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Veronica Leahy, Diabetes Coordinator for the Tulalip Tribes, will discuss ongoing Gardening Projects and the combined efforts of the successful ‘Gardening Together as Families’ work.
Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center
Thursday, June 20 – 6-7pm, Hibulb Cultural Center Classroom 2
Swamp Line 9
Canada – As this statement is released, we are digging in and occupying Enbridge’s North Westover Pump Station in the Beverly Swamp. We have done this to stop construction in preparation for the reversal of their Line 9 Pipeline to carry toxic diluted bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands through our communities and watersheds, likely for export.
For the past year, we have organized in our communities across Southern Ontario to raise awareness of Enbridge’s plan to reverse Line 9. Increased awareness quickly lead to concern and to a desire from our communities to at the very least make our voices heard about our opposition to this project. What we found was a rigged game, where the political party most indebted to the oil industry had taken spectacular measures to remove the usual environmental oversights from Line 9 and other pipeline projects. The Line 9 reversal is, from the perspective of the powerful, a foregone conclusion and they have insultingly offered only the most meaningless opportunities for public engagement.
Of course, we understand that even if there had been a full Environmental Assessment, this project would still be going ahead. If anything, the federal government simply had the good courtesy to be honest that they just don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. Although we have few illusions about process, it is very much the case that the removal of the usual process is what has lead to this exceptional step of occupying a construction site. Deprived of all other options for dissent, the move to direct action to stop this reversal is obvious to even the most law-abiding of people. Perhaps we should thank the federal government for removing the usual sham of participation to make it clear that there is no pipeline debate – there is just a pipeline fight.
We are establishing a camp on Enbridge property in the middle of the Beverly Swamp, the largest remaining forested wetland in Southern Ontario. The health of this wetland is crucial to the health of the Spencer Creek, which feeds Cootes Paradise, the beautiful marshland that forms the western end of Lake Ontario. Protecting the water is vitally important — once water is poisoned, it can’t be undone.
This is also stolen Indigenous land and is the traditional territory of the Chonnonton people as well as of the Mississagi Anishinabec and the Onondawaga Haudenosaunee. This pipeline crosses the territories of dozens of Indigenous nations along its route, including the Six Nations of the Grand River who have taken an inspiring lead in building resistance to Line 9. “The whole thing about Line 9 is that it’s going through our territory and Enbride hasn’t consulted us or talked to us at all,” said Missy Elliot of Six Nations. “What’s best for the land is what’s best for our people. We have to protect the land – this isn’t just a side project for us, we have to protect our future. It’s our responsibility.”
If you want to support us, drop by the site! We will be maintaining an info point at the mouth of the North Westover driveway, on Concession 6 W just west of Westover Rd, in Flamborough. We welcome any donations of food, camping supplies, money, or whatever you think would be useful. We also encourage you to come join us, whether just for a few hours or for a few days. We are calling for our supporters to rally in the public park across the street from us on Concession 6 at 11am tomorrow morning, that’s Friday June 21, to show support for the occupation and to call for the Line 9 reversal to be cancelled.
Katie Mayer, The Herald
This is the best time of the year to eat. Farmers markets are in full swing and grocery stores are overflowing with the bounty of summer.
Here’s a selection of what’s in season right now (mostly what I’ve spotted at the farmers market) and a bunch of recipes to help you make the most of it.
Strawberries and rhubarb
I can’t say enough about the superiority of sweet, tender Northwest strawberries. Only peaches taste more like summer to me. Unable to resist buying more berries than one person can reasonably eat, I used up the excess in strawberry lemonade bars and strawberry rhubarb bread (both of which were quickly consumed when I brought them to the office). Now I’m eyeing some ideas from columnist Jan Roberts-Dominguez, such as strawberry mousse, berries with Grand Marnier and cream, and these two rhubarb desserts.
