Lansing State Journal

Child Welfare Article in the Lansing State Journal

Kate Fort

Here.

While not ICWA-specific, the concerns raised in this article regarding representation, admitting at adjudication, and the lack of independent experts are also reasons for ICWA non-compliance.

Parent advocates say Michigan erects a wall between kids and their families because DHHS is the only agency helping parents overcome their struggles and at the same time is their courtroom opponent, logging those struggles as possible evidence against them. In child welfare cases, judges can issue lifelong penalties based on far less evidence than is required in criminal court. Most parents’ only defense is an overworked, underpaid court-appointed attorney.

LSJ Article on Potential Wolf Hunt and Tribes: “Saving Ma’iingan”

Kate Fort

Here.

Tribal leaders say they have more than a cultural stake in the wolf, however.

They also believe the state has a legal obligation to give Michigan’s tribes an equal say in the management of the wolf and other wildlife species because of a treaty signed in 1836.

The Treaty of Washington was an agreement between the Ottawa and Chippewa nations and the United States in which the Indians agreed to cede 13 million acres of tribal land to the U.S. government — a move that paved the way for Michigan to become a state in 1837.

In return, Indians were granted unlimited hunting, gathering and fishing rights to the land.

In 2007, the treaty was strengthened in a court-mandated consent decree between the Department of Natural Resources and the tribes. The agreement requires the DNR to manage the state’s natural resources based on “sound scientific management” and to coordinate their efforts with the tribes.

 

Gold Mining in the UP?

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Lansing State Journal:

STEPHENSON – Deb Skubal looks out her window and sees a pristine forest and the Menominee River meandering through the woods.

Geologist Tom Quigley looks at the same scene and envisions the riches beneath the ground: gold, silver and zinc, trapped in rock nearly 2 billion years old.

Their viewpoints appear to be on a collision course that illustrates a conflict between the needs of an increasingly global economy and the environmental disruption that may result from meeting those needs.

Quigley is president of Aquila Resources Inc., a Canadian mining exploration company that’s searching for precious metals in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula a stone’s throw from the Menominee River and the Wisconsin state line. Skubal, on the Wisconsin side, is among a group of residents – on both banks – opposed to sulfide mining, in which metals are removed from sulfide rock dug from huge open pits.

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LSJ Feature on Dr. Suzanne Cross

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Lansing State Journal:

Lavey: Indian culture teaches respect for tribal elders

MSU professor’s art show reflects that early lesson
As an associate professor of social work at Michigan State University, Suzanne Cross helps her students learn to advocate for older generations.

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Helen Roy in Anishinaabemowin

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Lansing State Journal:

Helen Roy MP3

MSU professor Helen Roy speaks in Ojibwe. Below is an Ojibwe/English translation:

Maanda zhigiizhiwewin nga-ke-dibaadadaan
(I’ll talk about the language for a bit)

E-bi-kwa-temigag gwa maanda aki, anishnaabeg gii-bi-anishnaabemowag.
(Ever since the world has been here, Indians spoke their language.)

Kina gwa kidowinan nango e-noondaagaadegin pane gii-bi-nakaazam.
(All the words you hear today were spoken.)

Aanind kidowag zhaazhi niibna kii-bi-maajii-anaajitoonaa maanda e-zhigiizhiweying.
(Some say that a lot of words have already been lost in the way that we speak.)

Aanind gwa eta maanda ndaa-debwetaan.
(I believe only a part of this.)

Enh, aanind gaawiin geyaabi gda-nakaazasiinaanin kidowinan zaam gaawiin geyaabi naasaab izhi-anankiisiim gaa-zhi-zhichigeng kwa gegoo kchi-mewizha.
(Yes, some words we don’t use anymore because we don’t do things like they used to be done long time ago.)

Gaawiin geyaabi gwaya memkaach naadisiin nibiish ndawabaaning – mii gwa eta biimibijiged biindig miidash nibiish bi-zaagijiwang.
(We don’t have to get water from a well anymore, all people have to do is do
a little turn inside the house and water comes pouring out [faucet, in other
words].)

Gaawiin geyaabi gwaya ‘giziibiigsaganan’ da-nakaazasiinan zaam kina
gwaya e-waasimowinikaadeg teni endaad wii-giziibiiganiged.
(No one uses the wash board anymore because everyone has the electrical [washing machine] in their homes for washing clothes.)

Miidash nindan kidowinan e-dibaadadamaanh gaawiin geyaabi e-kidosing, miidash nindan kidowinan gaawiin ge-ni-aanken’nigaadesinogin.
(So these are the words I speak about that are not spoken anymore and these are the words that won’t be passed on.)

Giishpin dash shki’ntam-zhigiizhiwewin e-ayaanzig kinoomaaged, gaawiin maaba e-kinoomaagaazod da-kikendasiinan kina kidowinan anishnaabeg gaa-bi-zhi-nakaazawaad kwa.
(If a person that doesn’t have the first language, teaches, the student won’t learn all the words that were spoken.)

Miinwaa aabdeg nindan dnawan kidowinan daa-kinoomaagem mooshkin maaba e-kinoomaagaazod wii-kikendang maanda zhigiizhiwewin.
(All these types of words should be taught in full so the one being taught will know the language [in full])

Maanda dash nango gda-zhi-ginoonin, kiin e-kinoomaazoyin, pane wii-aabadendaman weweni wii-nsostaman maanda anishnaabemowin miinwaa pane ji-g’gwejimad e-anishnaabemod wii-kinoo’amaag.
(So I say this to you, the learner, to always be determined to always try to understand the language and to always ask the speaker to teach you.)

Gaawiin ka-giisaadendasii ngoding shkweyaang naabiyin waabamadwaa g’niijaansag anishnaabemowaad miinwaa niigaan wiinwaa naabiwaad
wii-gwekwendaagwag anishnaabemowin ji-ni-aanken’nigaadeg, ni-kinoomawaawaad niijaansiwaan gewiinwaa.
(You won’t regret it when one day you’ll look back to see your children
speaking the language as they look ahead to assure that the language is passed on, as they teach their own children.)

Esanaa da-nishin pii zhiwebag wi.
(That will be so great when that happens.)

Pii kina anishnaabeg anishnaabemowaad.
(When all the Indians speak the language.)

Pii dibi’iidig gwa e-izhaang, da-noondaagaade anishnaabemowin miinwaa da-zhiwebad g’gitiziinaanig gaa-zhi-ndawendamawaad.
(When everywhere you go, the Indian language will be heard and what our
elders wanted will have been executed.)

Lansing State Journal on Anishinaabemowin Classes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Lansing State Journal:

Native tongue: MSU classes help Ojibwe language survive

Matthew Miller
Lansing State Journal

The Ojibwe word that Autumn Mitchell likes best is “pkwezhigaans.”

Literally, it means “little bread.” Practically, it can mean cookies, crackers or muffins. It’s the same word for all three.

It’s not a word she’s known for very long, but she sees it as a part of her history all the same or, perhaps better, a part of her heritage.