Remains of mentally ill reunited with surviving family as part of project
Remains of mentally ill reunited with surviving family as part of project
By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — They were dubbed the “forgotten souls,” the cremated remains of thousands who came through the doors of Oregon’s state mental hospital, died there, and whose ashes were abandoned inside 3,500 copper urns.
Discovered a decade ago at the decrepit Oregon State Hospital, where “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was filmed, the remains became a symbol of the state’s — and the nation’s — dark history of treating the mentally ill.
A research effort to unearth the stories of those who moved through the hospital’s halls, and to reunite the remains with surviving relatives, takes center stage today as officials dedicate a memorial to those once-forgotten patients.
“No one wants to be laid to rest without some kind of acknowledgement that they were here, that they contributed, that they lived,” said state Senate President Peter Courtney, who led the effort to replace the hospital and build the memorial.
Between 1913 and 1971, more than 5,300 people were cremated at the hospital. Most were patients at the mental institution, but some died at hospitals, the state tuberculosis hospital, a state penitentiary or the Fairview Training Center, where people with developmental disabilities were institutionalized.
Hospital officials have worked for years to reunite the remains of their former patients with surviving relatives. Since the urns were found by lawmakers on a tour of the hospital in 2005, 183 have been claimed.
The 3,409 that remain and have been identified are listed in a searchable online database. Thirty-eight urns will likely never be identified; they’re unmarked, have duplicate numbers or aren’t listed in ledgers of people cremated at the hospital.
They came from different backgrounds, for different reasons. Some stayed just days before they died, others for nearly their entire lives. Twenty-two were Native Americans. Their remains won’t be part of the memorial; they’ll be returned to their tribes for a proper ceremony. Members of the local Sikh community are working to claim the remains of two people.
Many of the 110 veterans still there will eventually receive proper military burials, though some are ineligible due to dishonorable discharges or insufficient information available.
Some patients spent a lifetime at the hospital for conditions like depression and bipolar disorder that, in modern times, are treated on an outpatient basis.
“At the time, they just put them in a safe place and treated them with what they knew to treat them,” said Sharon Tucker, who led the two-year research project.
Records are sparse, even for people who lived for decades inside the walls. Some had severe delusions; others had physical deformities. Some seemed to be institutionalized because their families just didn’t know what to do with them.
But what does survive is a window not only into who they were, but the time in which they lived.
The remains of thousands have been transferred from the copper canisters to ceramic urns that will better protect them. The old canisters will be preserved to give visitors to the memorial a sense for how they once were housed.
“I think it will be very difficult to forget them now,” said Jodie Jones, the state administrator leading the hospital replacement project.
The American Indian Cancer Foundation holds a Powwow for Hope each year to raise money for cancer education, including smoking prevention efforts, on Saturday, May 3, 2014 at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis. Jennifer Simonson/MPR News
Minneapolis – Inside the cavernous Base Camp facility at Fort Snelling, a long line of cancer survivors made a slow procession around the perimeter of the former cavalry drill hall where a century ago Army troops trained their horses. Their presence at a gathering of American Indians is solemn, supportive and startling.
“A lot of survivors,” an MC announced over a drumbeat. “So survivors come on out.”
Cancer has devastated Minnesota’s American Indian population, stripping families of breadwinners and robbing children of their parents and grandparents.
Nowhere is the scale of the problem more evident than the annual spring Powwow for Hope, where dancers dressed in vibrant traditional costumes escorted the survivors until their line morphed into a vast circle.
Overhead a projector cycled through dozens of photographs and names of American Indians who have lost their cancer battles in the past year. The tribute also included stories of hope and cancer remission.
Among the cancer survivors whose picture flashed on the screen was Robert DesJarlait, a 67-year-old member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. Ten months earlier, doctors removed a cancerous tumor from his colon.
“It’s kind of ironic that I was at this powwow last year and didn’t know for sure that I officially had cancer,” he said.
When it comes to cancer — Minnesota’s number one cause of death — American Indians are almost always on the wrong end of the state’s data on the health disparity that exists between whites and minorities.
