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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 General Council briefed on Tribal land holdings — pg. 6 s i g n k • o January 15, 2020 l z s N f Smoke Signals U M P Q U A • M O L A L L A • R O G U E R I V E R • K A L A P U YA • C H A S TA An Independent Publication of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde • Smokesignals.org Grand Ronde members back Chinook Nation recognition effort By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor T ACOMA, Wash. – Three members of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council attended a rally held at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma on Monday, Jan. 6, that supported the Chinook Indian Nation’s continuing fight for federal recognition. Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George and Tribal Council members Denise Harvey and Lisa Leno attended the event. In addition, employees from the Cultural Resources Department, in- cluding Greg Archuleta, Travis Stewart, Jordan Mercier and David Harrelson, attended along with other Grand Ronde Tribal members and government employees. The rally was held in connection with a hearing for summary judgment in the Chinook Indian Nation’s 2017 civil lawsuit against the U.S. De- partment of Interior and represents the latest development in the Chinook Indian Nation’s ongoing battle for federal acknowledgment. Judge Ronald Bruce Leighton, the judge presiding over the lawsuit, granted the Tribe a hearing for summary judgment motions. The rally started at 1 p.m. and the hearing on summary judgment and a drum and prayer circle were held at 3 p.m. The Grand Ronde drum stayed throughout the proceedings, drumming outside the courthouse in the rain. The hearing was to determine whether the Tribe can seek recognition from the federal government after its recognition was revoked in 2001 by the George W. Bush administration. Tribes that have applied for recognition and been denied can be prevented from re-applying. In August 2017, the Chinook Indian Nation sued the federal government in the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. District Court for its right to re-apply as well as asking for funds guaranteed to the Tribe in 1970 that have never been paid. See CHINOOK continued on page 7 Prepping for the count Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Housing Department Administrative Program Manager Joan Dugger talks about the Tribe’s plan for the upcoming census on Monday, Jan. 6. Dugger stressed the importance of an accurate count and talked about employment opportunities that will become available. Housing’s Joan Dugger heading up Tribal census efforts By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer N ative Americans have often been his- torically underrepresented when it comes to U.S. census numbers. In the 2010 census, Native Americans and Alaska Natives living on Reservations were undercounted by 4.9 percent, according to Census Bureau data. Grand Ronde Housing Administrative Program Manager Joan Dugger is hoping to change that trend by serving as a liaison for the Tribe to ensure accurate counts. “It’s really important because Tribal people For more information on becoming a census taker, contact Joan Dugger at 503-879-1804 or e-mail joan.dugger@grandronde.org. To learn more about the census, visit www.grandronde.org/census-2020/ have historically been underserved,” she says. “It is sad. We have been undercounted for the duration of the census. It is critical to me that See CENSUS continued on page 9 Reshaping the Native filmmaking narrative By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer T he Grand Ronde Tribe’s an- cestral homelands, culture and lifeways will be featured at the international Sundance Film Festival later this month. The full-length feature film, “maɬni – towards the ocean, to- wards the shore,” follows Sweet- Contributed photo water Sahme and Tribal member Jordan Mercier's travels through each of their worlds as they wander through and contemplate birth, death and what is in between it all. Narrated mostly in Chinuk Wawa, their stories evolve from the Chi- See FILM continued on page 8 A scene from “ma ɬ ni – towards the ocean, towards the shore,” a film by Sky Hopinka that features Grand Ronde culture and is narrated in Chinuk Wawa that will be showing at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.
