Podcasts about white earth

Dr. Antony Stately (Oneida & White Earth), President and Executive Officer of Native American Community Clinic returns for a conversation with host Robert Pilot and producer Haley Cherry!

Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance meet Tuesday night in a high-stakes debate in New York. It's the biggest stage yet for the running mates of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.The White Earth Nation welcomed two boys home on Sunday more than a century after their deaths at a boarding school in central Minnesota.And the Minnesota Lynx lost Sunday night 73-70 to the Connecticut Sun in the first game of the WNBA semifinals.This is an MPR News morning update, hosted by Phil Picardi. Music by Gary Meister.Find these headlines and more at Mprnews.org.Tim Walz's experience in China could help him as veep, but he barely mentions it as a candidateChildren who died at a boarding school in the 1800s return to the White Earth NationConnecticut Sun win 73-70 over Minnesota Lynx in first semi-finals gameRead the latest edition of the Minnesota Today newsletter.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

This hot and dry September has raised the risk of wildfires. We get details on a red flag warning in effect Monday for much of the state.And the remains of two boys who died at a boarding school have returned to White Earth. We have more on the effort to bring them home.Baby Boomers and Millennials may not have the same “American Dream.” We talk to a Minnesota professor who is studying the differences.Gov. Tim Walz used to talk a lot about his experience in China. But on the campaign trail, he doesn't mention it. We dig into his time there and its political weight. Plus, it was a major weekend in sports. Sports guys Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson talk through that Vikings-Packers game, the Karl Anthony Towns trade and more.

Host Robert Pilot and producer Haley Cherry welcome back auntie Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna) and Dr. Antony Stately (Oneida & White Earth), President and Executive Officer of Native American Community Clinic (NACC)!

Today marks one year of legalized recreational marijuana. The process to get cannabis to the market has been slow, as expected — except for tribal nations. They are the only places allowed to grow for commercial use and sell, and they began as soon as they could.White Earth has grown since then as the biggest adult-use marijuana operation in the state. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Zach Wilson, CEO of the White Earth operation known as Waabigwan Mashkiki, to reflect on this first year and look forward to what's next.

Starting Thursday there are tougher penalties on people who buy guns for someone who isn't supposed to have one. It's called straw purchasing. We talk to one of the state's top law enforcement leaders about the new law. Also going into effect Thursday: Something being dubbed the “Jetson's Law.”Today marks one year of legal recreational marijuana use. We check in with the CEO of White Earth's operation — the state's largest.We hear about how Minnesota Nice played out for a group of friends going fishing in our Thank You, Stranger.Plus, Suni Lee is looking to defend her gold medal all-around title. We check in with our sports contributors as the Olympics continue.

Interior moves subsistence management office out of USFWS Yellowstone's Native connections revealed in summer art installations Prairie Island taps White Earth's supply to open dispensary in MN

This weekend, White Earth Nation will be spending eight hours a day recording the stories of their people. The Historical Preservation interviews is part of new required academic standards known as “Indigenous Education for All.” The state is working with all 11 tribal nations to integrate the history of Anishinaabe and Dakota people into K-12 curriculum.Joining MPR News guest host Nina Moini is Dana Goodwin Williams, the director of the White Earth Education Division.

The family of a man shot and killed last summer by a Minnesota state trooper are criticizing the decision to drop murder and manslaughter charges against the officer. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the White Earth Nation have signed an agreement to expand tribal access to the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. About half of the 42,000-acre refuge north of Detroit Lakes is located inside the White Earth Reservation. Federal and Tribal conservation officials will work together to manage wild rice beds in the refuge.Those stories and more in today's evening update from MPR News. Hosted by Emily Reese. Music by Gary Meister.

Comment, question, or idea for the podcast? Send us a Text Message! This week, Marcus, John, and Tanner are joined by guest cohost Kayla Fearing of Healing Fear Consulting. Another Native nation in Minnesota weighs entering the cannabis industry, Minnesotans sue to be able to sell their home grown cannabis, and a White Earth man was charged and faces jail time for selling cannabis on August 1, 2024. Then, we have a Mock Conference Committee, diving deep into the Senate and House's versions of HF 4757. Then, Steve and Tanner sit down with Tim Frederick of Minimum Wage Tim's Coffee Co. They explore more about the similarities between good coffee, good cannabis, and good music, and Tim helps to illuminate his path to coffee. Not an interview to miss! Finally, it's time for the Season Finale segment of Cooking with Clem, a collaboration between Doctor Dabs and Northern Lights Podcast. Today Clem's whipping up some Maple Bacon flavored with Infused Maple Sugar and his Daytime Tea Blend! Doctor Dabs Healthy Highs makes a wide variety of THC-infused products, including infused Maple Syrup from Taylors Falls, MN. Learn how to use Infused Maple Sugar to make your own infused meal at home! Donate Today - mncannabiscollege.org/donateFilmed and Recorded at the Dabbler Depot Studio in St. PaulToday's episode of Northern Lights is presented by North Star Law Group, your trusted partner in Minnesota's burgeoning legal cannabis industry. Learn more at northstarlaw.comThank you to our sponsor NativeCare, Minnesota's first recreational cannabis dispensary, now on WeedMaps!Links from the Show:

This week on AgweekTV, potato giant RDO takes on the White Earth tribe in a federal lawsuit over ag water use. Avian influenza is one of the factors giving cattle markets the jitters right now. We'll meet some high school boys who hit the road this time of year to help with branding season. And we'll see how controlled burns are being used to restore South Dakota's disappearing grasslands.  

House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Public Witness Hearing - American Indian & Alaska Native: Day 1, Morning Session Date: Tue, 05/07/2024 - 9:00 AM Location: Capitol Complex, 2008 RHOB, Washington, DC, 20515 Witnesses Mr. Lee Juan Tyler Chairman, Fort Hall Business Council of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Ms. Whitney Gravelle President, Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority Mr. Kirk Francis Chief of Penobscot Indian Nation, United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET SPF) Mr. Robert Blanchard [Note: Witness was not present] Chairman, Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians Mr. Grant Johnson President, Prairie Island Indian Community Mr. Darrell Seki, Sr. Chairman, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians Mr. Kevin Dupuis, Sr. Chairman, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Mr. Jason Schlender Administrator, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission Mr. Austin Lowes [Note: Initial part of statement not audible] Chairman, Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians Mr. George W. Thompson Vice President, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Mr. Henry Fox Vice Chairman, White Earth Nation Mr. Dana Sam Buckles Councilman, Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation Ms. Carole Lankford Councilwoman, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation Mr. Joseph Rosette Councilman, Chippewa Cree Tribe Ms. Ashleigh Weeks General Manager, Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System Mr. Marvin Weatherwax, Jr. Councilman, Blackfeet Tribe of Montana Mr. George Jay Ball Councilman, Fort Belknap Indian Community Ms. Shere Wright-Plank Councilwoman, Rosebud Sioux Tribe Mr. Ervin Carlson President, Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council Mr. Frank Star Comes Out President, Oglala Sioux Tribe Mr. Frank Adams Chief, Upper Mattaponi Tribe Mr. Stephen Adkins Chief, Chickahominy Tribe Committee Notice: https://appropriations.house.gov/events/hearings/public-witness-hearing-american-indian-alaska-native-day-1-morning-session

Ojibwe writer Marcie Rendon takes a break from her popular Cash Murder Mystery series for a new collection of poems, Anishinaabe Songs For A New Millennium. She invokes the plants, animals, wind, and people of her White Earth home. She challenges readers to listen along to the songs of their ancestors. Rendon is among the poets helping us mark National Poetry Month. GUESTS Tiffany Midge  (Hunkpapa Lakota ), poet, humorist, and author   Marcie Rendon (White Earth Ojibwe ), writer and author   Kimberly Blaeser  (Anishinaabe from the White Earth reservation ), poet, author of Ancient Light, founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets “In-Na-Po,” and MFA faculty member at Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Kinsale Drake  (Diné), poet and founder of NDN Girls Book Club

Ojibwe writer Marcie Rendon takes a break from her popular Cash Murder Mystery series for a new collection of poems, Anishinaabe Songs For A New Millennium. She invokes the plants, animals, wind, and people of her White Earth home. She challenges readers to listen along to the songs of their ancestors. Rendon is among the poets helping us mark National Poetry Month.

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona has a new exhibit centering on the Mississippi River. It's a collaboration between Native artists of two tribes united by the river — the Ojibwe at the headwaters in Minnesota and the Houma at the delta in Louisiana.The artists used many different mediums to illuminate the connections across Indigenous and colonial histories in their shared watershed. The title of the exhibit spans three languages: “Abijijiwan” in Ojibwe, “Ukeyat Yanalleh” in Houma and “The Water Flows Continuously” in English. The exhibit will be on view through July 7.The two artists behind the exhibit joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.Karen Goulet is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation. She lives in White Earth and is currently the director of the Miikanan Gallery in Bemidji. Monique Verdin is a citizen of the Houma Nation and director of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange.

New legislation at the Minnesota State Capitol would transfer large swaths of state public lands to the Red Lake and White Earth bands. Managing Editor Rob Drieslein and Editor Tim Spielman break it down. Then Jon Schneider from Minnesota Ducks Unlimited checks in to talk about DU projects in the state and a recent award […] The post Episode 479 – State-tribal land transfer legislation, an award for a DU employee, Stan Tekiela on winter in Yellowstone, and dogs-vs.-hounds appeared first on Outdoor News.