Their risk of dying from lung cancer is more than two times higher than it is among non-Hispanic whites. Their rates of cervical and larynx cancer are four times higher.
American Indians also have the state’s highest rates of colorectal, kidney and oral cancers.
While the statistics are grim, they are not immutable. Striking new research has revealed that more than half of the state’s American Indians smoke. Their smoking rate is so high it likely explains much of their excess cancer burden.
The stark data are making it easier for some native people to question their community’s complicated relationship with tobacco. The research is also providing much-needed direction on where native people can most effectively focus their cancer-fighting efforts.
DesJarlait, a visual artist, is among those who have changed their lifestyles.
During a break in the program DesJarlait said he considers himself fortunate. His cancer was detected at an early stage and his treatment has been successful. After being weakened by the disease and treatment, he felt strong enough to dance at this year’s powwow.
One of the biggest lifestyle changes he made was quitting tobacco. He switched to electronic cigarettes after his doctor warned him that his cancer could return, if he didn’t quit his two-pack-a-day smoking habit.
“And I said, ‘You mean smoking caused the tumor in my colon?’ And she said, ‘Yes, well it’s one of the factors.'”
While there are many potential causes of cancer — from genetics to poor diet and lack of exercise — tobacco use is strongly related to the cancers that most affect Minnesota’s native people.
“We can’t talk about cancer in American Indian communities without addressing the high rates of tobacco and the rates of second-hand smoke exposure in our communities,” said Kris Rhodes, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and executive director of the American Indian Cancer Foundation. The non-profit organization sponsors the Powwow for Hope and is one of the community’s biggest voices in urging Indian people to quit smoking.
A recent tribal tobacco use survey found that 59 percent of Minnesota’s native people smoke. Nearly 3,000 people completed the questionnaire, making it the largest tobacco survey ever conducted among American Indians in Minnesota.
Jean Forster, co-author of a report on the survey, said a 59 percent smoking rate is “an unbelievable number” because it is nearly four times higher than Minnesota’s overall adult smoking rate of 16 percent.
“Fifty-nine percent means that most people smoke, most adults smoke. Most kids see that most adults smoke,” she said. “It’s a normative behavior for those communities.”
The survey wasn’t designed to reveal why the smoking rate is so high in American Indian communities.
But Forster, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said it’s obvious that Minnesota’s anti-smoking campaigns have either failed to reach native people, or have had little effect on them.
“What we’re doing for the population just is not working,” she said. “This is the same smoking rate that the population as a whole experienced at its peak in the ’60s.”
By that measure, Forster said, it could take decades for American Indians to change their minds about smoking.
A few days before Mother’s Day, 24-year-old Ricki LaMorie of Hayward, Wis., grabbed her pack of cigarettes and headed toward the back porch of her grandmother’s Minneapolis home.
“I’m gonna go smoke my cigarette,” she said. “That sounds bad.”
Ricki LaMorie, of Hayward, Wis., smokes a cigarette outside her grandmother Margie LaMorie’s home while visiting during Mother’s Day weekend Thursday, May 8, 2014 in Minneapolis. LaMorie said she knows that smoking is bad for her health and tries not to do it often. Jennifer Simonson/MPR News
Her grandmother, Margie LaMorie, objects to her smoking habit, but understands how hard it is to quit. LaMorrie, 75, has been a smoker for over six decades. She started smoking before she was even in her teens.
“My grandma bought me my first pack of cigarettes when I was 11,” she said. “So I had to go to the neighbor kids to teach me how, because she thought I was sneaking, and I wasn’t sneaking.”
LaMorie’s grandmother did ask her to follow a few smoking rules. But they were designed to prevent the 11-year-old from burning down her family’s outhouse, or possibly even their home, on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin.
“There was no smoking before breakfast in the morning,” she recalled. “There was no smoking after dinner. There was no smoking upstairs. There was no smoking by oneself without someone paying attention.”
