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Minnesota Native News continues its reporting on legislative , tribal and agency efforts to help women victimized by the sex trade.
This week on Minnesota Native News, we’re showcasing Isabella Callery, the Minnesota High School senior who recently won a national poetry recitation competition, Poetry Out Loud. She talks about the experience, shows off her poetry skills, and explains the importance of her connections to indigenous poets.
That’s Isabella Callery at the Poetry Out Loud national competition, held in early May in Washington D.C. She was reciting Charles Lamb’s “Thoughtless Cruelty”, one of three poems she performed in the competition.
Callery, a senior at Arcadia Charter School in Northfield, Minnesota, made it to nationals for the first time this year. But she’s made it to the state finals every year since she was a freshman. And it’s a pretty big deal.
(07:47)
CALLERY:“From the state competition, they’ll choose one person that will go on to nationals. And so nationals, there's 53 people, one from each of the 50 states and then Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and district of Columbia. And we performed there and they lower us to nine and then to the top three.”
It’s a poetry recitation competition that requires weeks of memorization.. and a compelling performance.
Speaker 1: (09:55)
CALLERY: I think if it lets them acting and more of just like how can I take this meaning and convey that the best I can with my face, body and inflection
This year, more so than other years, she says she had deeper relationship with her poems. Of the three poems she featured for her recitations, two are from indigenous poets.
(03:56)
CALLERY: I was able to find two women, native artists that I really connected to like their words and their story and the things they were saying. Um, so those poems, I just had a really deep connection to the first time reading them.
Callery, who is anishinabe of White Earth, says she wasn’t raised with indigenous culture growing up, but is now reclaiming her native heritage. These poems have helped her in her process.
Here she is..
(04:20)
CALLERY: so the first poem is perhaps the world ends here by Joy Harjo and it's about how life centers around the kitchen table, how we give birth by the table and we prepare parents for burial there. And we eat there, we gossip there, we just sit with our family and like all these things that does revolve around the kitchen table. And I feel like that's very true. And then the second poem is a really long title. It's called ABC dairy. And requiring further examination of Anglican Sarah fem subjugation of a wild Indian reservation by Natalie Diaz. Um, and, uh, that poem is a really beautifully written poem I connected with at the most. Um, it's about how do you as a native person tried to forgive Christianity and the live with the things that you can still see Christianity doing to our culture. Um, and the ways that it's pushing us back and like reinforcing the fact that native people aren't equal in that way. And I feel like that's a conversation I've had with myself a lot of times. So that was just a really important poem to me.
Isabella Callery very graciously recited part of that last poem.
(06:44)
CALLERY: Like I said, no Indian I've ever heard of has ever been or seen an angel maybe in a Christmas pageant or something. Nazarene church holds one every December organized by pastor John's wife. It's no wonder pastor John's son is the angel. Everyone knows angels are white.
As for the first poem we heard her reciting, she said one had to be pre-20th century.
(08:52)
CALLERY: So Charles Lamb was my pre 20th century author and that poem is just about not killing bugs. It's the whole thing about it. I'm like, this sounds like it's just like, oh. So I would just really like, I don't kill any bugs. I'm a total wimp. I don't even come mosquitoes. Um, so I think that palm just fun for me to do and to think about and it kind of has that same my thing of that same idea of just respecting the earth and respecting animals as being equal.
But let’s get back to the contest!
[SOUND OF CALLERY WINNING, Kinda long… pretty good celebration sound]
Callery talks about the moment she learned she’s a national champion.
(10:17)
CALLERY: I had a total anxiety shutdown and just kind of got on stage and shutdown. So that's what, that's what happens when we see pictures of you up there. It's, you shut it down completely. Yeah. I like donate for, I don't really remember it. I like blacked out.
As for what the the future holds for Isabella Callery, well, that $20,000 grand prize is going toward her college in Wisconsin.
