Tag: native americans

Cherokee Nation receives $10.7M grant for electric vehicle charging ports

The Cherokee Nation is receiving a $10.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to install 112 publicly accessible electric vehicle charging ports across 12 community locations. 

The project will place chargers in prominent destinations like parks and health centers. The initiative supports the Cherokee Nation’s clean energy goals and President Biden’s Justice 40 initiative, ensuring that nearly the entire reservation is within 25 miles of charging infrastructure.

“Our goal at the Cherokee Nation is to reduce our carbon footprint by 25 percent by 2027, and we continue to make these strides,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “This latest federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help us continue to add even more electric vehicle charging stations across the Cherokee Nation Reservation as more consumers purchase electric vehicles and need places to charge.”

Proposed sites for EV Charging stations include properties owned by the Cherokee Nation in Ochelata, Jay, South Coffeyville, Nowata, Tahlequah, Stilwell, Grove, Salina, Vinita and Tulsa.

EV charging stations now exist throughout the tribe’s reservation including Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, Cherokee Casino Tahlequah, Ann Mitchell Cultural & Welcome Center in Vinita and Cherokee Nation’s W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex government office.

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The Only Legal Marijuana Store In North Carolina Is Thriving—And Represents A Win For Tribal Sovereignty, Leaders Say

More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., in Cherokee, North Carolina, thousands from across the region have now made purchases at what’s currently the only regulated cannabis retailer within hundreds of square miles.

Marijuana remains outlawed for all purposes in North Carolina, and none of the state’s neighbors—Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Virginia—have legalized recreational sales. That puts Great Smoky, located on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in a unique and sometimes complicated situation.

Ahead of last year’s election in which the tribe legalized adult-use cannabis, for example, a U.S. congressman representing North Carolina introduced legislation that would have cut federal funding for tribes where marijuana is legal.

But since first opening to all adults 21 and older on September 10, the mood at Great Smoky has been celebratory. Tribal members—including Great Smoky’s general manager, Forrest Parker—and the thousands of non-members who’ve showed up in recent days are reveling in the significance of the moment.

Parker himself described the project as “the most inspiring thing I’ve ever been a part of.”

“We’re the first regulated cannabis in the Bible Belt—in this region,” he told Marijuana Moment in an interview last week. “When you go talk to some of these people, even if they’ve been waiting way longer than they expected, a lot of folks are showing up to just be part of history.”

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Thousands Flock To Tribal Marijuana Store In North Carolina, Where Cannabis Is Otherwise Illegal, For Launch Of Adult-Use Sales

More than 4,000 of people lined up at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. this past weekend as the tribal marijuana retailer began the first-ever legal adult-use cannabis sales within North Carolina.

Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), which voted a year ago to legalize adult-use cannabis on its 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary, called the launch “a significant milestone for our tribe, marking a new chapter of opportunity and growth.”

“This initiative is our right as a Tribal government to assert our Sovereignty,” he wrote.

“I want to take a moment to personally acknowledge and thank everyone who has poured their hard work, time, and passion into making this day possible,” he said. “Your dedication has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life, and I’m confident that this is just the beginning.”

Sales began at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday, with any adult 21 and older eligible to buy marijuana products.

“It’s a special day for us,” Forrest Parker, general manager for Qualla Enterprises, which operates Great Smoky Cannabis Co., told the tribe’s newspaper, Cherokee One Feather. “It’s a special day for the Eastern Band of Cherokees, period.”

Videos posted to social media on opening day Saturday showed a long line of cars waiting to take advantage of the dispensary’s drive-thru.

“When you see the people in this line, it’s clear,” Parker said. “And it’s very validating, I think, to the plant and to the medicine that comes from the ground. Which, nobody understands that more than Indigenous people.”

Great Smoky Cannabis began selling medical marijuana on April 20 of this year. In July, the store began recreational sales, but only to members of EBCI and other federally recognized Indian tribes. Saturday marked the first time any adult 21 and older could purchase cannabis from the store.

Speaking to local reporters on Monday, Parker said the opening was “humbling” and that he expects even more activity as momentum builds.

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Trans indigenous Canadian slams doctors for denying her euthanasia request, saying death would be better than her constant pain from a surgically-built vagina

An indigenous transgender woman has slammed Canada‘s healthcare system for rejecting her euthanasia request despite the pain she endures from a surgically-built vagina.

In social media posts, Lois Cardinal, a self-proclaimed ‘sterilized First Nations post-op transsexual’ said regret over her medical transition led her to apply for a lethal injection in January.

Cardinal, who lives on a native reserve near St. Paul, Alberta, posted her medical records from the request online this week to draw attention to radical gender ideology.