LaMorie said no one in her community knew anything about smoking’s link to cancer back then. It was just something that everyone seemed to be doing and it made her feel grown-up and glamorous.
She still smokes and is not sure why she hasn’t quit. Even her colon cancer diagnosis a few years ago wasn’t enough of an incentive.
Still, LaMorie believes anyone can quit — if they want to.
“Some days I can go without any until someone will come along and, ‘Oh I’m gonna go sit out. Oh, I’ll go join you,'” she said. “For me it’s a social thing.”
Jackie Dionne, the American Indian Health director at the Minnesota Department of Health, has heard that many times before.
“It’s just so commonly accepted, that it’s, ‘Yeah, I know these are going to kill me, but I’m going to smoke anyway,'” said Dionne, a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe and a former smoker. “It’s just that ’cause everybody else is smoking.
“We have to really go through a social change like the state did in the mid-’80s when people stopped smoking and then didn’t want to be around people who did smoke,” she said. “And so then it becomes socially unacceptable.”
Dionne said anti-tobacco advocates don’t fully understand the reasons why native people smoke. In part, she said, that explains why anti-tobacco strategies that have worked well in the general population have not been particularly effective in the American Indian community.
A Health Department report released in February attributed health disparities in American Indian communities to government efforts to uproot them from their land and destroy their way of life. The report concluded that the displacement has led to high rates of unemployment, poverty and high-risk behaviors among native people.
Smoking, Dionne said, is a coping mechanism for many American Indians.
“You have trauma that is generational, you know, my grandma, my mom and then me,” she said. “Highly traumatized people and populations tend to report higher levels of depression and anxiety. And when you’re reporting higher levels of depression and anxiety in a population, nicotine is one of those drugs that will relieve it almost immediately.”
The use of ceremonial tobacco may be another factor that has influenced American Indian smoking rates.
Tobacco is considered a sacred medicine given by the Creator, said Rhodes, of the American Indian Cancer Foundation. Tobacco is used regularly in ceremonies, but it also is common for American Indians to use leaves from other plants. On occasion, herbs are burned in a vessel.
However, she said there has been some debate within the community about whether it is appropriate to translate that spiritual meaning to smoking commercial tobacco.
Rhodes said it has also been challenging to send a strong message about the ills of commercial tobacco when it affects the livelihoods of so many people. In the age of the Indian casino, cigarette sales are an important part of the tribal economy. They have helped impoverished tribes build new roads and schools.
“Those of us that work in tobacco control in tribal communities know that the economics associated with tobacco in our tribal communities are really sensitive issues,” she said.
To a certain degree, American Indians already know what they need to do to reduce the terrible toll that cancer has taken on their communities. Better data has revealed that reducing the smoking rate is an obvious start. But it will be a complicated journey.
Some native leaders acknowledge feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task.
But in the same breath, they’re optimistic — they’ve noticed many more people talking about the link between smoking and cancer in the months since the tobacco use report was released. That, they say, is a good start.
Free seminars at Cabela’s Tulalip this weekend are pointed toward summer salmon seasons, and include the following highlights:
Saturday: 11 a.m., Catching Silvers on the Fly, with Mike Benbow; noon, Fall Salmon Fishing in the River, with Jim and Jennifer Stahl of NW Fishing Guides; 1 p.m., Chasing Salmon in the Salt, with Gary Krein; and 2 p.m., Egg Cure Secrets, with Cabela’s Outfitters
Sunday: 11 a.m., Rigging Your Salmon Rod, hosted by Jim and Jennifer Stahl; noon, Chasing Salmon in the Salt, with Nic Kester; 1 p.m., Salmon Love Herring, Strategies, Tips and Secrets, with Cabela’s Outfitters; and 2 p.m., Fall Salmon Fishing in the River, with Jim and Jennifer Stahl.
PASCAGOULA — A group of hundreds of Choctaw descendants, most of them living in the Vancleave area, made a great leap toward federal help Wednesday when the Chancery Court in Jackson County recognized them as an official Native American tribe.