(12:51)
CALLERY: So I'm going to Beloit this fall and I'm planning on doing something with sociology, psychology, public health. I've been doing social work for a long time now, so I want to continue doing that cause that's what I really like doing. And why is that? Um, I think it's just like being able to connect with people who are going through really hard times and like having people who have connected with me at really hard times and just knowing like how helpful that is and how life changing it can be.
A while her focus in college education isn’t spoken word or poetry, it remains a big part of her life. She plans on getting more into that community.
(14:05)
CALLERY: I just think that you have to find something you can connect to no matter what it is and that finding people who have a similar background to you and like understand your way of thinking and going about the world is super important no matter how you find that. And for me it was her poetry, but it can be through art or any other kind of thing in the entire world.
Callery also runs her own native beading business, BellasBeading, on Instagram.
I’m Cole Premo.
It’s American Indian Month in Minnesota! This week on Minnesota Native News we take you to the kick off event in Minneapolis and we hear about the Leech Lake Band’s efforts to overhaul their tribal education system.
This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock
STORY #1 - LEECH LAKE ED (1:10)
HOST (Marie) : The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is in the final stages of overhauling its tribal education programs. Reporter Kayla Duoos from Leech Lake News tells us more.
REPORTER: Young people often feel they need to leave the reservation to be successful in school and to find good jobs.
Leaders within the Band are working to change that.
HARPER: Aaniin I’m Laurie Harper and I’m the tribal education director for the leech lake band of Ojibwe. We are currently in the process of developing a tribal education code that will allow us to re-establish our sovereignty in education.
REPORTER: Laurie Harper is making changes across the band’s 18 programs including K through12, post secondary, alternative learning and job training.
She wants to keep young Leech Lakers at home with good education options that lead to good jobs.
HARPER: Instead of educating our tribal members to seek work elsewhere I really believe that bringing our tribal members back home will help us to rebuild our tribal nation and tribal structure.
Harper has been working to revamp the education system since 2016.
Band members will have several chances over the next few months to offer their input at public forums on the future direction of the education department.
I’m Kayla Duoos with DeBahJiMon for Minnesota Native News.
STORY #2 - INDIAN MONTH (WAY TOO LONG - PLEASE SUGGEST CUTS)
On May 1st more than two hundred Native folks and others gathered in Little Earth to kick off the 50th annual American Indian month.
Reporter Melissa Townsend was at the kick off event on May 1st and she shares some of the news from that morning.
SPEAKER: Welcome, we love that you’re here, yea! [cheers] (:09)
Before the parade, everybody gathers here, in the park at Little Earth of United Tribes Housing complex.
Nolan Bergland is here with a few friends. He is Northern Cheyanne and Oglala Lakota.
NOLAN BERGLAND: I’m excited to be here today particularly because we don’t have many opportunities to get together as a community and to be able to hug my relatives , visit with people that i recognized, it just feels really good. Chante Washte, makes me feel good in my heart.
I hear this from a number of people — folks are happy to be together to celebrate.
The gathering kicks off with a prayer, a song and a short line-up of speakers.
White Earth tribal citizen and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan addresses the crowd.
She reads an official statement declaring May as American Indian month across the state.
FLANAGAN: …the land now known as the state of Minnesota is the home of American Indian people that have occupied this land since time immemorial… (:10)
It’s a pretty long proclamation — let’s skip to the end…
FLANAGAN: Therefore I, Tim Walz, I’m not Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2019 as American Indian month in the state of Minnesota. [cheers] (:15)
In her speech Flanagan says she is disturbed by recent news concerning Bde Maka Ska and Bdote.
In case you missed it, a Minnesota Court recently ruled that the state did not have the authority to reclaim the Dakota name Bde Maka Ska for a Minneapolis lake also known as Lake Calhoun.
Since then the Minnesota state Department of Natural Resources says it will appeal that decision.
Also in the last two weeks, the Republican controlled Minnesota state Senate passed a bill cutting the budget of the Minnesota Historical Society. Why? Because it has signs on the property acknowledge Fort Snelling is also known as Bdote — the Dakota sacred site where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers meet.
I asked some folks in the crowd how they feel about this recent news.
This is Shelly Diaz. She is from Mille Lacs.
