Good morning, NUNAverse:
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) are “Indian tribe[s]” under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and thus eligible to receive CARES Act funding as tribal governments – about $533 million in funding hinged on the case’s outcome. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Elena Kagan dissented.
Yesterday, Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced the discovery of as many as 751 unmarked graves on what was formerly the Marieval Indian Residential School. The Marieval Indian Residential School operated from 1899 to 1996, overseen by the Roman Catholic Church. It was among the roughly 150 residential schools in Canada—the majority of which were in Saskatchewan—serving the purpose of assimilating Indigenous youth. He stressed that the site is not a mass grave, but was an identified graveyard until the Catholic Church possibly removed headstones in 1960.
Senators Brian Schatz, Lisa Murkowski, Jon Tester, and John Hoeven recently introduced the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2021, legislation that builds on successful Native housing programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) authorized by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA), including the Indian Housing Block Grant and Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant programs. Bills that would reauthorize NAHASDA have been introduced in every successive Congress since 2013.
The Associated Press reports that with tribal lands now producing more than 3% of U.S. oil and huge reserves untapped, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland faces competing pressures to help a small number of tribes develop their fossil fuels while also addressing climate change that affects all Native communities. President Biden recently exempted Native lands from a suspension of new oil and gas leases on government-managed land, respecting their tribal sovereignty. Oil from tribal lands overseen by the U.S. government now produces greenhouse gases equivalent to about 12 million vehicles a year, according to an Associated Press analysis.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that it will conduct an extensive review of Enbridge Energy’s plan to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a Great Lakes channel in Michigan, which could significantly delay the project. The tunnel would house a replacement for a portion of Enbridge’s Line 5 that crosses the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, a roughly 4-mile-long (6.4-kilometers-long) waterway connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has issued a permit for the $500 million tunnel, but approval from the Army Corps also is needed. The federal agency would consider potential effects on the straits and adjacent wetlands.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Boarding Schools:
Hundreds Of Unmarked Graves Found At Former Residential School In Saskatchewan
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, June 24
Donning a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls pin on Thursday, Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced the discovery of as many as 751 unmarked graves on what was formerly the Marieval Indian Residential School. The Marieval Indian Residential School operated from 1899 to 1996, overseen by the Roman Catholic Church. It was among the roughly 150 residential schools in Canada—the majority of which were in Saskatchewan—serving the express purpose of assimilating Indigenous youth by stripping them of their culture. He stressed that the site is not a mass grave, but an identified graveyard until the Catholic Church possibly removed headstones in 1960.
COVID-19:
As The Pace Of Vaccinations Slows, Biden Makes A Personal Appeal
New York Times, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, June 24
President Biden implored Americans on Thursday to “knock on doors and talk to friends and neighbors” about getting vaccinated, as the White House opened a campaign-like blitz to persuade people around the country to get their shots.
Navajo Have COVID-19 Under Control, But Still Leery Of Delta Variant
Cronkite News, Alyssa Marks, June 24
The Navajo Nation has yet to record a single case of the Delta variant of COVID-19, but now is not the time for tribe members to let down their guard, tribal President Jonathan Nez said Wednesday. Nez spent much of the time during a Washington Post program on public health talking about the Navajos’ success in fighting the pandemic, falling from a national COVID-19 hotspot at one point last year to negligible case numbers today. An Arizona Department of Health official said Wednesday that the Delta variant has been found in northern, central and southern Arizona.
Heart Problems After Vaccination Are Very Rare, Federal Researchers Say
New York Times, Apoorva Mandavilli, June 23
The coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna may have caused heart problems in more than 1,200 Americans, including about 500 who were younger than age 30, according to data reported on Wednesday by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Law:
U.S. Supreme Court Backs Alaska Natives In COVID-19 Aid Dispute
Reuters, Lawrence Hurley, June 25
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that federal COVID-19 relief funds can go to specially created corporations for Native Alaskans even though they are not officially recognized as tribal governments in a case pitting groups of indigenous Americans against each other.
Schatz, Murkowski, Tester, Hoeven Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Advance Native American Housing Programs
United States Senate Committee On Indian Affairs, June 24
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vice chairman of the Committee, and U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.), former chairmen of the Committee, introduced the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2021. U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) joined as original cosponsors.
Other:
Boom In Native American Oil Complicates Biden Climate Push
AP News, Matthew Brown, June 24
With tribal lands now producing more than 3% of U.S. oil and huge reserves untapped, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — the first Native American to lead a U.S. cabinet-level agency — faces competing pressures to help a small number of tribes develop their fossil fuels while also addressing climate change that affects all Native communities. Burning of oil from tribal lands overseen by the U.S. government now produces greenhouse gases equivalent to about 12 million vehicles a year, according to an Associated Press analysis. But Biden exempted Native American lands from a suspension of new oil and gas leases on government-managed land in deference to tribes’ sovereign status.
Army Corps Plans Extensive Review Of Great Lakes Tunnel Plan
AP News, John Flesher, June 24
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday it would conduct an extensive review of Enbridge Energy’s plan to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a Great Lakes channel in Michigan, which could significantly delay the project. The tunnel would house a replacement for a portion of Enbridge’s Line 5 that crosses the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, a roughly 4-mile-long (6.4-kilometers-long) waterway connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has issued a permit for the $500 million tunnel, but approval from the Army Corps also is needed. The federal agency would consider potential effects on the straits and adjacent wetlands.
U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers To Conduct Environmental Impact Statement For Enbridge Line 5
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, June 24
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Wednesday, June 23, will conduct an environmental impact statement for the Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership Line 5 permit application. The Enbridge Line 5 currently consists of two 20-inch pipelines, constructed in 1953, that are beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the body of water that separates Michigan’s lower and upper peninsulas and Lake Michigan from Lake Huron. The two pipelines lie between 100 – 270 feet below the water surface and are separated by 1,000 feet from each other.
US Catholic Bishops Approve Development Of Native American Pastoral Plan
National Catholic Register, June 24
At its spring assembly last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to back the creation of a complete pastoral plan for Catholic Native American ministry. Bishop Wall outlined in his June 17 presentation during the bishops’ virtual spring assembly a plan for better enculturation of the Catholic faith, recognition of Native American ministry and spirituality, and the needs of Native American communities. He noted that the pastoral plan would also address lingering issues of justice and reconciliation regarding historical matters like Catholic boarding schools that were part of the effort to assimilate and Americanize Native American children, often through coercion.
U.S. Secretary Of The Interior Deb haaland On Being The First –And The Future
In Style, Allie Young, June 24
In Native American culture, eagles are the ultimate symbol of wisdom, courage, and power. So you’ll kindly pardon the interruption when U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who had just hopped on Zoom for this interview from her Washington, D.C., office, is suddenly stopped mid-sentence by her concerned communications director, who had heard a chirping coming from her computer. “Allie, can I pause you for one second? The secretary has a camera that watches eagles, and they’re making noises.” To which Haaland replies: “The new eagles are getting ready to fledge, so I’m watching every day to see them take their first flight.” They are nesting on the campus of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. “It’ll be an exciting day,” she says.