Latest news with #SpiritLakeTribe
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
Spirit Lake recognizes work being done to help with issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people
May 3—SPIRIT LAKE NATION — As Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Awareness Day approaches, the Spirit Lake Tribe and other tribal nations throughout North Dakota continue to face the widespread issue by advocating for legislation, offering reward money and organizing widespread searches. "This day serves as a crucial call to action, spotlighting the urgent need for legal reforms and resources to combat violence against Indigenous communities," says a press release issued by the Spirit Lake Tribe. MMIWR Awareness Day is Monday, May 5. As of Tuesday, April 29, there are 14 Indigenous people considered missing in North Dakota, according to the state's missing persons database. Five have disappeared within the last six weeks, including Renzo Bull Head, a 20-year-old member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe whose disappearance has inspired nearly 100 people across various tribes and regions to volunteer their efforts to search. All tribal nations located in North Dakota, as well as some in South Dakota and Minnesota, have dispatched staff and equipment, including drones and boats, to help search, according to the release. Nonprofit organizations have offered their assistance as well. More than a month after he went missing, these efforts continue. "Spirit Lake is still assisting with his search," Vicki Alberts, Spirit Lake Tribe's public relations specialist, told the Grand Forks Herald. "The council has still been open to deploying resources, and still allowing me to help where I can with the family, as far as getting their story out, and continuing to help with some of their social media posts." The Spirit Lake Tribe acknowledges that while state and federal resources and support are vital to resolving missing persons cases, "they cannot always be relied upon," the release said. "Instead, (tribal nations) must assist one another in all ways possible, reinforcing the importance of inter-tribal solidarity in the face of adversity." The Spirit Lake Tribe will soon be reinvigorating efforts to find its own missing people, Isaac James Hunt and Jemini Posey, both of whom have been missing for more than a year. "We have search efforts that will be deployed here in May," Alberts said. "It'll be posted on the main Spirit Lake Facebook page once we get all of the details put together because, with that one, it is more of a coordinated effort. We are working specifically with our emergency response team here at the tribe, and they'll be bringing in some of the local nonprofit search-and-rescue teams to assist with that effort." The tribe is offering a $20,000 reward — which would come out of the tribe's general fund — for information leading to the recovery of Posey and Hunt, the release said. "These are our people, and we want the families to know that we stand with them in their search," Chairwoman Lonna Jackson-Street said. "Every effort counts, and we are committed to utilizing all available resources to find Jemini and Isaac." A 5K walk/run in honor of Posey and Missing Indigenous Women's Month is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 11, in Fort Totten. Another area of advocacy for Indigenous peoples has occurred at this year's legislative session, during which two bills that could help have been making their way through the Legislature. HB 1199, a bill that aims to establish a state-funded task force that focuses on missing Indigenous peoples, passed 46-1 in the Senate Monday, April 28, with an emergency clause that makes it effective immediately once filed with the secretary of state. "This bill is about ensuring that when an Indigenous person goes missing, every available resource is mobilized to bring them home safely," said Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette. The second bill, HB 1535, aims to establish a state "Feather Alert" system, which would allow for notifications to be issued when an Indigenous person is missing. When the bill returned to the Senate with amendments Thursday, May 1, it passed 45-1. "The Feather Alert system is essential for empowering our communities to respond swiftly to missing persons cases," Jackson-Street said. "We cannot afford to wait when lives are at stake."