“This is a huge hurdle to get past,” said Dustin Thomas, attorney for a portion of the descendants. He said it should speed the process of getting recognition by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Chancery Judge D. Neil Harris made the ruling after two factions within the group healed their differences and agreed on a constitution and bylaws for the Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw tribe.
The court directed Thomas to file an application and documents with the Interior Department for federal recognition of the tribe.
“… this agreement is in the best interest of the parties and all minor children affiliated,” the court ruled.
The factions set up a provisional council to handle matters under the ruling.
Thomas said the biggest benefit to federal recognition may be health care.
“They really need this,” Thomas said of the tribe. “They are so poor.”
He said the group can trace its ancestry to four women and a French trader in the 1700s. The tribe numbers about 1,500, most living in South Mississippi.
The group also is associated with a school established in Vancleave in the early 1900s called the Indian Creole School.
“We’re just so proud today that a court recognizes them,” Thomas said. “These people are so happy.”
Jackson County Supervisor Troy Ross said Wednesday the acknowledgement of this tribe likely would have no effect on the issue of casinos in Jackson County. Those who oppose casinos in the county long have expressed concerns one might be allowed on Indian land.
To do that would require going through the DOI, Ross said, and the governor would have “tremendous input.”
“The governor knows we’ve voted not to have casinos here,” Ross said Wednesday.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/07/09/5691046/chancery-court-acknowledges-choctaw.html?sp=/99/184/201/#storylink=cpy
Hualapai Chairwoman Sherry Counts told a Senate committee that the northwestern Arizona tribe supports a bill that would formalize two water-rights agreements between it, Freeport Minerals Corp. and the government. Photo by Julianne DeFilippis
WASHINGTON – Tribal and state lawmakers urged a Senate panel Wednesday to approve a water-rights agreement between the Hualapai tribe and Freeport Minerals Corp., saying time is fast running out on a deal.
Witnesses told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that the Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Act of 2014, which would guarantee the tribe certain levels of water use in the area, has been years in the making. But statutory limits on Freeport’s water rights mean it could all be undone if Congress does not act this year, the bill’s supporters said.
“We need to have this done before that deadline or the whole thing goes away,” Hualapai Chairwoman Sherry Counts said at the hearing.
The bill is sponsored by Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, while a companion measure in the House has been co-sponsored by all nine members of the state’s House delegation.
“It’s rare to find a piece of legislation that can garner bipartisan and bicameral support from the entire state congressional delegation,” said Flake, who called the bill an important piece of legislation for the whole state, not just the tribe.
But not everyone supports the bill.
Flake said officials in Mohave and La Paz counties have raised questions about the deal. And Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael Black testified Wednesday that while his agency supports the goals of the bill, it has “significant concerns” about provisions that waive sovereign immunity.
Black said those concerns “must be resolved before the administration can support the bill,” and assured the committee that the bureau is working to find a solution.
But Flake said a waiver of immunity is not unprecedented in such agreements and that parties in the deal “must have the ability to enforce the terms of the agreement.” The waiver “must be expressed and unequivocal,” he said.
Besides having the backing of the entire congressional delegation, Flake introduced letters of support from Gov. Jan Brewer, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Freeport Minerals and the Nature Conservancy.
In addition to guaranteeing water-rights for the tribe, the deal calls on Freeport to give the tribe $1 million toward a water infrastructure study, to transfer land to the state for a conservation program and to stop pumping water near a spring that is sacred to the tribe, among other provisions.
“We’ve been on the Colorado River since time immemorial and we have no water rights,” said Counts, who said securing those rights is a key goal for tribe.
But she also noted that water rights are also critical for any economic development plans the tribe has, for building resort facilities for tourists or housing for tribal members.
McCain said he and Flake are willing to work with anyone who has concerns about the proposal. But a bill needs to be approved to protect water rights for everyone, he said.
“We have to conclude our native water-rights settlements if we are going to have a predictable supply of water for Indians and non-Indians alike,” McCain said.