It's YOUR time to #EdUp In this episode, President Series #255 & 256, & part of an EdUp Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs) Mini Series, YOUR guests are Dr. Helen Zaikina-Montgomery, President, Leech Lake Tribal College, & Anna Sheppard, President, White Earth Tribal & Community College YOUR hosts are Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠ & Dr. Erica J Moore, Vice President for Indigenous Institutional Transformation, American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Listen in to #EdUp! Thank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp! Connect with YOUR #EdUp Team - Elvin Freytes & Dr. Joe Sallustio ● Join YOUR #EdUp community at The EdUp Experience! We make education YOUR business! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/edup/message

Description: In this episode, podcast host Linsey McMurrin explores the connections between Western and indigenous systems of thought for building healthy people and communities. In her non-profit career she works to educate communities in Social Emotional Learning (SEL), a Western framework for developing healthy social and emotional skills. But as a proud Anishinaabe woman, she also recognizes that the traditional wisdom of her ancestors was designed to do the same thing, well before SEL existed. Exploring connections between SEL and the Seven Grandfather Teachings, Linsey reflects on how reclaiming a relationship to traditional wisdom can be a part of restoring dignity and authenticity for herself and her community. Linsey is helped along in her reflections by her two sons: 12-year-old Isaias and 7-year-old Tobias.Survey: Please take our survey! Now that you've listened to us, we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think in a brief survey by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/podcastRR.  Show Notes:In this episode the host references the following resources: ·       Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (In the episode, Linsey refers to this group as the “Center for Academic and Social Emotional Learning.”)Musicians:You can find more from the musicians who contributed to this episode here: -         Wade Fernandez  – https://wadefernandezmusic.com/-         Leah Lemm (Molecular Machine) – https://leahklemm.com/-         Reuben Kitto Stately (Kitto) – https://linktr.ee/yungkitto-         Paul Wenell, Jr. (Tall Paul) – https://linktr.ee/TallPaulHipHop Content warning: The Remembering Resilience podcast episodes include content that may bring up a strong emotional response. Please do what you need to take care of yourself while you listen, and perhaps think of someone you could call for emotional support if necessary. If you or a loved one are having thoughts of suicide, there are resources to help. If you're in Minnesota, you can connect with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 9-8-8 or using the Online Chat feature. Otherwise, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Both of these resources are available 24/7 to offer support.  Thank you:Miigwech - Pidamayaye - Thank you. We are grateful to our many partners who made this podcast possible. This podcast was developed through a Health POWER project at Minnesota Communities Caring for Children & FamilyWise Services, with support from the Center for Prevention at BlueCross and BlueShield of Minnesota & the University of Minnesota Extension. Kalen Keir did the sound design for this season, and Sadie Luetmer provided additional producing. 

You may have heard of Betty Whiteout, Ctrl Salt Delete, Sleetwood Mac or Plowy McPlowface — past winners of the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Name a Snowplow Contest. And while the now-annual event garners thousands of punny monikers, some plow drivers are hoping it's an opportunity to keep Indigenous languages alive, one truck at a time. The contest was born in December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It became wildly popular — 24,000 entries strong — as a much-needed moment of levity for Minnesotans during a dark, isolated time. Anne Meyer, who works for MnDOT, said the idea came from Scotland, where people have been naming snowplows for years.MnDOT now has 24 named plows on the road, and while the contest is fun for everyone, it's also a chance to build cultural awareness. Christopher Chee, a member of the Diné Nation, works for MnDOT out of Redwood Falls in southwest Minnesota. He lives in the Lower Sioux Indian community where his wife is from, plowing in the winter and doing road maintenance in the summer. In his previous job as roads director for the Lower Sioux Community, he worked with the city of Redwood Falls, Redwood County, the tribal council and MnDOT to become the first tribal nation in the state to have dual-language road signs welcoming people in Dakota and English. The signs went up in 2016. During last year's Name a Snowplow Contest, he wanted to build on his work. He encouraged friends to send in Native language names, and he submitted one in Dakota. “‘Ičamna' means ‘snowstorm' or ‘blizzard,'” Chee said. “And being a snowplow driver, we're out there in the blizzards, in the snowstorms keeping the roads open, rescuing people if we have to, making way for troopers and paramedics.” Ičamna made it to the second to last round of the contest but didn't make the final cut. One of his supervisors noticed Chee's disappointment, and promised to see what he could do. Sure enough, two weeks later, Chee walked into the breakroom and saw an Ičamna vinyl sticker on the table. Now Chee and his truck partner of three years, Jovi Lund — who is a tribal member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community — drive their plow with pride. Mike Connor is another driver who helped push for a plow with an Indigenous name: Giiwedin, Ojibwe for “the North Wind.”“Naming this plow helps with building cultural awareness between the state and tribal entities,” said Connor, a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and a MnDOT driver. “It's important to show the traditions and language.”Connor said the state and tribal governments have had a formal relationship, but dubbing the plow with an Indigenous name was a sign of goodwill. “There's a lot of policies and procedures between tribes and MnDOT, and it is encouraging to see the engagement with the tribes,” he said. A second plow in northeast Minnesota bears the name Goonodaabaan. It's a combination of the Ojibwe words “goon” and “odaabaan,” which translate to “snow,” and “sleigh” or “sled.“This year's contest closes at noon on Friday — and submissions have been pouring in. MnDOT staff will select a few dozen from the more than 7,000 entries for the public to vote on in January, Meyer said. Chee hopes more tribal nations and ethnic groups from around the state will submit names in languages other than English this year. He hopes for at least one truck with an Indigenous name on each of Minnesota's 11 tribal nations. “Have another up by Red Lake, have another around Shakopee, have another one at Treasure Island, Upper Sioux, and from there, White Earth,” he said. Chee said he's happy that many Indigenous communities are investing in teaching young people their native languages. And, he said, something as simple as a dual language road sign or a name on a snowplow can help with that mission.

The day after recreational marijuana became legal in Minnesota, sheriff's deputies and tribal police raided a man's tobacco shop on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. The next day, they searched his home.It's been over three months, and still no charges have been filed against the man. That's because the state may not be able to prosecute tribal members for marijuana crimes on reservations. Minnesota Reformer deputy editor Max Nesterak has been reporting on this story and joined MPR News Host Catharine Richert to talk about it.  Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Families visiting cemeteries on the White Earth reservation to honor and remember loved ones this Veterans Day might notice 12 new headstones. They were updated this summer because the names on the old ones were wrong. And this was a common problem for many serving in the Civil War who couldn't read or write — Native Americans, as well as non-native Americans.Many had to take anglicized names to enlist, and sometimes even those names were recorded with errors. Budd Parker and other volunteers from Calvary Cemetery & St. Benedict's Catholic Church have been working for more than 30 years to correct those mistakes.For the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or read the transcript below. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.Can you give us an example or two of some of the errors that you found on headstones and how they came to be that way?A lot of times they were full blood or mixed blood, Chippewa and French or just full blood Chippewa. They didn't speak English. So when they would try to say their names to the people doing the enlistment … they weren't familiar how to do this.Once we were able to document it with the VA to prove that these were their real names, they allowed us to put up new gravestones up with their actual names. We also put the “also known as” so that in the future, if somebody was trying to find out their military record, they wouldn't find it under their real name, they'd have to know this false name.You mentioned working with the VA, what kind of research goes into this? It takes a lot of research, a lot of time. I traveled out to Washington, D.C., 20 some odd years ago, to get all of their pension records, if they had them and their military records and then go through church records. The Catholic Church has very good records from White Earth. I had to go through allotment records, sometimes probate records, newspapers — so all of these have taken years and years of research. How many veterans have you done this for? Well, I've done research and then my husband Bruce, and my cousin Pete Fairbanks and Kibby Sullivan, there's been about five of us. My cousin's wife, Bobby calls us the Grim Reapers that put these headstones up, and so they're all over.We put up over 56, just for the Civil War soldiers on White Earth. We've also done two on our reservation that served in the Mexican War in the 1840s.Why is this work so important to you?My grandparents raised me, and they were both from White Earth. They're mixed bloods. My grandpa was born 1885, my grandma 1901. So they were adults when a lot of these Civil War soldiers were still living, and told me stories about them.They were very important people and then it got to the point where as older folks were passing on, I would tell people about them and they're like, ‘Oh, I never heard of this person or never.' And it's like, well, ‘It's your great grandpa.'When I'd come back home on leave from the Navy my uncle Him-Him and I would go up to the Catholic cemetery on White Earth and straighten some of these old stones up or clean them up. Then I got the idea and I was like well, I want people to remember these people.What conversations pop up about military service in the Native community? How do people talk about it?I'm not sure, it depends. I mean, every group is different. In my family and my friends, they tell these stories, I mean some of these amazing stories that we have just on our reservation. I'm sure every reservation, every community, reservation or not, has the same amazing stories and that's why it's so important for them to be remembered — the truth about them, the good and the bad. And the mundane, the boring. It's all part of our fabric.Do you ever get reaction from families of the veterans you've researched that say, ‘Wow, we didn't even know about this.' What is that like?It's rewarding to know that. It's like wow, okay, so now maybe this story will be passed on to their family. One of these instances was a stone we put up this summer, his grave had been unmarked for 101 years.He was a World War I soldier and he had no wife or kids. We did a big article and it ran in the tribal paper and now I've heard so many people talking about John Turpin this and John Turpin that. Finally, his name is being spoken again.

