By Lee Egerstrom The Minneapolis American Indian Center (MAIC) has a full day of festivities planned for it grand re-opening of the center on May 1 that coincides with the annual launch of Minnesota American Indian Month. Since December 2022, construction crews have worked on making more than $32 million in renovations to the unique center along what is called Minneapolis’ American Indian Cultural Corridor. This doubles MAIC’s space to house events, shops and programs for the urban Native population. The celebration begins with the American Indian Month Kick-off Parade that starts at 10 a.m. a ..read more

By Lee Egerstrom The bonds between a Minnesota church and Native people with Indigenous prisoners in Pennsylvania are still under stress with both an accomplishment to celebrate and a setback perpetuating frustration. The celebration comes from the recent publishing of Forgotten Nation, a book by Pennsylvanian prisoner R.R. Banks that is available through Amazon.com. The disappointment comes from Pennsylvania Department of Corrections resistance to Indigenous prisoners using a sweat lodge at State Correctional Institution Benner Township, a state prison at Bellafonte, Pa. The prisoner, who use ..read more

By Winona LaDuke The l867 treaty was intended to provide a secure homeland for the Anishinaabe people forever.  The treaty was signed by our leaders and by President Andrew Johnson. Agreements should be honored by nations. The treaty provides for many things; the 837,000 acres of land, maples, the wild rice, the 47 lakes, the lifeblood of our people and explicityly says, “… the lands so held by any Indian shall be exempt from taxation and sale for debt and shall not be alienated except with approval of the Secretary of Interior and in no case to any person not a member of the Chippewa…” A ..read more

By Dan Ninham Just over 21 years ago Red Lake Elementary School physical education teacher Denise Houle saw a niece competing in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) in another school district and brought the idea to the Red Lake School District. Red Lake Elementary School Special Education Teacher Scott Hanson started to coach in the program a year after it started and has been directly involved ever since. According to the NASP website: “The NASP® is an in-school program aimed at improving educational performance among students. And through it, students are learning focus, sel ..read more

By Dan Ninham Aiden Neadeau is a member of the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation. He is a graduating senior at Bemidji High School and was a three-year varsity letter winner and two-year starter in football. Neadeau recently signed his national letter of intent to continue his education and football playing career at the NCAA DIII University of Minnesota Morris. Neadeau knows who he is an indigenous person and this guides him as he moves forward. He said, “I’ve always been taught to respect others and my opponents and to always take pride in who I am and what I do. I’ve also always been taught to stay hu ..read more

By Lee Egerstrom The Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health has received a five-year, $12 million grant to work with tribes and urban groups to study how Indigenous culture can be used to support efforts dealing with substance abuse problems. The award, called a “Center of Excellence” grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was announced in December by its National Institute on Drug Abuse. This research effort is being led by Dr. Melissa Walls, co-director of the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins health center and director of its Great Lakes Hub regional office in Duluth. Which Ame ..read more

By Ava Kian/MinnPost Wayne Dupuis remembers a time when he was hunting with his father on the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation and came upon the University of Minnesota’s Forestry Center, which sits on reservation land. Dupuis hesitated, not sure if the two could be there. “I was under 10-years-old and my dad (and I), we were hunting over here … and he said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna go hunting in there,” he recalled. “They don’t allow us to but we’re gonna go hunting in there anyway because that’s our right. This is our reservation. This is our homeland.’” Dupuis was one of several people who weighed ..read more

USA Today Named MN Lt. Gov. Peggy Flannagan to Women of the Year List AP – USA TODAY’s Women of the Year has added Peggy Flanagan to the list which was launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Minnesota’s Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (Ojibwe) is serving her second term as the second in command of the executive branch in Minnesota. She is the highest elected Native American woman in the United States. In December, Flanagan was the chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, ma ..read more

By Lee Egerstrom Minnesota state and White Earth Nation officials were on hand Feb. 21 in Washington, D.C. when the U.S. Navy announced it is naming a future ship for James D. Fairbanks, formerly with the Navy and Marines, who born and raised near Pine Point on the White Earth reservation. Highly decorated during his military career, Fairbanks died at age 59 in 2011 after retiring from the Navy. He had served as the highest ranking enlisted man with the Navy’s Seabees and was their Force Master Chief Petty Officer. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro presided at the naming ceremony at the Na ..read more

By Katelyn Vue/Sahan Journal and MPR News An ambitious plan to coordinate Minnesota’s response to homelessness across agencies – shaped by those who have directly experienced housing instability – will swing into action this spring. The “Crossroads to Justice” strategic plan aims to reduce homelessness statewide by 15 percent by 2026 and to narrow the large racial disparities in those experiencing homelessness. Another goal is to reduce the disparities in mortality and improve the health of people facing homelessness. “This plan, which will be our north star for our state agencies, is com ..read more