Honored for his work to protect the environment while serving many diverse interests
Senator John McCoy (D) of Tulalip honored with the E# award for Diversity in Action. McCoy was one of three tribal recipients in Washington State honored for his work in employing diversity to reach a more sustainable future. Photo courtesy of E3
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Senator John McCoy received the Diversity in Action-Individual E3 Washington Green Apple Award on June 26 for his work in environmental education. He has in mind education for the environment to be incorporated throughout all levels of learning, including post-secondary education programs. While protecting the environment is mutually beneficial, it is often a sensitive subject with specific community concerns attached. McCoy, a member of the Tulalip Tribes, is diligent in making sure that each diverse community is represented in every issue, working to set attainable goals for sustainability on that everyone can agree on.
Steve Robinson, an Olympia based businessman who nominated McCoy, said, “Senator McCoy has been a tireless leader in many capacities which have served environmental education, multiculturalism and diversity well. His presence on ‘the hill’ in Olympia has provided an immeasurable amount of benefit to both tribal and non-tribal people and governments. He has sponsored phenomenal, far-reaching legislation, ranging from bills to integrate Indian culture and history into the classroom to a bill to establish Indian Heritage Day. Senator McCoy is one of the hardest working legislators in Olympia and he is committed to the protection and restoration of a healthy, vibrant environment for all.”
In addition to advocating for culturally sensitive environmental education, McCoy is tenacious and steadfast in his opposition of bills that would be potentially harmful to the environment, working to block them as much as possible.
“Last year, I successfully blocked legislation that would have allowed for water to be repurposed without regulation. This prevented water allocated for personal or agricultural purposes from being repurposed and used commercially, which would have created a loophole in current regulations,” said McCoy.
The work McCoy does to contribute to education for the environment, in addition to the work to prevent detrimental legislation, represent the magnitude of his career. According to the E3 statement, the Washington Green Apple award for Diversity in Action, “recognizes an individual, organization, tribe or program that demonstrates cultural awareness and encourages a multicultural approach to environmental and sustainability education programs while exemplifying the Lead Green goal.”
McCoy said, “I am honored to receive this award, and thankful for the recognition of the magnitude of work I have been involved with.”
While recognized for his work in environmental education, McCoy’s career has centered on water issues. He is also a strong proponent in Washington of legislation promoting the research and use of alternative energy, working to pass i937 last year, which deals with the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio and standards on greenhouse gasses.
Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department. Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com Phone: (360) 716.4188
The San Francisco Giants are considering a policy that could prohibit fans from wearing items such as fake headdresses in what American Indian activist Suzan Shown Harjo believes would be a first for a major-league sports franchise.
The proposed policy, which is still in the working stages, could potentially say that fans who wear culturally insensitive attire to games or use culturally insensitive language could be asked to stop by Giants security or potentially be asked to leave the stadium.
Staci Slaughter, Giants senior vice president, communications, and senior advisor to the CEO, said the Giants have policies about obscene language and offensive signs.
“We are considering expanding the policy to be more explicit about culturally insensitive signs and articles of clothing,” she told USA TODAY Sports
“I don’t want to overstate where we are,” she added. “We haven’t finalized the language. We are still in the process of revising it.”
The proposed policy comes after an incident at a Giants game last month when two Native Americans approached a group of men who were passing around a fake headdress to tell them it was disrespectful. One of the Native Americans asked for the headdress and then declined to return it. Security was called and the Native Americans were detained but not arrested. The incident occurred on Native American Heritage Night.
“We met with some folks as a result of the incident,” Slaughter said. “What we’re looking at is not just specific to Native Americans. We have a desire to educate folks. The reason we do these heritage nights is to raise the awareness of the diversity of our region.”
Some fans of sports teams with Indian-themed names have long attended games wearing feathers and war paint.
“It is not acceptable for anyone to wear blackface anymore,” said Jacqueline Keeler, a founder of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry. “So why is it acceptable for fans to come to stadiums dressed in redface? The clowning of our culture must stop.”