SHELLY DIAS FROM MILLE LACS: It’s going to be like the confederate statues that are coming down. It’s contention. We have to teach people the truth and one we reconcile that, we can move forward together. (:16)
Jewell Arcoren agrees. She is Dakota.
ARCOREN: Bde Maka Ska - I think that Minnesota needs to look at their own parallel trauma that they carry, it’s a perpetrators trauma, I’ll say that. (:17)
None of this news seems to dampen anyone’s celebration. Afterall the theme of this year’s Indian month is We are still here!
Here’s Jewel Arcoran again:
ARCORAN: As I was riding in with my granddaugther and dropped her off at Bdote Learning Center today, I was telling her that this was an occasion to celebrate that we are still here. For sure. (:12)?
So on this chilly, rainy morning, — the crowd starts down their parade route with banners, dancers, and drum groups and floats on trucks.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
A food sovereignty initiative… grounded in community… strives to increase both food independence… and accessibility to Native foods.
Leah: Next, I talk with leaders of Ogema Organics. I met JoDan Rousu and Bridget Guiza at the 16th Annual Indigenous Farming Conference in Callaway, MN.
JoDan Rousu: Ogema Organics. We founded it in 2016. What Ogema organics is, is a food sovereignty initiative for White Earth Yeah.
Leah: JoDan Rousu is the COO and founder of Ogema Organics which is working to create food sovereignty and access to more local fresh food.
JoDan Rousu: Food is medicine. It was traditionally during our feasts and celebrations when, when it's time to feast the, the younger people would dish up the elders and bring them a plate.
The youth are watching us. If they see us bringing a plate to the elders, they learn that, but they're watching what we put on the plate.
Leah: Community is the foundation of the organization’s operation. Bridget Guiza is the CEO of Ogema Organics.
Bridget Guiza: We've also intentionally been transparent with the community about our approach and our intentions and the vision that created it. But it's guided by the community. And so we do meet up informally and formally with various community members and just mentioned what we're doing and get their feedback in that way.
That's one thing I want to be very clear about is that yeah, we're Ogema organics, but it's much bigger than that.
Leah: For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.
Coming up, Twin Cities Native Lacrosse is recruiting new players and getting the word out about the sport.
Leah: 2019 marks the fifth year of existence for Twin Cities Native Lacrosse.
John Hunter: Twin Cities Native Lacrosse is an organization that promotes healthy wellbeing to native families through this sport of Lacrosse.
Leah: John Hunter is the founder and director of the lacrosse club.
John Hunter: It was a gift from creator. And the responsibility that comes with that game has been carried on and passed on through hundreds of years. Each tribe has its own origin stories and um, specific protocols and meanings to the game.
The essence of and the honor value of the game, that's the shared by all and it's been passed on teen care for so long is that this is a game that's meant to bring, uh, the community, the, the nations together. It's meant to be rigorous and, and inspiring and it's meant to heal.
Leah: While in high school, a mentor encouraged John to start a team, and with help from friends, he did. And he continued to play in college.
Then in 2014… John heard about a grant opportunity through the Tiwahe Foundation, so with guidance from community members and elders … John applied for and received a grant to start a Lacrosse team.
John Hunter: I bought a, I think 20 sticks and made some goalposts and got two friends to help coach. And we set out just through Facebook and social media and ask the community to come and check out the game. And, uh, and that's how we got started.
Leah: Now,… John wants to encourage youth, families and community members to get involved. With the emphasis that everyone is welcome and that there is a place for all.
There are lots of opportunities, including skills clinics, community games, and more.
John Hunter: We're doing tons of traditional hands in May we also have some things coming up in the summer, some possible tournaments. And then in fall, fall season is our big season for some modern stick youth leagues for boys and girls. So that starts right after the August, beginning of September.
We're also also looking for folks that may be interested in participating in North American indigenous games. Um, next summer. That's the summer of 2020. That is in Canada. We are starting to talk about possibly how we can get a team to represent the state of Minnesota, those games.
