Métis and non-status Indians defend victory in court

The Federal Court of Appeal is being asked to overturn a historic victory that had granted Métis and non-status Indians the right to be treated as "Indians" under the Constitution Act.

After 12 years of legal wrangling, the case finally went to trial in May 2011. It took the Federal Court judge a year and a half to release his ruling that approximately 600,000 Métis and non-status Indians fall under federal jurisdiction. The decision meant they could negotiate access to federal programs and services long denied to them.

But this past spring, the federal government appealed. It said the decision to do so was not taken lightly and came after careful consideration. The appeal is being heard this week.

"What they're doing is putting off the inevitable," said Ron Swain, the national vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, or CAP, in an interview with CBC News. "We won the very first time. We're going to win in appeal. We'll win all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Eventually our government has to sit down and negotiate."

Métis and non-status Indians have argued that because neither the provinces nor Ottawa would accept jurisdiction, they fell through the cracks.

"It's very hard to make progress when you don't have proper schooling, when you don't have proper health care," said Joseph Magnet, the lead lawyer representing CAP at the hearing. "And we're very hopeful that the court will agree with us about that and that this will provide the stimulus needed for change."

The trial judge highlighted, in his 175-page judgment, the real effects of a lack of status, when he quoted an internal government document on the matter: "The Métis and non-status Indian people, lacking even the protection of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, are far more exposed to discrimination and other social disabilities. It is true today that in the absence of federal initiative in this field they are the most disadvantaged of all Canadian citizens."

The federal government lawyers, however, in submissions at the hearing Tuesday, argued that the trial judge erred in his judgment and that the framers of the Constitution did not intend Métis to be part of Section 91(24) of the act, which spells out that "Indians" are the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The case dates back to 1999 when well-known Métis ​leader Harry Daniels, along with several non-status Indians, took the federal government to court, alleging they were being discriminated against because they were not considered "Indians" under the Constitution. Daniels has since died, but the case continued and many believe it will end up at the Supreme Court.

"There's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires some fortitude, some imagination, some resources, some goodwill and some hard work," lawyer Magnet said. "And apparently the government needs also a court to tell it to get started."

Native Sayings Of Wisdom

Let's hope the one thing we learn is to observe the creatures that the Great One has sent here, so we can learn to survive as a tribe...maybe, as the Cherokee and the Hopi believe, we are the people of the stars and the Sun...maybe our destiny is short here on Mother Earth as we learn to adapt to another world.

Surely, our future depends on our acceptance of the Old Wisdom in learning to live in harmony and balance, in the way of the Sun and Moon.

Meditations with the Cherokee

We Indians love to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with our brother and sisters of the animal Kingdom, whose inarticulate souls hold for us something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child. We have a faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while we humbly accept the sacrifice of their bodies to preserve our own, we pay homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings...~?
Wisdom of the Native Americans

Often I went to the mountains; there My lonliness did not depress me...there I felt freedom...there I was not alone; there were the mountains, and they "understood" me, and I knew their harsk customs ~ and their great beauty...all who lived in the mountains knew the "rules of the Spirit" and respected Him. They respected also plants growing over precipices, birds hatching their young, animals hunting there. I too respected all of them, respected their freedom, their right to life, and even the right of a puma, for example, to try to take my life...and they also respected me.
Native American Spirituality with Linda Barrios, Sky Apache

"This is the time to relearn how to live with the Earth. It is a time to honoe Spirit..it is a time to listen to the Mother. It is a time to reawaken our feminine emotional awareness so we can communicate with the higher octaves of reality, as we did once long ago when we were all living free upon this sacred egg we call Earth...It is time once again to feel the wind upon your face, to smell the Earth after the newly fallen rain, to learn the power of living in the cold without freezing, because what you think with your body is what you create.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Go to where the trees are very old. They are the lungs of this Earth and they purify the air. Go to where these standing people take the poisons fro the breath of the Dragon. They can change it by breathing, and they give the clean sir back to you, so that you may live.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
Walking the Red Road

The lands of the planet call to humankind for redemption. But it is a redemption of sanity, not a supernatural reclamation project at the end of history. The planet itself calls to the other species for relief...religion cannot be kept within the bounds of sermons and scriptures. It is a force in and of itself and calls for the integration of lands and people in harmonious unity. The land waits for those who can discern their rhythms. The peculiar genius of each continent, each river valley, the rugged mountains, the placid lakes, all call for relief from the constant burden of exploration.
Vine Deloria Jr. Lakota, 1973
Wohpe, also known as "White Buffalo Calf Woman"

A spirit of the diety of the Lakota Tribe, Wohpe is also known as "White Buffalo Calf Woman"..Her myth tells us she was the daughter of the sky, and her role was to meditate between mankind and the spirit world.
She entered the material world as a falling star; once landed, she appeared to other human beings as a beautiful woman, and met with "Tate" who was wind personified. His sons were winds, too, but it was Wohpe who organized them and accorded them their directions.
As White Buffalo Calf Woman, Wohpe brought the pipe and the smoking ritual to mankind, enabling them to communicate to the world of the Spirits.

Every Step is a Prayer

One of our old, old holy men said, "Every step you take upon the earth should be a prayer. The power of a pure and good soul is planted as a seed in every person's heart, and will grow as you walk in a sacred manner." And if every step you take is a prayer, then you will always be walking in a ...sacred manner.
Sacred Texts: Native American Wisdom, Charmaine White Face

We recognized the spirit in all creation, and believe that we draw spiritual power from it...our repsect for the mortal parts of our brothers and sisters, the animals, often leads us so far to lay out the body of any game we catch and decorate the head with symbolic paint or feathers. We then stand before it in an attitude of prayer, holding up the pipe that contains our sacred tobacco, as a gesture that we have freed with honor the spirit of our brother or sister, whose body we were compelled to take to sustain our own life.
The Soul of the Indian

The Indian's symbol is the circle, the hoop. Nature wants things to be round...the bodies of human beings and animals have no corners. With us the circle stands for the togetherness of people who sit with one another around the campfire, relatives and friends united in peace, while the Pipe passes from hand to hand....the camp in which every tipi had its place was also in a ring. The tipi was a ring in which people sat in a circle, and all the families in the village were in turn circles, within a larger circle... part of the larger hoop which was the seven campfires of the Sioux, representing one Nation. The Nation was only part of the Universe, in itself circular and made of the earth, which is round, of the stars, which are round...the moon. the horizon, the rainbow, circles within circles, with no beginning...and no end.
John Lame Deer, Meditation with the Lakota