Keeler’s cousin, Kimball Bighorse, is one of the American Indians who was detained in the incident at the Giants game and Keeler said Bighorse has been among those meeting with Giants officials about what they could do to prevent future incidents.
The proposed policy comes at a time when Indian team names are a flash point in the broader culture. Much of the attention has centered on the Washington NFL club, whose federal trademark registrations were canceled last month in a case that the team’s attorney said will be appealed.
Harjo, who launched the first of two trademark cases in 1992 and who has followed the issue of Indian mascots for decades, said she has not heard of any other pro franchise that has a policy like the one the Giants are considering.
“The teams with so-called Indian identities should take note and follow suit,” Harjo said. “But owners who are in the business of the commoditization of Indians are not really in a position to ask anyone else to tone it down.”
The National Congress of American Indians and Oneida Indian Nation said in a joint statement: “It is encouraging to know that this highly successful sports franchise is willing to address the cultural insensitivity that occurred within their ballpark. … Instead of ignoring these issues, the San Francisco Giants are exploring a method to create a respectful and welcoming environment.”
USA TODAY Sports contacted the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Blackhawks in the spring for a story about how pro teams other than the Washington NFL club were responding to criticism of Indian-themed team names and imagery. Among the questions asked: “Fans of teams with Indian names often dress as pretend Indians, with painted faces and feathers. Are you comfortable with your fans doing that?” None of those franchises answered the question.
The Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians hopes Tule elk will return home to their reservation land. The tribe received $89,200 in grant funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the organization’s competitive Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, to restore elk habitat on its 7,000-acre property in Colusa County, California.
Roughly three herds are roaming about three to four miles outside the tribe’s ranch currently, but their range expansion has been limited by chamise, the native evergreen shrub that formerly grew extensively on the ranch before a 2012 fire burned it out. “Now that the fire’s gone through, it may open up the [elk’s] migration patterns,” Casey Stafford, director of land management for the Cortina Ranch, told newsreview.com. “We’re just going to try to get them a new place to call home.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded 25 grants nationwide to federally recognized tribes in 15 states, including five in California, to fund a wide range of fish and wildlife conservation projects.
“Tribal nations share our conservation challenges in the United States,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “The Tribal Wildlife Grants Program creates opportunities for tribes to build conservation capacity and for us to work together in a variety of ways, including species restoration, fish passage, protection of migratory birds and efforts to cope with the long-term effects of a changing climate.”
Tribes have received more than $64 million through the Tribal Wildlife Grants Program since 2003, providing support for more than 380 conservation projects administered by participating federally recognized tribes. These grants provide technical and financial assistance for development and implementation of projects that benefit fish and wildlife resources, including nongame species and their habitats.
The grants provide tribes opportunities to develop increased management capacity, improve and enhance relationships with partners (including state agencies), address cultural and environmental priorities and heighten tribal students’ interest in fisheries, wildlife and related fields of study. A number of grants have been awarded to support recovery efforts for threatened and endangered species.
The grants are provided exclusively to federally recognized tribal governments and are made possible under the 2002 Related Agencies Appropriations Act through the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program. Proposals for the 2015 grant cycle are due Sept. 2, 2014.
