This week in Indigenous news: June 3-10

Truth and Reconciliation is Canada’s last chance to get it right

There are good and bad things in our society, successes and failures. But there is only one fundamental reality that remains unaddressed. That is the situation of indigenous peoples.

This is the single most important issue before us, whether we are recently arrived in Canada or have been here for centuries. This is the prime issue on which we should be judging governments and potential governments.

Read more here.

 

Coquille tribe regains 3,200 acres of forested ancestral homeland in Oregon

The Coquille Indian Tribe in southern coastal Oregon purchased 3,200 ecologically and culturally significant acres of forestland in Oregon’s Siskiyou National Forest on May 21. They’ve named it Sek-wet-se, their people’s name for the river and their ancestors who lived there.

“Our ancestors have lived on these lands since time began,” said Coquille Chairwoman Brenda Meade. “Hunting, fishing, and traditional food gatherings are all abundant on this land. Coquille people will again be able to gather in these same places in the same ways as our grandparents before us. We will be able to utilize these places to teach our children their history and the importance of caring for these lands and its resources in a sustainable way.”

Read more here.

 

Ten foods Natives had before Europeans

Much confusion surrounds Indigenous foods. “Before 1492, tomatoes, potatoes, wild rice, salmon, pumpkins, peanuts, bison, chocolate, vanilla, blueberries and corn, among other foods, were unknown in Europe, Africa and Asia. Today, we think of tomatoes as an Italian staple, of potatoes as quintessentially Irish or northern European, and even of peanuts as native to Africa. But Native American farmers cultivated and developed these foods over hundreds of generations, long before Europeans exported them throughout the world,”explains Kevin Gover (Pawnee), director of the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution, in the foreword for The Mitsitam Café Cookbook:Recipes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian by executive chef Richard Hetzler.

Read more here.

 

Seahawks’ Sherman tells Lummi grads to chase success

BELLINGHAM-High school graduation at Lummi Nation School is always a big celebration: Families arrive hours before the ceremony for a potluck where they fill their stomachs, and the ceremony itself is filled with tribal songs and demonstrations.

This year, however, they outdid themselves by bringing in a special guest: Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.

Read more here.

 

Six Hoop Dance videos you need to see

If you’re headed to the spectacular Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival this weekend in Oklahoma City, you’re sure to have an amazing time. The dance competitions today through Sunday, for example, will feature some of the best American Indian dancers in the country. One dance not offered is Hoop, though, so ICTMN wanted to jump in and provide a whirlwind of six hoop dancing videos that you really need to see.

Read more here.

Photo: Lummi Nation School Facebook.