This week on AgweekTV, a long and expensive court battle is shaping up over ag water rights on a Minnesota reservation. A new research lab will look for ways to bring more value to ag products. Friends gather to bring in the harvest for a spray pilot killed in a plane crash. Minnesota has bragging rights about some of the world's biggest pumpkins  

Winona LaDuke recalls “Salsa Tuesdays” outside the old Carnegie Library in Park Rapids. In 2021, water protector activists and members of the community would dance — salsa, macarena — in protest against Enbridge, the building's then occupant, the Canadian conglomerate behind the controversial Line 3 pipeline.“We would stand out there with little signs that said, ‘Water is life, protect the water, stop Line 3,'” LaDuke says. “We would always look at the building and hope that one day something would be different there.”On Thursday, Giiwedinong: The Anishinaabe Museum of Treaties and Culture opened on the spot. The museum sits just off the main drag of a downtown lined with candy shops, bars and an old cinema. Now, the stone building, built in 1908, is striped with red, white, yellow and black, the medicine wheel colors representing the four directions. It is the first museum in Minnesota devoted to the Indigenous perspective on treaty rights, environmental justice and culture.“This is not a tribal museum,” explains LaDuke, a member of the Mississippi Band of Ashinaabeg. “This is an Indigenous museum, but it is off the reservation. It received no state funding, it's entirely independent. We think of ourselves as the little museum that could.”In Oct. 2022, the building was purchased for the museum by Akiing, an Anishinaabe community nonprofit based on the nearby White Earth Indian Reservation.  “It's being put in a place that's so ironic,” says Frank Bibeau, a museum board member and the Akiing executive director.Bibeau is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe at White Earth and a treaty rights attorney. Park Rapids is in the heart of ceded treaty territory, explains Bibeau. Enbridge placed the Line 3 pipeline across Northern Minnesota despite public opposition. Water protector activists, including Native and climate advocates, warned it could pollute waterways. With the museum, Bibeau says they are correcting the actions of the building's past occupants, Carnegie and Enbridge. Related Winona LaDuke resigns as Honor The Earth leader after sexual harassment case “So, the imperialist who took and raped our land and resources created that building in Park Rapids,” Bibeau says. “The next round of imperialists also were there, and so we're taking that space, and we're saying that's not the proper use of this space. That's been harmful to our area.”At the museum are interim executive director Jerry Lee Chilton, a member of the White Earth Band, and museum organizer Mary Crystal Goggleye, who is Anishinaabe and Pueblo. They stand in the entry, surrounded by a freshly painted mural. In jewel tones, Red Lake artist Brian Dow painted animals representing many Anishinaabe clans. “Giiwedinong” is Anishinaabe for “in the north,” says Chilton, who is also the executive director of the Anishinaabe Agricultural Institute.“It's a lot of cool artifacts, a lot of cool heritage,” Chilton says. He points to the ground and cites the 1855 Treaty. “This was all reservation at one point. So, we're just bringing that to light,” Chilton says. Goggleye walks among the maps and photographs.“We are fighting for our history to be told,” Goggleye says. “We are in society, you see us in society, and we will revitalize our own history.”The intimate galleries of Giiwedinong unfold with historical photos, treaty maps, and documents. Displays outline ceded territories defined by the Treaties of 1837, 1854, 1855 and 1867. They also show the rights to hunt, fish and gather in these territories, and tell the stories about how these rights have been breached. More displays depict agreements the Anishinaabe had with other indigenous nations, like One Dish One Spoon, the treaty about shared hunting rights that dates back to the 12th century.“It's a new concept, an important concept,” says museum board member Travis Zimmerman, a descendent of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Zimmerman is also the site manager for the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post, which is run by the Minnesota Historical Society. Giiwedinong is different, he says.“A museum run by an American Indian organization, having American Indian curators, and really having that Native voice come out, is something that you don't really see much of, anywhere really, much less in Minnesota.”The museum is an educational resource for Native and non-Native folk alike, Zimmerman says.“The thing that's really behind treaties, it's all about sovereignty, and I think that's what people don't realize and struggle with, that American Indians are sovereign nations,” Zimmerman says. “We always have been, and we always will be.”Giiwedinong also puts these treaty rights into a contemporary context. A special exhibit features photos and stories from the Line 3 protests, and the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. A photo on display by Sarah (Miskwaa-ens Migiziwigwan) Kalmanson includes water protector activist Tania Aubid at Standing Rock in North Dakota. In September, Aitkin County judge Leslie Metzen dismissed charges related to a Line 3 protest against Aubid, LaDuke and fellow activist Dawn Goodwin.Metzen reasoned, “We moved them by force and power and violence off the land where they lived for thousands of years. To make peace, we signed treaties with them that promised many things they never received.”Kalmanson, an Anishinaabekwe descendant of White Earth, photographed many of these protests. She is also a curator and marketing director for the museum.“We had tens of thousands of people at Standing Rock. I was there. And I want to honor that. There were a lot of atrocities that happened,” she says.Curating the museum has been healing, she says.“It was pretty brutal, what we all went through, and I just feel really energized and I'm so happy to share and carry this on,” Kalmanson says. “I'm really excited to have folks come in and see how beautiful we are.”LaDuke says there will be another dance party at the opening tonight.

On this last episode of season one, I talk with professional documentary editor and filmmaker J. Christian Jensen. In 2015, after graduating from the documentary program at Stanford, Christian was nominated for an Academy Award for his film “White Earth." Since then, he has built a distinguished career as a documentary editor working on an array of films for various leading directors. In this episode, Christian gets into the nuts and bolts of editing and what work as an editor looks like today.  White Earth website: www.whiteearthmovie.com Scenes from the Glittering World: www.www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/scenes-from-the-glittering-worldThank you for listening. Please subscribe to keep up to date with new episodes. If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a review.“On Documentary” podcast page: www.adamjamessmithfilm.com/on-documentaryAdam James Smith's Instagram: www.instagram.com/ajsfilmContact: ajsfilm@alumni.stanford.edu

It's been nearly 10 days since Minnesota's recreational cannabis law went into effect. Of course there are not dispensaries open yet with the exception of the Red Lake and White Earth tribal nations. But, you can grow your own and legally possess. Matt and Keith with the CBD Centers are back today to help you troubleshoot your growing techniques. Keith helps George identify a problem with his plant 'Virginia'. If you're growing cannabis, this episode is a great resource.

This week MN Native News reporter Emma Needham brings us some of the latest from Minnesota's native communities including a new novel from the author of Good Berry Cookbook, a doctoral study about the effects of tribal membership on Native American identity, and how Red Lake, White Earth, and Lower Sioux communities are leading the state in recreational marijuana and hemp industries

On Thursday the White Earth Nation added recreational cannabis to the products available at the tribal dispensary which it just opened on Monday. State officials have released new details on the fatal shooting of a Black motorist by a Minnesota State trooper earlier this week. This is an MPR News morning update, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.

It was a bit of a last-minute rush, but just after 10 a.m. Thursday morning White Earth Nation's tribal dispensary in Mahnomen opened for sale of recreational marijuana.

Tomorrow, Minnesotans will legally be able to grow, possess and use marijuana. But it will still be a while until people can buy weed in most of the state. We're about a year away from having licensed dealers in the Twin Cities. Instead, tomorrow, the Red Lake Nation will sell recreational cannabis from its dispensary. The White Earth tribe is expected to follow. The new law means Minnesotans 21 and older will be able to grow up to eight cannabis plants at a time. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Peter Morrell about the science behind growing the plant. He's a professor in the department of agronomy and plant genetics in the college of food, agricultural and natural resource sciences. He teaches a class each fall on the science of marijuana.

