Joan Marie Duplessis

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Joan Marie Duplessis, neé Campbell, was born at the Old Tulalip Indian Hospital on the Tulalip Reservation on September 13, 1937. She lived much of her life in Fullerton, Calif. In 2004, she returned back to The Tulalip Reservation to be amongst her family.

Joan was very social and loved to be surrounded by people. Joan was an enrolled member of The Tulalip Tribes.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bernard Duplessis Sr.; her mother, Katherine ‘Caty’ Campbell of Tulalip, Wash. her father, William G. Campbell; her two brothers, Russell ‘Gubby’ Campbell, and Donald Campbell, and sister, Sandra Bodendick (Jim) of Tulalip.

She is survived by her three sisters: Jeanette Dudnick of Anaheim, Calif., Helen Campbell of Tulalip, and Katherine Elliot of Tacoma, Wash.; three brothers, Walter Campbell of Tulalip, John Thunderbird Campbell (Kara) of Tulalip, and Charlie Campbell (Sue) of Tulalip; three sons, Nicholas Campbell (Faye Allen) of Tacoma, Bernard Duplessis Jr. (Sandra) of Tulalip and William Duplessis of Fullerton; and seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren; Joan’s smile, love and laugh were contagious. She will be dearly missed.

A one-day Memorial service will be held on Friday, October 23, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. at The Schaefer-Shipman Funeral home, 804 State Avenue, Marysville, WA 98271. A dinner will be served following the service at the Tulalip Tribal Gym. Joan will be returned to California and will be set to rest next to her husband, Bernard Duplessis Sr. She will be laid to rest at Loma Vista Mortuary, 701 E. Bastanchury Road, Fullerton, CA 98235.

Waves of Tragedy: One Year Since the MPHS Shooting

Beginning this past spring, as part of the Tulalip Tribes trauma-informed care services, children at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary have been learning Rainbowdance. Rainbowdance gathers children, teachers, and sometimes parents around a big parachute for one hour and helps them enhance social empathy, self-confidence, and self-regulation. The facilitator, in this case Christy Anana, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary school counselor, blends storytelling, object lessons, and repetitious movements set to music. Consistency over many weeks and months lead to the mastery of movement, which promotes self-confidence, helping them to develop coping mechanisms for daily challenges and stressors.
Beginning this past spring, as part of the Tulalip Tribes trauma-informed care services, children at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary have been learning Rainbowdance. Rainbowdance gathers children, teachers, and sometimes parents around a big parachute for one hour and helps them enhance social empathy, self-confidence, and self-regulation. The facilitator, in this case Christy Anana, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary school counselor, blends storytelling, object lessons, and repetitious movements set to music. Consistency over many weeks and months lead to the mastery of movement, which promotes self-confidence, helping them to develop coping mechanisms for daily challenges and stressors.

 

 

By Niki Cleary, Tulalip News 

 

Have you ever been rolled by a wave? First, it hits you. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it’s just a shock, but then you’re tumbling. Completely disoriented, you have no idea which way is up, or how to get out. You can’t stay where you are, you know that. Your lungs start burning. You can hear your heart pounding in your ears. Then there’s that magic moment when you find your equilibrium. You find the surface, and take that first sweet breath of air.

Last October the MPHS school shooting was a wave that rolled us all. The problem with waves is they never come alone. Over the course of the year, waves have broken over us repeatedly. Some were small, like the time some guy cut in front of you in the line at the coffee shop. Some are very personal, the time a loved one lied to you or told you they hated you. Some are huge and might include domestic violence, or a death in the family. Some happened within our families and some, like the automobile accident that killed four young people in August, happened to our entire community.

Every wave has hit each of us differently. Some of us were carried closer to shore and we’re almost walking on the beach normally again. Some of us were brought a step closer to drowning every time. Some of us found a life raft in the arms of our families, and some found it in addiction or dysfunction. A few of us have kept ourselves afloat by climbing onto someone else, and now we’re panicking as we watch them slip below the surface.

These are just the latest series of waves to wash over our community. One of Tulalip’s original tidal waves of trauma, the boarding school, scarred our community. It left a type of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome that was passed from generation to generation. That legacy made it more difficult for our people to cope with stressors, and when our community was rocked by the shooting, many of us were already at our limits.