Her case underscores the perils of Canada’s ultra-liberal healthcare system — one of the world’s most permissive for both euthanasia and affirming an individual’s chosen gender.

‘I’m in constant discomfort and pain,’ the 35-year-old told DailyMail.com. 

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The Cost of a Hoax

The scandal surrounding Canada’s Kamloops Indian Residential School (1890-1969, British Columbia) is an ultra-cautionary tale about the damage inflicted by self-interested politicians and activists, backed by a media that toes the line. The 2021 scandal sprang from the alleged discovery of 215 graves of indigenous children. They were said to have died under suspicious circumstances at the Catholic-run school and then buried in unmarked graves behind the facility. Kamloops was one of the largest schools in the residential system through which Indigenous children were culturally deprogrammed and indoctrinated to mold them into “proper” Canadians.

When the story broke, the press fell over itself in a race to sensationalism. CBC News on May 28 declared, “Remains of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school, First Nation says.” The Toronto Star announced on May 28, “The remains of 215 children have been found. Now, Indigenous leaders say, Canada must help find the rest of the unmarked graves.” The international press jumped on the speeding news train with their own headlines, such as “‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada’” from The New York Times on May 31.

Actually, no graves had been discovered; their existence was extrapolated from “anomalies” in the earth found by ground-penetrating radar. Such anomalies are commonplace, however, and usually indicate a tree root, a large rock, or some other innocuous presence. Today, after three years and almost $8 million of publicly unaccountable funds being expended, no graves have been found. No one has bothered to even start the digging necessary to verify anything.

Evidence is optional in the court of opinion

The world was ready to believe without evidence. The residential school system was a horrific page of Canadian history and an act of cultural assault if not cultural genocide. Perhaps this history lent automatic credibility to the accusations that many students died prematurely and were buried anonymously as a cover-up or out of callousness.

The fallout from these accusations was stunning. Canada was internationally smeared as a genocidal nation; the United Nations called for prompt action on a massive “human rights violation”; the Pope apologized; dozens of Catholic Churches in Canada were burned down in retaliation; the 2021 Canada Day celebrations were canceled in national shame, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking a knee to Indigenous people. Subsequent government funds were pledged, including $3.1 million for a National Residential School Student Death Register and $238.8 million for a Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund. Other governments followed suit. For example, the government of Ontario pledged $10 million to search for unmarked graves at residential schools in this province.

Eventually, academics and journalists began to ask for evidence. In a 2022 New York Post article entitled “Biggest fake news story in Canada: Kamloops mass grave debunked by academics,” Professor Jacques Rouillard of the Department of History at Université de Montréal expressed an increasingly common concern. “Not one body has been found. After … months of recrimination and denunciation, where are the remains of the children buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School?” And why hadn’t a single missing person’s report on them been found?

Almost alone among prominent Canadian media, the National Post ran a series of articles that showed cracks in what had become an almost sacred narrative about Kamloops. A Sept. 6, 2023, headline asked, “Who started calling residential school burial sites mass graves? At least in the beginning, First Nations didn’t claim there were deliberately hidden ‘mass graves.’ Media and activists did.” A May 30, 2024, article concluded, “Canada slowly acknowledging there never was a ‘mass grave’. There was much that was dark about residential schools, but no graves have been confirmed at Kamloops to this day.” In late 2023, the anthology “Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools)” appeared.

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Unveiling 1,200 years of Human Occupation in Canada’s Arctic

A recent study provides new insights into ancient cultures in Canada’s Arctic, focusing on Paleo-Inuit and Thule-Inuit peoples over thousands of years. Jules Blais, professor of biology at the University of Ottawa, and a team of researchers detected human presence and settlements on Somerset Island, Nunavut, by analyzing sediment samples.

The Arctic has been home to various cultures, such as the Paleo-Inuit (2500 BC to 1250 AD) and the Thule-Inuit (1200 to 1500 AD). Although historical evidence is scarce, this recent study provides valuable insight into their presence.

The study discovered evidence of Paleo-Inuit presence on Somerset Island in Nunavut, Canada, where it was lacking.

The innovative research methodologies revealed detailed information about past human history without traditional artifacts.

Professor Jules Blais says,

“By analyzing pond sediment samples, we were able to construct detailed histories of site occupation. This includes clear evidence of Paleo-Inuit presence and indications that the Thule-Inuit arrived earlier than previously estimated.”

The research used archeological evidence and sedimentary biomarkers to study prehistoric settlement on Somerset Island.

Sediment cores from island ponds were analyzed for trace elements and organic compounds.