Leah: Twin Cities Native Lacrosse can be found on Facebook and is available by email tc.native.lacrosse@gmail.com.
Coming up, Twin Cities Native Lacrosse is recruiting new players and getting the word out about the sport.
And, a food sovereignty initiative, grounded in community, strives to increase both food independence… and accessibility to Native foods.
Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.
Headlines: Coming up, Twin Cities Native Lacrosse is recruiting new players and getting the word out about the sport.
And, a food sovereignty initiative… grounded in community… strives to increase both food independence… and accessibility to Native foods.
Here’s Leah Lemm with these stories.
STORY #1 - TWIN CITIES NATIVE LACROSSE
Leah: 2019 marks the fifth year of existence for Twin Cities Native Lacrosse.
John Hunter: Twin Cities Native Lacrosse is an organization that promotes healthy wellbeing to native families through this sport of Lacrosse.
Leah: John Hunter is the founder and director of the lacrosse club.
John Hunter: It was a gift from creator. And the responsibility that comes with that game has been carried on and passed on through hundreds of years. Each tribe has its own origin stories and um, specific protocols and meanings to the game.
The essence of and the honor value of the game, that's the shared by all and it's been passed on teen care for so long is that this is a game that's meant to bring, uh, the community, the, the nations together. It's meant to be rigorous and, and inspiring and it's meant to heal.
Leah: While in high school, a mentor encouraged John to start a team, and with help from friends, he did. And he continued to play in college.
Then in 2014… John heard about a grant opportunity through the Tiwahe Foundation, so with guidance from community members and elders … John applied for and received a grant to start a Lacrosse team.
John Hunter: I bought a, I think 20 sticks and made some goalposts and got two friends to help coach. And we set out just through Facebook and social media and ask the community to come and check out the game. And, uh, and that's how we got started.
Leah: Now,… John wants to encourage youth, families and community members to get involved. With the emphasis that everyone is welcome and that there is a place for all.
There are lots of opportunities, including skills clinics, community games, and more.
John Hunter: We're doing tons of traditional hands in May we also have some things coming up in the summer, some possible tournaments. And then in fall, fall season is our big season for some modern stick youth leagues for boys and girls. So that starts right after the August, beginning of September.
We're also also looking for folks that may be interested in participating in North American indigenous games. Um, next summer. That's the summer of 2020. That is in Canada. We are starting to talk about possibly how we can get a team to represent the state of Minnesota, those games.
Leah: Twin Cities Native Lacrosse can be found on Facebook and is available by email tc.native.lacrosse@gmail.com.
STORY #2 - OGEMA ORGANICS
Leah: Next, I talk with leaders of Ogema Organics. I met JoDan Rousu and Bridget Guiza at the 16th Annual Indigenous Farming Conference in Callaway, MN.
JoDan Rousu: Ogema Organics. We founded it in 2017 2016. What Ogema organics is, is a food sovereignty initiative for White Earth Yeah.
Leah: JoDan Rousu is the COO and founder of Ogema Organics which is working to create food sovereignty and access to more local fresh food.
JoDan Rousu: Food is medicine. It was traditionally during our feasts and celebrations when, when it's time to feast the, the younger people would dish up the elders and bring them a plate.
The youth are watching us. If they see us bringing a plate to the elders, they learn that, but they're watching what we put on the plate.
Leah: Community is the foundation of the organization’s operation. Bridget Guiza is the CEO of Ogema Organics.
Bridget Guiza: We've also intentionally been transparent with the community about our approach and our intentions and the vision that created it. But it's guided by the community. And so we do meet up informally and formally with various community members and just mentioned what we're doing and get their feedback in that way.
That's one thing I want to be very clear about is that yeah, we're Ogema organics, but it's much bigger than that.
Leah: For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.
This week on Minnesota Native News, a new team is in place to help tribal members heal from addictions and the Indigenous Students Association at Augsburg University host a pow wow how-to.
HEADLINES: This week on Minnesota Native News, a new team is in place to help tribal members heal from addictions and the Indigenous Students Association at Augsburg University host a pow wow how-to.