 

What does trauma look like?

“Our people are hurting so bad,” said Sherry Guzman, Tulalip’s Senior Manager of Behavioral Health. “So many of our people have had so much trauma and it’s still going on. A lot of people don’t think of it as trauma. Maybe their father left or didn’t protect them, or mom or dad drank too much or mom had many boyfriends.

“Then they get older and fall in love with this person that said they loved them.  Then there’s a baby and that person leaves. Then because they’ve never been taught to take care of a child, that child, who they do love, is taken. That is trauma, upon trauma, upon trauma. Trauma can be a boyfriend slapping you or making fun of you. One of the greatest traumas in our community is lateral violence, wanting to hurt someone else because it makes you feel bigger or better.”

Gina Skinner from the Tulalip’s Chemical Dependency Clinical Administrator pointed out a history of trauma in the clients that seek healing from addiction. The last year, she explained, has been particularly difficult.

“There is a lot of emotion in every session,” Gina described. “There was a core group of kids checking in. Nobody quite knows what to do with these wounded children. We get referrals from the school or summer youth program. But once they get a UA (urinalysis test), they were like, ‘Oh well, I don’t want the job,’ or, ‘I don’t want to go back to school.’ From my perspective we need to figure out how to get them engaged into services gently with us or child services.

“It’s almost easier to get them into my department [chemical dependency] because someone would rather be an addict than have mental health issues. Addiction is something you can recover from and mental health has this permanency stigma.”

Gina urged both children and adults to reach out, “Every feeling is valuable, no matter if you think it’s too little. If you don’t feel right or need to talk, if you don’t feel safe, tell someone. There is help here, come in, this is a safe place for you.”

 

The unthinkable

Like 9/11, or those who lived through Pearl Harbor, the people affected can instantly recall where they were and what they went through when they heard about the shooting.

“I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” reminisced Tulalip’s Child Advocacy Coordinator Leila Goldsmith. “I know that’s an anxiety attack.”

Now, like many community members, Leila doesn’t quite feel like she’s entitled to feel traumatized.

“No matter how bad it feels to me, it’s hard to give voice to it, because I didn’t have the worst thing happen. None of us feel like we’re allowed to feel, because someone had something worse happen, someone else lost a child. I know we need to acknowledge that even if you were on the periphery, it was devastating. What happened was unthinkable, and then it happened. Even if you are on the edges of it, it changes your world.

“For a while it was quieter. Things kind of came to a standstill. We didn’t have as much activity, I think, because everybody was just consumed with living.”

Leila runs the Child Advocacy Center, a program dedicated to helping heal victims of child abuse.

“Initially I was asked to help find resources to guide us through those first months,” Leila explained. At that time she reached out to colleagues on a national level to find professionals able to both provide the level of service needed in the aftermath, and provide it in a way that supports Tulalip culture, rather than trying to work around it.

“Lots of people want to come help you, but there aren’t very many people you want to have around,” Leila explained. “The phrase that rang in my mind is, this is the guy you want around after everyone else leaves.”

The ‘guy,’ was actually a team: the International Trauma Center, led by Dr. Robert Macy.

“He was incredible compassionate and gentle. I felt, if he came, he’d be here to help and not further his own interests. He agreed to a trip to meet and talk with us to see if we were the right fit. When Dr. Macy first came, that was the first time someone sat down with us and said there is a predictable set of stages that the community will go through. It was so comforting for someone to say, ‘I’ve seen this over and over and this is what you can expect.’ Because when you’re experiencing it, it feels like your brain is exploding, you can’t even think in a straight line. ”

Leila explained that, while it’s been a year, that guidance is still needed.

“We have some of the highest numbers we’ve ever had,” she said. “We know stressors in families mean more child abuse and less resilience. This has taken a toll on every single person, our reserves and our ability to cope.”

Her hope is that the community will continue to focus on healing and children.

“There is a safety net of professionals here who have a multitude of resources and are genuinely doing their work with heart. Sometimes, I feel like people give up on the truth, that healing is possible. Healing doesn’t come through the criminal justice system, it comes other ways. We’re working to offer more so that people can have that opportunity to walk towards healing. We have a long ways to go.