Red is the east; it is where the daybreak star, the star of knowledge appears. Red is the rising su, bringing us a new day, new experiences, we thank you, Great Spirit, for each new day that we are allowed to live upon Our Mother Earth. From knowledge springs wisdom and goodness, and we are thankful, oh Wakan Tanka. For the morning star that rises in the east. Knowledge shall become the beginning, for ultimate peace throughout this world.
Indian Prayer for the East

We must learn the lessons of life through all things and then pass the gifts of life to those that follow in our footsteps...for they will need them even more, as Mother Earth and and Father Sky continue to be darkened by the progress of the Nothing...so goes the Circle of life, and in its simplicity, contains all the vastness of the Universe....Oneia..(Forever)
Chief Dan George

If you ask, "What are the fruits of silence?" we will answer, "They are self control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence...silence is the cornerstone of character."...
.."Guard your tongue in youth," said the old chief, Wabasha, "and in age you may mature a thought that will be of service to your people.".
The Soul of an Indian
The Power Of Silence

We first Americans mingle with our pride an exceptional humility. Spiritual arrogance is foreign to our nature and teaching. We believe profoundly in silence ~ silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit...those who can preserve their selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence ~ not a leaf, as it were, astir on a tree; not a ripple upon the shining pool ~ those, in the mind of the person of nature, possess the ideal attitude and conduct of life....
...if you ask us, "What is silence?" we will answer, "It is the
Great Mystery, the holy silence is...God's voice."
The Soul of an Indian

Native Americans understood the critical balance of the Universal Circle with Mother Earth, the animals, fish, birds, plants, insects, and trees, and the ecosystem itself. All living things were considered interdependent within the Universal Circle. There was a true appreciation and respect for the interdependence for life as everything existing in harmony and balance...as an Elder said "We are kin to all things, and all things are kin to us...that's why we are the keepers of Mother Earth and protectors of all living things."
Medicine of the Cherokee

"Most people do not remember this, but there was a test of endurance and vision, said the Elder...the plants and animals were given a chance to test their endurance in staying awake while praying to the Great One during the long evenings. All the animals fell asleep, with the exception of the owl and the panther...so, they were given the power to see in the dark and to continue their prayers so others could sleep at night. Of the plants, only the nightshade plants and the trees of cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake...so, they were given the special color to always be green and have powerful medicine.
Medicine of the Cherokee
Narragansett Tribe

Miantonomi....brothers, we must be one as the English are, or we will be destroyed. You know our fathers had plenty of deer and skins and our plains were full of game and turkeys, and our coves and rivers were full of fish. But, brothers, since these Englishmen have seized our country, they have cut down the grass with scythes, and trees with axes. Their cows and horses eat up the grass, and their hogs spoil our bed of clams; and finally we shall starve to death; therefore, I ask you, resolve and act like me.
Native American Customs

Will you ever begin to understand the meaning of the very soil beneath your feet? From a grain of sand to a great mountain, all is sacred...yesterday and tomorrow exist eternally upon this continent. We natives are gaurdians of this sacred place.
Peter Blue Cloud

"May serenity circle on silent wings, and catch the whisper of the wind."
Cheewa James"

The generations unborn, our heirs, will curse our generation, if we do not seriously heed these first rumbling, ominous warnings. Regardless of philosophical, religious, or theological persuation, we must begin immediately to meet on some common ground to slow down and eventually halt the polluting and unbalancing causes.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

"We sing our songs, say our prayers, because they have been transmitted to us by our ancestors...and they knew more than we what is good."
Secret Native American Pathways
The Ways Of The Spirit
 
The Soul of an Indian
Again and again we have proved our worth as citizens of this country by our consistency in the face of hardship and death. Prejudice and racial injustice have been no excuse for our breaking our word. this simplicity and fairness has cost us dear...it has cost us our land, and our freedom, and even the extinction of our race as a separate and unique people.....
....but, as an ideal, we live and will live, not only in the splendor of our past, the poetry of our legends and art, not only in the interfusion of our blood with yours, and in faithful adherence to the ideals of American citizenship, but in the living heart of a nation.
The Soul of an Indian, Charles Eastman, Ohiyesa, 1915

The Soul of an Indian
...indeed, our contribution to our nation and the world is not to be measured in the material realm. Our greatest contribution has been spiritual and philosophical. Silently, by example only, we have held stoutly to our native vision of personal faithfulness to duty and devotion to a trust...we have not advertised our faithfulness nor made capital of our honor.
The Soul of an Indian, by Charles Eastman

I am an Indian; and while I have learned much from civilization, I have never lost my Indian sense of right justice. Is there not something worthy of perpetuation in our Indian spirit of democracy, where Earth, our Mother, was free to all, and no one sought to impoverish or enslave his neighbor? Where the good things of Earth were not ours to hold against our brothers and sisters, but were ours to use and enjoy together with them, and with whom it was our privilege to share.
The Soul of the Indian

Growth comes with the increasing awareness of and respect for the Great Mystery in all people and things, with an awareness that this force of mystery is at work in all events. Growth comes through tolerance for the infinite variety of ways in which the Great Spirit, the Infinite, may express itself in this universe.
Rainbow Tribe

As we sat in a circle together at the Indian Friendship Centre', the thunder and darkness seemed to set the scene, the grief center had heard this story all to often, but each time it touched the heart even more...as the two sisters shared their story of how their brother took his own life because of not knowing how to cope with life, the tears and fears swelled in their eyes an trembling in their words of the uncertain future, which might reach them, and their children. They asked for a traditional healing so that their walk in life would be easier and be able to let the spiritual memories of their brother be released into the spirt world and not in the dreams as nightmares...as I shared what Grandfather Spirit had said many years before " that life has its experiences and the brothers and sisietrs we meet along the way must be cherished, because every moment is part of the spiritual journey the Great Spirit gives us as a present for one another to help those in need...grieving is the gift a fallen spirit has left behind, and sometimes who hurts more, the person who takes their own life, or the people who are left along this tragic act of emotional pain. The lesson sometimes takes a long time to deal, and to heal from". Lifting the rattle and calling the ancestors to aid in the release of the fallen brother's spirit and bidding it travel from the sister's and unto the spirit world for reunion with the ancestors...a wind spirit flowed into the room from the open window, gently touching the suffering sisters, lifting the fallen brother's spirit from their hearts and carried him outward to join the ancestors, as silence settled into the room..., turning one last time from a mountain trail giving them one last wave as he disappeared into the mist.



