Alaska tribe pins economic hopes on new ferry
The Seldovia Village Tribe in Alaska has unveiled the newest ferry in Kachemak Bay — the M/V Kachemak Voyager — which arrived last week at the Homer Port and Harbor. It’s part of a plan from a nearly $1 million boat ramp to be built by the tribe, according to this Homer Tribune story. The ferry will allow tribal members to more easily get to jobs in Homer, 45 minutes away by boat.

First Nations women stage 300-mile march to protest gender discrimination
Despite extensive changes, Canada’s Indian Act still promotes discrimination, especially against women, Indian Country Today’s Gale Courey Toensing writes here. Under the act, Native women who marry non-Native men lose their Indian status, and so do their children, something the protesters term “slow genocide.”

Funding snafu leaves Nunavut law school high and dry
Some 25 Nunavut students had hoped to study law by next September. But the government of Nunavut rejected a $3.6 million funding request from the Akitsiraq Law School Society, throwing those plans in doubt, the Nunatsiaq News reports here.

Grits are originally Native American
So says this San Francisco Chronicle story. Although somewhere along the line they became emblematic of Southern food, they’re made from hominy, which comes from corn – and you know who first cultivated that.

Reality check, during Stanley Cup, on Blackhawks’ name
WLS-TV in Chicago has this piece on the National Hockey League’s Blackhawks name. Check out the story and see what you think. This Flyers fan suggests an alternative – root for Philadelphia. Just sayin’.

This?

Or this?

Gwen Florio

Tags: Akitsiraq Law School Society, Alaska Natives, Chicago Blackhawks, First Nations, Gender discrimination, grits, hominy, Indian Act, Kachemak Bay, National Hockey League, Native American women, NHL, Nunavut, Philadelphia Flyers, Seldovia Village Tribe, Stanley Cup, Team mascots, Team nicknames

Beyond powwow songs: “Earthsongs” radio host focuses on modern Native music
Shyanne Beatty hosts “Earthsongs,” a national radio program of modern music for Native America. Beatty, who is Han Gwich’in Athabascan from Eagle, Alaska, tells station KTUU‘s Eric Sowl that “a lot of people think that Native American or indigenous music is powwow music. It’s not that any more. It’s rock, it’s reggae, it’s world music.” Native American broadcasters represent less than 1 percent of the nation’s on-air media talent.

San Miguel Band of Mission Indians donates $1.7 million in Haiti relief
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is helping earthquake relief efforts in Haiti by donating $1.7 million to the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. According to Indian Country Today, it’s the most recent such effort by the tribe, which donated $700,000 after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; $1 million for wildfire recovery in Southern California, and $1 million to relief groups in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Senators-Canadiens hockey game was NHL’s first broadcast in Inuktitut
Hockey history was made yesterday with the first-ever broadcast in Inukitut of an NHL game. CBC broadcasters Charlie Panigoniak and Annie Ford called the Ottawa Senators-Montreal Canadiens game in Inuktitut, according to the Nunatsiaq News. The game was broadcast around Nunavut and CBC also streamed it online. The Senators won, 3-2, in OT.

Natives may be added to Alaska’s state song
There’s an effort – again – in Alaska to add references to indigenous people in the state’s song, according to The Tundra Drums. A similar effort failed in 2002, but Sen. Albert Kookesh, who Tlingit and leader in the Alaska Federation of Natives, says times have changed. The bill would add a second verse that references Benny Benson, the Native boy who in 1927 designed the territorial flag that eventually became the state flag. The version begins: A Native lad chose the Dipper’s stars, For Alaska’s flag that there be no bars, Among our cultures.

Pascua Yaqui Tribe announces new casino hotel
Despite an economy that has wreaked havoc on profits from tribal and non-tribal casinos alike, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, owner of two Tucson-area casinos, says it will break ground next month on a casino and hotel expected to create up to 200 jobs. The Sol Casinos Hotel and Convention Center will be an expansion of Casino Del Sol, the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson reports. It’s scheduled to open next year.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "Earthsongs", Alaska Federation of Natives, Alaska flag, Alaska Natives, Alaska state song, American Red Cross, Athabascan, Benny Benson, buffalo post, Casino del Sol, Doctors Without Borders, Han Gwich'in Athabascan, Hurricane Katrina, Inuit, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Montreal Canadiens, National Hockey League, Native American news, NHL, Nunavut, Ottawa Senators, Pasqua Yaqui, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Sen. Albert Kookesh, Tlingit