“If I could change one thing to make us healthier,” she continued. “I’d say choose children over adults, every day. Protect children before you protect adults. If people did that alone, everything would change.”

 

 

Healing takes a village

The International Trauma Center describes traumatic experiences as “dehumanizing, shocking or terrifying, singular or multiple compounding events over time and often include betrayal of a trusted person or institution and a loss of safety. Trauma can result from experiences of violence. Trauma includes physical, sexual and institutional abuse, neglect, intergenerational trauma, and disasters that induce powerlessness, fear, recurrent hopelessness, and a constant state of alert. Trauma impacts one’s spirituality and relationships with self, others, communities and environment, often resulting in recurring feelings of shame, guilt, rage, isolation and disconnection.”

The bright light in all this is that people can heal from trauma. A trauma or even multiple traumas doesn’t doom a person to a life of addiction, health issues and intergenerational violence. Which is why Tulalip has instituted a Trauma Informed Care model of services.

Tulalip Recovery Manager, Rochelle Lubbers described the model, “Trauma Informed Care (TIC) is a powerful way to  help our tribal members manage and sustain important relationships in our personal and work lives by engaging in compassion, vision, social justice while at the same time decreasing the use of violence and aggression to negotiate those relationships.

“There are many ways Trauma Informed Care will be implemented throughout our community,” she continued. “One piece will be to educate the community and workforce about the impact of psychological trauma. Through the identification, assessment and treatment of trauma in individuals, families and community members we can significantly decrease the long term negative effects of violence exposure among our tribal members.”

The goal, she explained, is to create resiliency to all trauma, not just cope with the aftermath of the MPHS shooting. “We know we will continue to experience trauma in years to come and the Trauma Informed Approach gives us long-term effective tools to reduce violence in our community and to engage in consistent resilient behaviors for our children, partners and elders.”

Tulalip is not alone in this effort, Rochelle pointed out.

“’Unity’ was not only a message developed after Tulalip and Marysville experienced community violence, but it was an effort between all respective parties to communicate and heal together. Last November a recovery committee was formed and was very inclusive to the greater community; it includes the Tribe, City of Marysville and the School District as well as partnering agencies such as Victim Support Services and Volunteers of America Crisis Care in addition to many faith based communities and non-profit agencies.

“This group has produced many tangible community resources and events such as an inter-faith service, a multi-disciplinary trauma response team, a series of evidence based suicide prevention programs, an integrated community based resource website, multiple trauma informed care trainings and credentialing seminars, and, at the one year marker, a ‘Walk of Strength’.”

As we experience new waves of tragedy and the ripple effects of trauma, we don’t have to be at the mercy of the waves. The resources are available to teach us to swim through them.

“There can be long and short term effects to not dealing with trauma,” said Rochelle, “and the impact is different from person to person. The important thing is to be aware of change in behavior of your loved ones and seek help when you are worried. Watch for signs of isolation, anxiety/worry, increased risky behavior, and changes in sleep, amongst others. The Volunteers of America crisis line is a great resource for anonymous emotional support and can be accessed by phone or online chatting: 1-800-584-3578.

“In addition, Tulalip’s mental wellness teams have been receiving additional training in trauma processing and are always here to offer our community support. You can reach the adult program at 360-716-4400 and the children’s program at 360-716-3284. Please know that most of us cannot process this tragedy on our own and it is okay to get the help you need from a professional.”

 

Additional Resources

  • MTUnited.org
  • Chemical Dependency Crisis 24 hour Line 425-754-2535
  • Care Crisis Line 24 hours 800-584-3578
  • National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
  • www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
  • Crisis TEXT Line: Text “Listen” to 741-741
  • 24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-866-427-4747
  • TEENLINK: 1-866-833-6546
  • 866teenlink.org

 

Contact Niki Cleary, ncleary@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov  

Yakama Nation to have full authority over civil, criminal proceedings on tribal land

By KIMATV.com Staff

 

YAKIMA, Wash. — Federal officials have accepted a petition that will give Yakama Nation authorities exclusive jurisdiction for certain cases on tribal land, and will have the State of Washington withdraw from any authority.

The United States Department of the Interior said in a news release Monday that ‘retrocession’ has been granted, and tribal police and courts will have full authority over civil and criminal cases involving members of the nation.