Lettuce and other greens
Yeah, yeah, I know. Lettuce. Could I have chosen anything more mundane? But I beg you: if you haven’t yet, give farmers-market lettuce a chance. There is nothing mundane about it. Fresh-picked butter lettuce, for instance, is crisp, delicate and slightly sweet, and it makes an altogether more delicious salad than the green-leaf lettuce you get in the middle of winter. I like to toss it with chopped hazelnuts, sliced strawberries or grapes, chunks of goat cheese and a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a quick lunch. If you prefer something heartier, check out this recipe for fennel-cumin steak salad, or this grilled steak and spring vegetable salad, which stars arugula and asparagus. And to make salad-making of all kinds easier, consider these tips for storing and prepping lettuce.
Peas and young onions
Since I’m basically a human vacuum where sugar snap peas are concerned, eating them raw as quickly as I can shell them, I never cook with them. But both sugar snaps and English shelling peas are abundant at the moment, and if you have more self-control than I do, 101 Cookbooks’ recipes for peas with butter and crostini with pea puree might be right up your alley.
Both peas and the young onions would also be good in another of my favorite quick meals, perfect all summer long: a noodle bowl with chopped vegetables.
Thinly slice your favorite crunchy vegetables, such as peppers, cabbage, broccoli, or carrots (lettuce is good in this, too, if you cool the noodles first). Cook a handful of long noodles, such as vermicelli, udon, rice or soba. Mix 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tsp honey and a dash of chili oil or hot sauce (this sauce is to my taste, so if it’s not to yours, experiment with different ingredients or proportions). When the noodles are done, toss them with the vegetables and sauce, and then consume with gusto. Shimp or chicken are good additions if you want more protein. For a noodle meal with less chopping, try Nigella Lawson’s soba noodles with sesame seeds.
Niki Cleary, TulalipNews
At 62, short, grey and balding, Steve Gobin is not an imposing figure. He is humble, quiet, enjoys fly fishing and is devoted to his family. But ask him to talk about his tribe, economic development, sustainability, health care or any number of subjects connected to the wellbeing and longevity of his tribe, spark his passion, and Steve goes from mild mannered grandpa to razor sharp advocate in an instant.
After more than two decades of service for his tribe, Steve, General Manager of Tulalip’s Quil Ceda Village, is retiring. His career included labor in fisheries and forestry, 20 years of healthcare experience, work lobbying for expanded CHS (Contract Health Services) programs and funds, a stint in Governmental Affairs and finally his last two jobs, Deputy General Manager and General Manager of Quil Ceda Village. During his lifetime, he’s seen vast changes on the reservation, and he’s been a catalyst for some of them.
“I was born and raised here,” said Steve. “I think the tribe has gone through a lot of different personalities, but the leadership vision for the tribe has stayed consistent through those years. There’s still that consistency in the board today and I think that’s what kept us moving forward step after step after step.”
The tribe’s current prosperity is relatively new. Steve reminisced about his childhood.
“When I was a boy, we cut shakes for $3.00 a day, and we were happy to have the $3.00,” he explained. “We lived on a few thousand dollars a year. We lived on commodities, hunting and fishing. The priorities were making the family whole and feeding everybody.
“A lot of times I didn’t start school in the fall, I had to work and take care of my family,” Steve recalled. “My dad used to fish in Alaska, he used to start in June and go to November, so I got out of school early and started late. But I didn’t know I was poor.”
In his youth, Steve said, unemployment was about 80%. Then in the 1990s Tulalip built a bingo hall.
“The tribe didn’t even have an office until around 1965, and I think we had two or three employees, my mom was one of the employees they hired,” he said. “People didn’t fit in on the outside. There was no place for them to make money, the whole reservation economy was non-existent.”
Although there is always room for growth, Steve is grateful and astonished at what has been accomplished during his lifetime.
“It may seem to a lot of people that we don’t get paid enough, but look at what the tribe has given us, just in the last 20 years. It amazes me,” Steve described a few of the programs now provided. “We’ve funded healthcare, pharmaceuticals, mental health and drug and alcohol programs to help us overcome 200 years of poverty. We have money to pay per-capita payments to our people.
