This Week in Native American News - July 29, 2016
Inuit Suicide Prevention Focuses on 6 Key Areas
Natan Obed, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Photo credit: Catherine Cullen/CBC
In various Inuit communities, suicide rates are 5-25% than the national average. (These numbers are based on Canadian statistics, but the US is similar.)
Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), is working with Health Canada in Kuujjuaq, Quebec to fix the problem by focusing on:
- Creating social equity.
- Creating cultural continuity.
- Nurturing healthy Inuit children from birth.
- Access to mental wellness services.
- Healing unresolved trauma and grief.
- Mobilizing Inuit knowledge for resilience and suicide prevention.
Again, this is Quebec but desperately needed in the US, as well. Hats off to Obed! Read the full story here.
As We Look to Elect our Next President....
Eight years ago, we elected our first African American President. Now, we have our first female nominee.
Will we ever have a Native American President of the United States? Gyasi Ross says: Don't hold your breath.
Leonard Peltier Hoping for Pardon
Having spent more than four decades in prison for the murder of two FBI agents, Leonard Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), asked President Obama for clemency in late-March. Peltier, now 71, has continually insisted he was innocent in the 1975 murders and hopes to receive a pardon from Obama before he leaves office. Read the full story here.
Brush up on your history with this slideshow of the AIM Through the Years.
Meet the Last Native Speakers of the Hawaiian Language
The Hawaiian language and those fighting to make sure it stays alive have often been held up as an example for other dying indigenous languages.
But, there's a small group of Hawaiians, on the island of Niihau, who never lost it. Listen to their interesting story.
We try to share the best of the best, but that means there are really interesting articles we have to leave out. Check out more articles here.