Good morning, NUNAverse:
Over the weekend, Pope Francis expressed his pain over the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous students in Canada at a church-run residential school. He didn’t offer the apology sought by multiple Canadian officials. Pope Francis, during his remarks in St. Peter’s Square, called on the authorities to foster healing but made no reference to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence, two days earlier, that the Vatican apologize and take responsibility. Trudeau on Friday blasted the church for being “silent” and “not stepping up,″ and called on it to formally apologize and to make amends for its prominent role in his nation’s former system of church-run Indigenous residential schools.
Late yesterday evening, police arrested dozens of activists who had gathered in Northern Minnesota to fight an expansion of the Line 3 pipeline, a $9 billion pipeline operated by the Canadian company, Enbridge, that would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through Minnesota’s delicate watersheds and tribal lands. Activists used an old fishing boat, bamboo, and steel cables to blockade the road to a construction site off Highway 71 north of Park Rapids. Several hundred others scaled the fence at the site and occupied it, some climbing atop diggers and transformer boxes or chaining themselves to construction equipment. Police later escalated their attempts to end the protest, using what appeared to be a crowd-dispelling sonic device known as an LRAD, or Long Range Acoustic Device, on the protesters, and using bolt cutters and saws to cut people loose who had chained themselves to equipment.
On June 12, Dillon Software will launch an expanded version of mmipmt.com, a reporting website for cases of missing persons from the Blackfeet Nation. New to the website will be the participation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation and crucial new reporting features. The website was first created by students and staff from Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana to demand justice for the disappearance of former student Ashley Loring Heavy Runner in 2017. According to web developer Sean Dillon of Dillon Software, the new website will enable the public to view, report, and submit tips about missing persons cases on the Flathead Nation and the Blackfeet Nation. Drew Landry, the LINC coordinator for the Blackfeet Nation, said the goal is to add all tribal nations in Montana to the new website by the end of the summer and then look at expanding to other tribes.
Keep reading for a full news update.
MMIW:
Tribal College’s Reporting Website For MMIP Brings Native Communities And Police Together
Native News Online, Andrew Kennard, June 7
On June 12, Dillon Software will launch an expanded version of mmipmt.com, a reporting website for cases of missing persons from the Blackfeet Nation. New to the website will be the participation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai (CSKT) Tribes of the Flathead Nation and crucial new reporting features. The website was first created by students and staff from Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Mont. (BCC) to demand justice for the disappearance of former student Ashley Loring Heavy Runner in 2017. According to web developer Sean Dillon of Dillon Software, the new website will enable the public to view, report, and submit tips about missing persons cases on the Flathead Nation and the Blackfeet Nation. Drew Landry, the LINC coordinator for the Blackfeet Nation, said the goal is to add all tribal nations in Montana to the new website by the end of the summer and then look at expanding to other tribes.
Other:
Pope Voices ‘Pain’ Over Canadian Deaths, Doesn’t Apologize
AP News, Frances D’emilio, June 7
Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his pain over the discovery in Canada of the remains of 215 Indigenous students of church-run residential schools and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair.” But he didn’t offer the apology sought by the Canadian prime minister. Francis, in remarks to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, also called on the authorities to foster healing but made no reference to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence, two days earlier, that the Vatican apologize and take responsibility. Trudeau on Friday blasted the church for being “silent” and “not stepping up,″ and called on it to formally apologize and to make amends for its prominent role in his nation’s former system of church-run Indigenous residential schools.
Police Make Mass Arrests At Protest Against Oil Pipeline
The New York Times, Hiroko Tabuchi, June 7
The protesters who gathered in the boreal forests of Northern Minnesota came from across the country — Native American tribes and their supporters, environmentalists and religious leaders — all to fight an expansion of Line 3, a $9 billion pipeline operated by the Canadian company, Enbridge, that would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through Minnesota’s delicate watersheds and tribal lands. Some said they had come ready to risk arrest by lying down in the path of construction. Others said they were here to support tribes that have been battling oil and gas pipelines for years, including the highly contentious Dakota Access Pipeline. Late on Monday, police began making arrests after dozens of activists used an old fishing boat, bamboo and steel cable to blockade the road to a construction site off Highway 71 north of Park Rapids. Several hundred others scaled the fence at the site and occupied it, some climbing atop diggers and transformer boxes or chaining themselves to construction equipment.