Each part of a "Drum" is symbolic of the living spirits that come together from the spirit world...Grandfather spirit shares why the drum has such powerful medicine.
The Wood from Grandmother tree unites Mother Earth and Father Sky, pointing the way to our ultimate destiny after our lessons are learned...the frame of wood teaches about the stability we need to stand with pride to face challenges in life.The Animal Hide gave it's life so the drum could carry messages from the ancestors. In respect for the animal spirits we must always respect and honor the environment where the animal spirits live on this earth...the animal spirits teach us how precious and fragile the gift of life is and how we need to take care of that gift.
The lacing binds together the missing parts of life that seem incomplete like family union, community togetherness and separation of the Nations of Mother Earth. By bringing back to us teachings of the ancestors through the songs that travel on the drums, the lifeline is held together and everything in creation is reunited and brought together in harmony like in the great traditions of our ancestors.
This symbolizes holding onto the experiences and the memories. These are the teachings that the soul learns during this lifetime and that we take with us when we travel into the afterlife. The bones teach us lessons from the ancestors of all the cultures who share Mother Earth along with the traditional stories and teachings that have carved the way for who we are today.
Color brings a special sense of accomplishment to the painter. When a drum is painted it is given a personal signature, and the artist who paints the drum shares his spirit with the nations and joins in the songs.
When the first drum is made it is tradition to give it away as a gift to someone that has had an important influence in our life...this is because the gift of drum making can never be taken from the spirit.

There is a special magic and holiness about the girl and woman...they are the bringers of life to the people and the teachers of little children.
Sweet Medicine, Cheyenne

If Fox is your power animal the slyness that was born as a way of surviving significant trauma in your earliest years has evolved into a wily instinctual intelligence and very sharpened senses that work in your favor, giving you great confidence in dealing with worldly affairs, although you're already a night person, you'll likely become even more nocturnal you're an astute observer, undetected by others, who hears whats being said, and see what isn't being seen. This gift allows you to be one step ahead of everyone else.
Not only do you blend in with your environment to the point of being invisible, but you can also shape-shift into different identities by adjusting your body language and vocal characteristics so that even people that know you at not recognize you at first.
Power Animals

Heal the Women...then they can heal themselves..."Once the womwn have been healed, then they can heal the men. With strong hearts they can help heal the fear that has consumed men, which is what happens when you lose contact with your spirit. When the men are healed, then we can dream the new dream for this Earth and use the Ghost Dance Medicine that Mahto has given us. Then we will be dance with Sitting Bull and the Porcupine once again...then we wiil return to the ways of the "Great Peace", Kia neri Kowa.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
The Morning Water Woman

The Morning Water Woman takes the same place as Mother Earth in the traditional Lakota Spirituality. She has an emotional appeal and touches the hearts of all those who have gone through a long night of praying and singing.
Meditations with The Lakota

From birth to death we Indians are enfolded in symbols, as in a blanket. An infant's cradleboard is covered in designs, to ensure a happy, healthy life for the child. The moccasins of the dead have their soles beaded in a certain way to ease their journey to the hereafter. For the same reason most of us have tatoos on our wrists ~ just a name, a few letters, a design.

The Owl Woman who guards the road to the spirit lodges look at these tatoos and lets us pass...they are like a passport. Some Indians believe that if you don't have these signs of your body,Ghost Woman will throw you over a cliff, and you will have to roam the earth endlessly...as a ghost.

John Lame Deer, of Meditations with The Lakota

We have come to a time when we should be together...there should not be divisions amongst people, there should be peace among men...in saying this, I would pray Great Spirit blesses anyone who hears these words and open their heart to the truth."
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

There are many clans and many nations, we are a sovereign people. But always, as the Hopi say, "Under it all, every blanket is made from the wool of sheep." So we are made from the same stuff, we just look different on the outside. That is our individual culture expression. But we are woven together just like that blanket. We are one family, born to Mother and to Father. We are one tribe - we are called Human Beings.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have been given to us their light when ti sun was gone. We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficial eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of her children.
Iroquois

The Life of an Indian is like the wings of the air, that is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey. The Indian is like that. The hawk swoops down on its prey; so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal...for instance, the coyote is sly; so is the Indian...the eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up....he is a relative to the wings of the air.
Black Elk

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of the forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas...he fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged.
Chief Luther Standing Bear

Dreaming that you are an animal or possibly part animal, it's a sign that the characteristics of this particular animal are important to you. If you dream you are the same animal on a number of occasions, it's an indication that this animal may be your totem animal.
Spirit & Dream Animals

We Indians live in a world of symbols and images, where the spiritual and the commonplace are one. To the white man symbols are just words, written in a book. To us they are a part of nature, part of ourselves - the earth, the sun, the wind and the rain, stones, trees, animals, even little insects, like ants and grasshoppers. We try to understand them, not with the head, but with the heart...and we need no more than a hint to give us the meaning.
John Lame Deer

Spiritual Food becomes a sacramental sign when it is offered on behalf of the spirits of the deceased. It is called spiritual food because it has a purpose beyond feeding our bodies...through this symbolic offering one brings blessings to deceased relatives and friends.
Meditations with the Lakota

Relationship to the Earth and the Spirit World, Lakota Spirituality relates one both to the world of visible creation and to the world of spirits...it is a centering of ourselves in creation through a relationship to the four directions, the foundations of the universe, and the place where the spirits dwell. Through this spirituality we learn to live in harmony with all the creatures, it also puts us at ease with the spirits through accepting their presence and through the offering of spiritual food.
Meditations with the Lakota
Your Animal Totems

We must take the lessons of life that are written upon the Whispers of the wind, and learn from them so that we may walk and grow in harmony with the Great One. We must learn to love all things, deny ourselves, and serve others so the Master will hear the greatness of our humbleness, as He walks in the Garden of Life. We must love our Earth partners, not in words, but in deeds and show that our spirit desires to be likened upon the Great Spirit.

We must gain the courage to pray through all things and worship even when we feel that we have nothing to offer.