“No one needs to be starving or without a job. This is not the world that I knew growing up. It’s hard for me to look at my kids, even though I wanted them to have what I didn’t, and know they didn’t have the opportunity to experience living on the beach for food and to stay alive. Some of the bonding we did as a family and as a reservation, that really made us strong and we need to find a way to bring that back to our community.”
While some see addiction and social disorder as the pitfalls of prosperity, Steve says those dangers always existed. But now we have a chance to shape our future.
“The killer drug in 1970 was Rainier Beer,” he said. “Today it’s meth and heroin. But the things that stem from addiction are the same; child abuse, not feeling safe in the home, they’re the same now as then, but now there are more of us and it costs more to deal with it.
“But, with economic development,” Steve continued, “I think we have an opportunity to change the past and create a new vision for the future. Where kids don’t have to be hurt and people don’t have to go through those things. We can bring back some of that community pride to the tribe.
“A lot of what we’ve put into the ground, past Board of Directors, John McCoy, I can see it’s a future here, a future for my kids and grandkids and their kids. We’re building a sustainable economy so that our children don’t have to deal with the economic issues that we had. We’re the second largest employer in Snohomish County now. It’s been rewarding to be here.”
Right now, Steve can’t quite envision what the tribe will look like in a hundred years or more. But, family and culture, he described, have to be part of the future.
“I grew up and raised my family with the assumption that the reservation would always be a cultural center for our people,” he said. “But the sheer growth and population over the next 50 to 100 years is going to take that natural resource away from us. We’re going to have to find another way to be culturally connected to our past without fishing, hunting and the things that are the core of who we are. It’s going to be a challenge for our future leaders to take what’s best of the past and bring it forward to make a place for our people.”
Asked what teaching he’d like to leave for future generations, Steve said, “Take pride in yourself, work for your tribe’s future and the rewards that you will get will be enriching and last forever.”
Steve’s last day is July 1st. Like all of our leaders, I have no doubts that for the rest of his days, Steve will be looking out for the tribe and teaching future leaders what it means to be Tulalip. Happy retirement, Steve.
Vince Schilling, Indian Country Today Media Network
After nearly a month of not knowing her fate, Chelsey Ramer, of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and her family have been informed by Escambia Academy officials that she would not have to pay a copy,000 fine for wearing an eagle feather on her cap during her graduation ceremony in May. (Related story: “Poarch Creek Student Fined for Wearing Eagle Feather at Graduation”)
Escambia interim headmaster David Walker was not able to comment with any specific details about the matter, but he did confirm that Ramer would receive her diploma and would not pay the copy,000 fine.
“The young lady has her diploma; she received it yesterday. She did not have to pay a fine,” said Walker. “The decision was made before graduation. Chelsey has done everything she needed to do to fulfill her graduation requirement.”
Even if Ramer had been made to pay the fine, enough money was raised by an online campaign to cover the cost, so the family wouldn’t have to pay it. The “Chelsey Ramer can’t graduate because she is proud to be Native American” campaign was started by Dan Morrison, communications director at First Peoples Worldwide, and has raised copy,127 that will now go to Chelsey’s education. (Related story: “Poarch Creek Student’s Fine Raised By Online Donations”)
Walker said the Escambia Academy board would be releasing a statement this week to the local news.
The Ramer family says they are pleased with the decision and do not wish to release a formal statement until the school releases their comments.
Read more at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/20/poarch-creek-student-not-required-pay-fine-receives-diploma-150001
Vince Schilling, Indian Country Today Media Network
On June 18 the Senate voted unanimously (94-0) to approve a tribal amendment to the S.744 Immigration reform bill that will add four tribal government officials to the Border Oversight Task Force that was established originally in the bill.
This amendment was offered by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and cosponsored by senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Begich (D-AK), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Border Task Force established in S. 744 which included representatives from local government and law enforcement, civil rights groups, business, private land owners and the Border Patrol, will now have input from tribal representatives from the Northern and Southern regions.