The federal government will retain their authority over the Nation, and Yakama Nation authority will remain the same. The removal of state authority over tribal persons is the only change to come from this decision.

The state will keep jurisdiction over those involving non-tribal defendants, plaintiffs or victims.

As part of the agreement the federal Office of Justice Services (OJS) assessed the Yakama Nation’s court system and offered recommendations for improvements to their tribal court operations, as well as helped develop a 3-5 year plan.

The Yakama Nation also created ten new police officer positions, in preparation of having more cases to handle.

OJS also donated $149,000 to the help bolster the tribal court system by improving the court’s infrastructure, increase pay for law-trained judges, hire a legal assistant and court administrator, and provide training to tribal judges, prosecutors, and defenders on issues like domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.

Washington lawmakers established a process for tribes to ask for exclusive jurisdiction in 2012. Washington has become the sixteenth state to rescind its authority over tribal court proceedings involving only tribal members.

Governor Jay Inslee agreed to the Yakama Nation’s petition last year. The change will officially take effect in April.

View here to see the full release from the United States Department of the Interior.

Lady Hawks snap losing streak with 3-1 win over Orcas Christian

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By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

On Tuesday, October 20, the (3-7) Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks hosted the (2-8) Orcas Christian Saints. Back in late September the Lady Hawks defeated the Saints 3-0 and were looking to snap their 3-game losing streak with another victory over the Saints.

Tulalip started out very sluggishly in the 1st game, trailing 13-14 to a team they could have easily been blowing out. Coach Tina Brown called a timeout to chat with her team.

“We aren’t communicating. You girls have to play hard. This shouldn’t be a close game. Communicate, move your feet, stop second guessing and play had like I know you can. Let’s go and finish this game strong,” Coach Tina told her team.

The Lady Hawks responded by going on a 12-1 run that won them the opening game, 25-15. Highlighted by five straight aces served up by Adiya Jones, the Lady Hawks looked prime to finish this match off quickly.

Orcas Christian had other ideas though. The Lady Hawks started the 2nd game by going up 4-1 before the Saints countered with 8-1 run of their own. Now trailing 5-9, the Lady Hawks appeared to shut off their intensity switch. They completely stopped communicating, resulting in easy aces for the Saints and multiple times where players ran into each other because no one was calling for the ball. Down 6-14, Coach Tina again called for a timeout to try and rally her team. Her team didn’t respond like they did in the 1st game and wound up losing the 2nd game 19-25.

Before the start of the 3rd game, Coach Tina pleaded with her team to find the energy and intensity that had disappeared from her players. “Trust, communication, the setter gets the 2nd hit. You all know the game plan but aren’t doing it. It’s all about communication. You have to get rid of the attitudes and negativity. We’re killing ourselves with the negativity.” Coach’s sentiments were echoed by players Mikaylee Pablo and Jaylin Rivera, who both tried to pump up their team and get everyone’s head up.

 

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It took everyone’s effort to get the Lady Hawks back into the game, it may have taken some talking to, but it worked. In the 3rd game, the Lady Hawks jumped out to a 15-5 lead. Most importantly, the girls looked like they were having fun again. They were talking it up and running for the ball. For their efforts they won the 3rd game 25-12.

Their solid play continued in the 4th game, and really the game was only semi-close because of the 6 points the Lady Hawks gave away on bad serves. They won the game 25-20 and claimed match victory 3-1.

Breast cancer campaign puts the pink in October for indigenous women

IndigenousPinkDay-web

 

On October 21, AICAF asks men and women of all ages to wear pink and share photos on social media using the hashtag #indigenouspink to spread breast cancer awareness.

 

by Daanis Chosa and Julia Jacobson, Native Times

 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — The American Indian Cancer Foundation recently announced the first-ever “Indigenous Pink Day,” a national breast cancer awareness campaign for indigenous women.
On October 21, AICAF asks men and women of all ages to wear pink and share photos on social media using the hashtag #indigenouspink to spread breast cancer awareness, said AICAF Executive Director Kris Rhodes.

“All of America has jumped onto pink October and sometimes it’s done in ways that exploit the cancer issue,” Rhodes said. “But for the American Indian Cancer Foundation, Indigenous Pink is an important way to raise visibility in our communities where cancer is still invisible and to take control with screening.”