Treaty People Gathering Draws Thousands, Pledges For Summer Of Action Against Enbridge Line 3
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, June 7
Thousands swarmed northern Minnesota over the weekend for the Treaty People Gathering, an event organized to stand against the ongoing construction of the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. Crowds of well over 2,000 people gathered on Monday morning at the headwaters of the Mississippi River for a treaty ceremony in the largest gathering yet against the pipeline since construction began in December 2020. Indigenous-led groups, communities of faith, and climate justice organizations organized the Treaty People Conference, which organizers say marks the beginning of a summer of resistance.
March To Stop Enbridge Pipeline
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, June 7
Hundreds of protesters marched to the headwaters of the Mississippi River on Monday, drumming, singing and chanting “Stop Line 3” and “Water is Life” as they demanded a halt to Enbridge’s multibillion-dollar Line 3 pipeline project. Indigenous water protectors, environmental activists, faith leaders and celebrity supporters moved from site to site along the construction project in what they said was the largest act of civil disobedience yet to stop the pipeline. South of the Mississippi headwaters, more than 20 protesters were arrested after shutting down an active Line 3 pump station by occupying the site and locking themselves to some of the equipment, according to the Hubbard County sheriff’s office. They were being processed at the jail late Monday but the details of charges were not available.
Oil Pipeline Foes Protest Enbridge’s Line 3 In Minnesota
AP News, Dave Kolpack, June 7
Hundreds of protesters vowing to do whatever it takes to stop a Canadian-based company’s push to replace an aging pipeline blocked a pump station Monday in northern Minnesota, with some people chaining themselves to construction equipment before police began making arrests. Environmental and tribal groups say Enbridge Energy’s plan to rebuild Line 3, which would carry Canadian tar sands oil and regular crude from Alberta to Wisconsin, would worsen climate change and risk spills in sensitive areas where Native Americans harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, gather medicinal plants, and claim treaty rights. By evening, at least 30 people were arrested by state police and sheriff’s officers, but the number is growing rapidly.
Opponents Take Stand Against Enbridge Line 3
Indian Country Today, Mary Annette Pember, June 7
The Mississippi River, or Great River in the Ojibwe language, is barely three feet in width near its headwaters in northern Minnesota. Tender and vulnerable, it meanders across the landscape with no hint at its greatness farther south. It’s here near the river’s headwaters that Enbridge is completing construction on the Line 3 pipeline and its numerous crossings under the river. And it’s here that hundreds of water protectors and supporters are making a stand Monday opposing the project. Numerous environmental, faith and Indigenous groups organized the Treaty People Gathering this weekend, describing it as the largest act of resistance so far to the pipeline.
Voices From The Tribes: Paiute, Shoshone Elders’ Perspectives On Nevada Lithium Mine Proposal
Native News Online, Claire Carlson, June 7
The Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation is located in north-central Nevada near the Oregon border. For centuries, the area has been used by Paiute and Shoshone people for gathering and hunting. Now, with a lithium mining proposal for Thacker Pass, a region just south of Fort McDermitt, tribal members are worried about how this mine will impact the land. Thacker Pass holds an important history for the tribe. According to tribal elders, the area contains burial sites from a massacre against Paiute and Shoshone people when the land was being settled by white soldiers centuries ago.
Fish Kill Consumes The Klamath River
Indian Country Today, Alex Schwartz, June 7
Over the past several weeks, an outbreak of the parasite Ceratonova shasta has ripped through young salmon throughout the lower reaches of the Klamath watershed. Driven by high temperatures and low flows out of Iron Gate Dam, the disease is resulting in what the Yurok Tribe is calling a “catastrophic” fish kill. Recently, nearly every single juvenile salmon trapped by researchers and fisheries staff was infected with C. shasta, and a majority of them were dead. The alarm began sounding around the beginning of April, when spore concentrations of C. shasta measured at six monitoring sites along the river between Iron Gate Dam and Tully Creek, in the heart of the Yurok Reservation, began to climb.