Through trials, we will find our Wind Spirit will grow and either rise upon the currents or sink into the valleys if left unfed....we must learn the lessons of life through all things and then pass the gifts of life to those that follow in our footsteps, for they will need them even more, as Mother Earth and Father Sky continues to be darkened by the progress of the Nothing.

So goes the Circle Of Life and in it's simplicity, contains all the vastness of the Universe.
ONEIA (forever)
Chief Dan George

I stood looking at a world that is exactly as other eyes have seen it millenniums ago...I wondered what they must have thought as they received their visions of potential future events. They stood there as I I now do trying to understand the visions of a very bazaar future reality...did they think themselves mad?
I stood there naked in the moonlight, having made it through the other side of a labyrinth. I found myself struggling to make my new eyes see, to allow my consciousness to touch and comprehend a new reality...I was struggling to see through veils of illusion, painfully tearing through the bondage of cultural and genetic programming that leaves one blind to what is illusion and what is truly real, and at times it is very difficult to differentiate between dream states. There are no borders in the dream time, as there is no space between ones thoughts.
The Hopi Prophecy keeps coming to mind.."in that time man will find that he lives in two worlds...", our lives have certainly become a testament to that.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

There is no need to go out and find your spirit animal...they may find you, in fact you already have an idea as to who it might be. If you collect miniture elephants, for instance, your subconscious mind is telling you that your spirit animal is probably an elephant. Perhaps you have always been fascinated with foxes, or owls, or turtles...this could well indicate your spirit animal. (any animal you have an affinity with, or dream about, or have a curiosity about, is probably your spirit animal, we can have several, and they can also change as our needs change...you can also ASK different spirit animals to help you in situations that seem out of your control, because different animals have different gifts, I have three, and have had two most of my life...Melody..)
Spirit and Dream Animals
Shape shifting

There is a number of ways to look at animal spirits, you might decide, like the Aborigines with their "Dreamtime", there are real spiritual beings who exist to help you whenever necessary. You might choose to think of them as animal archetypess created by your subconscious mind.

No matter how you can view these animal spirits, you can become so close to them that you will be able to sense, feel, touch, and smell them...you may be able to temporarily become the animal...this is known as "SHAPESHIFTING"...once you accept spirit animals into your life, you will be able to make use of the animal wisdom that will come to you through your dreams.
Spirit and Dream Animals

Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux, Nebraska, 1822-1909 was a medicine man who became an important warrior chief.

"When the white man comes to my country, he leaves a trail of blood behind him."

We realize that we cannot survive or live without our "relations". We also realize that they cannot live without us...evidence of this belief system can be found in Native myths, legends and stories. Here we can find reference to the animals and birds as "people".

The Bear is our Grandfather, Rattlesnake our aunt,Beaver our cousin, Eagle our uncle, Deer our sister, and Buffalo our brother.

They are not only our "relations" but are also our teachers, protectors, guardians, supernatural aids, and sources of power and knowledge.
Earth Spirit, Native American

When the first Europeans came to this country, they saw us praying to the Sun, moon, Stars, Rivers, and Lakes; to the Trees, and Plants; to the Wind, Lightening, and Thunder; and even to the Birds, Animals, Fish, Snakes, and Rocks....they called us pagans, heathens, and savages.

For some strange reason they developed the idea that we did not believe in God, although in many different tribal languages there were references to a Great Spirit, the Great Creator, the Maker, the Great Mystery, or the Great Invisible One...the truth is that not only did the American Indians worship God, but they also respected and communicated with that which God had created.
Spirits of the Earth, Native American

Black Kettle, Cheyenne, South Dakota, 1803-1868 narrowly escaped death at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, took part in discussions at the Medicine Lodge Council of 1867, and died a year later in battle.
I once thought that I was the only man that perservered to be a friend to the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for me to believe white men any more...(Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown, Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1971)

There are many misconceptions about the Indian ways...we do not worship beasts and we do not worship stones. We honor them, and we honor the consciousness that is within them...because we are all "Mitakyue oyasin" - we are one with all things, even unto the Universe.

We are connected to all life by a web of light, this light is invisible to most. But the medicine people can see it, if their medicine is real. We see it in everything - all of life is connected.

We are all brothers and sisters with the Eagle, the Rabbitt, the Tree people, even the stones. Everything is alive, and that aliveness is the Creator, that is in all things.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Go and learn how they see Spirit and Creator. Then you can help them (the People) heal their minds, and that they might heal their own hearts...in your time a new world will be born. You will see many strange things. Judge no one for their ways of expressing spirit, for the Creator allows all beings to express in their own way.
Another part of your journey will be that somehow you are to help reconnect the people of the Condor with the people of the Eagle...if you and others succeed, then this land and its people may become one again. Many secrets will open that have been closed.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
Bear's Message for you

"Be strong...know what and where your boundaries are. You can love others, still disagree with their opnions, and say no to their requests. You don't have to justify your your refusals...my power is making a stand is unparalleled, and you must also stand up for what you believe in, and who you are.

Neither do you need to fear criticism or defend yourself when it is offered.

Treat others with respect, and demand the same from them.

Trust your creative hunches - those urges to make music, write poetry, sculpt, or engage in any other forms of creative expression...turn inward to the loving darkness of your soul's den to find inspiration to birth such projects...let them blossom in the cave of your creative mind and manifest as your heart's desire.
Power Animals

There is only the way of the people. We the people are the dream of the Earth, we are her gift to the Universe.
Learn to listen to your own heart, if you learn that, you will know the wisdom of the ages.