A few miles from the Canada border, Heather Boyd walks the grassy trail of the national monument's Ojibwe Village. She passes the soaring pointed timber of the palisade fence that encircles the recreated historic depot, what was once the famed 18th-century cultural crossroads of the Grand Portage Anishinaabe and the fur trade.Boyd then stops in the field where the National Monument hosts the annual Rendezvous Days event. Thousands of visitors flock to the remote site every August for music, camping, reenactments and craft workshops. “This is the encampment area,” Boyd says. “It's wild to see tent upon tent here.” She looks up at the nearby western hills, the site of the Grand Portage Band's annual powwow, also in August.“I'm really looking forward to blending the two events a bit more, the powwow and the Rendezvous here” Boyd says. “Well, it's celebrating both cultures, right? So, being able to encourage not only visitors here, but encourage them to go up to the powwow, too, and have that experience.”Boyd is the new superintendent of the Grand Portage National Monument. She is the first woman and first Anishinaabe person to hold the National Park Service position since the monument was established in 1958. The Anishinaabe have occupied the land since “time immemorial,” as the monument's signage points out.Today, Boyd is wearing a pin given to her by the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the tribe that has been co-managing the site with the park service for decades. She is also wearing a traditional Native ribbon skirt, striped in red, white and black.  “The ribbon skirt represents resiliency and identity and is just empowering as a woman,” Boyd says, “and a woman in a management position — that I'm the first Anishinaabe and the first woman to ever lead here.” Many say her appointment is a historic moment in the co-stewardship of the monument, which is within the boundaries of the of the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. The Grand Portage Band donated the land to the federal government.“I understand living in a tribal community,” says Boyd, who is an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa from Bayfield, Wis. “I think that's one of the things they saw in me.”Less than half a mile up the road, April McCormick sits in the timber building that houses the Grand Portage Reservation Tribal Council, the partner in co-management with the National Park Service. McCormick is the Tribal Council secretary treasurer.“We're really trying to have our leadership be reflective of who we are,” McCormick says.   McCormick says Boyd is a good fit because of her 14-year tenure as an administrative officer for Isle Royale National Park, the Michigan island site in Lake Superior, which is part of the Anishinaabe ancestral homelands. It's less than 40 miles from Grand Portage and on a clear day, you can see it from Boyd's new office.McCormick adds that even though Boyd is from a different Anishinaabe band, she is one of them and the community has welcomed her.“She has a deep understanding of tribal government and protocol,” McCormick says. “And also, just understanding the value of our culture, and traditions, and how we're telling our story for national parks. Whose worldview, whose lenses are we using?”Citing the efforts of the Grand Portage Band, McCormick points to the growing number of Native women working at the national monument. She says the current chief of interpretation Anna Deschampe is the first Grand Portage Band member to fill the position, within the division of interpretation and education. Boyd will work with Deschampe to refine the storytelling at the national monument, from signage and exhibitions to reenactments and workshops. The National Park Service announced Boyd's appointment last summer. She's only recently relocated from Michigan. The choice to wear the ribbon skirt regularly at Grand Portage, instead of the typical green and khaki of the NPS uniforms, is one way she's making an impact on the site's culture.  “Throughout my career with the Park Service, I don't see a lot of Indigenous people,” Boyd says. “As I go to different meetings, I'm the only one in a ribbon skirt in a room. Breaking that barrier so people feel like this is a regular thing means a lot to me.”Boyd points to other Native women in leadership, who in growing numbers in the last few years have been wearing the ribbon skirt in their official capacity in state and national government.White Earth member and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan often wore a ribbon skirt. And Deb Haaland, who in 2021 became the first Native woman to serve as the U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior (the department responsible for the National Park Service), wore a traditional ribbon skirt at her swearing-in ceremony in Washington D.C. While Boyd says she still has a lot to learn about the site, she knows she also wants to make an impact by doing more community events, like a recent Ojibwa language roundtable that was hosted in the monument's Heritage Center. The center houses a museum, art gallery and shop; she wants to bring more local artists into the space, too.  Joseph Bauerkemper, professor and director of the Tribal Sovereignty Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth, says Boyd's appointment is important but not surprising. “The Grand Portage Band has really sophisticated, long-standing, consistent leadership, even when different elected officials and community leaders have come and gone,” Bauerkemper says. “Grand Portage has worked very effectively in partnership with the National Park Service for many years, and so this is not a radical shift in that relationship, but it's a significant improvement in that relationship.”He compares Boyd's appointment to the Biden administration appointment of Haaland. “It's of similar import, because Secretary Haaland brings extensive knowledge and experience to that position” he says. “Native nations don't have to explain to the Secretary of Interior who they are, what they are, what they're up to, and that's a big deal. We can see the same thing going on — sure on a smaller scale, but no less important — at the monument there at Grand Portage.” Grand Portage National Monument is considered a leader in the National Park System for its co-management agreement, which creates a sharing of power and responsibility between the federal government and local tribes. Charles F. Sams III, the current National Park Service director (and the first tribally enrolled member to hold the position), testified before congress in 2022 about Grand Portage.“The stewardship of Grand Portage National Monument exemplifies how successful co-management can be, while infusing valuable dollars into the local Tribal economy,” Sams said.  Boyd also sits on the NPS Tribal Relations Advisory Committee for the Midwest region, which includes superintendents and staff from other parks and sites and meets monthly by video call. At the May meeting, Boyd sat in the conference room of the Heritage Center. St. Croix National Scenic Riverway superintendent Craig Hansen — who is the former superintendent of Grand Portage — was on the call and said Boyd's appointment is significant. “It shows the commitment to that community and that site,” Hansen said. Also on the call was Alisha Deegan, the superintendent of the Knife River Indian Village National History Site in North Dakota. A member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Deegan is also working at a federal site in her ancestral homeland. “Having that connection to the land that is beyond government is huge,” Deegan said. “The pride extends beyond her and her family.” Deegan explained that, as a Native person, it can be “really difficult” to work for government, or feel welcome entering a federal building or park, because of the U.S. history of oppression, violating treaties and taking land from Native populations. “Having Indigenous people in leadership positions, there is that permission to come back to sites,” Deegan said. “Elders may come and shares stories they wouldn't have before.” Boyd sits at her desk in her office at the Heritage Center. She is framed by a window that overlooks the Ojibwe Village and the Historic Depot, with Grand Portage Island and Isle Royale appearing as purple streaks in the distance on Lake Superior.  Boyd says she feels like she's home, even though she hasn't lived on her own Red Cliff reservation for 20 years.  “So, when I first came over here, it just felt right,” Boyd says. “When I first started with the Park Service, I wasn't promoting my heritage and my culture because it didn't feel right. Here, I feel like I'm empowered to do that. It feels awesome.” The Grand Portage National Monument grounds are open year-round. The Historic Depot opens for the season Memorial Day weekend. Correction (May 26, 2023): A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the Lieutenant Governor's title. This has been fixed.

Today is Thursday, May 4. Here are some of the latest headlines from around the Fargo, North Dakota area.  InForum Minute is a product of Forum Communications, brought to you by reporters from The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and WDAY TV. For more news from throughout the day, go to InForum.com.

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine – Weekly Radio ShowNative Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.  Karen Jones and Stephanie Longfield: Taking Initiative for Future Generations Today Leah shares her conversations with Karen Jones and Stephanie Longfield from White Earth Nation's cohort of Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative (IPLI). As graduates of the initiative, they've begun projects to deepen connections between their communities and culture. Karen's project, “Traditional Healing Home for Young Adults” plan to create two traditional healing home for young adults that have aged out of foster care or have nowhere else to go. Stephanie's project “Preparing Our Youth” focuses teaching “life” skills to young adults in the White Earth community, from opening a bank account, to building credit and even maintaining vehicles.  Chi-Miigwech to Karen and Stephanie for sharing with us today! The Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative is a 21-week course for parents that integrates Ojibwe culture, child development and leadership. To find out more about the next cohort at IPLI, visit https://www.indigenousvisioning.com/ or on their Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/Indigenous-Parent-Leadership-Initiative-104913428664845 Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/

Each fall, the Ojibwe tribes of northern Minnesota harvest wild rice by hand. It's a long process that begins with families in canoes venturing into the tall grasses, where rice is poled and gently brushed with knockers into the bed of the canoe. We journey to White Earth Reservation, out onto Big Rice Lake in a canoe, to see how one tribe is supporting itself and changing the diet of its people through community kitchen projects. And we talk with the founder of White Earth Land Recovery Project, Ojibwe leader, Winona LaDuke,  about the land, her fight to save wild rice, GMOs, her family, philosophy, and her candidacy for vice president of the United States on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nader. LaDuke is an Ojibwe leader, writer, food activist, rural development economist, environmentalist, Harvard graduate —and a force to be reckoned with. She's the executive director of Honor the Earth, and most recently she was a leader at Standing Rock fighting the Dakota Access pipeline. When we visited Winona on the White Earth Reservation in 2004 for our Hidden Kitchens story Harvest on Big Rice Lake she spoke to us about her family, her life and work—and about how her Ojibwe father met her bohemian/artist/Jewish mother in New York City, how her dad went on to Hollywood to star in the Westerns and how he later became the New Age spiritual leader called Sun Bear. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Oregon, Winona moved to White Earth, her father's reservation, after she graduated from Harvard in 1982. When she first arrived, she worked as the principal of the Reservation's high school and became active in local issues. Seven years later, she started the non profit White Earth Land Recovery Project, dedicated to restoring the local economy and food systems and preserving wild rice. Today Winona LaDuke operates a 40-acre industrial hemp farm on the White Earth Indian Reservation with the idea of creating textiles for the people and the planet — of working towards a non petroleum based future. And she's started 8th Fire Solar, operated by Anishinaabe, manufacturing solar thermal panels. “According to Anishinaabe prophecies, we are in the time of the Seventh Fire. At this time, it is said we have a choice between a path that is well-worn and scorched, and a path that is green and unworn. If we move toward the green path, the Eighth Fire will be lit and people will come together to make a better future.”

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine – Weekly Radio ShowNative Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.Susie Ballot and Lera Hephner's Work to Preserve Culture Across GenerationsToday Leah shares her conversations with Susie Ballot and Lera Hephner from White Earth Nation's cohort of Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative (IPLI). As graduates of the initiative, they've begun projects to deepen connections between their communities and culture. Susie's project, “Connecting with Your Spirit” works specifically to connect culture bearers and pipe carriers together with young community members with the goal of receiving their Ojibwe name. Lera's project “Healthy Language, Health Community” focuses on data collection and creating successful Ojibwemowin programs in the White Earth community. Chi-Miigwech to Susie and Lera for sharing with us today!The Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative is a 21-week course for parents that integrates Ojibwe culture, child development and leadership. To find out more about the next cohort at IPLI, visit https://www.indigenousvisioning.com/ or on their Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/Indigenous-Parent-Leadership-Initiative-104913428664845Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 - We discuss yesterday's election with news director Dave Thompson and NDSU political science professor Nicholas Bauroth. ~~~ Candace Stock is an Indigenous Chef -- she grew up on White Earth -- who now works at Bernbaum's in Fargo (an award-winning restaurant). This fall, she was engaged to prepare a Native American multi-course, ambitiously flavorful meal in Medora. The Theodore Roosevelt Library project had a meeting with tribal leaders from the area and they wanted something special. So, she put together a meal that is a treat to hear about. ~~~ In a special BirdNote, we share the first in a series called “Indigenous Voices.”

