Tribal rights take giant step forward
By Lee Egerstrom Minnesota sovereign tribes’ rights took giant leaps forward during March with court decisions and local government actions, but following patterns of the last century and longer, these advances remain under legal challenge. “We won,” is how Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin summed up an early March federal court […]
Legislature update: PIIC can enforce state criminal laws
By Lee Egerstrom A large number of bills sought by Native American groups and tribal governments approved by the Minnesota Legislature is becoming law, including a unique cooperative arrangement for the Prairie Island Indian Community’s (PIIC), to enforce state criminal laws on tribal land. The Minnesota Legislature adjourned in late May. Issues important to Native […]
A pipe, a tribe, a quest to reclaim the past
By Mark Steil/MPR NEWS Art Owen pored over pictures of the sacred pipe, knowing the last Native American to touch it had been forced to surrender it weeks before dying on the gallows. Made from Minnesota pipestone, decorated with lead inlay of animal figures, stars and other designs, the pipe had been taken from Chief White […]
Dakota Head Start launched at Lower Sioux Indian Community
By Lee Egerstrom With a dwindling number of fluent Dakota language speakers throughout Minnesota, the Lower Sioux Indian Community (LSIC) has started a unique Dakota language Head Start school and Early Head Start program at its Minnesota River Valley community. The programs – Cansayapi Wakanyeza Owayawa Oti (“Lower Sioux Children are Sacred”) – began functioning […]
Treasure Island Center links St. Paul with its Mdewakanton past
BY LEE EGERSTROM You can’t miss it. Smack dab in the middle of Downtown St. Paul, a square-block anchor building with bold signage now announces to the world it is Treasure Island Center, home to various businesses and practice facilities for the Minnesota Wild hockey team. Prairie Island Indian Community (PIIC) leaders joined with St. Paul […]
NEWS BRIEFS: Dec 2017
HENNEPIN COUNTY BOARD VOTES TO CHANGE LAKE CALHOUN NAME MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted Nov. 28th to remove the name of a controversial historical figure from Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. The board voted 4-3 to restore Lake Calhoun’s original Dakota name, Bde Maka Ska (White Earth Lake) back to the lake. […]
Olympic-style ski jump plans in works for PIIC
By Lee Egerstrom The Prairie Island Indian Community (PIIC) is in negotiations with the Friends of American Ski Jumping organization over plans by the latter group to build an Olympic-style ski jump on the Community’s Mount Frontenac near Red Wing. Ski jump enthusiasts and Red Wing area boosters have been raising money from private sources for […]
WHAT’S NEW IN THE COMMUNITY: July 2017
Students win raffles for school attendance The Attendance Workgroup, a subgroup of PIE (Phillips Indian Educators), has been sponsoring a raffle every quarter for Native students who attend school at a 95% rate or better (for the quarter). Four schools in Minneapolis are involved. Every student from Anishinabe, All Nations, Nawayee Center, and Takoda Prep […]
LOCAL BRIEFS March 2017
DAKOTA ACCESS TRYING TO KEEP OIL SPILL DOCUMENTS FROM TRIBES CANNON BALL, ND – With oil set to flow through the Dakota Access Pipeline within a matter of weeks, the project’s wealthy backers are still trying to keep key documents away from tribes and the public. According to the firm, “terrorists” or people with “malicious […]