Ruffled Feathers

“The Native American Navajo nation have written to a Christian couple recently awarded damages by Lancashire Police to express their dismay that their tribal name is being used for an LGBT project. Helen and Joe Roberts from Fleetwood hit the headlines last year after police questioned them for attempting to distribute anti-gay literature. The fundamentalist Christians were eventually awarded damages after Lancashire police admitted their right to free speech had been breached. … The tribe‘s lawyer said in the letter that, ‘The Navajo nation is greatly concerned regarding the use of the word Navajo in any context, but even more so when it is used to express a view or policy that is contrary to Navajo law.’ The Navajo project was set up in the North West of England to tackle oppression, stigma and prejudice and to promote social well-being and acceptance in society of LGBT people.” (01/08/07)

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3435.html

“Despite a two-week cooling off period between aboriginal protesters and Bear Mountain Resort, a disputed cave site will be developed as planned, say Bear Mountain officials. Songhees and Tsartlip First Nations and Bear Mountain agreed to a truce Friday, after about a half-dozen protesters occupied the cave site Thursday, prompting the Aboriginal Relations Minister Mike de Jong to step in. Bear Mountain agreed to stop construction within a 100-metre buffer zone around the cave, which sits near prime real estate at the top of Skirt Mountain in Langford. Local First Nations say the cave has ancient spiritual significance, and it should be protected and preserved.” (01/03/07)

http://tinyurl.com/sokhr

“Ottawa’s push to extend human rights protection to people living on reserves is just a smoke screen to avoid talking about more pressing issues like poverty, First Nations leader Lawrence Joseph says. Last month, the government said it will repeal a section of the Canadian Human Rights Act that prevents people on reserves from filing human rights complaints against band councils or the federal government. In a CBC interview Tuesday, Joseph, the chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, said Ottawa has given the issue too high a priority and is ‘throwing up smoke screens all over the place to try to make themselves look good.’” (01/02/07)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/02/joseph-rights.html

“One man has been arrested for crossing police lines at a march to protest a Native occupation in Caledonia. Dozens of police are holding several hundred demonstrators back from a housing development site occupied by First Nations. Hundreds of people marched on the site, saying the Natives are getting special treatment. The plan was to stay at least 200 metres from the aboriginals, but the crowd surged toward the Natives. There are also a few other standoffs between the marchers and police but there has been no violence.” (10/16/06)

http://tinyurl.com/y2x38z

“A growing tribal free press, richer tribes and the demands of young journalists for more transparent tribal government will be among the items discussed when American Indian journalists gather here. The 22nd annual convention of the Native American Journalists Association comes at a time when native journalists continue to develop and native publications are flourishing, President Mike Kellogg said. The association expects about 300 to attend the convention, Aug. 9-12, Kellogg said.” (07/28/06)

http://tinyurl.com/oj59k

“Cecelia Fire Thunder, the first female president of the Oglala tribe, was removed from office in June — five months before the end of her two-year term. Thunder ran afoul of other tribal leaders when she said the reservation would make abortions available — circumventing a new state law banning most abortions. She is challenging her removal from on procedural grounds, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. The tribe is embroiled in the politics of abortion — an issue about which the Lakota almost never speak, the newspaper said.” (07/31/06)

http://tinyurl.com/onnof

“The 68-year-old Canadian tribal chief who perished in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Wednesday drowned, according to a death certificate released Friday by the Clallam County prosecuting attorney. Joseph Andrew ‘Jerry’ Jack of Gold River, British Columbia, died when the Makah canoe in which he was paddling capsized, spilling him and five others into the 54-degree water west of the Dungeness Spit north of Sequim. The canoe, named Hummingbird, was part of the 2006 Inter-Tribal Canoe Journey. Jack was a hereditary chief of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht tribe in Gold River.” (07/30/06)

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/261988

“Kenyan police have evicted more than 3,000 people who have been squatting on forest land in Rift Valley province. Police and forest officials reportedly destroyed more than 100 squatters’ homes in the Kipkurere forest area. The operation followed a series of meetings between local officials, some of whom accused the squatters of causing environmental damage. The squatters say they had long appealed to the Kenyan authorities to resettle them elsewhere. … The forest area is the subject of long-running dispute between the Ogiek people, who claim the forest as their ancestral land, and other communities who have settled in the area more recently.” (03/24/06)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4841486.stm

“Canada’s province of British Columbia has announced plans to protect a huge swathe of Pacific Coast rainforest, known as the Amazon of the North. The forest is home to a rare white bear species and is the ancestral land of several indigenous Canadian tribes. The deal will save a vast area of forest for wildlife, while allowing sustainable logging in other parts. The settlement between tribes, loggers and environmentalists is being hailed as an example for other countries. … Local aboriginal groups have given their backing to the agreement. They have been fighting for a much greater say in land use around their traditional territories for decades.” (02/08/06)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4692038.stm

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http://www.urlgoeshere.com

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