ALASKA:
Native Village of Tazlina ($200,000)
Moose Browse Enhancement Project
Native Village of Tyonek (copy97,590)
Tyonek Area Watershed Action Plan
ARIZONA:
Tohono O’odham Nation ($200,000)
Engineering Design and Monitoring of State Route 86 Wildlife Connectivity Measures
CALIFORNIA:
Hoopa Valley Tribe (copy99,992)
Pacific Lamprey Passage Project
Pala Band of Mission Indians (copy89,645)
Tribal Habitat Conservation Plan Completion (Phase I and Phase II)
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (copy58,352)
Restoring and Enhancing Riparian Habitat on Chumash Tribal Lands
Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians (copy89,200)
Cortina Ranch Tule Elk Restoration
FLORIDA:
Seminole Tribe of Florida ($200,000)
Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Wildlife Program
IDAHO:
Nez Perce Tribe ($200,000)
Restoration of Bighorn Sheep Populations and Habitats along the Salmon River, Idaho – Final Phase
MAINE:
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians ($200,000)
Aquatic Habitat Restoration Program: Phase III – Fish Passage / Habitat Enhancement Project
Passamaquoddy Tribe – Pleasant Point Reservation (copy98,885)
Alewife Migration Behavior and Food Web Interactions in the St. Croix River and Estuary
MICHIGAN:
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (copy99,942)
Wildlife Habitat Assessment and Restoration Plan: Expansion and Implementation
MONTANA:
Northern Cheyenne Tribe (copy99,394)
Returning the Black-footed Ferret
Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of Fort Belknap Indian Community ($200,000)
Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction
NEW MEXICO:
Ohkay Owingeh (copy53,499)
Restoring Wet Meadow Habitats for Listed and Proposed Candidate Species at Ohkay Owingeh
Santa Ana Pueblo (copy99,998)
Monitoring Avian Community Response to Riparian Restoration along the Middle Rio Grande, Pueblo of Santa Ana
OKLAHOMA:
Osage Nation (copy85,511)
American Burying Beetle in the Osage Nation
OREGON:
The Klamath Tribes ($200,000)
Klamath Reservation Forest Habitat Restoration and Ecosystem Resiliency Project.
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Catawba Indian Nation (copy74,501)
Catawba Preserve Wildlife Enhancement
UTAH:
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Nevada and Utah (copy93,384)
Native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Habitat Restoration Project
WASHINGTON:
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (copy99,803)
Yakama Nation Shrub-Steppe Species Restoration Project
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (copy99,616)
Mammalian and Avian Recolonization Ofde the Watered Reservoirs After Dam Decommissioning and Their Impact on Revegetation Management, Elwha Valley, WA
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (copy20,000)
Restoring an Endemic Species to Native Tidelands: Olympia Oysters in Swinomish Pocket Estuaries
Tulalip Tribes of Washington ($99,822)
Monitoring Fish and Water Resources on the Tulalip Tribes Indian Reservation, Usual and Accustomed Lands, and Marine Waters of the Pacific Northwest
WISCONSIN:
Stockbridge-Munsee Community ($200,000)
Herptile Management and Habitat Restoration
Saskatoon’s police chief and the chief of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation led a march in support of Marlene Bird this morning.
Bird is the homeless woman who was brutally attacked last month in Prince Albert. She has been receiving treatment at a hospital in Edmonton and was set to arrive in Saskatoon Wednesday for further treatment at a hospital in her home province.
About 70 people joined in the Saskatoon walk.
DeeAnn Mercier was among them. She works at the Lighthouse shelter and said homeless people are often victims of random attacks.
“Our mobile outreach team was out last night and picked an individual up who had been urinated on and someone had stolen his pants,” Mercier said. “It’s just so humiliating for folks.”
Mercier said fortunately that person was physically unhurt, but she worries that other Lighthouse clients may not be so lucky.
Part of the aim of today’s walk is to spur more donations for Bird’s care after she is released from hospital, said Eldon Henderson, one of the event’s organizers.
“She’s going to need a home… and wheelchair accessibility,” Henderson explained.
Two fundraising efforts are underway, including one by the Prince Albert YWCA. The Montreal Cree Nation has also set up a trust account at the Royal Bank.
By Henderson’s estimate about $13,000 had been raised as of the start of Wednesday morning. He was unable to say at this point how much more money is needed.
Meanwhile, Montreal Lake is focusing more attention on the wider issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. It’s co-hosting the 1st Annual Canadian Indigenous Women Conference this November in Saskatoon.
In August the community will begin raising money to establish a Foundation for Aboriginal Women in Canada. It will offer help to the survivors of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
“We want to make sure that we have the expertise and the staff there that’s going to complement that healing process for the families,” Henderson said.
It’s hoped the foundation will also have a scholarship program.