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death and the most common cancer found in American Indian and Alaska Native women. But when breast cancer is found early, the five-year survival rate is 98 percent, according to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Barbara Scott, an enrolled member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina who lives in Charlotte, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2005. Over the next six months, she underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation to remove a tumor that had metastasized to her lymph nodes.

“I was ready to give up, I was tired of fighting and wanted to just go home,” Scott said.

Scott was at particular risk for breast cancer, she said, because her mother had breast cancer and her family carries the gene for the disease.

But regardless of a family history, American Indian women shouldn’t be scared of breast cancer and modern medicine, she said.

“We are a resilient people, we have survived for forever, and we can’t let something like breast cancer get into the way,” Scott said. “We need to be warriors and stand strong.”

Chris Davis, an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Minnesota, is a nurse practitioner for the Fond du Lac tribe and a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with Stage 0 breast cancer in 2013 and feels fortunate her cancer was caught early.

“I think in the community where we are in, where there are such high rates of cancer, we need to find these cancers early,” Davis said.

Although Davis was recommended to have her first mammogram at age 50, she had her mammogram at age 40. Davis said she may have had a more invasive form of cancer if it was detected later.

“Take your health into your own hands. Utilize your resources and ask as many questions as you can,” she said.

In recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of American Indian women who have been screened for breast cancer in Minnesota, said GayLynn Richards, the regional coordinator of Sage, Minnesota’s breast and cervical cancer screening program.

Richards also said there has been a reduction in breast cancer deaths among Minnesota American Indian women over the last decade, according to Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System data.

She credits the lower death rate to programs like the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community mobile unit, which brings mammograms and other screening services directly to the communities where American Indian women live.

“We listen, learn and seek out information from the community members, and together come up with an intervention or educational approach that is respectful,” Richards said. “We love the idea of bringing the services to the community.”

For more information about Indigenous Pink Day, see americanindiancancer.org/pink.

Daanis Chosa (Ojibwe) is a college student, lacrosse player, and community health outreach specialist.

Julia Jacobson is a recent college graduate and communications specialist.

© Native Health News Alliance

NHNA creates shared health coverage for American Indian communities at no cost. Registered users can download additional print, web and audio content at http://www.nativehealthnews.com and publish as is or add their own reporting, highlighting important issues within the local Native community. NHNA services are free to all those who think good journalism has a positive impact in the lives of all of our readers, listeners, and viewers.

Seattle Continues Healing ‘Deep Wounds’ With Boarding School Resolution

Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights ReservedStarting in the middle of the 19th century, church groups and the U.S. government set up boarding schools for Natives. Here, children from many tribes were taught how to speak English and how to make a living. They were separated from their elders, and were discouraged from learning tribal traditions and language. This photo by U.P. Hadley shows the buildings and students at the Industrial Boarding School on the Puyallup Reservation between 1880 and 1889. The school opened in 1860. During the 1880s, a number of new buildings were added, and the school grew from 125 to about 200 students.
Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved
Starting in the middle of the 19th century, church groups and the U.S. government set up boarding schools for Natives. Here, children from many tribes were taught how to speak English and how to make a living. They were separated from their elders, and were discouraged from learning tribal traditions and language. This photo by U.P. Hadley shows the buildings and students at the Industrial Boarding School on the Puyallup Reservation between 1880 and 1889. The school opened in 1860. During the 1880s, a number of new buildings were added, and the school grew from 125 to about 200 students.

 

By Richard Walker, Indian Country Today, 10/20/15

 

“If it be admitted that education affords the true solution to the Indian problem, then it must be admitted that the boarding school is the very key to the situation,” Indian School Superintendent John B. Riley wrote in an 1886 reportto the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

“Only by complete isolation of the Indian child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily educated.”

Such was the prevailing attitude of Indian Affairs agents during the federal boarding-school era: That America’s First Peoples were a problem to be dealt with, that America’s Manifest Destiny required Indigenous Peoples to be remolded and assimilated into the mainstream—even if it meant forcibly removing children from their families.

It wasn’t until 1978—118 years after the establishment of the first American Indian boarding school—that Native American parents gained the legal right, with the passing of the Indian Child Welfare Act, to deny their children’s placement in off-reservation schools.