When introduced for a vote on the Senate floor, Sen. Tester lauded the potential contributions of tribal representatives toward the security of our countries borders.
“This amendment will include tribal representatives from the DHS Border Task Force. In this country, within 100 miles of the border we have 13 Indian reservations, some of them right on the border. If we really want to make sure our borders are secure on the North and the South, Indians need to be part of this conversation, our Native American friends.
“They have a unique government-to-government status and their input is critically important this amendment will not cost anything, it has bipartisan support and it will add to tribal representatives, two in the north and two in the southern region,” Tester said.
According to information provided to Indian Country Today Media Network by Tester’s administrators, the amendment would improve border security by improving coordination and communication between DHS and border tribes and by including tribal leaders on the DHS Oversight Task Force responsible for solving problems related to border security.
They also added that, “Indian lands are often desolate and remote, tribal law enforcement resources are spread thin; and communication is poor. In recent years, Indian Affairs Committee hearings revealed that a rising number of smugglers and illegal immigrants have taken advantage of these factors to travel – virtually unnoticed – into the U.S.”
In a recent report, GAO said, “… coordination challenges with tribes have affected the Border Patrol’s ability to patrol and monitor the border so as to prevent and detect illegal immigration and smuggling. Border Patrol officials … reported coordination challenges related to understanding and collaborating with tribes within tribal government rules. Specifically, officials … reported coordination challenges related to tribal government rules that hindered law enforcement in working together to secure the border.”
In a comment to ICTMN via e-mail, Tester voiced his thoughts as to the importance of an Indian voice in the DHS as well as expressing his appreciation for the unanimous support of the amendment.
“As we improve border security, we have a responsibility to make sure that those who live closest to the border have a voice in the process. With 13 Indian Reservations around the country within 100 miles of the border,” said Tester. “My common-sense amendment makes sure that American Indians have a seat at the table, and I’m pleased it passed with unanimous support.”
During today’s airing of the vote on c-span, ICTMN heard one unnamed Senator exclaim, “It’s a good day for Indians.”
Read more at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/19/senate-unanimously-approves-tribal-amendment-immigration-reform-149984
Attempting to row the NW Passage by man power alone.
To raise awareness to climate change and its effects, next month a group of eight adventurers will attempt to become the first to row, entirely through their own power, the 3,000 kilometers of Arctic waters above the American continent — that is, the Northwest Passage.
STANDUP (ENGLISH) AL CAMPBELL, CNC correspondent:
“Four Vancouver-based adventurer explorers, two Canadians and two Irishmen, are about to undertake the trip of a lifetime when they attempt a world first in rowing the 3,000 kilometer Northwest Passage entirely by human power in a seven-and-a-half meter boat. The expedition has a serious message in that it is meant to create awareness about the profound effects of climate change on the environment and how the Arctic ice melt will ultimately affect humans and all life forms on the planet.”
Speaking to media in Vancouver Tuesday, the four explorers will leave from Inuvik (IN-YOU-VICK) in Canada’s Northwest Territories July 1st with the goal of rowing 40 to 50 kilometers on average per day. With the sea ice in the Northwest Passage unblocked for only a three-month period in summer, the crew aims to get to Canada’s northern-most territory, Nunavut (NUN-A-VOOT), by September.
Lead rower Kevin Vallely (VAL-E-LEE) told CNC climate change is undoubtedly transforming the Arctic, and thus the world climate, and the voyage will document what’s happening and raise awareness of the phenomenon and its detrimental impact.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) KEVIN VALLELY, Lead rower:
“There is no doubt anymore, we’re causing this. And we’re causing it faster than we ever dreamed. Last year was the lowest extensive ice in the Arctic ever. We just past 400 parts per million in terms of carbon there a few weeks ago. It’s happening and it’s cascading and it’s one of these things, it’s an exponential thing. Imagine the sea ice, the sea ice from space is white. It reflects solar energy back into the atmosphere. Looking at an ocean it’s black and it absorbs it and it just gains heat.”
