Good morning/afternoon, NUNAverse:
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa was victorious in its fight against a planned $1 billion PolyMet copper mine in northern Minnesota. The Fond du Lac Band filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Army Corps of Engineers responded by issuing a decision temporarily halting wetlands permits the agency previously provided to the Polymet Mining Corporation that had allowed it to move ahead with the mine project.
The Department of the Interior announced last week that it will spend $1.6 billion in 2021 to address critical maintenance projects, and improve transportation and recreation infrastructure in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and at Bureau of Indian Education schools. The funding was made possible by the newly created National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund established in 2020 by the Great American Outdoors Act. The Great American Outdoors Act provides up to $1.6 billion a year for five years to help address a multi-billion-dollar deferred maintenance backlog at national parks, on other public lands, and at tribal schools.
Finally, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema recently nominated Allie Young, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to receive the Service Act Award through the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In March 2020, Young co-founded Protect the Sacred, a grassroots initiative created in response to COVID-19 to educate and empower Navajo youth and Native youth throughout Indian Country to rise up as the next generation of leaders by protecting their elders, their languages and their cultures.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Politics:
As Deb Haaland Creates Unit To Investigate Missing And Murdered Native Americans, A Look At Why It’s Necessary
ABC News, Kiara Alfonseca, April 5
In an effort to provide more resources to investigate thousands of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Native Americans, a new Bureau of Indian Affairs unit has been launched by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Indigenous communities have struggled for years to raise awareness to address the growing crisis of missing and murdered Native people, specifically women, activists who spoke with ABC News said. According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, homicide is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women aged 10 to 24. The Justice Department also found that Native women are victims of murder over 10 times the national average. But without assistance from non-tribal federal, state and local agencies, these cases have gone underfunded and uninvestigated.
Law:
Fond Du Lac Band Wins Halt To Copper Mine
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, April 5
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is breaking new ground in its fight against a planned $1 billion PolyMet copper mine in northern Minnesota. Asserting its rights as a “downstream state” under the Clean Water Act, the Fond du Lac Band filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Army Corps of Engineers responded by issuing a decision temporarily halting wetlands permits the agency previously provided to the Polymet Mining Corporation that had allowed it to move ahead with the mine project.
New Mexico Adopts New Law To Fight Hairstyle Discrimination
AP News, April 5
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday signed into law legislation that prohibits discrimination based on traditional hairstyles and head coverings. The “Crown Act,” as it’s known nationally, was conceived as a measure to protect African Americans from discrimination based on natural or traditional hairstyles. In New Mexico, the bill was crafted to be more inclusive and won support from a broader coalition, including Native American and religious advocates. Under the new law, traditional hairstyles and religious coverings cannot be prohibited in work or school dress codes or used as an excuse to turn someone down for a job.
COVID-19:
Choctaw Nation To Offer COVID-19 Vaccines To Public
AP News, April 5
The Choctaw Nation on Monday announced plans to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the general public, becoming the latest Oklahoma-based tribe to expand vaccine distribution beyond just tribal citizens. The Durant-based tribe also announced it is partnering with a new national database, Dr. B, that allows people to be put on standby to receive unused doses of the vaccine. Native American tribes in Oklahoma have been receiving separate allocations of vaccines from the federal government, and the Chickasaw and Muscogee (Creek) nations have previously announced plans to make some of their allocation available to the general public.
How Arizona’s Havasupai Tribe Has Kept COVID-19 Out Of Its Community
Cronkite News, Ron Dungan, April 5
More than a year into the pandemic, it’s hard to find anywhere that has escaped COVID-19, but the Havasupai tribe – with a population of roughly 650 members – has utilized its isolation as a defense. But that has meant sacrificing the tourism business the Havasupai rely on. Ordinarily, people could come and go from the canyon as they pleased. But the pandemic changed that. The tribe hired a security company to keep people from entering.
Other:
Interior Dept. To Invest $1.6 Billion For Public Lands And Tribal Schools
Native News Online, Alina Bykova, April 5
The Department of the Interior announced last Friday that it will spend $1.6 billion in 2021 to address critical deferred maintenance projects, improve transportation and recreation infrastructure in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and at Bureau of Indian Education schools. The funding was made possible by the newly created National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund established in 2020 by the Great American Outdoors Act. The Great American Outdoors Act provides up to $1.6 billion a year for five years to help address a multi-billion-dollar deferred maintenance backlog at national parks, on other public lands, and at tribal schools.
Indigenous Leaders Laud New Mexico’s School Funding Measure
AP News, Cedar Attanasio, April 5
Tribal leaders on Monday welcomed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signature of a bill that will increase funding for schools serving Native American and military communities across New Mexico. The law eliminates a state credit that deducted 75 percent of federal funding from state funding that schools received to compensate them for serving communities with large tracts of federal land. The struggle to eliminate the credit for the federal funds, known as Impact Aid, was felt for decades across the state’s nearly two dozen tribal nations. It led to a federal court ruling against the state’s funding formula last year.
Navajo Activist Allie Young Nominated For Congressional Medal Of Office By Sen. Sinema
Native News Online, April 5
Sen. Kristen Sinema (D-AZ) has nominated Allie Young, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to receive the Service Act Award through the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In March 2020, Young co-founded Protect the Sacred, a grassroots initiative created in response to COVID-19 to educate and empower Navajo youth and Native youth throughout Indian Country to rise up as the next generation of leaders by protecting their elders, their languages and their cultures. Prior to founding Protect the Sacred, Young was living in Los Angeles working in the entertainment business, when she felt the call to return to her hometown of Kirtland, N.M. as the coronavirus began to spread.
Why Native American Children Have Higher Rates Of Disability
ABC News, Sara Yumeen, April 5
The rates of disability among U.S. children are increasing, with the highest rate of disability among Native American children, according to a newly released brief by the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 3 million children in the U.S. had a disability in 2019, slightly up from data collected more than a decade ago. But a disproportionate number of Native American children (5.9%) had a disability, followed by children of more than one race (5.2%) and Black children (5.1%). Household income also appeared to play a role, with 6.5% of children living below the poverty line having a disability, as compared to 3.8% of children living in families with incomes above the poverty threshold.
‘Ever Sick Dangles’: Indigenous Apparel Brand Celebrates First Nations Hockey
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, April 5
Growing up, when Harlan Kingfisher (Plains Cree from the Sturgeon Lake First Nation) would leave the house for big hockey games, his grandfather, or Mushum, would instruct him to smudge his blades and hockey stick. Now, Kingfisher encourages his sons to smudge their own blades. This pre-game tradition eventually inspired the name of his new clothing brand. Smudge The Blades is an online Indigenous apparel company that celebrates First Nations hockey through sweatshirts, hoodies and hats that feature Indigenous hockey lingo. Kingfisher launched the shop last fall as an opportunity to fill the void after COVID-19 shut down anticipated hockey tournaments across the country.