Hey friends! On the lastepisode of the podcast, I wrote a short story on Dave Casper. He was a one of akind guy who played with the Raiders, Vikings and Oilers. He was born inBemidji, Minnesota, but grew up in the woods of Wisconsin. Don't take the literallyfolks, please. He won a super bowl with the Raiders in 1975 and became the 9thbest tight end in NFL history. This time, the tale is about anaverage Joe from White Earth, Minnesota. He grew up in the same era as JimThorpe, played fullback on offense and sideback on defense. Later, the positionwas renamed to defensive halfback according to him. This, is, Pigskin Tales. Thestory of Joe, “Big Chief” Guyon.

This is Minnesota Native News. I'm Marie Rock. This week on Minnesota Native News, members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe vote on blood quantum requirements. Also, we hear from Juliet Rudie, who now heads the state's new Office of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Here's reporter Cole Premo. In a historic move, members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe in July voted to remove a decades-old requirement that members have a minimum of 25% Ojibwe blood.About 64% of voters on an advisory referendum say the blood quantum requirement, which began in the 1960s, should be removed from membership in the six-reservation tribe. Also, 57% of voters said each reservation should be allowed to determine its own enrollment requirements. Those reservations include Fond du Lac, Mille Lacs, Bois Forte, Grand Portage, White Earth and Leech Lake. Blood quantum requirements have been a source of debate and contention for years. Those in favor of ending the requirement say the blood quantum requirement has caused enrollment in the tribe to shrink, with many children not considered members despite having a parent who is. About 15% of the tribe's roughly 39,000 citizens are under age 18.Those opposed to ending the requirement are concerned that accepting more members will use limited federal or casino-generated funds, and that more people taking advantage of treaty rights will make resources scarce.The vote does not change the requirement just yet… The referendum is a guide for tribal leaders who will now decide whether to ask voters to amend the tribe's constitution.Minnesota Native News will have updates as they come in. In other news…Juliet Rudie – a Lower Souix Indian Community citizen – now leads Minnesota's new office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives in St. Paul.  It's the first state office of its kind in the nation. The office was created based on the findings of the Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women & Relatives Task Force.The office will work with the 11 sovereign tribal nations in Minnesota; federal, state, and local law enforcement; federal and state agencies; and community-based organizations and advocates. Rudie has nearly 30 years of experience in public safety, starting as a patrol officer for St. Paul police in 1990. She later joined the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office in 2011, serving as an Inspector, Undersheriff of the Administration Division and Chief Deputy. Rudie retired in 2017, but she says she felt she needed to do more, something focused on helping native women and children. Juliet Rudie recently spoke with my sister Leah Lemm and I on Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. Here she is talking about the new position.“I got a call that said, Hey, this job is going to be posted…. so I read the task force report, which is 163 pages. And I'm like, this document is amazing. They did research on why this was happening and they, and they managed to piece together some data, the data's in silos. So I give kudos to the research company, which is Wilder, where they were able to pull this information and then give it to, um, the task force. And then they were tasked with, um, there were five, uh, areas they were to look at, and then they were, and then from those five areas that came up with these 20 mandates.so whenever I get like overwhelmed in a, oh, by the scope of the work, I go back and I look at the report and I go, okay, you're on track, Julie, you're doing these things. Um, and, and then, so when I have to report to the legislature in January, I can say, these are the mandates that I touched. At this time, Juliet Rudie says she's narrowing the focus of the office in an effort to tackle as many mandates as possible… “it's prevention, um, reporting response, and making sure we have enough for victim resources and those. So that's, those are the four areas that I'm gonna focus on. Um, and then, and it's, it's bigger than that.”Juliet Rudie is now in the process of hiring more people for the new office.“I'm determined to make some type of difference, um, for the victims and the victims' families and survivors, because it's just sad … I have a friend who lost his daughter to gun violence. He was a native officer that I worked with… he said to me, he said that we need to do more. We need to do more in our community and we need to be better. We need to make things better. You can listen to more of the conversation with Juliet Rudie on Native Lights Where Indigenous Voices Shine. I'm Cole Premo. 

Feeling trepidation and hope, Peggy Mandel dropped a letter in the mail to a woman she'd never met but who held the key to a secret piece of her past. Adopted and raised in a loving middle-class Jewish family, Mandel didn't know her own origin story. As a kid, she could remember people asking, “Are you sure you're Jewish? You're too tall to be Jewish.” She wasn't sure either but needed to find out. After decades of searching, she'd come across a name — someone who might be a blood relative, someone who would lead her to a wrenching history of Native people in Minnesota she wasn't supposed to find. Mandel had been so scared she couldn't write the letter. Her husband Joel wrote it. For weeks, there was silence. Then came a voicemail that changed lives across two families and three generations. “I am pleasantly surprised. I'm shocked,” said the voice. “And I would like to connect with you.” ‘You don't want to learn those words' Anita Fineday, Mandel's half-sister, was the voice on the message that day in 2015. Fineday, who was working in Seattle at the time, didn't know she had a half-sister until that point, but she did know the family story. It was a difficult one, spanning generations of trauma from loss of Indigenous culture and identity. Dan Gunderson | MPR News 2021 Family members examine an old photo in a collection at the Stearns History Museum on June 4, 2021. A trove of family items were recently discovered in the museum collection. Peggy and Anita's mother grew up on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota but did not embrace the culture or language. “My mom didn't tell people she was Native American or Indian, because she was ashamed,” said Fineday. The sisters were both born in Louisville, Ky., where their mother worked as a nurse. Fineday recalled her mother saying she wanted to keep her “as far away from the reservation as possible.” Fineday believes the shame is a result of government boarding schools, designed to achieve that very outcome. She recalled sitting with her grandmother as a young girl and repeating an Ojibwe word. “And she said, ‘Oh no, my girl, you don't want to learn those words,'” said Fineday. “And she showed me her hands where she had scars on her knuckles. She said, ‘That's where the nuns hit me, when I spoke Ojibwe … speaking Ojibwe will only get you in trouble.'” Truth and healing Federal government begins to address Indian boarding school policies 'I've never told anyone' Stories of life in Indian boarding schools Boarding schools were only one method the federal government used to break apart Native American families and communities. In the mid-1900s, a program known as the Indian Adoption Project effectively removed thousands of Native children from their families and placed them with white families. Fineday learned that family members at White Earth tried to adopt Peggy when she was a baby, but her mother rejected the offer. She did not want her children to grow up on the Minnesota reservation, and she was pressured by the stigma of being unmarried and pregnant. Ironically, Fineday has spent much of her career as an attorney and a tribal judge, advocating for displaced Native American children. “That was my life's work,” said the 67-year-old Fineday. “To make sure that Native children were not separated from their tribe, and that they knew where they came from, that they knew who their family was.” ‘We can't tell you where she lives' Mandel, who moved to the Twin Cities at age 11, started looking for her birth mother in the 1990s. However Kentucky adoption records were closed and no information was available. About eight years ago she sought help from a staff member at the Children's Home Society, a St. Paul adoption agency. In early 2014, an agency staff member called. “She said, ‘We found her. She is alive and well. But we can't tell you where she lives. And she doesn't want anybody to know. She doesn't want to meet you,'” recalled Mandel. Courtesy Peggy Mandel Peggy Mandel (left) with Illene, the sister she grew up with in her adoptive family, and her sister Anita Fineday who she found after a decades-long search. Mandel hired a private investigator, who quickly found her birth mother living in Brainerd in central Minnesota. Mandel tried several times to contact her, but there was no response.  “I just wanted to say thank you to this person who could have made a very different choice on all levels,” Mandel said. “And I was really grateful.” Further investigation soon found her half-sister Anita. They met for the first time in the summer of 2015. Anita confronted her mother about the long-held family secret. At the time she was angry that no one told her she had a sister. Anita characterized her relationship with her mother through much of her life as “distant.” “I said, ‘Mom, guess who contacted me,' and she immediately spilled the beans,” Fineday said.  “She didn't really want to talk about it.” Eventually a meeting was arranged between Anita, Peggy and their mother.  “I had an elevator speech ready,” said Mandel. But when she stood in front of her birth mother, her composure collapsed.  “I sobbed from a place I don't think I've ever sobbed from before,” she recalled. “Like a floodgate opened. And through tears I just said, ‘Thank you for an incredible life. Thank you for what you gave me.'” A Reckoning Religious order apologizes for role in boarding school era More stories from this project North Star Journey After the initial meeting, Peggy spent many hours listening to stories of family history told by her birth mother. Her adoptive mother and birth mother eventually met. Eleanore Robertson, their mother, is 93 years old now and suffers from dementia, so MPR News chose not to interview her.  ‘Where do I belong?' That reunion marked the end of a search for identity, but the beginning of a journey to understand what it means, not only for Peggy Mandel, but for her daughters Margo and Aleeza, teenagers when they learned about their Ojibwe ancestors.  “At first it's such a huge shock, in a good way, but also in an overwhelming way. It's a new family, a new culture. What does this mean? How do I go about this respectfully?” said Aleeza. “Where do I belong? And who's going to accept me?” Aleeza and Margo are each at a different place on the path to embracing and understanding their Ojibwe identity.  “She (Aleeza) has dark curly hair and darker skin and I'm blonde and taller,'' said Margo. “It's been a little hard for me to be able to kind of connect at a deeper level, because I don't really look like everybody else.”  Margo was never questioned about her heritage.  Aleeza had a somewhat different experience.  “People would look at me, and say, ‘What are you?' They'd really say those words,” she recalled. “I would get Latina or Hispanic or Middle Eastern, and I was always like, why are people asking me that?”  Margo is studying Indigenous culture, and contemplating the parallels between her Jewish and Native history.  Dan Gunderson | MPR News 2021 Family members gathered at the Stearns History Museum on June 4th, 2021 to see family artifacts discovered in the museum collection. U probes its history with Native people Troubling stories surface “White settlers, and colonizers did everything in their power to essentially exterminate this culture.” she said. “I think it's very interesting how there are similarities with that to Jewish culture as well. Both faced forms of extermination.” Aleeza has taken a more experiential approach. She's participated in traditional ceremonies, and is learning about culture and spirituality from Ojibwe elders.  And the trauma embedded in her history empowers her.  “That hard history was honestly enraging, and a huge motivational piece for me to continue to learn is the fact that we weren't supposed to be here,” she said. “So I transcend that anger into motivation to continue to learn because I know it's something that they wouldn't have wanted me to know.”  At times, she's found acceptance brings its own struggles. “I was given my first eagle feather by a member of our community, and that was really overwhelming for me, because I didn't feel qualified,” she said. “Because that's a very sacred thing. And it's a very big thing to have and to honor.”  Among the people she turned to for guidance was her aunt Anita.   Dan Gunderson | MPR News This bag was made by Anita Fineday's great-grandmother Charlotte Broker. Fineday hopes to have family artifacts discovered at the Stearns History Museum in St. Cloud returned to the family or the White Earth Nation archives. For her part, Fineday has let go of the anger she felt towards her mother for keeping a sibling secret for 50 years.  “I'm just focusing on building a relationship, not only do I have a sister, I have a brother-in-law, and I have two fabulous nieces,” she said. Peggy Mandel is still trying to make sense of her new identity, learning as much as she can while being respectful of what she doesn't know.  She wants her adoption story to give hope to others.  “It's astounding to me how open the heart can be when you're willing and ready, and even scared. And I was scared. But I went ahead and did it anyway,” she said. Peggy and Anita attended an annual powwow at the Minneapolis American Indian Center held for adopted Native Americans. “At the very end of this beautiful ceremony, we all hugged each other. We didn't know each other from Adam,” said Peggy. “But what it felt like is, hey, guess what, we all matter. It doesn't matter where we came from.” Margaret Poethig provided an audio recording used in this story.