STORY #1 - American Indian Resource and Resiliency Team (2:35)
The Mille Lacs and Boise Forte Bands have a new partner in helping tribal members heal from opioid addiction.
It’s called the American Indian Resource and Resiliency Team.
Reporter Melissa Townsend talked the leaders on the team about their unique work in Indian country.
Breanna Michels, Susan Beaulieu, and Jennifer Garbow are passionate about their work helping people heal from addiction.
Their job is to work with the Mille Lacs and Bois Forte Bands on programs that support healing from addiction - for individuals, families and whole communities.
Susan Beaulieu is from Red Lake. And she says it’s personal.
BEAULIEU: I’m not unusual. A lot of us in our communities who have relatives that struggle with addictions, trying to cope with hurt and pain and trauma. Seeing it first hand, it’s a really good reminder of the importance of this work and a good reminder that we can’t help others if we are coming from a place of emptiness ourselves or a bunch of hurt and pain ourselves. (:23)
They see addiction as a way of coping with unacknowledged loss, grief and incomplete relationships.
And they lead groups, trainings and classes to work through all of that.
Breanna Michels is from Mille Lacs. She leads a group called Mending Broken Hearts from the White Bison program.
BREANNA: I think at first people are like historical trauma doesn’t really affect me. I wasn’t put into boarding school therefore this doesn’t affect me. But when we look back at our ancestors - -how they were parented back in the day is how they know to parent. (:20)
Susan Beaulieu says it’s liberating to understand how generational trauma has impacted your life.
Susan: Because not only was the trauma passed down but so was the strength and we in this generation have the ability to create new experiences that will then shift the trajectory for the generations to come. So we really are in the place of empowerment. (:13)
Jennifer Garbow says they’ll be adding one more person to make this a powerful team of four based across Northern Minnesota’s Indian country.
Their work is funded by a federal grant shared by the University of Minnesota Extension and the College of Pharmacy.
The grant is scheduled to end in September 2020.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
STORY #2 - AUGSBURG POW WOW (1:53)
The Augsburg Indigenous Students Association held its 11th annual spring pow wow on March 30th in Minneapolis.
The event is geared for Augsburg University students and the larger community.
Just a few days before the event, the Augsburg Indigenous Student Association held a Pow Wow Etiquette class for non-Natives.
Again, Melissa Townsend has the details.
This pow wow etiquette class was the first of its kind at Augsburg.
But student Arianna Antone -Remirez says that’s how they do it back home.
REMIREZ: I come from San Francisco and I help plan dancing for the youth pow wow. And this is something we always do for the broader community for those who may not know what goes on at a pow wow. (:13)
That decision to help non-Natives understand appropriate behavior was confirmed when the online news service patch.com published a story about an incident at the Denver March Pow wow in Colorado.
It featured a video of a white woman taking a bussle and dancing around with it. It wasn’t hers and she did not have permission. Someone took the bussle away from her. And she was escorted out of the pow wow.
Augsburg student Christopher Oquist-LeGarde says that video had an impact.
OQUIST-LEGARDE: The beginning of planning this event it definitely was about trying to tell people this is what you’ll be seeing, this is the kind of experiences you’ll be having. But then when we did see the video at Denver March it was click - No, we should make it more about a “do” and “don’t” situation. (:18)
Arianna Antone-Remirez says the Indigenous Students Association still wanted to be welcoming and encourage non-Natives to come to the pow wow.
ANTONE-REMIREZ: Having the pow wow on campus is one of the ways we share with the rest of the campus community and realizing that our traditions have value. Like we knew that; our people know that. We’ve known that forever but it’s kind of getting non-Natives to realize that and see that and understand that now. (:14)
The MC of Augsburg’s 11th traditional pow wow was Jerry Deerly and the host drum was the Stone Bridge Singers from Grand Portage.
On May 5 The James Beard Foundation will present one of only five 2019 leadership awards to Minneapolis-based chef Sean Sherman. In making the award, the James Beard Foundation honored Sean Sherman’s work to revitalize indigenous foods. Part of that effort is the new non-profit, NATIFS. Laurie Stern reports.