Learn to speak your own words, and sing your own songs, while you learn to allow others to enjoy the same state of being.
We must learn to respect all life - respect the planet, respect the insect, respect the rattlesnake, as well as the eagle, the rock, and the tree...we are all related, just different expressions of divine intelligence. It is all the song of creation...and the song is made up of many notes.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Never let anyone tell you who you are...that is between you and the Creator. For the truth of what and who we are and our long journey to this present expression is something few remember...when we come to own ourselves, we first loose the images of what they expected us to be...and learn to follow our inner feelings of who we really are.
No matter what you have been, or what you have done, Creator sits evenly with all of us on that day of passing. All that matters is that you did, that you lived it all and drank from the cup of life...and danced to your own drumbeat.
Ghost Wolf of Last Cry

When the light from the heart of the eagle shines forth, it will illuminate the world, the heart knows how to feel. Allow your heart to be connected with the elements of nature - the air, the water, the earth...when you feel the connection, you are close to the Creator.
I thought of all the times I'd found feathers; always in nature, always bringing me a feeling of blessing fro the invisible spirit world that I know exists, because in those moments of connection "I feel it"...Let each place and each moment be sacred..."Simplemente sentir"...simply let yourself feel.
Sacred Messengers
By Shiju
The Sacred Sound of Water

What is it about the sound of water that attracts us, part of its magic lies in its relentless rhythm, the kind of sound that soothes and perhaps returns us to our pre-birth experience...we continue to love the sounds of water...the waterfalls trickling down hillsides, or roaring down hillsides, or the whooshing sounds 0f geysers erupting in Yellowstone National park.

The almost silent sound of underground pools making their way through the depths; the whisper of creeks and rivers meandering through mountain meadows.
When I'm near the sound of water, I always pause and give thanks for something that calls me to a sacred sense of self...something that creates a connection with the...all of life.
Sacred Messengers, Native American

Spirits, ghosts, and interaction with them are seen by Indian people as a normal part of life on this earth...all things, living or nit, have a spirit that may manifest itself in the living, including insects, wolves, deer, eagles, even rock spirits.

Helper spirits often manifest themselves in an object...to the Lakota, small round rocks may be charged with great power and attach themselves to a living person, returning to them even when discarded.

These rocks belong to a class of spirits known as the "rock nation".It is the little pebbles found on anthills that aid the Yuwi'pi practitioners in their ceremony.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Dreams form a large spiritual complex and are looked to for important insights about oneself, and other living people, often relatives. They are also seen as a source of contact and communication for those relatives now in the spirit world who may have help, advice, or warning to impart to the living. Dreams may then provide motivation for changing one's life.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Black Kettle, Cheyenne, South Dakota, 1803?-1868 was a Cheyenne leader who tried to make peace with the white man...he narrowly escaped death at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, took part in discussions at the Medicine Lodge Council of 1867, and died in battle a year later.
"I want you to give all the chiefs of the soldiers here to understand that we are for peace, and that we have made peace, that we may not be mistaken by them for enemies [ Address to Colonel John Chivington at Camp Weld, Colorado, September 28, 1864; two months later, Chivington would wipe out( murder) nearly half of Black Kettle's band at Sand Creek..The Sand Creek Massacre, by Stan Hoig]

When did time begin...what is time. How can we attempt description of the Creator of such mystery when we realize that "It" is too vast to describe...we are truthful people, we cannot be liars to ourselves and to those around us...the term "Great Mystery" leaves adequate latitude to avoid argument.
Growth comes with an increasing awareness of and respect for the Great Mystery in all people, and things, with an awareness that this force of mystery is at work in all events...growth comes through tolerance for the infinite variety of ways in which Great Spirit, the Infinite, may express itself in the Universe.
Rainbow Tribe

Ho. Ina Maka, Mother Earth...it is you who feed us, shelter us, heal us...and like unthinking children we squander your riches, taking without thought for the future. Mother we are ashamed of our ignorance and our greed...it is our wish to live in a holy way, in harmony with you and with all our relations. We commit ourselves to a new reverence for life, for you, and for ourselves and our place in the Universe...Mother, most of all, have pity on us that the people may live...for without you, we are nothung...Mitakuye oyasin..Ho. Hetch etu aloh.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American



Ho..."Wiyoheyapa ouye, power of the rising sun of the east...from you come wisdom and understanding, to you we sand a voice.

You are the power of the red dawn and the home of the morning star...we call on you to bring forth new knowledge and understanding among the people that the earth and all our relations may live.

It is a time of new ways, and we ask that those ways be right and holy...with each new day we pray to you for wisdom. And we know that with this gift comes the obligation to use it for good of all our relations...Mitakuye oyasin...Ho. Hetch etu aloh.Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Entering, I place my blanket on the ground and build a smudge as an offering of smoke for the spirits...in my heart I reach out to them and share my willingness to take on their lessons and carry them forward.

Many of these spirits are suffering for other people, and they need to find someone to take on this suffering, so they can move on...I reach out an embrace this suffering, offering to share the lessons with the people who have no food, those who are desolate in life...I will do this with much love and honour inside myself, and when I am done, I will take these lessons of the spirits with me, and pass it on to those who need to learn these lessons.
On The Red Road
A Star Whisper, by Leonard Crow Dog

I had a vision, it came from the morning star, a star whisper. I heard this voice saying, any understanding you ask from the morning star shall be granted to you, but ask with the sacred things, the drum, the sacred tobacco, the sacred sweet grass, and, above all, with the sacred pipe.

Our dead sleep not...they tell me what I want to know. I have the power to see through things...I have only limited vision with the eyes I have in my head, but with my spiritual eyes I can see across oceans.

The pipe is here to unite us, to remove fences people put up against one another...putting up fences is the white man's way.

He invented the barbed wire of the heart. The pipe s a fence remover...sitting in a circle, smoking it the right way, all barriers disappear...walls crumble.
Leonard Crow Dog (Kangi Shunka Manitou)
[Born in 1942, Leonard Crow Dog was spiritual leader of AIM (The American Indian Movement)..he published his family autobiography in 1995, in collaboration with writer Richard Erdoes.]

The Butterfly

The Butterfly is a very spiritual bug and represents the presence of good spirits. Butterflies signal change, metamorphisis, balance, harmony, grace, peace, beauty, and spirituality...they are a good sing.

Butterfly's Message To You

Everyone of us emerges from the darkness and gestation, in which we enter as one self and come out as another...throughout each stage of this transformation process, I remain aware and fully present, so must you when you spread your wings and float into your new life - know that you are safe and that this is part of a natural movement.
You may not know exactly what's going on at any particular stage, but have faith...after a period of exertion your soul will find it's way through the darkness, count on it...then you will emerge into the next expression of "you" throughout these cycles, faith, share the love, and set crystal clear intentions...you have absolutely nothing to fear.
Sacred Messengers

Behold my brothers, the spring has come, the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love...every seed is awakened and has all animal life, it is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves...to inhabit this land.
Sitting Bull, Tatanka Yotanka, Hunkpapa Sioux
Sitting Bull, war chief and holy man was born in 1831, and assassinated on December 1890...he made this speech at a Powder River council in 1877.