On June 27, 1868, Hole in the Day (Bagonegiizhig) the Younger left Crow Wing, Minnesota, for Washington, DC, to fight the planned removal of the Mississippi Ojibwe to a reservation at White Earth. Several miles from his home, the self-styled leader of all the Ojibwe was stopped by at least twelve Ojibwe men and fatally shot.Hole in the Day's death was national news, and rumors of its cause were many: personal jealousy, retribution for his claiming to be head chief of the Ojibwe, retaliation for the attacks he fomented in 1862, or retribution for his attempts to keep mixed-blood Ojibwe off the White Earth Reservation. Still later, investigators found evidence of a more disturbing plot involving some of his closest colleagues: the business elite at Crow Wing.My guest, Anton Treuer, is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of "The Assassination of Hole in the Day". He has spent years researching the story and believes he has solved the now one hundred and fifty four year old murder case. Professor Treuer's website: https://antontreuer.com/Buy it at Birch Bark Books here: https://birchbarkbooks.com/products/the-assassination-of-hole-in-the-day

Robert Pilot welcomes Joe Allen of White Earth, Project Director at Gizhiigin Arts Incubator. Ogimaa has the news and Wendy with Sacred Animals

At the forefront of the fight against COVID these last two years have been health care workers trying to deliver primary care while also keeping boots to the ground with vaccine and testing clinics. This week, we check in with a healthcare leader for a reflection on how the pandemic has been.Script:[LOON SOUNDER] This is the Minnesota Native News Health Report, I'm Marie Rock.  This week, we check in with a healthcare leader for a reflection on how the pandemic has been. Feven Gerezgiher reports. [MUSIC] At the forefront of the fight against COVID these last two years have been health care workers trying to deliver primary care while also keeping boots to the ground with vaccine and testing clinics. Antony Stately is an Executive Officer and President for the Native American Community Clinic in the Twin Cities. My name is Antony Stately…I am an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and am a descendant of the great Red Lake and White Earth nations of Minnesota. Stately said staff had to pivot rapidly…and also deal with the grief of losing patients they had been connected to, some for generations. … All of that was very hard and very difficult, really difficult work. So people were burned out, right, and we lost a lot of staff, we had a lot of turnover. And, within the context of all of that it was, within the context of all of that it was, it was a Herculean effort to stay open, and to continue to deliver services, so and then having to take care of your own heart and your own personal experiences. Fall of 2020, Stately's entire family caught COVID-19. He was hospitalized for a week.  That was a really defining and scary moment, I think in my own personal experience of it. So I was afraid. I think on the second day, it dawned on me that I might not get out of the hospital and not get to see my kids again. I think which is, for me was probably the most it's probably easily the most disheartening situation ever. Like I just cannot imagine not getting out of the hospital and not seeing my children again, it's a heartbreaking, heartbreaking moment. He said parenting two teen boys through a pandemic has been hard…whether that's trying to keep them safe or trying to help with school work. They were doing distance learning, you know, and God, my ability to help them with algebra was like, you know, Jesus, I have a PhD, and I was like, I've never felt more stupid in all my life trying to figure out how to help them with algebra, eighth grade algebra, I was like, wow, this is really sad.  Stately points to how quickly the Omicron variant spread as an example of how COVID mutates and is still a threat we need to be on guard for. He shared a story from his mother. There's the story of the buffalo and the storm, which is, in situations in which there's adversity, and certainly the pandemic is like an adverse experience, it's very prolonged, right? It's like one of those big huge storms on the prairie that comes rolling on you right away, kind of like the way the pandemic showed up on us. And the way that buffalo behave in a storm is very different than other types of mammals, particularly in comparison to its closest relative perhaps, which is a cow. It behaves differently. They huddle together, they put their most vulnerable in the center. And they don't move away from the storm or try to run it or go around it. They head right into the storm, they face it head on and they confront adversity. And I think that's the spirit by which we have to sort of kind of continue to do this work, which is, face it head on and persevere and get through it.  And knowing that on the other side of this adverse experience, this big storm, this pandemic, there's beauty, there's abundance, we get to be social, we get to be with one another again. yes, we'll lose some people and yes, there will be loss. But as long as Creator gives us breath and as long as Creator gives us strength to persevere and move forward, there's these other gifts on the other side of that. Miigwetch to Antony Stately for sharing with us. For the Minnesota Native News Health Report, I'm Feven Gerezgiher. MARIE RECORDED FUNDER CREDIT [LOON SOUNDER]

We're so excited to welcome you to Season Two of Queering Community Health! Join Azul (they/them) as they hear some of this year's creators sharing about their episode topics, motivations, advice and more. RESOURCESIndigenous land histories, Indigenous voices and work, and land acknowledgements :Find out what Indigenous land you are on: https://native-land.ca/Learn more about Land Acknowledgements: https://native-land.ca/resources/territory-acknowledgement/, https://nativegov.org/resources/ Twin Cities' and Minnesota land histories: Bdote Memory Map, Tribal College Journal history of the Ojibwe and Colonization, the History of White Earth, Mnisota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota by Gwne Westerman and Bruce White, and What Does Justice Look Like: The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland by WaziyatawinMinnesota-based podcasts and audio storytelling centering Indigenous voices: Indigenized Connections on Air,  Minnesota Native News, Native Lights, Native Roots Radio Network (AM 950, Weekdays 6-7pm), Niijii Radio (KKWE 89.9FM)Support Indigenous-led advocacy work: Dream of Wild Health, Minneapolis American Indian Center, The Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, Native American Community Development Institute, White Earth Land Recover ProjectFor a transcription of this episode, please visit our webpage.

Host:This is Minnesota Native News, I'm Marie Rock. Coming up, the new Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative helps empower parent voices at Red Lake and White Earth Nations. And it's been a year since the Clearbrook Aquifer was punctured. Calls for accountability and action were held at the site and in the Twin Cities. Here's reporter Leah Lemm with more.Reporter:Indigenous Visioning is bringing Country. Indigenous Visioning has partnered with the National Parent Leadership Institute, White Earth Nation, Red Lake Nation, and Dr. Anton Treuer to create a curriculum grounded in Indigenous and Ojibwe values. Beth Ann Dodds is the project coordinator at Indigenous Visioning, and the project manager for the Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative.Beth Ann Dodds:The Initiative is a free 21 week program that integrates child development, leadership, democracy skills, and the Ojibwe culture in to a parent curriculum to help empower the parent voice. We are currently implementing in the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation, and aim to start classes at the end of March.Reporter:Indigenous Visioning asked Dr. Anton Treuer to help build the curriculum?Beth Ann Dodds:And he said yes. And with the help of tribal elders between Red Lake and White Earth, the curriculum was born. This is really about empowering the parent voice in the tribal nations.Reporter:And the structure of the program is based on the one at the National Parent Leadership Institute, and it all starts with self reflection.Beth Ann Dodds:They dig deep within themselves to understand their own thoughts about the trauma that they've experienced. Those are the first 10 weeks. Second 10 weeks are about all right, now that we've discovered ourselves and we are empowering our voices, how do we navigate through the system?Reporter:And those helping the parents along in the process are a part of the communities that they're working in.Beth Ann Dodds:The facilitators that are guiding the participants through this initiative are from each of the tribal communities, they are not from the outside. They represent the community where the initiative is taking place.Reporter:Beth Ann Dodds has been interviewing parents for the program and she describes an example of how one particular parent could benefit.Beth Ann Dodds:She was quite unsure of what this could do for her, but shared the story of lack of communication skills when she approached the Tribal Council, and how her voice shook, and she cried, and she swore, and her emotions got the best of her. This Initiative can help someone like her look at her own emotions, and it can help her effectively use her voice to approach the Tribal Council and ask for help.Reporter:Information and applications can be found at indigenousvisioning.com.Reporter:Next, it's been a year since Enbridge Energy deviated from its plans while trenching line three tar sands oil pipeline. The DNR's low risk construction permit allowed for a depth of trenching at eight to 10 feet, but Enbridge dug to a depth of 18 feet and punctured the Artesian Aquifer in Clearbrook, Minnesota. There was no notification to the DNR according to a statement from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In a statement the DNR said Enbridge's actions are clear violations of state law and also of public trust. This should never have happened and we're holding the company fully accountable.Reporter:The DNR ordered Enbridge Energy to pay $3.32 million for, "failure to follow environmental laws." On January 21st the R.I.S.E. Coalition and Indigenous Environmental Network led a ceremony at the site of last year's Clearbrook Aquifer breach. Honor The Earth and a number of organizations demonstrated outside the DNR office in St. Paul. The Indigenous and Environmental Organizations and concerned citizens called on officials to fix regulatory processes and to hold Enbridge accountable. In a statement on the website Enbridge says the company, "Takes protecting the environment seriously and is working with the DNR to resolve the situation quickly." For Minnesota Native News, I'm Leah Lemm.

