Thirteen-year-old Joe Parizeau is this year’s Arlee Celebration Young Warrior, a long title with heavy responsibilities - he is honor-bound to keep dancing, to represent himself with dignity, to make progress on his Native language skills, to be a good student, and to be drug- and alcohol-free.

But if those obligations feel burdensome, you’d never know it from talking with Parizeau.

As he says in this story, when he steps into the dance arena, “it brings out my heart and lets me be free.”

He was among more than 300 dancers participating in this weekend’s Arlee Celebration at the foot of Montana’s Mission Mountains on the Flathead Indian Reservation. He also was celebrated as the powwow’s best-dressed, and the photo shows why.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news

This apparently wasn’t supposed to be announced until Monday, but Tiger Woods will play next month at Turning Stone (N.Y.) Resort & Casinos Atunyote Golf Course, in Notah Begay’s tournament that raises money for golf and soccer programs for Native
youth, according to numerous sources. Here is one account.

Begay is the only Native player on the PGA Tour, and the Foundation Challenge, in which Woods will play, is Begay’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Mark your calendars.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Indian, buffalo post, Native American news

Yesterday, the first a group of people took the first legal float through the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers in more than 120 years.

The float, on a picture-perfect summer day, celebrated last year’s removal of the Milltown Dam and the ongoing effort to restore the rivers, as closely as possible, to their natural state.

“I think the river wants to renew and heal itself,” said Germaine White, information and education specialist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. White, who was on one of two rafts to make the trip, added, “I feel I’m walking in the footsteps of my ancestors.”

Those ancestors called the confluence “N’ayccm” or Place of the Big Bull Trout. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, riding in a raft with CSKT Chairman James Steele Jr., caught a trout at that very spot on the trip It was a cutthroat, not a bull trout. No word on how Steele, who also fished as he floated, fared. Still, the fishing was beside the point.

“It’s really awesome and a great honor to float past where the dam was enjoy something my people haven’t been able to enjoy since the 1880s,” Steele said.

Read more about the trip here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news

Even last week, the reports from Peru – where indigenous people blockaded their lands against developers – were encouraging. The government had repealed regulations designed to lead to developers’ takeover of those lands. But now, according to this Indian Country Today story, Native leaders are in exile and Peruvian president Alan Garcia has termed the Shawi Tribe’s Alberto Pizango, the main Native leader, a criminal.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news

This story about double-ball says it all: The game is simple, the execution intense.

Some games feature wicket poles a mile apart! I know that’s not the case at Arlee, but still, it sure makes me glad that for me, double-ball is a spectator sport. My idea of participation is eating a Willie burger. Go get one for yourself - and take in the following events:

Friday: Grand entry, 2 p.m.; competition grand entry, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Parade, 10 a.m.; snake dance, 2 p.m.; grand entry, 7 p.m.

Sunday: Indian Mass, 11 a.m.; grand entry, 1 p.m.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news

There’s a story on the Missoulian Web site (read it here) about how construction work on the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Piegan, Mont., has resumed after being briefly shut down by the Blackfeet tribe.

The work was halted because some of the construction firms didn’t have the proper business licenses, and it started up again after the firms had taken the necessary steps.

Pretty straightforward, right? Permits needed, permits obtained, case closed.

Except that one of our readers saw a darker theme, attributing - anonymously of course - the incident to the tribe’s “racist ways.” The comment disappeared when we updated the story. But somewhere out there, the attitude remains.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news, racism

While the first two years of a one-day blockade between the beer-selling town of White-clay, Neb., and the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota saw disagreement between law enforcement and protesters, yesterday’s third annual blockade was a different story.

The Rapid City Journal reports here that Duane Martin with the Cante Tenza Strong Heart Civil Rights Movement says the cooperation among activists and tribal police was inspiring.

So much so, he said, that some activists even talked of making the blockade a weekend event. We’ll be checking next week to see if that happens.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news

The Great Sioux Nation has sued to get its share of settlement money for the unlawful taking of the Black Hills, but the U.S. government wants that suit dismissed, according to this story in the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal today.

The government’s motion was filed Tuesday in federal court.

The money in question was awarded to the Sioux Nation as compensation for land promised to them by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Indian, buffalo post, Native American news

The Johnny Arlee/Victor Charlo Theater at the Salish Kootenai College Campus in Pablo, Montana, will present a screening of Western Skies, featuring Big Arm’s own Ann Whiting, on Saturday, July 11.

Whiting’s grandmother, Gladys “Jo” Lozar Fouty, and mother, Jane Fouty Whiting (now deceased), are both enrolled tribal members and Whiting is a first-generation descendant of the Salish and Kootenai tribes.

Western Skies is the story of a broken-hearted girl from the East in the war-torn 1940’s. Ann flees to the South Dakota ranch of relatives she has never known. Her strength, love, and courage are regained under the great skies of the West. The film was shot on location in South Dakota and Wyoming. You can read more about the film here.

“My goal was to make a simple, authentic movie with real western people,” Ogilvie said in a news release. “My motivation was to create a tribute to the memory of my cousin, aunt, and father who passed away. This was accomplished with $140, a borrowed camera, and the generous help of family and friends.”

Last month’s premiere of “Western Skies,” in Hot Springs, S.D., attracted 280 people, according to the film’s official Web site here.

There will be two showings at 6 p.m. and 7 .pm. Doors open at 5:30pm. The 30-minute debut film is directed and produced by Skye Ogilvie, also features Amy Ray of Columbia Falls, Mont. The movie will be presented free to the public.

This film is dedicated to three family members who passed away in the past 24 months, Alex Ogilvie, Jane Fouty Whiting and Asia Day Whiting.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Indian, buffalo post, Native American news