The highest form of respect for another person is respecting their right to be self-determining...this means not interfering with another person's ability to choose, every experience holds a valuable lesson - even in death...there is a valuable learning that the spirit carries forth.

Noninterference means caring in a respectful way of "right relationship". Each person living being on Mother Earth, has their own Medicine that should not be disrupted or changed without that person choosing it....this is part of the learning what moves the Circle is choice, and what keeps the circle is kindness and respect for the natural flow of life-energies.
Medicine of the Cherokee

If someone dreams of a feather, it could be associated to a spirit...feathers can be a symbol of that which carries us into the imaginal world, of the spiritual world. They can be a means of finding one's fantasies...they can be a sign of that which is created "out of the blue", whereby an idea is given a form, a symbol.
The ancient Egyptians had a belief that, at the moment of death, the soul was weighed on a balance scale with a feather on the other side, the feather representing truth.
Sacred Messengers

Throughout history, feathers have symbolized different things in different cultures...many feather colors have been seen to have near-universal meanings.
Red Feathers bring vitality and health, red was the preferred color of tribal royalty.
Blue Feathers bring peace, protection, a sense of well being...blue jay feathers can also bring warnings of trouble ahead.
Yellow Feathers symbolize cheerfulness, mental alertness, and prosperity.
Green Feathers are a symbol of renewal, new directions and new growth.
Brown with black strips or bars symbolize balance between the physical and spiritual.
Black Feathers are a symbol of mystical wisdom from spiritual initiation; also seen as a warning sign of ill health or impending death, physical, spiritual, or emotional, or of an important transition immediately ahead.
Iridescent (flashes of shiny color) signs of mystical insight, wholeness, spiritual transcendence; peacock feathers can also be a warning against false pride.
White Feathers are a symbol of purification, love, innocence, and new life.
Sacred Messengers

As I held the large black feather, a sense of joy and gratitude filled me...this beautiful black messenger from the sky had answered my black thoughts about being in an empty universe...feathers are a sign of mystical wisdom received from spiritual initiations. Such feathers, from Crows, Raves, or Starlings, are often worn by shaman figures.

From the moment I received my first feather they have become signs of reassurance for me, knowing that, indeed, I am not alone, that my spirit guides, messengers, and allies in the unseen realms of reality to know that the love of a bountiful universe is available....each time I hold the feather, its powerful message comes through, telling me, "You are not alone...we are with you; all of life is part of you...fly with the wind.
Sacred Messengers

Traditional teachings relate to us how important it is that we move through our lives with courage, humility, respect, and kindness in our heart...all these things signify a deep respect for the gift that we have been given...in the breath of life, as well as a respect for all life..."All that moves is sacred, only by understanding this can you realize the rhythm of the Earth, and thereby know how to place your feet.
Medicine of the Cherokee

Spirits, ghosts, and interaction with them are seen by the Indian people as a normal part of life on this earth...all things, living or not, have a spirit that may manifest itself in the living, including insects, deer, eagles, even rock spirits.

Helper spirits often manifest themselves in an object...to the Lakota, small, round rocks may be charged with great power and attach themselves to a living person, returning to them even when discarded.

These rocks belong to a class of spirits known as the "rock nation"...it is the little pebbles found on anthills that aid the Yuwi'pi practitioners in their ceremony.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Dreams form a large intellectual and spiritual complex and are looked to for important insights about oneself and other living people, often relatives...they are also seen as a source of contact and communication for those relatives now in the spirit world, who may have help or advice, or warning to impart to the living. Dreams may then provide motivation for changing one's life. Any dream that lingers upon waking is worth considering, pondering over, because to Indian people, that dream is a means of the most essential communication...that with the spirit world.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

In the ideal outcome, the spirit travels on a long path, taking it over the "Wana'gi Ta'canku", which is literally "spirit road" but refers to the Milky Way...in one Lakota version, the soul is met by an old woman who looks to see if the soul has a blue dot, or tattoo, identifying it as one of The People...if not, the soul may be pushed off the road... sent back.
If the soul passes inspection it is sent on an even longer journey, but how long that "Wana' giya', or spirit journey may take is unknown...because it is in spirit time.

At the end of the journey the spirit sees a tipi, in the tipi is an old man (Wakan Tanka) who will ask "How was your journey? ~ meaning the journey through life....if the soul answers properly it will receive safe passage and go on forever in the happy mirror world of this one, the "Wana'gitomakoce (World of Spirits) if not, if it complains about its recent life, it may be sent back to live on eartg again...to learn more.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Ozuya Cikala (Little Warrior) had been one of the last living survivors of the Little Big Horn Battle..in his adult years he had been one of the most powerful medicine men of the reservation, he successfully treated Black Elk for a stroke. Little Warrior died in the mid 1950's..this is a story told by his greatgrandaughter "Tilda" and her memories of "when" a relative had told us that when Little Warrior was living, he would invite people over to feast, and to dance.

We loved going over to his house, he was kind and generous and loved to laugh...people would come from all over and camp for a few days.
We all lived in one room, around the walls were a dresser, bed, dresser, bed...there were ten of us, including Grandma. I remember the summer heat, when we would eat our evening meals outside where Grandma would place a piece of canvas there for all us to sit on.
In the summers she baked bread outside over an open fire, she would cook the soup indoors over a propane stove that sat next to our wood stove.

 (This reminds me of my grandmother)...when all was ready we would sit and eat "Indian style"..this was a happy time of day when people would talk and laugh and catch up on the news of the day....the conversations were always in Lakota at night, especially in the long howling darkness of a plains winter, there were stories to be told as wood crackled in the wood stove and shadows danced in the lamplight...a time of reflection...a time of truth.
Walking in the Sacred Manner
Bears message to you

"Be Strong...know what and where your boundaries are. You can love others, still disagree with their opinions, and say no to their requests.

You don't have to justify your refusals. My power is unparalleled, and you must also stand up for what you believe in and who you are...treat others with respect, and demand the same from them.

Trust your creative hunches - those urges to make music, write poetry, sculpt, or engage in any other forms of creative expressions...turn inward to the loving darkness of your soul's den to find the inspiration to birth such projects.