“Some Native American parents saw boarding school education for what it was intended to be—the total destruction of Indian culture,” the American Indian Relief Council reported on its website. “Resentment of the boarding schools was most severe because the schools broke the most sacred and fundamental of all human ties, the parent-child bond.”

On October 12, council members in one of the largest cities in the U.S. took a step toward helping to heal the wounds from the boarding school era.

The City Council of Seattle, Washington, approved a resolution“acknowledging the various harms and ongoing historical and inter-generational traumas impacting American Indian, First Nations, and Alaskan Natives for the forcible removal of Indian children and subsequent abuse and neglect resulting from the United States’ American Indian Boarding School Policy during the 19th and 20th Centuries …”

The resolution calls on the United States to examine its human rights record and to work with American Indian and Alaskan Native peoples “in efforts of reconciliation in addressing the impacts of historical trauma, language and cultural loss, and alleged genocide.”

“The supposed goal [of the boarding schools] was to ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,’ which is tantamount to cultural genocide,” Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant told LastRealIndians.com. “The resolution will give city officials the opportunity to acknowledge and help heal the deep wounds opened up by the boarding school policy. It is also another step toward getting the city to take real action to address the poverty, oppression, and marginalization that the community faces to this day.”

The resolution was drafted by Matt Remle, Lakota, with support from Seattle lawyer Gabe Galanda, Round Valley Indian Tribes; Seattle Arts Commissioner Tracy Rector, Seminole; the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; the Native American Rights Fund, and other members of Seattle’s Native community. The resolution was sponsored legislatively by Sawant.

The resolution vote took place on Seattle’s second annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The day included a rally and march to Seattle City Hall, drumming and songs, a keynote address by Winona LaDuke, Ojibwe, and a celebration at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.

During the boarding school era, “roughly 100,000 American Indian children ages 5-18 were stripped from their homes and placed in remote boarding schools,” Remle wrote on LastRealIndians.com. “Native languages, spirituality and customs were outlawed, physical and sexual violence was rampant.”

It’s a subject known all too well by the First Peoples of the Seattle area. Seattle, named for the mid-1800s leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples, is the largest city in a state with 29 federally recognized Native nations. The first American Indian boarding school in the United States was established at the Yakama Nation in eastern Washington in 1860; the Tulalip Mission School, operated by the Catholic Church, was established three years earlier and was the first contract school for Native American children.

In her book, Tulalip, From My Heart, Harriette Shelton Dover (1904-1991) wrote of harsh discipline, poor diet and inadequate care, of tuberculosis and pneumonia and childhood deaths.

RELATED: From the Heart: Tulalip History and Memoir Is a Walk Back in Time

Helma Ward, Makah, told Carolyn J. Marr, an anthropologist and photographs librarian at the Museum of History and Industryin Seattle, “Two of our girls ran away … but they got caught. They tied their legs up, tied their hands behind their backs, put them in the middle of the hallway so that if they fell, fell asleep or something, the matron would hear them and she’d get out there and whip them and make them stand up again.”

“They were not allowed to speak their language there,” Inez Bill, Tulalip, told KING 5 News, Seattle, of her grandparents’ boarding school experience. “When you lose your language, you lose your culture. It left our people scarred.”

Fast forward to today: The children and grandchildren of those who were forced to attend boarding schools and were banned from speaking their languages have taken control of their own children’s education, are showing that their culture has an important role in education and that it can build bridges of understanding in communities.

Almost 65,000 students in Washington identify as Native American or Alaskan Native, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. OSPI’s Office of Native Education was created in the mid-1960s to help Native students achieve their education goals and meet state standards. The office provides resources and training to help educators and families meet the needs of Native students, builds curriculum in Native languages and about Native culture and history, and works to increase the number of Native educators.

Eight Native nations operate their own schools in Washington, according to the state Superintendent of Public Instruction. School districts near reservations have liaisons to the Native American community and/or partnerships with a local Native nation’s education department. Earlier this year, the state legislature mandated the inclusion of Native American history, culture and governance in the curriculum of local public schools.

