Category: Munsee

MUNSEE-DELAWARE FIRST NATION, ONT. — “I’ve heard some very tragic stories and I’ve seen the impacts of those experiences with these people. Abuse, neglect, malnutrition, slave labour,” says Chief Mark Peters of Munsee-Delaware First Nation.

Many First Nations communities across Canada grieve as the country continues to discover mass unmarked grave sites.

The most recent, was found near Cowessess First Nation in southern Saskatchewan where roughly 751 sites were discovered.

“It’s not surprising that people don’t know. To an extent, if we hadn’t experienced and known our own people’s experiences here, we wouldn’t have known either,” says Peters.

Every Child Matters shirt seen here on June 25, 2021. (Jaden Lee-Lincoln/CTV London)

Nearby, the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation is also feeling the emotional effects of recent discoveries, telling CTV News London in a statement, “Our hearts are heavy with sorrow today. More weight has been added to the collective grief felt by Indigenous people.”

Both First Nations communities are calling on the government for resources to help bring them closure.

“We demand that the Canadian government and the Catholic Church respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 71 to 76 and to hand over all documents and records from these institutions which have been withheld from us and greatly hinder our ability to identify and repatriate the remains of our loved ones,” the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation said in a statement.

Mount Elgin Residential School in Muncey, Ont. seen here in this undated photo. (Jaden Lee-Lincoln/CTV London)

The community plans to conduct their own investigations to uncover unmarked grave sites on the grounds of the former Mount Elgin Residential School, which didn’t…

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The Coxsackie-Athens Board of Education and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community closed the book on a chapter in local history last week. With sports teams from Washington in the NFL to Cleveland in Major League Baseball and many smaller ones in between doing away with offensive images, Coxsackie-Athens voted 6-3 to retire the Indians as its mascot and logo.

The decision did not come easy. It was preceded by months of meetings, a public forum, surveys and two conversations with a representative of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, the indigenous peoples who once lived on lands where the school district is now located. The process, which sometimes took on the appearance of negotiations among school board members, the public for and against the idea and a Native American nation, drew criticism from both sides of the issue. Supporters of eliminating the mascot said it is derogatory to indigenous people; opponents claimed the mascot is a part of the district’s heritage and is intended to be perceived as a positive symbol of strength and determination.

If the school district lost a mascot, it gained something stronger — a more profound education. Coxsackie-Athens will add components to the curriculum to teach students about the history and culture of the indigenous peoples who once lived in the area.

Although the district was evenly divided on the issue, supporters of retiring the mascot stayed on point. Board of Education President Michael Donahue said the Indians mascot can be hurtful to some people even if others don’t perceive it that way.

“We need to recognize that this hurts some people,” Donahue said. “I think one of the folks that wrote in to us said, ‘Remember what we teach our kids — if it hurts, stop it.’ I believe that this hurts some people even if there are folks that don’t believe it is…

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COXSACKIE — The board of education voted by a 6-3 margin Thursday to retire the district’s mascot and team name, the Indians.

The decision comes after months of meetings, a public forum, surveys and two conversations with a representative of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, the indigenous peoples who once lived on lands where the school district is now located.

The process drew criticism on both sides of the issue, with supporters of eliminating the mascot saying it is derogatory to indigenous people and opponents claiming the mascot is a part of the district’s heritage and is intended to be perceived as a positive symbol of strength and determination.

Coxsackie-Athens Board of Education member David Taylor introduced a motion to retire the mascot.

“Given everything that we heard and talked about, I want to put a motion on the table to officially retire the mascot and build a community program,” Taylor said.

In addition to eliminating the mascot, the district will add components to the curriculum to teach students about the history and culture of the indigenous peoples who once lived in the area.

The motion drew debate from both sides.

“We are very divided on the mascot issue at this point. Both sides are evenly divided,” board of education member Barton Wallace said to open the discussion. “I would ask a little more patience as we go through this process. First of all, I think we need to bring both sides together on this a little more. The messaging on the mascot issue still needs to be increased and worked on to bring both sides together to find common ground.”

Wallace said he was not comfortable “dismissing” a large group of people who were opposed to retiring the mascot.

“I can certainly transition to another mascot, but I think we need more discussion and more work on bringing both sides…

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By McKinley Leonard-Scott

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

CHIPPEWAS/ONEIDA/MUNSEE – Following the uncovering of evidence suggesting a mass grave site at a former Kamloops residential school, local first nations communities are reacting to the discovery, mourning the 215 children who were lost and now found, and putting some thought into the further investigation of local residential school sites. It’s a process that won’t happen quickly, and will take into consideration the emotional and psychological impacts of what could be uncovered.

Chippewas of the Thames First Nation Chief Jacqueline French

“We’re in the very preliminary stages; we need to consult with our community as well as discuss with other First Nations communities, because some children from outside of Chippewas attended the school here, too,” explained Chief Jacqueline French.