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Devils Lake or Spirit Lake? In 1996, Mni Wakan Oyate voted to change tribe's name to reflect true translation
Mar. 11—Editor's note: Mni Wakan is spelled differently across sources. Some of the variations include Mne Wakan, Mni Waukan and Miniwakan. The Grand Forks Herald uses the "Mni Wakan" spelling in this story because that is how it is spelled by the Spirit Lake Tribe online. SPIRIT LAKE RESERVATION — Whether intentionally or by mistake, it seems white settler misinterpretation of an Indigenous story is behind the "devils" named throughout eastern North Dakota, including the name of a city, the lake that borders it and, up until the 1990s, an Indigenous tribe whose reservation includes much of the lake. The lake was named "Mni Wakan," which is Sacred Water in the Dakota language, because of the Unktehi (Water Spirits) said to be found in all bodies of water, according to Louis Garcia, designated historian for the Spirit Lake Nation, who wrote a piece about the subject that was published in 2023 in the Devils Lake Journal. "The Water Spirit wants to keep the water, and the Thunderbird wants to bring it up into the clouds and make rain," Garcia told the Grand Forks Herald. "It's just their Indian way of explaining the hydrological cycle — how fog and rain and ice and snow work, but they use this story and they make it so that it's sacred." The Unktehi are said to be protective of the water, drowning those who try to take it. This is why they are sometimes referred to as water "monsters," or "the Terrible One," rather than the more neutral term of "spirits." So when the Dakota people tried to explain to French explorers why the lake was sacred, the Frenchmen listened to the story and concluded instead that these Unktehi were monsters, and subsequently named the lake Lac du Diable, or Lake of the Devils, Garcia wrote in his Journal piece. "There was a translation problem," he said. The tribe later became known as the Devils Lake Sioux, though their Dakota name is Mni Wakan Oyate — which translates to something along the lines of "people of the Spirit Lake." Pauline Graywater, a woman whose obituary says she lived on the reservation throughout her life before dying in 2020, was interviewed by a Grand Forks Herald reporter in the early 1990s. She said that when the white people came to the area, they twisted things around and, after naming Devils Lake, "they started naming everything about the devil." Standing outside her then-place of work, St. Jude's Retirement Home, located outside of Fort Totten, Graywater told the reporter there was a 'Devil's Tooth' right down the road. "They named it that, I don't know why," she said. "It's just a big rock — they say it looks like a tooth." Graywater had been told by elders in the community that the story of the rock had to do with a young maiden who, with a baby on her back, left the camp where her group was having a gathering because she was angry with her husband. When he and another man followed after her, they didn't find her, but instead found what was later named the Devil's Tooth. "They believe that she turned into a rock," Graywater said. In Garcia's work gathering and preserving Indigenous history and stories such as the one Graywater shared, he said he didn't get the idea that most people were sitting down and analyzing the name of Devils Lake, questioning why it was that way — much like one wouldn't be expected to do so for any other location. "Pick any town anywhere, they just pass off the name," he said. "(They say,) 'That's what we've always called it.'" In 1996, tribal members voted to change their name to the Spirit Lake Nation, a decision that seemed natural — returning to a more accurate translation of the Dakota name, Myra Pearson, former tribal chairwoman and current executive director of Spirit Lake Tribal Housing, told the Grand Forks Herald. An archival article written by Kris Halvorson, a staff writer at the Journal — presumably the Devils Lake Journal — says the vote for the name change was 265 to 125. Pearson recalls working in the financial department at that time. "We had to change everything — all the check blanks," she said. "Back then we didn't have all the technology we have today. It was quite a job back then, but they got it done." It was a long time coming, though, and she remembers strong support for the change. At the same time that then Chairman Elmer White brought the matter to a vote, a much more controversial matter was also being voted on. "That was also the third time they brought the issue to the people to open up the reservation for alcohol," Pearson said. Alcohol had been banned from the reservation since the 1960s, as previously reported by WDAY. Elders were angry with White, asking why he would allow the issue to be put to a vote for a third time when there was such strong opposition to it, Pearson said. "The crazy thing was, there weren't a whole lot of elders, but somehow they always had that thing voted down," she said with a chuckle. It seemed support for the change came largely from the reservation's younger population. "I remember people saying, 'Well, it'll bring in more money,'" Pearson said. "But I also remember one of the chairmen saying, 'Money isn't the answer.'" At the time, theirs was the only dry reservation, she said; this was something outlined in their treaty, and she couldn't imagine it changing. "It's kind of the root of all evil that goes on here," Pearson said. The subject was dropped for quite some time afterwards, but in 2019, the tribe ultimately voted in favor of allowing the sale of alcohol at its casino in St. Michael.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spirit Lake Tribe comes out in opposition to Turtle Mountain plans for Grand Forks casino