Let them blossom in the cave of your creative mind and manifest to your heart's desire.
Power Animals

If you remember on waking that you have dreamed about things from a great distance...it is because your eyes have actually been there while you were asleep...Inuit.
Earth Spirits, Native American

We cannot be a prejudiced people, because all men and women are brothers and sisters and because we all have the same mother-Mother Earth.



One who is prejudices, who hates another because of that person's color, hates what the Great Spirit has put here...such a one hates that which is holy and will be punished, even during this lifetime, as humanity will be punished for violating Mother Earth.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native AmericanFrom the north will come the white winter snow that will cleanse Mother Earth and put her to sleep, so that she may rest and store up energy to provide the beauty and bounty of springtime...we will prepare for aging by learning to create, through our arts and crafts, during the long winter season.

Truth, honesty, strength, endurance, and courage also represented by the white of the north...truth and honesty in our relationships bring forth harmony.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

We, the American Indian, had a way of living that enabled us to live within the great, complete beauty that only the natural environment can provide.

The Indian tribes had a commonality of religion, without religious animosity, that preserved that great beauty that the two-leggeds definitely need.

Our four commandments from the Great Spirit are:
1~ respect for Mother Earth
2~ respect for the Great Spirit
3~ respect for our fellow man and woman
4~ respect for individual freedom (provided that individual freedom does not threaten the tribe, or the people or Mother Earth).
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Today the buffalo is gone...you say "ecology"...we think the words "Mother Earth" have a deeper meaning. If we wish to survive, we must respect her, it is very late, but there is still time to revive and discover the old American Indian value of respect for Mother Earth.

She is very beautiful, and already she is showing signs that she may punish us for not respecting her. Also, we must remember she has been placed in this universe by the one who is the All Powerful, the Great Spirit Above, or Wakan Tanka - God.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

This morning at breakfast we took from Mother Earth to live, as we have done every day of our lives...but did we thank her for giving us the means to live? The old Indian did. When he drove his horse close to a buffalo running at full speed across the prairie, he drew his bowstring back and said as he did so, "Forgive me, brother, but my people must live." After he butchered the buffalo, he took the skull and faced it toward the setting sun as a thanksgiving and an acknowledgement that all things come from Mother Earth...he brought the meat back to cap, and gave it first to the old, the widowed...and the weak.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Mitakuye Oyasin: We are all related.
The plight of the non-Indian world is that it has lost respect for Mother Earth, from whom and where we all come.
We start out in this world as tiny seed - no different from our animal brothers and sisters, the deer, the bear, the buffalo, or the trees, the flowers, the winged people.

Mother Earth is our real mother, because every bit of us truly comes from her, and daily she takes care of us.

The tiny seed takes on the minerals and the waters of Mother Earth...it is fueled by "Wiyo", the sun, and given a spirit by Wakan Tanka.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American
North: Direction of Sharing

The deer is considered sacred by the Cherokee...its skin is used to wrap sacred objects, such as the crystal that is kept for seeing ahead and for protecting us from other energies and influences. The deer was a favorite meal of the Cherokee.

Deer hunters knew how to proprly offer prayers and make preparations before hunting the deer. Sacred ceremonies followed the killing of a deer, in which the hunters gave thanks and asked for "clearing" or forgiveness. if this was not done, the hunter would have rheumatism for the rest of his life, as warned by the elders.
Meditations with the Cherokee

Even the spirit, which belongs to the Great Mystery, returns to its source...some of our people say this journey takes place on a path of stars, others describe the spirit's return to the Great Mystery as a drop of water falling into the ocean.

It becomes a part of everything again as the light of a candle becomes one with the fire of the sun. That's why we can sometimes feel our loved ones in the warm air, or hear them in a bird's song...or even sense them in the...wind.
The Native American Book of Wisdom
 

Lawsuit Proceeds for Canada’s Lost Generation of Stolen Babies

David P. Ball

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/28/canadas-baby-veronicas-sue-adoptees-seized-sixties-scoop-approved-class-action-lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government on behalf of tens of thousands of indigenous children who were seized and moved to white families in an adoption wave known as the “Sixties Scoop” can now proceed after being approved by an Ontario judge.

The decision was handed down after several previous lawsuits in Canada failed, and as attention in the U.S. focused on the Baby Veronica custody case.
RELATED: Baby Veronica & Our Stolen Children: 'Someday, They'll Come Back'

“[The] harm done was profound and included lasting psychological and emotional damage,” said Justice Edward Belobaba in rejecting the government's arguments and summarizing his rationale for certifying the case, which affects at least 16,000 children in Ontario alone.

The Sixties Scoop followed a similar pattern across Canada, as the federal government signed funding agreements with the provinces that extended provincial child and family welfare services onto First Nations reserves.
For example, in Ontario, the Crown signed the Ontario-Canada-Ontario Welfare Services Agreement on December 1, 1965. That lasted until the end of 1984, when a new federal law, the Child and Family Services Act, made “aboriginality an important factor in child protection and placement practices,” Belobaba said in his September 27 decision.

The class action is being represented by Beaverhouse First Nation Chief Marcia Brown Martel, who was seized from her Ojibwe family and adopted into a community where she was the only Native.

“It is in the power of the Government of Canada to right this wrong, to change how our Canadian systems work with aboriginal communities, to take the apology they offered and stand by it, and have it be a cornerstone to a new relationship—a dynamic, fulfilling relationship—to extend the apology to more than just fine words,” she told Indian Country Today Media Network. “It needs action.”
Currently, she added, there are “more than just the survivors to contend with. Every community that lost children to the Sixties Scoop has parents and extended family also affected by the loss of their loved ones.

“I was swept from my family, my community, my siblings, my extended family, my ability to function as an aboriginal person at all,” she said, “I had nothing as a young person, to say, 'Yes, I am First Nations,' other than the color of my skin and my hair. That's all I had left.”
As the only aboriginal person in a non-Native community, she felt completely alone in her struggles even into adulthood.

“Personally, it was a very, very lonely time in my life,” she said. “You start searching as a young adult to find your community. I'm very fortunate: I remembered my name as Sally Susan Mathias.

Some may be so young that they would never remember their birth name. You don't know where to begin. It is an extremely difficult process.”
According to Sixties Scoop survivor Ernie Crey, who co-authored the 1998 book Stolen from Our Embrace (Douglas & McIntyre) with Suzanne Fournier and founded an aboriginal-run child welfare agency in British Columbia, Canadian aboriginal child welfare policies differ significantly from those in the U.S.

