By Dan Ninham

The Indigenous Interpreter Organization (IIO) was founded in 2024 with a mission to provide and create accessibility in Native spaces with exceptional interpreters. The organization began as a “we-first” initiative although individual co-founders have their own story how they came together to form the empowering collective spirit and practice of their organization.

According to the IIO, they started in the Twin Cities with the hopes to grow and expand to other states and tribal areas. The IIO travel to events including powwows, ceremonies, theater performances, concerts, and more.

The co-founders included Cindi Martin, Red Lake Nation; Sarah Young Bear-Brown, Meskwaki Nation; Angela Blackdeer, Santee Dakota; and, Sequoia Hauck, Hupa and White Earth Nation.

The co-founders spoke collectively about their organization: “We as IIO recognize that the Indigenous Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities have had limited access to connect with their tribal languages, ceremonies, and traditions. IIO’s mission is to break down those barriers by providing high quality American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to create accessible spaces for our relatives to have access to their ceremonial practices and have the ability to connect deeper with their communities and values.”

According to the co-founders the indigenous core values of respect, compassion, teamwork, and confidence guided the organization in their programming. These included:

• Respect: Treating others the way we want to be treated and valuing people’s individuality and perspectives;

• Compassion: Being concerned about others’ needs and temporarily suspending judgment to understand their perspectives;

• Teamwork: The act of working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal. Teamwork means sharing knowledge, skills, work ethic, leadership, etc;

• Confidence: The strength to pursue our goals and represent who we are in an authentic way.

The co-founders worked together since the beginning of lIO this past year. Every month they met virtually with Native Deaf communities and Native interpreters from all over across Turtle Island. They also traveled to Colorado to attend a sweat lodge training for interpreters and deaf interpreters.

They traveled to Iowa Meskwaki Settlement in Iowa for their 108th annual powwow to provide interpretation for the first time, and this was documented on their live stream. Through IIO they have interpreted for Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s wacipi (powwow), the Minnesota State Fair, ceremonies, and theater performances.

The IIO are growing their network of Native interpreters and have been able provide Indigenous interpreters for the Menominee powwow in Wisconsin.

They continued to talk collectively about their mission: “The four of us know how much it means to the people we want to serve, and it is necessary so that people can access their culture and traditions. We wish to express chi-miigwech for the love and support of the Native community”

“Each of us brings a diverse knowledge of traditions, cultural ceremonies, and culturally appropriate signs. We also are decolonizing and indigenizing American Sign Language.”

Cyndi Martin talked about her sibling support and the growing influence of the co-founders of the IIO in her Facebook message on August 19, 2024: “As an Indigenous deaf woman, growing up, I was so grateful for my siblings interpreting for me at pow-wows, Native community events, and ceremonies. Without my siblings, I would have little knowledge of culture, tradition, and humor. Still, I missed a lot of information in many ways. For years, I left the community. I returned to my people and I had to start over again to relearn the culture, traditions, ceremony, etc. However, I am so grateful to the Creator that I met Sequoia. They have become my best friend. Sequoia and I have similar interests and work together in many ways. And now that I have met Sarah and Angela, they’re the best people to work with. Sarah is a famous social influencer, and Angela is a Dakota ASL interpreter and the CEO of LingoForce. They both want to help the community. The four of us know how much it means to the people we want to serve and it is necessary so that people can access their culture and traditions. We wish to express chi-miigwech for the love and support of the Native community. We each have a diverse knowledge of traditions, cultural ceremonies and culturally appropriate signs. We also are decolonizing and indigenizing ASL.”

One of the recent events the IIO attended was the Minnesota State Fair. Larry Yazzie Director of Native Pride Productions, Inc. performed at the state fair. The IIO interpreted his groups’ performances. Yazzie said, “It had been important to Native Pride Productions, Inc. to include a Native American ASL interpreter in our events. Our mission is to Inspire, Motivate and Educate through music and dance about our culture. We recognize the importance and need for inclusion and collaboration with the ASL community to ensure our message is being shared across all people.”

The Indigenous Interpreters Organization is growing its network. Education is the key. Sarah Young Bear-Brown’s Meskwaki name is tti-ka-mi-ge-a. She talked about the efforts to bring the ideals of the IIO forward. “To bring in the full communication access for the Indigenous Deaf community at the powwows, conferences, and workshops.”

“We would love to provide the workshops to educate about indigenous, cultural, ethnic, and heritage,” Young Bear-Brown added.