Long-time civil rights advocate Clyde Bellecourt of the White Earth band of Ojibwe died January 11th, leaving behind a legacy of Native changemakers. Reporter Feven Gerezgiher digs into the archives for a look into history. A giant in the movement for American Indian lives has passed. Family confirmed the death on Tuesday morning of NeeGawNwayWeeDun, The Thunder Before the Storm, who was known by his colonial name Clyde (Howard) Bellecourt. He died of cancer in his Minneapolis home. He was 85.In 2015, KKWE Niijii Radio interviewed Bellecourt for a series preserving and sharing wisdom from White Earth elders. Bellecourt traced his activism to prison in his late twenties. There, in helping a mentor launch a cultural program, he re-connected with Ojibwe traditions and established the foundations for what would become the American Indian Movement. It just turned my whole life around. And I figured out, soon as we got these people going about their culture, all of a sudden they're starting to be dental technicians. They all went into AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous…Everything we did we excelled. (Young people went back to school, got their GED and took correspondence class out of the University of Minnesota. John Poupart who was in there for manslaughter got out and went to Hamline University, went on to Harvard, … became the head of the division of corrections for the whole prison system here in Minnesota.)So we figured it in there if we could do this and help people in jail to get their life together..then we should be able to do this on the street. [~47s] In 1968, Bellecourt and his co-founders formally started the American Indian Movement or AIM in Minneapolis. Leaders sought solutions to police brutality, the loss of Indian children, and the need for culturally-specific education and job programs. The movement quickly spread nationwide. In 1973, AIM led a 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in an infamous stand off with U.S. armed forces. Even though we were concerned about the civil rights movement and all the things that were happening in America, we discovered that our civil rights and our human rights are embedded in our treaties. So we stood on the treaty issue, on the traditional form of government. We had at one time, we had to push that. (Cus we knew that the Reservation Business Commitees and the Indian Reorganization Act was designed to terminate us in the long run, generations from now. )[10-16-28s] Bellecourt's quest for Native human rights spanned decades and institutions. He spearheaded the innovative American Indian OIC which since its founding has helped more than 25,000 people enter the workforce. He also played a role in the creation of the 212-unit Little Earth housing complex in South Minneapolis and the Legal Rights Center to fight against racial bias in child protective services. Bellecourt's work with the International Indian Treaty Council eventually led the United Nations to acknowledge the special status of Indigenous peoples throughout the world. Reflecting on his own family history, Bellecourt said hearing details about his mother's traumatic experience in boarding school affirmed his lifelong commitment to activism for the human rights of Native people. When they got caught her speaking Indian, she had to get down on hands and knees with a bowl of soap water and a tooth brush and scrub the floors all day. And clean out the urinals and toilets while all the other kids that gave up their language are running out playing and rap the window like, ‘Why don't you forget about the language and come play…') And I found out my mother never gave up. Toward the end, she told me, they tied stacks of marbles on her knees. Not just her but other children in the boarding school system to get them to break, to get them away from the language and the culture and she had to scrub floors like that. And that's why her legs would swell and why she had arthritis…She made me cry when she told me that. Bellecourt served as Executive Director for AIM until 2019 when he left to focus on his health. Links to the Niijii Radio interview with Clyde Bellecourt are available at MN Native News dot org. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Feven Gerezgiher.

Ojibwemodaa Podcast:Episode 1: VII IntroductionsSome Great Online Resources for Learning Minnesota Ojibwe:https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/ I highly recommend Wendy Makoons Genius's Ojibwe classes at UW Eau Claire, which she makes available online to everyone:https://www.uwec.edu/academics/college-arts-sciences/departments-programs/languages/academic-offerings/online-ojibwe-language-program/ I'll be reading from and referring back to the Oshkaabewis Native Journal Volume 4 No. 1. The article about VIIs begins on page 121. You can download a PDF here:https://www.bemidjistate.edu/airc/wp-content/uploads/sites/85/2016/03/onj-vol4-num1.pdf VIIs Covered in this Episode:Gisinaa vii: It is coldAte vii: It is in a certain place Example: Desinaagan ate adoopowining= The plate is on the table.Noondaagwad vii it is heard Example: Ziibi noondaagwad imaa= The river is heard there.Gimiwan vii it is raining Example: Gimiwan Agwajiing = It is raining outsideIf you want to get in touch with me feel free to email me at ojibwemodaapodcast@gmail.com To attend the Language table: The White Earth Tribal and Community College Ojibwe Langauge Table meets every Tuesday and Thursday starting around 7 and ending between 8 and 9. Zoom Meeting ID: 945 8146 7003Password: 749886

This week on Minnesota Native News, the Line Three protest comes to the capitol and – New Native Theater takes its new show to the street. I'm Marie Rock.MARIE Story 1If you drove past  the state capitol this week, you saw lots of state patrol – and you couldn't miss the teepees occupying capitol grounds. Laurie Stern explains:Laurie: Enbridge's Line 3 is almost complete, yet, if anything, opposition to it keeps mounting. This week indigenous-led environmental groups held ceremonies of prayer and protest at the state capitol.One of the organizers  is Simone Senogles, a Red Laker with The Indigenous Environmental Network.SG: it's crazy to embrace an fossil fuel project of this magnitude, you know, the largest fossil fuel project that this company Enbridge has ever undertaken, in the time when really, we should be phasing out fossil fuels. And I think that we're at this kind of moment in time where we have to make the decision for life or for death. And the fossil fuel industry needs to go and I feel like it's on its last legs. But just like an abuser who finally knows it's their time to go, you know, that's when they're the most dangerous.Laurie: Another organizer is a new coalition called   including RISE - Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging. Dawn Goodwin from White Earth is a founding member of RISE. She's been a water protector since she was a young girl.I went to my dad and said, Dad, what are we going to do if the water gets poisoned? And he said, Don't worry, my girl. There's the Clean Water Act. So I just went forward thinking, yep, it's going to be protected.Laurie: Dawn Goodwin lives on Lower Rice Lake in Clearwater County, which officials say is experiencing exceptional drought this summer. Goodwin says the lake is so dry it looks like a field. In her experience, The Clean Water Act has not been enough. State regulation has not been enough. And that all goes back to treaty rights that were supposedly enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.And so like one of my grandma's said that these treaties have been ignored for so long, that people think it's okay. But it's not. It's not okay. Laurie: Goodwin and the others are here to make a stand. Against the new  pipeline. In favor of a more sustainable path. FOR MNN I'm Laurie Stern.Because if we can be honored, and have our treaties upheld, we can have a say about how things go forward. So that we can protect all that we have left, the little bit of natural environment that we have left.  Marie: Also this week - New Native Theater is getting ready to perform for a live audience. It will be the first time since the pandemic, and performances will be outdoors. Diego Luke reports: Here's Laurie Stern again:New Native Theater has been practicing over Zoom most of the summer, but now actors directors and crew are rehearsing in person at the Gremlin Theater in Saint Paul.[hi scene]The play is called The Unplugging, based on the bestselling book “Two Old Women” by Alabascan author Velma Wallis, who lives near Fairbanks Alaska.The Unplugging takes place after the apocalypse. Two old women are exiled from their village but learn to survive by traditional ways. Then they meet a stranger from the village that rejected them. YN: It's sadly still as relevant as it was when I wrote it 10 years ago, when I was worried about what happens if the lights go out.This is playwright Yvette Nolan from the Gitigan Zibi Algonquin First Nation.And so they have to make a decision about whether they want to be part of a society. And so the scene you saw, the scene that we were that we were doing when you guys arrived was about the arrival of the outside world to their life.Scene excerptActor Christina Woods from the Bois Forte Band, plays one of the old women.There's a number of moments in the play that choke me up. One is when we're talking about community, and when we think about the historical impact of government, on our tribal communities, it's, it's rough, it's hard.Christina Woods is a first-time actor, but she has long experience in the arts. She is executive director of the Duluth Art Institute.I'm the first Anishinabe to be in this leadership role. And it makes a really big difference to come in with a lens that can see the absent narratives.Telling those missing stories is the purpose of New Native Theater, which is one of just a handful of indigenous-led theater companies in North America.CW: The main impact is having people that look like us on stage, and you'll see a lot of people in the audience who look like us on stage. Another impact is having space to really enjoy our unique native humor that you're not going to get in other places.Unplugging tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $35. The play will be performed at the former Migizi Communications & Gandhi Mahal Site 27th Ave South and Lake Street at 2pm from Sept 2 through Sept. 19. For more information visit newnativetheatre.org. For MNN I'm Laurie Stern