This week on Minnesota Native News, the passing of two powerful tribal leaders leads to new elections, and urban Native leaders in Minneapolis seek to find solutions for people facing homelessness in hopes of preventing another “tent city” this summer.
HOST INTRO: This week on Minnesota Native News, the passing of two powerful tribal leaders leads to new election, and urban Native leaders in Minneapolis seek to find solutions for people facing homelessness in hopes of preventing another “tent city” this summer.
STORY #1 - ELECTION IN WE AND GP
Minnesota lost two formidable tribal leaders in the past month. Reporter Melissa Townsend tells us more.
Terry Tibbetts was the Chairman of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. He served 4 years in that roll and before that 8 years on the tribal council. He passed on March 17th.
Gary Frazer is Executive Director of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and he worked closely with Chairman Tibbetts.
GARY: It’s a new RBC over there, nobody’s got a lot of experience so Terry’s experience will be missed. And he was a real traditional leader - conferred with the elders to see what they thought before making decisions - and you don’t see a lot of those anymore. (:16)
The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa also lost their long time leader Norm Deschampe. He was the band’s Chairman for 35 years.
And over that time he and Gary Frazer became friends.
GARY: Yea, Norm and I were real close. We talked almost every day. Yea, he’d call me just to BS or what happened with his kids. He was a real big family man just like Terry was. (:10)
Both men will be missed by all of their friends, their families and their tribal members.
Both tribes have set an election schedule to choose a new Chairman - or woman - who will serve out the rest of the current terms.
In Grand Portage, the primary election is scheduled for April 29th. If no one receives more than 50% of the vote, the General Election is July 1.
In White Earth, the primary election is scheduled for June 4th. And again, if no one receives more than 50% of the vote, the General Election is planned for August 6th.
STORY #2 - SHELTER CLOSES IN MAY - WHAT'S NEXT
[audio of encampment fades under but stays]
Last summer 300 people — many Native — were living in a tent city near downtown Minneapolis. Reporter Melissa Townsend reminds us what was happening then and asks what might be different this summer.
[audio of encampment]
This tent city rose up along a wall next to a 6 lane stretch of road near downtown Minneapolis. And it shined a light on the crisis created by the shortage of culturally specific affordable housing and addiction services.
JOY: Shelters - I can’t even get them in shelters right now. (:05)
Joy Friedman was at the camp trying to help people who lived there. She’s from the Indian Women’s Resource Center.
JOY: They’re full. Domestic violence shelters? They’re full, around Minnesota - so this is not just here. (:06)
Urban Native non-profits, tribes, city and county agencies mobilized. They offered everything from showers and food to addiction treatment referrals and some limited housing options.
Robert Lillegren is head of a group of Native leaders called MUID — Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors. He describes their approach at the time.
LILLEGREN: This invisible population became visible and a lot of people care about them. And we need to get the ball rolling before they’re invisible again. (:08)
The ball did get rolling. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey committed to find shelter for every person at the camp.
FREY: Housing is a right. It should be a right for everyone and the city is moving forward in an aggressive fashion to make sure everyone is able to be delivered that right.
Eventually the Red Lake Nation offered a piece of land in south Minneapolis and the city and county built a temporary homeless shelter there. It opened in December. It’s called a Navigation center. ?It’s a shelter with support services. But it was always intended to be temporary. In fact, it’s scheduled to close this May.
So over the past few months Robert Lillegren’s group has been talking with people living at the Navigation center. So they can be part of a plan for what happens when it closes.
LILLIGREN: It’s work to engage the people most impacted, the unsheltered Native people who are living at he intersection of homelessness and addiction. And so that can influence what we do. (:13)
But Lillegren says until recently, there were no planning conversations between city, county and tribes that involved MUID leaders.
LILLEGREN: Out in the community we were getting concerned because we weren’t hearing what happens on June 1st and then what happens next year and the next decade. (:07)
So they Lillegren and his group wrote a letter asking to be involved. And it looks like they were heard.