Mount Elgin Residential School stood on Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and operated from 1851 until 1946, and then later as a day school after 1967. Historical records paint a grim picture of the student experience – students have spoken of poor medical treatment, malnutrition, physical abuse, and long hours of physical labour on the school’s farm. Of course, the lived experience of residential school survivors varies on an individual basis; for some still on the healing journey, dialogue about residential schools can re-ignite pain and trauma. Hence, the careful approach that the First Nation will take.

“We need to be prepared for what we may face,” added French.

“I think the initial reaction would be to want to find out,” said Chief Adrian Chrisjohn of Oneida Nation. He echoed the caution expressed by Chief French, and reminded that “people need time to heal.”

“It’s disbelief, that something like that could have gone undocumented for so long. The possibility that there could be more is very concerning,” said…

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CHIPPEWAS/ONEIDA/MUNSEE – Following the uncovering of evidence suggesting a mass grave site at a former Kamloops residential school, local first nations communities are reacting to the discovery, mourning the 215 children who were lost and now found, and putting some thought into the further investigation of local residential school sites. It’s a process that won’t happen quickly, and will take into consideration the emotional and psychological impacts of what could be uncovered.

“We’re in the very preliminary stages; we need to consult with our community as well as discuss with other First Nations communities, because some children from outside of Chippewas attended the school here, too,” explained Chief Jacqueline French.

Mount Elgin Residential School stood on Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and operated from 1851 until 1946, and then later as a day school after 1967. Historical records paint a grim picture of the student experience – students have spoken of poor medical treatment, malnutrition, physical abuse, and long hours of physical labour on the school’s farm. Of course, the lived experience of residential school survivors varies on an individual basis; for some still on the healing journey, dialogue about residential schools can re-ignite pain and trauma. Hence, the careful approach that the First Nation will take.

“We need to be prepared for what we may face,” added French.

“I think the initial reaction would be to want to find out,” said Chief Adrian Chrisjohn of Oneida Nation. He echoed the caution expressed by Chief French, and reminded that “people need time to heal.”

“It’s disbelief, that something like that could have gone undocumented for so long. The possibility that there could be more is very concerning,” said Chief Mark Peters of Munsee-Delaware Nation when asked about the Kamloops discovery. He said he’d…

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Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the White House is making available $1 billion in funding for Tribal Nations to fortify their broadband infrastructure. 

What You Need To Know

• The White House on Thursday released $1 billion to fund broadband-fortifying projects for Tribal Nations
• The funds were included in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package enacted in late December of last year
• Vice President Kamala Harris said the investment is only a “down payment” for rebuilding broadband services
• Harris also called on Congress to pass the American Jobs Plan, which includes a planned $100 billion investment in broadband

The funds were included in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package enacted in late December of last year, and indigenous communities can now apply for specific grants to cover various broadband-related projects. 

Harris was joined by Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin and treasurer for the National Congress of American Indians, for Thursday’s announcement. Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo and Interior secretary Deb Haaland, herself a member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, also joined the event. 

Holsey spoke first, touching on the “widespread patches of absolutely no connectivity” to broadband across many indigenous communities, saying the lack of access “creates even more vulnerability.” 

“Expanding broadband access would transform native communities, promote economic development, and empower Tribal Nation governments to provide critical services, including health care, education, public safety and emergency services,” Holsey said.  

Harris agreed, saying access to broadband is critical as it is “fundamentally how we create good jobs and economic opportunity.”

The grants can be used for projects ranging from laying down fiber optic cables, digital literacy programs, distance learning, broadband adoption activities and more. 

Still, Harris stressed that both the funds released Thursday —…

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(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Tuesday’s “New Amsterdam.”)

“New Amsterdam” gave Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) yet another impossible problem to solve with this week’s episode of the NBC medical drama, which saw Max and the staff grapple with the historic name of the New York City hospital and the brutal past that the New Amsterdam moniker conjures up for a Native American patient of Lenape descent.

TheWrap spoke with “New Amsterdam” staff writer Shanthi Sekaran about what she and showrunner David Schulner were trying to explore with the episode, which features Tantoo Cardinal (“Stumptown,” “Dances With Wolves”) playing professor Jane Munsee, a Native American woman who has a large blood clot in her leg but refuses treatment at New Amsterdam because of what its name represents to her as a Native woman whose people lost their land to the Dutch colonizers who renamed it New Amsterdam.

See our Q&A with Sekaran below about Max’s efforts to right the wrongs made against Jane’s people by trying to change New Amsterdam’s name — and that special moment he shared with Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman) at the end of the episode.

Where did the idea for this story about a Native American professor who refuses medical treatment at New Amsterdam because of its name come from?

We knew, [showrunner] David Schulner and I, we knew that we wanted to explore something having to do with Native American health, and our first thought was to go with something we’d been reading about, the Diné tribe, out west, also known as the Navajo tribe. But that didn’t make sense for a New York setting, because there is no reasonable reason that Diné people would come from out west to…

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