During its heyday, the American Indian Heritage Early College High School in Seattle had a 100 percent graduation rate, and all graduates went on to college. The Urban Native Education Alliance is lobbying to have the school reestablished in the new Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, named for the late principal of Indian Heritage and under construction at the site of the former school.

The Suquamish Tribe operates and funds Chief Kitsap Academy, a high-tech, culturally based high school that is part of the Early College High School network. According to the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, only four of 10 of North Kitsap School District schools and programs met Adequate Yearly Progress goals in reading and math proficiency in 2014—one of those was Chief Kitsap Academy. Students use the latest technology, but are also exposed to cultural teachings and study the Lushootseed language. The school is open to Native and non-Native students.

Northwest Indian Collegehas grown from a school of aquaculture to a four-year college with six satellite campuses in two states. It offers four undergraduate degrees, nine associate’s degrees, three certificate programs, and five other study programs. The University of Washingtonand The Evergreen State Collegehave longhouses that serve as places of gathering and sharing as well as teaching.

 

A totem at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington. (Google Plus/NWIC)
A totem at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington. (Google Plus/NWIC)

 

Eaonhawinon Patricia Allen, a University of Washington graduate and community organizer in Seattle, spoke at Seattle City Hall before the City Council’s vote. She later wrote on LastRealIndians.comthat the boarding school era “was one of the last actions made to complete colonization and … to wash the Native identity out of Natives. But I am here to tell you this, and so will my future children: We still survived and are starting the process of healing.”

Canada established a Truth and Reconciliation Commissionto prepare a complete historical record on the policies and operations of residential schools; complete a public report, including recommendations to the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement; and establish a national research center that will be a lasting resource about the Indian Residential Schools legacy in Canada. The commission is reaching out to the public in national and community events, and honoring residential schools survivors in a lasting manner. It is also examining the number and cause of deaths, illnesses, and disappearances of children, and documenting the location of burial sites.

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/10/20/seattle-continues-healing-deep-wounds-boarding-school-resolution-162138

Tribes Helping Tribes

Katie Jones and Jennifer Cordova-James among a heap of donations gathered for Pine Ridge Reservation residents.Photo/Kim Kalliber
Katie Jones and Jennifer Cordova-James among hundreds of donation items gathered for Pine Ridge Reservation residents.
Photo/Kim Kalliber

 

by Kim Kalliber, Tulalip News

The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is the second largest Native American reservation in the United States, and also one of the poorest. The unemployment rate hovers around 85-90 percent.

According to re-member.org, “Tribal Government records show 38,000 enrolled members living on Pine Ridge Reservation. The poverty on Pine Ridge can be described in no other terms than third world. It is common to find homes overcrowded, as those with homes take in whoever needs a roof over their heads. Many homes are without running water, and without sewer.”

Winters in South Dakota can be brutal, with temperatures dropping below zero. Without a source of heat and proper clothing, many people, especially elders and children, are at risk.

Perhaps most unfortunate is the suicide rate. At 150 percent, it is higher than the national average. Life expectancy for men is only 48 years old and for women it is only 52 years.

It was a discussion by two Northwest Indian College students about suicide that sparked an idea, an idea that became a movement.

Amy Wallette and Jennifer Cordova-James, decided to take action in offering aid to residents of Pine Ridge.  With the help of Northwest Indian College Tulalip Site Manager Jessica Reyes and Assistant Manger Katie Jones, a plan was formed, including a donation drive and transportation to South Dakota. Referred to as the ‘Tribes Helping Tribes’ movement, this small group of determined folks gathered dozens of bags and boxes of much-needed donation items in less than a week.

Wallette, who has family in South Dakota, said, “I wanted to make a difference and I felt this was my calling.”

Donations included blankets, clothing, food, diapers and toys.

On October 16, the two students drove the items to Spokane, Washington, where they met volunteer, Gail Lesperance, who then continued the journey to Pine Ridge. Another volunteer, Robin Hamm, traveled with a U-Haul full of donations from Denver, Colorado and arrived in Pine Ridge on Monday, October 19.