Feb. 6—GRAND FORKS — The Spirit Lake Tribe has come out in opposition to legislation that proposes allowing the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa to have a casino in Grand Forks. "We felt like a very important piece was missing, and that was consultation with people we call our relatives," Tribal Chairwoman Lonna Street said. "It is my responsibility as chairwoman of the tribe to look out for my nation." The proposal, Senate Bill 2376, would amend North Dakota Century Code to allow Turtle Mountain to expand gaming operations from Rolette County, where Turtle Mountain tribal lands are, to Grand Forks County, where it claims historical ties and seeks to construct a $280 million to $300 million casino and resort. Both the city and county of Grand Forks have come out in support of Turtle Mountain's project. The bill was discussed in a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 5 and is making its way through the legislative process. In a release sent to the media Wednesday, Spirit Lake representatives said that they were caught off guard by the casino announcement and feel they should have been consulted. They said the lack of communication was likely the result of a "misjudgment rather than an intentional oversight." "The introduction of a new gaming facility in Grand Forks County threatens to divert critical revenue away from existing tribal casinos, including the Spirit Lake Casino and Resort, potentially jeopardizing the financial stability of tribal nations reliant on gaming for essential services," Street wrote in the release. The release said Spirit Lake deeply values the leadership and kinship that exists between the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain bands. The release sent to the media says "the opposition to SB 2376 is in no way a reflection of division or disrespect toward TMBCI but rather a response to a legislative process that did not adequately include all affected tribal nations." Additionally, in the view of Spirit Lake, the decision of the Legislature to take up this proposal also calls into question the state's past expansion of electronic pull tabs and charitable gaming, which Spirit Lake leaders believe have hurt tribal operations. "(Gaming) is a huge economic boost for the Spirit Lake Tribe; in fact, it's forefront for us," Street told the Herald. "It's one of our main economic boosters in our community which provides a lot of social funding for our community as well as program funding." The Spirit Lake Tribe is headquartered in Fort Totten, North Dakota, and its tribal lands are on the southern shore of Devils Lake, approximately 100 miles west of Grand Forks.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spirit Lake Tribe comes out in opposition to Turtle Mountain's plans for Grand Forks casino
Feb. 5—GRAND FORKS — The Spirit Lake Tribe has come out in opposition to legislation that proposes allowing the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa to have a casino in Grand Forks. "We felt like a very important piece was missing, and that was consultation with people we call our relatives," Tribal Chairwoman Lonna Street said. "It is my responsibility as chairwoman of the tribe to look out for my nation." The proposal, Senate Bill 2376, would amend North Dakota Century Code to allow Turtle Mountain to expand gaming operations from Rolette County, where Turtle Mountain tribal lands are, to Grand Forks County, where it claims historical ties and seeks to construct a $280 million to $300 million casino and resort. Both the city and county of Grand Forks have come out in support of Turtle Mountain's project. The bill was discussed in a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday and is making its way through the legislative process. In a release sent to the media Wednesday, Spirit Lake representatives said that they were caught off guard by the casino announcement and feel they should have been consulted. They said the lack of communication was likely the result of a "misjudgment rather than an intentional oversight." "The introduction of a new gaming facility in Grand Forks County threatens to divert critical revenue away from existing tribal casinos, including the Spirit Lake Casino and Resort, potentially jeopardizing the financial stability of tribal nations reliant on gaming for essential services," Street wrote in the release. The release said Spirit Lake deeply values the leadership and kinship that exists between the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain bands. The release sent to the media says "the opposition to SB 2376 is in no way a reflection of division or disrespect toward TMBCI but rather a response to a legislative process that did not adequately include all affected tribal nations." Additionally, in the view of Spirit Lake, the decision of the Legislature to take up this proposal also calls into question the state's past expansion of electronic pull tabs and charitable gaming, which Spirit Lake leaders believe have hurt tribal operations. "(Gaming) is a huge economic boost for the Spirit Lake Tribe; in fact, it's forefront for us," Street told the Herald. "It's one of our main economic boosters in our community which provides a lot of social funding for our community as well as program funding." The Spirit Lake Tribe is headquartered in Fort Totten, North Dakota, and its tribal lands are on the southern shore of Devils Lake, approximately 100 miles west of Grand Forks.
