Canada Says ‘We‘Re Sorry‘ To Former Indian Residential School Students 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers a full apology on behalf of all Canadians
By Jim Uttley
Special to ASSIST News Service  
OTTAWA, ONTARIO (ANS) – On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an historic formal apology on June 11, 2008, […]

SOUTH DAKOTA - The Lakota Indians of the northern plains have been called a “horse nation” because they have strong ties, culturally and historically, with the animals. A group of Lakota teens recently saddled up for a four-day ride across South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. This Youth Ride was aimed at reconnecting the group with […]

BRIGHAM CITY, UTAH — On January 29, 1863, almost 500 Northwestern Shoshone men, women and children perished in the Bear River Massacre. Federal troops trapped and decimated the Tribe at the site of its annual “Warm Dance,” in present Franklin County, Idaho. The Tribe will be conducting a memorial service at 11am, Tuesday, January 29, […]

NESPELEM, WASHINGTON — According to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a panel of U.S. Supreme Court justices today denied a petition for certiorari filed by Canadian mining giant Teck Cominco Metals following a series of decisions from lower courts that consistently ruled against the company.
In rejecting Teck’s request for review, the Court let […]

AKWESASNE, NEW YORK — The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, against Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. The suit contains two counts, charging the Secretary with undue delay and acting in bad faith with respect to the Tribe’s fully completed, yet inexplicably languishing land into […]

ARLINGTON, VA — Rosetta Stone Inc., creator of the world’s No. 1 language-learning program, has formed a partnership with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana to develop a unique edition of the award-winning software in the tribe’s language, Sitimaxa.
The tribe will own distribution and sales rights to the tribal language version created through the Rosetta Stone […]

SEATTLE - Each year, salmon head upriver to their spawning grounds in the Columbia River basin in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington. The event has inspired a festival in which Native Americans and wildlife experts help visitors celebrate the salmon. 
Beginning in March, the fish start the arduous journey 800 kilometers upriver from the Pacific […]

Ten Tribal Sites Selected to Help Expand AMBER Alert into Indian CountryWASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced that ten Tribal sites have been selected to serve as pilot communities as part of the Department’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative. The ten Tribal sites will serve as demonstration sites for other Native American […]

Tribe calls on House to maintain Senate level in Conference negotiationsROSEBUD, S.D. — The Rosebud Sioux Tribe announced today that $4 million was included for the Advanced Electronics Rosebud Integration Center (AERIC) in the U.S. Senate’s Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Appropriations bill. The bill was passed by the full Senate September 12, 2007.
ROSEBUD, S.D. — […]

COTTONWOOD FALLS, KANSAS — The Kickapoo tribal language and culture play a key role in the production of “The Only Good Indian,” a movie that is being shot here and in Topeka, Lawrence and other locations in Kansas.
“The Only Good Indian,” which stars popular Native American actor Wes Studi (Dances With Wolves, Geronimo, Heat), is […]

WASHINGTON - Thousands of American Indians converged on Washington, D.C. recently to celebrate the song and dance of their native culture.  The National Museum of the American Indian organized the annual event called a powwow — a tradition dating back hundreds of years.  This year’s powwow was a symbol of the native people’s survival into […]

PORCUPINE, SOUTH DAKOTA - There are many ethnic radio stations and broadcast programs in the United States, but there are only a few fully independent community radio stations serving the residents of a Native American Indian reservation. One of them is KILI radio on the Pine Ridge reservation in southwestern South Dakota. It operates from […]

WASHINGTON - Hawaiian Nainoa sums up his life in one word, “Lucky!” Even as a young boy he saw his future as a quest for knowledge about his native Hawaiian culture and the way it connected him to the ocean and other indigenous Pacific island peoples. He laments that he learned little about his heritage […]

SANTA FE - The western U.S. state of New Mexico has 19 Pueblo tribal communities, some of them among the oldest American Indian settlements in the United States.  Many of them are well known for their pottery, and among the best known is Acoma Pueblo pottery with its distinctive black and white, geometric designs. 
Sandra Victorino […]

Conoco Phillips’ Subsidiary to Pay United States $97.5 Million for Fraudulent Underpayment of Natural Gas Royalties
WASHINGTON — Burlington Resources Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $97.5 million to resolve claims that it underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases, the Justice Department announced today. Last year, Burlington became […]

ALBUQUERQUE - Navajo rugs are highly regarded for their fine hand weaving and designs.  They are often expensive and are considered by many to be quite beautiful.
Pearl Sunrise is a Navajo weaver.  Her mother and her grandmother were also weavers. Sunrise’s multiple oak tools were made by her father and grandfathers.  Today, she is one […]

‘Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act’ will Hurt Tribes
MANDAREE, N.D. — Today, the Inter-Tribal Economic Alliance, led by Board Chairman Tex G. Hall, reacted with concern to news that the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1873, the Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act.
The Act would place a limit on the size of contracts awarded […]

JAMESTOWN VIRGINIA - Monday (May 14th) marks the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the United States.  One of the key figures in that history is a young Indian girl named Pocahontas — the daughter of the Powhatan chief.  Pocahontas’ story has been told many times, but not always accurately. 
Disney portrayed her […]

Federal Government’s Jurisdictional Maze and Chronic Under-Funding of Law Enforcement and Indian Health Services Mean Justice Denied for Native Women
WASHINGTON — Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States suffer disproportionately high levels of rape and sexual violence, yet the federal government has created substantial barriers to accessing justice, Amnesty International (AI) asserted […]

MORONGO INDIAN RESERVATION, BANNING, CALIFORNIA — In the early 1900s, American Indians were not considered United States citizens. As thousands of newcomers continued pouring into California, traditional Indian life ways were disappearing, and many communities’ land, food and water sources were lost. California Indian people were desperately poor and systematically denied even basic civil or […]

INDIANAPOLIS — The Ute Indian Tribe (Tribe) of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:CLMT) (Calumet) to explore potential refining solutions for the Tribe’s Black Wax Crude production.
The Uintah and Ouray Reservation is located in North Eastern Utah in Utah’s Uinta Basin. The […]

Rep. Mary Bono Sponsors Legislation to Resolve Long-Standing Conflicts, Ensure Future Water Supply for Tribe and Southern California’s San Jacinto River Valley
SAN JACINTO, CALIFORNIA — After almost sixty years of continuous litigation and negotiation, Congresswoman Mary Bono (R, CA-45) today introduced the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians Settlement Act to approve a comprehensive settlement that […]

Seminole Tribe Finalizes Acquisition of Hard Rock International; Ceremonial Signing By Tribal Council Marks Milestone Purchase
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA — Under the sprawling branches of the “Council Oak” tree, site of multiple milestones in the recent history of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, members of the Tribal Council today finalized the acquisition of Hard Rock International with […]

SAN FRANCISCO - There are nearly 7,000 languages on Earth, but experts say about half of them are endangered, meaning only a small and declining number of often elderly people speak the language. Major world and national languages crowd out indigenous ones, and it’s estimated that more languages became extinct in the 20th century than […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau today began mailing advance informational booklets to all federally recognized tribal governments asking for assistance in providing updated addresses for their reservations and off-reservation trust lands. This early, concerted effort is part of the Census Bureau’s plan to make the 2010 Census as accurate as possible.
A complete address list […]