Results showed that the Thule-Inuit population increased from the 13th to 15th centuries.

The researchers also showed high levels of metals like lead, copper, zinc and nickel in twentieth-century sediment, suggesting air pollution during that time.

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Supreme Court Rules That US Government Must Cover Native American Health Care

The Supreme Court ruled 5–4 on June 6 that the federal government will have to cover Indian tribes’ costs incurred in operating tribal health care programs.

The majority opinion in Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe and Becerra v. Northern Arapaho Tribe was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by all three liberal justices and one conservative.

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra was the petitioner in both cases. He appealed unfavorable rulings by lower courts.

The respondent, the San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe, is based in Arizona. The other respondent, the Northern Arapaho Tribe, is based in Wyoming.

The ruling means the U.S. government will have to pay for overhead costs related to health care that the tribes provide under a federal law intended to give Native Americans greater control.

“Aside from being inconsistent with the statute’s text, [the government’s] failure to cover contract support costs for healthcare funded by program income inflicts a penalty on tribes for opting in favor of greater self-determination,” the majority opinion states.

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7,000-Year-Old Native American ‘Bog Burial’ Found Off The Coast of Florida

Archaeologists have uncovered a Native American burial site dating back 7,000 years off the coast of Florida. The site was found by an amateur diver in 2016 who was looking for shark teeth but stumbled on an ancient jawbone.

The 167 bodies discovered in a pond in Windover, Florida started to stir up excitement in the archaeological world only after the bones were declared very old, and not the product of mass murder. Researchers from Florida State University came to the site, believing that in the swampland some more Native American bones had been found.

They believed the bones were between 500 and 600 years old. But then the bones were dated with radiocarbon. It turns out that these corpses were between 6,990 and 8,120 years old. The academic community was then incredibly excited. Windover Bog has proved to be one of the United States’ most significant archaeological discoveries.

In 1982, Steve Vanderjagt, the man who made the discovered, was using a backhoe to demolish the pond to create a new subdivision between Disney World and Cape Canaveral. A large number of rocks in the pond confused Vanderjagt since the region of Florida was not considered to be particularly rocky.

Getting out of his backhoe, Vanderjagt went to investigate and almost immediately realized that he had unearthed a huge pile of bones. He called the authorities right away. It was only thanks to his natural curiosity that the site was preserved. After the medical examiners declared them ancient, the specialists from Florida State University were summoned (another brilliant move by Vanderjagt- too often sites are ruined because experts are not called).

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Genetic Analysis Bolsters Blackfoot People’s Land Claims

The advancement of DNA collection-and-analysis technology has had significant consequences for anthropology and archaeology, resulting in surprising revelations about genetic connections between modern populations and ancient peoples. In the latest example of this fascinating phenomenon, a team of genetic scientists, in collaboration with representatives of the indigenous Blackfoot nation, have just completed a study that establishes an unexpected relationship between modern Blackfoot people and some of the earliest inhabitants of the Americas.

“We show that the genomics of sampled individuals from the Blackfoot Confederacy belong to a previously undescribed ancient lineage that diverged from other genomic lineages in the Americas in Late Pleistocene times,” the scientists and their Native American colleagues wrote in an article published in the journal Science Advances. “Using multiple complementary forms of knowledge, we provide a scenario for Blackfoot population history that fits with oral tradition and provides a plausible model for the evolutionary process of the peopling of the Americas.”

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FBI sent several informants to Standing Rock protests, court documents show

Up to 10 informants managed by the FBI were embedded in anti-pipeline resistance camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation at the height of mass protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016. The new details about federal law enforcement surveillance of an Indigenous environmental movement were released as part of a legal fight between North Dakota and the federal government over who should pay for policing the pipeline fight. Until now, the existence of only one other federal informant in the camps had been confirmed. 

The FBI also regularly sent agents wearing civilian clothing into the camps, one former agent told Grist in an interview. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA, operated undercover narcotics officers out of the reservation’s Prairie Knights Casino, where many pipeline opponents rented rooms, according to one of the depositions. 

The operations were part of a wider surveillance strategy that included drones, social media monitoring, and radio eavesdropping by an array of state, local, and federal agencies, according to attorneys’ interviews with law enforcement. The FBI infiltration fits into a longer history in the region. In the 1970s, the FBI infiltrated the highest levels of the American Indian Movement, or AIM. 

The Indigenous-led uprising against Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access oil pipeline drew thousands of people seeking to protect water, the climate, and Indigenous sovereignty. For seven months, participants protested to stop construction of the pipeline and were met by militarized law enforcement, at times facing tear gas, rubber bullets, and water hoses in below-freezing weather.

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