Christine Graef

Canoes vs. Coal Ships: Climate Warriors Blockade World’s Largest Coal Port

In a flotilla organized to protest the causes of climate change and raise awareness of the effects, leaders from 12 Pacific Island nations set their canoes in Australian waters to tell the world: “We are not drowning. We are fighting.”

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
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NEWCASTLE, Australia --- Thirty community leaders from 12 Pacific Island nations set down their handmade, traditional canoes in Australian waters on Friday and paddled out to the mouth of the world’s largest coal port to stop coal exports for one day. As one protester’s sign put it: “Coal is not good for humanity.” The Pacific Climate

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Global Warming, Big Ag, US Military Standing In Way Of Native Food Sovereignty

Native people from coast to coast are struggling to maintain their ties to foods that have sustained them for generations. Global warming, Big Ag and even the U.S. military are all standing in the way of food sovereignty.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Food And Farm-Wild Rice

OTTAWA, Ontario --- Annie Alowa was a Yup’ik woman, born in 1924 on St. Lawrence Island, west of mainland Alaska, surrounded by the Bering Sea. Just 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle, it is miles away from any industry or agriculture, but the Yup’ik people have thrived here for generations, sustained by greens, berries, fish and marine

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Nebraska’s Cowboys And Indians Unite Against Keystone XL Pipeline

The U.S. government must consult with tribes on any issue that might affect them, but tribes say the government has failed to do so in regards to the path of the Keystone XL pipeline — a project that carries massive environmental and social concerns.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
pipeline

LINCOLN, Nebraska --- Thousands of people are expected to rally at the Harvest the Hope concert on a farm near Neligh, Nebraska, on Sept. 27. Headlined by Neil Young and Willie Nelson, proceeds from the sold out show will benefit the Indigenous Environmental Network, Bold Nebraska and the Cowboy & Indian Alliance -- groups that have united in

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Indian Country Grapples With Health Funding Shortfalls, Non-Payment

Slowly but surely, tribal governments — especially those in Alaska — are receiving millions of dollars in decades of unpaid contract costs from the Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Native Americans

WASHINGTON --- Tribal health programs working to serve native people are not seeing funding of administrative costs keeping pace with need, and the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs owe millions to tribal governments. “The federal government has broken too many promises with tribes and though we have more work to do, I am

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California Counties Push Back On Proposal To Ease Federal Indian Recognition Process

A proposed new rule would make it easier for tribes to gain federal recognition, but some California counties — notably, Napa and Sonoma — oppose the change, saying it’s the first step toward casinos and other unwanted developments.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Sage

WASHINGTON --- The U.S. Department of the Interior has encountered opposition to its proposed revision to the regulations governing the process for tribes to gain federal recognition -- a revision that is expected to make that process easier. “It’s causing some alarm at the local government level in California,” Napa County Counsel Minh Tran

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NY Tribes In Decades-long Battle With Gov. Cuomo, Lawyers For Rights To Their Land

In land negotiations in New York state, a retired American Indian Studies professor says: “Governor Cuomo and his supporters not only ignore the past, they wish to exterminate it, erasing the historical realities which have shaped the Empire State.”

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
American Indians; indigenous people

ALBANY, New York --- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a preliminary agreement with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe (SRMT), St. Lawrence County and the New York Power Authority on May 28 that could end three decades of litigation over land illegally taken from the Mohawk of Akwesasne Natives. In response to the land claim first filed in federal

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Native American Women Finally Seeing Protections They Need

After decades of grassroots advocacy and calls to action, the Violence Against Women Act is putting justice back in the hands of tribal authorities in cases of abuse and violence against Native American women.

Christine Graef
By Christine Graef
Manjoo

WASHINGTON --- In March 2013, following nearly two decades of grassroots work and advocate work, President Barack Obama signed a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that offers expanded protections for Native American women. The reauthorized act extends tribal jurisdiction to non-Native Americans who commit acts of violence or

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