LILLEGREN: The city and county have responded to MUID’s letter. They’ve started less formal convenings with the community and my guess is we’ll see something we can share…(:13)
Lillegren says there is a lot of public will to do something constructive but he cautions in his experience government moves slowly. And there is a chance that this summer may look a lot like last summer.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
On March 29th, the Augsburg Native American Film Series, along with director Myron Dewey, presents Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock. The film documents the events at Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline from the water protector’s perspective. Here’s Reporter Leah Lemm with the story.
This week on Minnesota Native News we get the latest on legal maneuvers to stop the Line 3 oil pipeline replacement and Sharon Day remembers the beloved Grandma Josephine Mandamin [men DAH mIn] who led the first water walk on Turtle Island.
STORY #1 — PUC
Deliberations over the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline replacement are inching forward.
Ojibwe tribes and environmental groups recently filed a petition arguing the state Public Utilities Commission or PUC needs to reverse its course.
Melissa Townsend has the details.
The petition comes from the Red Lake Nation, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Honor the Earth and the Sierra Club.
They say PUC Commissioners made legal errors when they granted Enbridge Energy Company the Certificate of Need to build the Line 3 replacement pipeline.
They argue the commissioners should have ordered a survey of culturally significant sites along each of the possible pipeline routes.
That way everyone would know which route is least disruptive to the culturally significant areas.
That didn’t happen.
They also argue PUC Commissioners did not follow Minnesota laws regarding documenting the need for more crude oil.
According to Minnesota statute, Enbridge management must demonstrate that future demand for crude oil will increase —which would be why we need a new, larger oil pipeline.
The company did not do that.
Instead, Enbridge lawyers provided an analysis of future supply.
Meaning, they forecasted how much crude oil they could be able to pull out fo the ground, but that’s not the same as how much consumers will need.
The tribes and environmental groups say they’ve seen the consumer forecasts and those reports indicate consumers will demand less crude oil —
which makes the case against a new bigger oil pipeline from Canada.
The PUC Commissioners will rule on all these arguments in the coming weeks.
STORY #2 -Josephine Mandamin Walks On (3:00)
In 2003 a small group of women walked around the whole of Lake Superior in prayer for healing the water.
That very first water walk was led by elder Josephine Mandamin.
She went on to lead over a dozen water walks and inspire countless others to do the same.
On Friday February 22 Josephine Mandamin passed away.
Melissa Townsend talked about Josephine with her friend Sharon Day.
In 1998, Sharon and Josephine were part of the same Mde lodge near Bad River Wisconsin.
SHARON: And the chief of our lodge Bawdwayadun - he said to us, what will you do for the water. (:04)
That spurred Josephine to make a plan to walk around Lake Superior in prayer.
The idea is that each step you walk is a prayer of gratitude and healing for the water.
SHARON: The walks are never to oppose anything. They are always to move forward with love for the water. (:07)
Sharon Day was inspired by Josephine Mandamin and has led a dozen of her own Nibi walks.
SHARON: You know she has impacted my life in so many ways… (:03)
Josephine Mandamin’s last water walk in 2017 retraced the Ojibwe migration from east coast to the midwest.
It was nearly 2000 miles and it lasted 97 days.
Right around the day that walk ended, Sharon began her own walk following the Missouri River. She started out west in Montana.
SHARON: So here we are, we’d been out for 4 or 5 days and that morning a car pulled up behind us and I got out to greet them. And I could not believe it. It was Josephine and this young man Edward. I was so overwhelmed by seeing her because they had just finished this 97 day walk. And here they were you know like, in Montana. And I said to her - like you know, what are you doing here? And she looked at me and smiled and she said - I came to support you. And you know — that - is - love. … yea. (:49)
Now that she’s gone, many will feel the loss but Sharon says they will continue with their work for the water.
For more information about Josephine Mandamin you can find videos on youtube by film maker Jeff Bear.
And there’s a children’s book about her called The Water Walker written by Joanne Robertson.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
