Author: Kate Fort

Chairman Payment’s Rejoinder to Rep. Conyers

Kate Fort

From the Freep:

Tribal land plan is fair deal for all of state

June 25, 2008

With Michigan’s unemployment rate continuing to lead the nation, we are disappointed that a congressman from Detroit opposes legislation that would create more than 6,000 good union jobs for his city, county and state (“No special deals for tribal casinos,” June 24).Even more disappointing, U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ letter included inaccurate information about the legislation.

The legislation (HR4115 and HR2176) would create a settlement that compensates the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Bay Mills Indian Community for lands stolen from our ancestors more than 120 years ago.

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Saganing Powwow, June 27-29

Kate Fort

From the Bay City Times:

Saganing Members Aim to Teach Indian Culture at Standish Powwow

by Helen Lounsbury

STANDISH – When tribal drummers, singers and dancers take their places this weekend for the Saganing powwow near Standish, don’t think of the event as a first.

It’s a homecoming – a celebration of origins for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, members say.

“I get so full of emotion when I attend our cultural events,” says Mary Bukowiec, a Standish member of what is now a Mount Pleasant-based tribe. “This event will be especially meaningful… After centering things in Mount Pleasant for so long, this powwow has come home.”

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David Archuleta Runs for the Democratic Nod in Senate Primary

Kate Fort

No, not that David Archuleta, though it takes some investigating among all of the American Idol flotsam to find news about this David Archuleta, a Shoshone-Bannock tribal citizen who is running for the Democratic nomination in the Idaho Senate race.

FORT HALL, Idaho – David J. Archuleta, Shoshone-Bannock, has entered the race for the U.S. Senate. He is one of two Democrats in Idaho’s May 27 primaries.

Archuleta is a lifelong resident of Idaho, with the exception of a two-year stint with the Comanche Nation as its general manager for gaming. He has an extensive background in both media and law work, having started in radio when he was 16 and returned to the Shoshone-Bannock reservation in his early 20s as a public relations officer. He also worked as news director for a radio station in Chubbuck and later joined the staff of the Sho-Ban News as a reporter, winning the Overall Excellence award for hard news reporting from the Native American Journalists Association. That was followed by being a correspondent for National Native News.

His career switched to law when he began working as a tribal court advocate. Archuleta became chief advocate and a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Bar Association. He served as the tribe’s chief prosecutor from 1998 – 2000 and, later, as associate tribal judge. He now works in private practice. During those years, he also worked in a program that administers low-income home heating assistance.

Indian Country Today, May 5, 2008

NPR on Boarding Schools

Kate Fort

NPR’s Morning Edition is running a two-part piece on boarding schools.

For the government, it was a possible solution to the so-called Indian problem. For the tens of thousands of Indians who went to boarding schools, it’s largely remembered as a time of abuse and desecration of culture.

The government still operates a handful of off-reservation boarding schools, but funding is in decline. Now many Native Americans are fighting to keep the schools open.

‘Kill the Indian … Save the Man’

The late performer and Indian activist Floyd Red Crow Westerman was haunted by his memories of boarding school. As a child, he left his reservation in South Dakota for the Wahpeton Indian Boarding School in North Dakota. Sixty years later, he still remembers watching his mother through the window as he left.

At first, he thought he was on the bus because his mother didn’t want him anymore. But then he noticed she was crying.

“It was hurting her, too. It was hurting me to see that,” Westerman says. “I’ll never forget. All the mothers were crying.”

Read, or listen, to the rest here.

Dates of Mich. DNR Public Meetings on Inland Settlement

Kate Fort

As mentioned below, the Michigan DNR will be holding public meetings to distribute information and answer questions about the settlement agreement. Here are the dates for three of those meetings:

Escanaba, Tuesday, Oct. 16. The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in Rooms 958-962 of the Joseph Heirman University Center at Bay de Noc College located at 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. in Escanaba.

Sault Ste. Marie, Wednesday, Oct. 17. The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Sault Ste. Marie High School Theater located at 904 Marquette Ave. in Sault Ste. Marie.

Traverse City, Thursday, Oct. 18. The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Garfield Township Hall located at 3843 Veterans Dr. in Traverse City.

Occasional Paper on Economic Development

Kate Fort

In conjunction with the upcoming 2nd Annual Great Lakes Economic Development Symposium, which Matthew posted about here, I’ve written an introduction to eight articles we’ve submitted for the conference materials. The piece, From Economic Development to Nation Building: Observations on Eight Articles about Tribes, Sovereignty and Economic Development, will also be available on the Center’s Occasional Papers website.



Student Trip to Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

Kate Fort

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Students in the Federal Law and Indian Tribes class at MSU Law traveled to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians for a day of meetings titled “Sovereignty in Practice.” Students were kindly hosted by the Tribe at the government buildings, where they met with tribal judges, the tribal council, the chief of police, the director of the Natural Resources department, tribal attorneys and members of the Office of Cultural Preservation.

The class Federal Law and Indian Tribes primarily provides a base in federal Indian law through Supreme Court cases. This unique trip gave students a different perspective of tribes and how the Supreme Court cases they study affect day-to-day tribal operations.