 

Amy Wallette and Jennifer Cordova-James met with a group of volunteers in Spokane, Washington. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cordova-James
Amy Wallette and Jennifer Cordova-James met with a group of volunteers in Spokane, Washington.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cordova-James

 

“The stories and ideas we have been exchanging back and forth are phenomenal. It all started with just a few boxes. And now they are taking U-Haul’s to the Pine Ridge Reservation,” said Cordova-James at the meeting in Spokane. “These humble women opened their homes to us. The Pine Ridge community will be doing a give-away and honor suicide victims and families. This is mind-blowing! Thank you to all for being a part of this ‘Tribes Helping Tribes’ movement.”

The group has plans to make this an annual donation event. There is also a GoFundMe page devoted to raising money to help the volunteers travel to and from South Dakota to deliver donations.

 

 

Jennifer, Katie and Jessica give special thanks to Amy Wallette. We raise our hands up to you, for your good heart and soul, thank you

Amy, Jennifer, Katie and Jessica wish to thank the following:

Thank you for your support and donations

  • Gail Lesperance
  • Shasta Cano-Martin
  • Robin Hamm &Family
  • Leslie Wallette
  • Annie & Tony L’amere
  • Antique Jinkies Spokane Store-Casey
  • Kiefer Hoover
  •  Northwest Indian College (Tulalip Site)
  • Amy Wallette & Brookelynn Stich
  • Maddy Krygier
  • Jess Reyes
  • Chryss & Abel ‘Paco’ James
  • Katie Lancaster-Jones
  • Saundra Yung-Wagner
  • Jennifer Cordova-James & Venelin Barbov
  • Kyle & Levi Collum
  • Louie Pablo
  • Tulalip First Nations Snowboarding Team
  • Vicki Hill
  • Leaha & Richard Brisbois
  • Sunny Na’ta’ne ‘Tawnie’ Miles
  • Bercier Family
  • Lesley Dinsmore Miles
  • Teen Challenge Recovery Center
  • Deborah Parker
  • Mike the Neighbor (Church of Body of Christ)
  • Willa Mclean
  •  Lynda Jensen
  • Annie & Alan Enick
  • Oceanna Isabella Alday
  • Ashley Tiedman
  • Jane Cameron
  • Melissa ‘Missy’Bumgarner
  • Amanda Lynn
  • Marlita Baldeagle
  • Ernest & Lola Wallette (Elders)
  • Vashti Candace Williams
  • Yvette Jealouss
  • Desiree Lesperance
  • Lynn Hawthorne

 

Thank you to all the communities that participated and contributed

  • Spokane community
  • Lummi Nation community
  • Tulalip Tribes community
  • Blaine & Bellingham community
  • Marysville community
  • Denver, Colorado community
  • Turtle Mountain community
  • Coeurd’alene, Idaho community
  • Arizona community
  • California community

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nisqually Tribe Taking Chinook Into Protective Custody

By: Northwest Treaty Tribes

 

Chinook born in the Nisqually River are being taken into protective custody by the Nisqually Indian Tribe.

The tribe is trapping and spawning natural-origin chinook this fall because so few have returned in recent years. Instead of passing naturally produced chinook above a tribally operated weir, the tribe will truck them to its nearby Kalama Creek Hatchery.

“We’re seeing a sharp decline of natural-origin chinook returning to the river, so we want to make sure these fish are as successful as they can be,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe.

At Kalama Creek, the fish are being spawned by hand. Their offspring will be released into the river next spring.

To make sure some chinook spawn in the wild, the tribe will release up to 600 adult hatchery-produced chinook into the upper watershed. That way, even more naturally produced chinook will leave the river next year.

“The genetic difference between natural and hatchery-origin chinook on the Nisqually is small,” Troutt said. All of the chinook in the river are descendants from an imported hatchery stock planted decades ago.

The native chinook stock was killed off in the 1960s in large part due to poor hydroelectric practices that left the river dry for months at a time.

Five years ago, the tribe began closely managing the mix of natural and hatchery-spawned fish in the river to help mitigate hatchery influence on the stock.

“Our goal is to let the natural habitat, instead of the hatchery environment, drive adaptation of the stock,” Troutt said. “By mixing in natural-origin fish at the hatchery, we bring in better genetic traits to improve salmon productivity. This means more fish for everyone.”

Recent declines in chinook productivity because of poor ocean conditions drove this year’s drastic action. “Instead of bringing in just a few, we need to bring in every single natural fish we can to protect them,” Troutt said.