With the sea ice in the Arctic starting to break up in early July and freezing again in late September, crew member Frank Wolf says each team member will row about 12 hours a day in four-hour shifts.
Frank Wolf is a filmmaker documenting the experience. He says the crew will interview Canada’s Inuit people, the native inhabitants of the area, as well as gather scientific information by, for example, taking water samples, to share with the Canadian government and other organizations.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) FRANK WOLF, Crew member and filmmaker:
“The filming side will just be interviewing a lot of the Inuit up there who have seen how things have changed so dramatically over the last few decades. So to get their personal perspective of what’s gone on with life up there and how it’s affecting them is going to be a very relevant way for us to bring back the story of what’s happening as far as climate change goes in the Northwest Passage.”
To fund their voyage, the expedition has raised about 150 thousand ($150,000) Canadian dollars. About 80,000 dollars have gone into constructing the purpose-built Arctic Joule (JEWEL) boat featuring multiple layers of fiberglass, a reinforced hull, solar power for the electrical equipment, and two cabins to house the crew if needed in rough weather.
In an area rapidly changing with strong winds and large chunks of ice moving around the water, veteran explorer Vallely (VAL-E-LEE) says it won’t be an easy trip in an area where many 19th century explorers died in search of the Northwest Passage.
Despite the Northwest Passage being part of Canada’s sovereign territory, Vallely suggests international dialogue is needed to ensure the proper development of the Arctic but also its protection.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) KEVIN VALLELY, Lead rower:
“And we need more dialogue like that, understanding where it’s going, and how quickly it’s changing, and what it means for everyone because we don’t want to move foolhardily into it and make mistakes in such a fragile eco-system we have to be very, very careful. We’ve blown it everywhere else, let’s not blow it there.”
The adventures of the Arctic Joule (JEWEL) can be followed online at www mainstream last first dot com (www.mainstreamlastfirst.com) as the crew will be writing a daily blog and posting images of the trip.
Best of luck to the crew. We’ll be keeping tabs on them.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A decade ago, the Rosebud Sioux Indians in South Dakota were paying people to catch and shoot wild dogs. Dogs that weren’t caught were covered in mange and parasites. Some froze. Some starved. In packs, they survived be eating each other. And dog bites were 20 times worse than the national average.
Because animals are such an important part of Indian history and culture, tribal leaders called spay and neuter expert Ruth Steinberger. In the next eight years, they worked together to sterilize 7,000 dogs, moving 1,500 of them to other parts of the country for adoption.
Many U.S. tribes still rely on roundups to manage dog overpopulation, but two tribes in the West are going to take part in an experiment this fall using shots of a different kind.
Veterinarians plan to catch and inject 300 wild female dogs with a birth control vaccine that has worked on white-tailed deer, wild horses, wallabies and ferrets.
The two-year test using the government vaccine GonaCon is scheduled to begin in September on two isolated Indian reservations in the West, said Steinberger, the project manager. Reservation officials asked not to be identified until the study is further along.
The $60,000 contraceptive study will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center and Spay First, Steinberger’s Oklahoma-based organization working to reduce dog overpopulation in chronically poor places around the world.
Right now, the dogs are getting scraps from people who don’t want to see them die — but the litters keep coming.
Steinberger, 56, said she learned a long time ago she could do more to help animals by preventing litters rather than rescuing them. Her work at Rosebud is generally considered a textbook example for ending overpopulation.
“The reservation is a better place. … This is easier to explain in Lakota than in English, but dogs are a part of our lives. They have been in the past and they will be in the future. To be able to take care of them is so important,” explained Belva Black Lance, a Rosebud Sioux community advocate who helps with the dog program.
In the GonaCon test, dogs will be caught, microchipped, tattooed, collared, injected and released, she said.
After a year, researchers will round up as many as they can and do blood tests to measure reaction to the vaccine, Steinberger said.
The hardest part of the study might be that roundup, said Dr. Jeffrey Young, founder of Planned Pethood Plus, another group working globally to end animal overpopulation. He is not involved in the study, but has worked with Steinberger on other projects and is familiar with government-made GonaCon.