Wild rice is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Enbridge filed in White Earth tribal court College on the Flathead Reservation welcomes its first class of nursing students to an expanded four-year program

This week on Minnesota Native News, the sound of young people growing and community healing. Laurie Stern reports on a new production that will soon be available for all to see--Marie:This week on Minnesota Native News, the sound of young people growing and community healing. Laurie Stern reports on a new production that will soon be available for all to see.TAPE My name is Jennifer Cortez. I'm 17. I'm from Leech Lake. And today we are starting our filming for our play in my shoes.IN MY SHOES IS THE LATEST PRODUCTION FROM The IKIDOWIN Youth Ensemble, a theater troupe of Native who live in  the Twin Cities.JC: In my shoes is a suicide prevention play. We talk about depression, anxiety, a lot of different mental illnesses. And we make sure that people know that these are real life, illnesses, and that a lot of people do have them and that our friends can have them. And it's really hard to sometimes see. But in the end, it's better to help and to receive that help and ask for that help.At 17, Jennifer Cortez is a mentor to younger cast members. Ikidowin recruited 10 new actors this summer. Liana Star Kier from White Earth is 12. LSK: I take pride in my indigenous culture. So I'm, I'm trying to stay in the community.I have two characters. I'm a bully in one and I put other characters down. I don't like that. But my other part is, I'm a guest speaker in a classroom. My elder and I do teaching about breath.Like how to relax yourself like, um, yeah.(scene sound, fade under)The theater troupe has been practicing most of the summer, building a sense of community and self-confidence. This is 11-year-old Joseph GreenJG: If you just like practice and practice more, acting can get more easier. Because when I first started, I was very shy, like, I couldn't project very well. But I'm better at projected now.(sound: direction from Kirby)The Ikidowin program has been around for decades, a project of the Minneapolis-based  Indigenous People's Task Force. Curtis Kirby III has directed many of its productions. This one is different because it's being staged at a real theater. we're on our first day at the southern theatre, and we're doing tech, and I think it's just awesome to just be in this position, because hopefully, this won't be so irregular. This is our first time in a real theater, with lights, and, you know, we're actually filming it.So I hope that we have more of these experiences, and that we continue to be able to do this work at this capacity and give other youth opportunities.Kirby, as everyone calls him, says the inner-city youth he works with don't have access to extracurricular programs that kids from wealthier families do. Theater, art and sports are often cut when budgets are tight.  Ikidowin is a way to provide some of those opportunities. Not only is In My Shoes being performed at a professional theater, it is being filmed so it can have a life online. 16-year-old Nalia Segura is from Leech Lake.NG: not many people go out because of delta. And like they haven't gotten their vaccine yet. So they don't really go out to places with a lot of people. So as filming it, and like being able to put it on YouTube will allow like more people to see it.KirbyThese stories affect people where I'm from, Bois Forte.  Youth grew up in those reservations that might not get this education elsewhere, because they're from small towns, and that's not really a focus, or they don't talk about these things.  All across the state, you know, and, um, you know,youth  as young as fifth gradeare attempting suicide or committing suicide, you know, until it's a very heavy price. But I think, that's what we're here to do. We're here to tell stories to our people, we're here to heal our people.In My Shoes will be available in September on Ikidowin's new YouTube channel, IkidoFireSema. For MNN I'm LS

MR: This week on Minnesota Native News, a new state judge brings a wealth of Indian Country expertise.  And a new partnership gives Native students a place to practice traditional ways. I'm Marie Rock.MR: How can a lawyer who works on behalf of tribes make the most impact? Reporter Emma Needham tells us how and why Colette Routel became a judge.EN: Colette Routel is a professor of law and co-director of the Native American law and sovereignty Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul. Her role is about to change.  The Walz administration just appointed her to be a  judge for the Hennepin County 4th Judicial District. CR: 1:25 One of the reasons that drew me to apply for this position is just looking at the unfortunate disparities that exist. In Minnesota, and in particular in Hennepin County.2:40 I know that native people often get left out in statistical studies, that you don't even realize the disparity exists.2:19 I thought, this is a way to use kind of my expertise and knowledge, as well as to you know, once you identify a problem, then you can also seek to find a solution to it.EN: Over the course of her 20 year career, Colette Routel has primarily represented Indian tribes. She has also worked on the bench for the White Earth and Shakopee Tribes. Routel sees this experience as both a benefit and a chance to make change. CR: 5:03 I think having the diversity of experience that you have when you're representing tribes doing criminal work doing Child Protection work during, during treaty rights, housing, you know, all of that will assist me when I'm handling a really broad docket of cases in Hennepin County. EN: Hennepin County judges handle around 40,000 cases a year, a number that some lawyers might find daunting.  12:08 But for me, it gives you an opportunity, I think, to make to make an impact.19:19 No matter how the system is set up, if you have a really good judge, you can make a great impact.EN: Colette Routel has worked hard to make sure the Mitchell Hamline law degree is accessible to Native people wherever they live. Most of the curriculum is online. 8:51 our primary emphasis for many years, and I would say that continues, is really to attract, admit and graduate native attorneys who are going to work for their home communities. EN: Routel says she hopes one of them might fill HER shoes at Mitchell Hamline.CR: 20:50 I think my experience kind of shows that it's, you know, how helpful it is to have representation and hopefully there will be many native people appointed to the, to the bench in the next several years.MR: New funding from the legislature means more teaching AND learning in Afton. Here's Emma Needham again. EN: Anishinaabe Academy is not your average Minneapolis Public School. This K-5 Environment provides Anishinaabe and Dakota Programming through the native cultural lens.LS: my my Winnebago name is Jorge meninga, or do the walks at night. So I am to your clan.EN:  Laura Sullivan is a member of Ho-Chunk Nation and has been principal of Anishinaabe Academy for about 10 years. The school has both Anishinabe and Daktoa tracks, including language learning.EN: Anisinaabe Academy already devoted their courtyard to native medicines. This fall thanks to Legislative Funding, Anishinaabe Academy will partner with the Belwin Conservancy. Belwin provides conservation, education, and immersive experiences on 1,500 acres in the Saint Croix Valley. LS: And so we start brainstorming, how can we bring our medicines here so our kids could actually harvest our medicine. So sweet grass and sage, more specifically, we do have cedar trees, as well. But how can we have have that be a part of who we are here, and as far as a school and community, um, and so then when we started talking to belwin, and sharing, you know, what our dream was, we were just blown away by their offer of, well, let's write something together so that we can make this happen. EN: Principal Sullivan says the partnership will benefit both the students at Anishinaabe Academy, and the scientists at Belwin. LS: One of the one of the exciting things is, and I loved it, because Belwin folks right away said, they really want it to be a two way partnership, that they realize that there's lots that they can learn from us.The gift there is it's not only that learning for themselves, but there's also knowledge that they can share with other folks that come to Belwin. EN: Anishinaabe Academy Prinicipal Sullivan says that changes are already happening, and that the school is open to working with other programs and schools. She encourages interested parties to reach out.  LS: We are we are very much an open door. people ever have any questions we also have not just our website our school website has some stuff but our Facebook anishnaabe Academy Facebook if people want to find out more about who we are that's the place to go. 

Marie: This week on Minnesota Native News, Ojibwe Tribes take a stand for wild rice and a sculpture takes shape at the Walker Art Center. I'm Marie Rock.Story #1: In early June, Enbridge Energy applied for a new permit to displace 5 BILLION gallons of water as it makes way for its new pipeline. Laurie Stern reports on the reaction.LS: The new permit says Enbridge can remove 10 times what the original permit allowed. Tribes say it was rushed through and that it's unacceptable. This is Alan Roy, secretary-treasure of White Earth Nation.I'm obligated and the tribal council is obligated to stand up for wild rice by tribal law.LS: The tribes say pulling water as Enbridge installs new pipe threatens their mahnomen, especially in this year of heat and drought. Delegates to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Executive Council meeting last week urged tribal leadership to fight back.LS: Rennee Keezer is an environmental scientist for White Earth.RK: That whole water table is dropping. And it's affecting everything because all of our waters are connected. And we are going to see such a dramatic biodiversity loss with all the plants that trees are trees. We're losing our boreal forests because of the climate change. And this is just expediting.We're losing our fish. Our lakes are drying up and we're losing our rice and the tribes were not properly consulted.LS: Enbridge and the DNR say the water will go right back into the ground not far from where it's removed. A DNR spokesperson says the dewatering “will not have any measurable impact on surface waters near the Line 3 construction sites. LS AR: And so so Enbridge and the DNR are saying that the measures they're taking, do not threaten wild rice or the lake levels. … my response and the administration's response to her was, well, we have scientists too. And we also have sovereignty. And so we're going to, we're going to work our way through this. And we're just going to keep pressing forward.Story #2 Marie: A major sculpture by a Dakota artist will celebrate language, land and connection. Laurie Stern reports it will occupy an important place at the Walker sculpture garden.LS: The installation is called Okcyiapi and will sit in the northwest part of the sculpture garden between the street and the iconic spoon and cherry. That's the same spot where the infamous Scaffold sculpture stood before it was taken down . This is The Walker's executive director, Mary Ceruti,MC: After scaffold was dismantled, and we had many conversations over actually many months with Dakota elders, one of the things that the walker committed to doing was to commission a piece for the sculpture garden.