On June 15, President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to appoint a high-level White House advisor on Indian affairs. Obama announced his selection of Kimberly Teehee for the newly created position of senior policy advisor for Native American Affair in videotaped remarks during the conference of the National Congress of American Indians, which took place [...]

Indian Country Today reports that a complaint filed against the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which alleges violations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, is under investigation and will be heard at a NAGPRA Review Committee meeting in the fall. The Tribal Historic Preservation Officers Cheryl Andrews-Maltais of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay [...]

Now that two people charged in federal court with stealing archaeological resources from federal lands in Utah have apparently committed suicide, questions are being asked whether the long tradition in some areas of people looking for “Indian trinkets” is really a serious crime. Utah’s two U.S. senators have called for an investigation about how the [...]

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on June 20, 2009 that a second defendant in the federal crackdown on archaeological looting in southern Utah has killed himself. Steven Shrader, who faced two felonies in the antiquities case, shot himself twice in the chest late Thursday or early Friday in the village of Shabbona, Illinois. Shrader, a [...]

Throughout history, American Indian cultures handled criminal matters in widely diverse ways and, of course, did not practice Anglo-American style incarceration. In the modern era, tribal governments are also seeking alternative methods for dealing with criminal issues. For example, the American Indian Justice Conference was held this week on the Southern Ute Reservation in Colorado. [...]

With unemployment rates reaching 80-90% on some reservations in remote and rural areas of the United States, any kind of economic development is a great boon to the reservation community. One example are the small gaming/casino operations of many tribes in North and South Dakota. Due to the small populations and tourist travel in those [...]

It’s reported that the Seminole Tribe of Florida probably will not approve the terms of a Class III gaming compact proposed by state lawmakers, the tribe’s attorney said. The tribe is concerned about the increased revenue-sharing rate the state is demanding in the new deal, attorney Barry Richard said. Also, the compact’s lack of a [...]

Native leaders and former students of residential schools gathered across Canada to mark the one-year anniversary of the government’s official apology. As part of a $1.9 billion settlement, the government apologied for taking Native children from their communities and forcing them to attend boarding schools where many students suffered emotional, physical, mental and sexual abuse. [...]

Navajo Nation officials say they could be forced to lay off 65 people due to proposed budget cuts. The executive branch could lose 40 people and the judicial branch could lose 25 people, officials said. “I plea with you that we not do that — that we not subject employees to that trauma,” Chief Justice [...]

The U.S. State Department is being asked to mediate a dispute between Mohawks and the Canadian government. Mohawks in the United States and Canada oppose the arming of guards on the Canadian side of the border. Protests led Canada’s Customs and Border Service Agency to abandon the crossing station, resulting in the closure of the [...]