“It's a patchwork quilt here in Canada, versus what's true in the U.S. in the way of child protection,” Crey explained. “There isn't a National Indian Child Welfare Act in Canada, or anything even remotely like it, either. That goes back to the Sixties, when the Department of Indian Affairs refused to legislate child protection under the Indian Act. They abandoned the field to each province. That's what precipitated the Sixties Scoop.”
As some residential schools began to close around the same time, the change in child protection “created a perfect storm,” Crey said. “That's when the social workers from each province literally ... descended on the communities and apprehended children en masse.”

Advocates have described the Sixties Scoop as “identity genocide of children.” But many point out that even today there are more aboriginal children in Canada's child welfare system than ever attended residential schools.
“We're basically warehousing thousands and thousands of children in long-term care,” Crey said. “We're confining them to foster care.”

In another prominent case, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society director Cindy Blackstock and the Assembly of First Nations have taken the issue of unequal funding for aboriginal child services to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Blackstock cited recent statistics that 48 per cent of children in foster care are aboriginal – even though they make up less than eight per cent of Canada's children.
“We're looking at thousands and thousands of kids who are being raised away from their families,” she said in an earlier interview. “One of the big lessons that all of us should have learned, and certainly the government should have learned, from residential school, is that children need to grow up in their families. Then they learn the culture of themselves and their people.”

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/28/canadas-baby-veronicas-sue-adoptees-seized-sixties-scoop-approved-class-action-lawsuit

Admin note: The abuse & neglect of Native children sadly continues in  Canada through the neglect, physical, emotional & sexual abuse by various workers who are employed by Family And Children's Services.

Courts are constantly hearing cases  in Canada and the United States against child protection workers who have made it a practice of abusing innocent children for the sake of financial gain for themselves & the Society itself.
He sad thing about this whole thing is the governments are refusing to do anything about the lack of accountability of these criminals against children.

Child trafficking has become an epidemic amongst child protection workers, both sexual and amongst other means of abuse.

Healing Circle Prayer Requests Page

Everyone of us need love, support and prayer in times of need.
Life can be hard & feels especially so when we feel alone.
Please feel free to include any and all honour requests, prayer requests or remembrances you may have on this page.
We will honour your requests and uphold you and your situation in our prayers and ceremonies to Creator.
Blessings & Love to all.

 

The Missionary is Back: Or Perhaps They Never Left, By Trace A. DeMeyer

Is it possible Evangelical Christians like Lisa Morris of the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare (CAICW) or Melanie and Matt Capobianco missed school the day they taught the chapter of American history on the Indian Adoption Projects or the tragic consequences of residential boarding schools?  I think nearly all Americans missed that chapter. It’s not taught. College courses, maybe. I had an argument with an elderly aunt in my adoptive family that boarding schools existed. This was right after I had visited Haskell in 1998.  She still didn’t believe me.

By way of background:  Mrs. Lisa Morris found herself an Indian man, got married and had four kids. They brought their ministry to two reservations (in North Dakota and Minnesota) and worked diligently as missionaries to convert more Indians into Christians, like them.  Apparently the Third World Poverty Lisa saw on the rez is the basis for her judgment of Indians and her organizing to end the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

There’s been a lot of these Evangelical Christians, for a long time, who want to improve life for Indian Children. How? By taking the Indian children and raising them in non-Indian families. They don’t say “to save their souls” or “assimilate them” but they want us (including Congress) to believe that Indians are not raising their kids correctly. That’s their view.  Lisa doesn’t preface poverty- she just sees the result of poverty and Third World conditions. She doesn’t plan to lobby Congress so Indian children can STAY on their reservations.

What has happened in Indian Country since colonial invasion is not their concern as missionaries – but they do want to freely adopt out those poor kids off the rez.  Is this a new thing? Absolutely not.  This type of missionary zeal was the reason behind the Indian Child Welfare Act to begin with:  White people taking Indian kids (for boarding schools and closed adoptions) caused a genocide and despair and collapse of culture that is still being felt today.

Lisa “The Missionary” Morris has appointed herself judge and jury and is busy gathering evidence that Indians are not good parents. That is the basis for her CAICW goals and fundraising. She has even used the legalized kidnapping of Veronica Brown from her birthfather to promote and justify her pious work.  Lisa claims children are being hurt by ICWA, when good white parents can’t adopt Indian kids. She collects letters from distraught white people who wish to adopt and can’t because of ICWA.

Lisa has a website about her missionary work here: http://caicw.org/2013/10/24/time-for-strangers-to-leave-veronica-capobianco-alone/.  She references a recent CAICW fundraiser pool party with Ronnie Brown, now called Veronica Capobianco.  She has a You Tube channel as well:

Audacity?  Lisa Morris describes CAICW “as a Christian Ministry as well as Family Advocacy – is interested in the safety and well-being of individuals and families. Our advocacy is Judicial and Educative, in addition to a prayer resource and shoulder to cry on.” She promotes a book “Dying in Indian Country” on her website.

Because Lisa married a “Chippewa Indian,” this qualifies her as the leader of this movement? Apparently.  Since her husband has passed on, we can’t ask him about his wife’s work to end ICWA since 2004.  She claims it was his idea.  She’s posted a photo of her husband’s baptism, which somehow makes this righteous work in her view.

Removing Indian children is the work of CAICW (and their goal in lobbying Congress to end ICWA) but preserving or helping Indian families is not.

Seem ridiculous? It’s not new. My concern is missionaries like Lisa do not grasp the lifelong pain of being placed outside your tribe and living as an adoptee.  As an adoptee myself, I can speak to this. I speak to being assimilated by a stranger adoption and lost to my own family and culture. Other adoptees speak to this in the anthology TWO WORLDS: LOST CHILDREN OF THE INDIAN ADOPTION PROJECTS which I edited with another adoptee Patricia Busbee and it was published in 2012. These adoptees speak to their own loss after being adopted by non-Indian parents.

Until these missionaries actually gain some compassion, learn some history and advocate for improved living conditions for everyone on Indian reservations, this history will repeat itself.
History will repeat itself until Christians like Lisa begin to understand sovereign tribes are handling their own Indian Child Welfare cases since ICWA was passed in 1978, and are working every day to heal the mess left by colonialism and earlier missionaries like Lisa.