Advocates hope White Earth wild rice case will boost ‘rights of nature’
By Dan Gunderson/ MPR News Dale Greene grew up in north-central Minnesota, surrounded by wild rice, called manoomin in the Ojibwe language. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe member says wild rice is an important part of Anishinaabe history and culture. “One of the things that I think is really important in understanding manoomin, and […]
Honoring Manoomin and fighting for its survival
By Winona LaDuke “You can feel the wind talk to the rice.” – Lew Murray, Rice Lake Village. It’s Rice Lake Village on the White Earth reservation – the mother lode of wild rice – Lower Rice Lake. Lew Murray stood in front of the gathering of about two hundred or so people, to greet […]
Political Matters: May 2018
Manoomin and mining In late April, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) threw in the towel on its effort to devise a protection standard for wild rice waters. The protection of manoomin (wild rice) has been one of the concerns expressed by Ojibwe bands in Minnesota, during the long-running controversy over the introduction of copper-nickel […]
Fond du Lac Band restores wild rice to keep harvest tradition alive
BY DAN KRAKER/MRP NEWS On the shore of Deadfish Lake on the reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in September, Ed Jaakola and Jerrad Ojibway scooped handfuls of wild rice from the bottom of their canoe into big plastic bags. The rice was tough to harvest because of the wind, Jaakola […]
Line 3 proposal shows willful ignorance of Ojibwe history and rights
By The Native American Caucus and the Minnesota House of Representatives In all the coverage of Enbridge Energy’s proposed Line 3 pipeline project, and in the recent and predictable pro-pipeline commentary by an Enbridge vice president, John Swanson, (Star Tribune: “Line 3 replacement is the safest option for northern Minnesota, July 2017”) we have heard […]