“A lot of the animals will die, disappear, get shot, poisoned or hit by a car,” he explained.
“Dogs on reservations have a higher death rate than normal dogs in society,” he said, noting that wild dogs in poor areas live an average 3.2 years. The average American dog lives 10 to 12 years, varying by breed and size.
Depending on who’s counting, there are more than half a billion feral dogs around the world, Steinberger and Young said.
There are an estimated 6 million feral dogs in the United States, Steinberger added.
Tens of thousands of people die of rabies in developing nations each year — and 95 percent of the cases are caused by dog bites, she said.
Spay and neuter surgeries are out of the question in such regions so researchers have been looking for a fast, effective and humane vaccine. The perfect blend would be a combination of sterilization and rabies vaccines, Young said.
“It would be a major game changer,” Young said. Rabies kills up to 40,000 people a year in India alone.
If he had his way, Young would forego the tests. “It’s been tested. They need to get it out there. It should be spread around like candy in India and Mexico,” he said.
GonaCon has worked as long as six years in some of the wild animals tested. Booster shots were given to others to extend sterilization, Steinberger said.
It was never tested on a large number of dogs because no one stepped up to foot the bill.
Petco Foundation donated about half the money for the study.
“Animals are the reason Petco is in business. We are always looking for ways to make their lives better and help with the tragedy of overpopulation,” said foundation executive director Paul Jolly.
Steinberger brought together the tribes, researchers, donors and volunteers.
GonaCon can’t be used on domestic pets, Steinberger emphasized. The Food and Drug Administration would require about a decade of testing and that would cost between $16 million and $20 million, Young said.
Young, who operates a low-cost clinic in Denver, has performed over 165,000 (mostly spay and neuter) surgeries, more than anyone else on the planet, he said.
“I would love for something to put me out of that business,” he said.
___
Online:
— www.spayfirst.org
— http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/about/about.shtml
— www.plannedpethoodplus.com
Indian Country Today Media Network
Observances and ceremonies are being held across Turtle Island from June 20 to June 26 to celebrate the 2013 National Prayer Days to protect Native American Sacred Places.
“Native and non-Native people gather at this Solstice time for ceremonies and events to honor sacred places, but everyone can honor these precious lands and waters all the time by simply respecting them and not allowing them to be harmed,” said Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee, in a press release announcing the events. She is president of The Morning Star Institute, which organizes the National Sacred Places Prayer Days. “Observances are necessary,” she continued, “because Native peoples are engaged in myriad struggles with developers that endanger or destroy Native sacred places.”
While running for president in 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama addressed the issue of sacred places in his Native American policy platform for religious freedom, cultural rights and sacred places protection: “Native American sacred places and site-specific ceremonies are under threat from development, pollution, and vandalism. Barack Obama supports legal protections for sacred places and cultural traditions, including Native ancestors’ burial grounds and churches.”
As the release from The Morning Star Institute notes, “the growing disparity between the campaign’s promises and the administration’s actions has dismayed many Native peoples.”
And even though a memorandum of understanding was signed at the end of 2012 by five federal entities to “improve the protection of and tribal access to Indian sacred sites through improved interdepartmental coordination and collaboration,” between the departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Energy and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the institute feels it “does nothing of substance to protect sacred places.” (Related story: “Federal Departments Sign Sacred Sites Protection Agreement“)
This year marks the 11th that the National Prayer Days are being observed. The first National Prayer Day was held June 20, 2003 to show Congress that a need to protect sacred places exists. That need still exists.
An observance will be held in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 20 at 8:30 a.m. on the United States Capitol Grounds, West Front Grassy Area. This observance is organized by The Morning Star Institute and the public is welcome to attend to honor sacred places, sacred beings and sacred waters.
Indian Country Today Media Network will be spotlighting a few of these sacred places throughout the week. Click here for a full list of gatherings happening all week.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/19/national-sacred-places-prayer-days-starts-tomorrow-149997
