The power of weaving robes is so astounding spiritually. Culturally, yes, it’s great we help our people show pride in themselves, but for the weaver, what it does for the weaver spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, is so profound that I want all the weavers, all the women who know how to weave, to do a robe because of that awesome spiritual growth that goes with that,” Rizal said.

“And when we strengthen our women, in any culture anywhere around the world, when we strengthen our women, we strengthen our families, we strengthen our ties with our children, with our men, and when we have that strength in our families it branches out in our communities, our nations and world wide,” she continued.

The three-day Sharing Our Knowledge conference was pioneered by Lily Hope’s late father-in-law Andy Hope III, in 1993 (Lily Hope’s husband, Ishmael, is Andy Hope’s son) The conference brings together cultural experts and scholars from diverse backgrounds, who will speak on a wide variety of topics including: linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, education, art and music. (See Lance Twitchell’s article in this week’s Arts for an overview of the conference.)

The weaving demonstration will be going on concurrently with the conference presentations, and will include weavers of a wide range of ages and experience levels. They include Sharon Walker, Debra O’Gara, Nahaan, Irene Lampe, Ernestine Hanlon, Shaa Hanlon, Lorraine DeAsisq, Ricky Tagaban, Marsha Hotch, Melissa Rinehart, Shgen George, Michelle Martin, Fausto Paulo, Yarrow Vaara, Della Cheney, Jackie Kookesh and Catrina Mitchell.

Joseph Medicine Crow, ‘The Last Plains Indian War Chief’ turns 100

By Adrian Jawort, Indian Country Today Media Newtork, November 7, 2013

“He’s waited 100 years for this event, so it doesn’t hurt us to wait an hour,” emcee Robert Old Horn said, as Doctor Joseph Medicine Crow was on ‘Indian time,’ for his own birthday party. Medicine Crow entered the Apsaalooke (Crow) Multi-Purpose Building to thunderous applause as the Crow Nation and other guests stood up as he walked past on October 27.

Medicine Crow holds among his titles being a tribal historian, anthropologist, educator, as well as decorated World War II veteran. In 2009, President Obama bestowed upon Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Prior to WWII, Medicine Crow – who was the first of his tribe to graduate from college – was studying for an advanced degree in anthropology before volunteering for the Army and being sent to Europe.

It was on the European battlefields Medicine Crow completed all of the four tasks needed to become a Crow War Chief. As a scout he led several successful war parties deep behind enemy lines; he stole German horses; he disarmed an enemy; and he touched an enemy (counted coup) without killing him.

His grandfather was Medicine Crow, a renowned fierce warrior and scout during the Plains and Indian wars during the 19th Century. “My grandfather trained me to be a warrior,” notes Joe Medicine Crow. “The Crow people were so-called, ‘warlike.’ We were a very militaristic people.”

He told of how he counted coup on an enemy during Ken Burn’s 2007 documentary, The War. It wasn’t really planned after Medicine Crow saw a lone German soldier walking past in a narrow alley as he hid waiting to ambush someone. “I saw his rifle and I knocked it out of his hands,” he recounts. “All I had to do was pull the trigger, but for some reason I put my gun down and tore into him.”

After a violent struggle, Medicine Crow held the German soldier’s throat by his hands, and he was ready to finish him off. The soldier gasped, “Momma!” and Medicine Crow let him go out of sympathy. With that deed and without meaning to, he had committed two of 4 deeds to becoming a war chief.

Coming upon a farmhouse, they spotted a small group of soldiers and with around 50 horses in their possession. (While the German Army was renowned for being mechanized, they and the Soviets did deploy more than 6 million horses during WWII.) Medicine Crow decided that before they bombarded the area with artillery, they should make off with the horses. They did so just before dawn as the explosions started.

“The one I was riding was a sow with a braid, so I felt pretty good riding it,” he says. “It was a beautiful horse.” As he rode, he sang a Crow praise song.

It wasn’t until after he came home and told elders of his deeds he was informed that he’d actually committed the acts necessary to become a Crow War Chief. “So I guess you’re looking at the last Plains Indian War Chief,” he says.

During Medicine Crow’s birthday feast, Crow tribal members recounted stories of how they were inspired by their ‘grandfather’ Medicine Crow from their decisions to join the military to pursuing higher education. Prince Albert II of Monaco gave him a birthday card thanking him for an earlier gift Medicine Crow had given him during a visit, as did the historian and emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Herman J. Viola.

But perhaps expressing the sentiments best via a tribute poem was Longmire writer Craig Johnson, who’d written about Medicine Crow the previous month. Old Horn read it out loud:

Stand, my friends, Joe Medicine Crow is walking past… To see the things that those walnut stained eyes have seen… To hear the things those leathery ears have heard… To feel the things that the still beating heart has felt… Stand my friend, Joe Medicine is walking past. Stand, my friend, history is walking past.

Canada Tourism Grows as Visitors Seek Authentic Aboriginal Experience

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Just months ago, members of the Haida First Nation raised a carved totem pole in Gwaii, a protected area, for the first time in more than 130 years. The celebration marked the 20th anniversary of the agreement that the Haida people have with the Canadian government to protect their homeland.

Jason Aslop, from the Haida Heritage Centre, talked to BBC News about the importance of the raising legacy totem pole. “Raising a pole again in Gwaii signifies our resurgence and our resilience to repopulate and take back our culture and began to put place markers back into our traditional village sites.”

Like many of Canada’s First Nation people, from the 1870s to until the 1970s, Haida children were taken from their parents and sent to boarding schools, where their cultural practices and languages were banned.

Haida First Nation peoples surround the legacy totem pole before it was raised in August. (VancouverSun.com)

The Canadian government has apologized, but despite what happened in the past, today, the Haida culture is thriving. And tourism plays a big role in the Haida people’s success.

A report from First Nations in British Columbia says the tourism industry is one of the largest economic sectors in the province, worth copy3.5 billion. The government wants to grow tourism to copy8 billion by 2016 as part of its “Gaining the Edge” policy. This amounts to a 5 percent growth each year, according to the report.

Tourism continues to grow because 1 in 4 visitors come to the province seeking an authentic aboriginal tourism experience.

Tourists are drawn to Haida Gwaii Islands on the northwestern coast of British Columbia because it is famous for sea kayaking. A BBC News report says that most tourists rent kayaks for a week, which costs about $400 for two people. An 8-day guided kayaking tour costs around $2000 per person.

Many tourists visit the centuries-old cedar poles, and long house remains at the Haida heritage sites in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. The Haida Heritage Center in Skidegate allows tourists to learn about their culture.

Art is one of the main ways that tourists connect with the Haida people. An art route created throughout Gwaii Haanas allows visitors to meet local artists.

Ben Davidson, a Haida wood carver, is one of the artists that tourists can meet during their tour. “My generation and my children’s generation, really, are stepping up to the plate and relearning old traditions and wanting to be part of the culture as well as the art,” Davidson told BBC News.