Maria Tallchief, the daughter of an Osage Indian father, and who lived on-reservation in Oklahoma until the oil rich family moved to New York, has died at age 88. Tallchief achieved renown with the New York City Ballet under choreographer George Balanchine.

Constable Andy Yung, the Williams Lake RCMP officer who punched a First Nations teen in the face, has been acquitted of an assault charge. On April 22 a judge ruled that Yung acted reasonably during the arrest of an 18-year-old girl in 2011. “It’s been a hard, long year-and-a-half. We thought we were going to get justice. And everything just didn’t go the way we thought it was going to go,” said the teens mother. Yung admitted he punched the girl in the face while she was handcuffed in the back seat of his cruiser because she was drunk, agitated and had her legs wrapped around his head.

Eskasoni First Nation has received notice that income earned from its communal fishery will now be considered tax exempt. This is a reversal of an earlier decision from the Canada Revenue Agency that saw fishers taxed on income earned from the commercial fishery established after the 1999 Marshall decision.

The Conservative federal government has reimbursed Attawapiskat First Nation for the appointment of a third-party manager to take over the books after the community declared a state of emergency in housing during the winter of 2011. Documents obtained by the Toronto Star reveal Aboriginal Affairs agreed to transfer $136,132 to Attawapiskat last year to cover those costs.

Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario declared a state of emergency in mid-April after two suicides in less than a week. This brings the total lost to suicide to seven deaths in the past year, and 20 suicide attempts. A recent health report stated that of the community’s 400 members, half of them struggle with addictions. Only a handful of adults are available to help family members and do all the jobs in the community, reports the CBC. A leader said the burgeoning mining community is adding to the misery in the community.

An editorial printed in the StarPhoenix newspaper lauds the appointment of Blaine Favel to the position of University of Saskatchewan chancellor. “Favel long has demonstrated the best qualities one would expect of a graduate from Saskatchewan’s largest university.

The Fort McKay First Nation, located north of Fort McMurray, is filing a formal objection against an oilsands project called Dover. It is a joint venture of Athabasca Oil Corp. and PetroChina and would be as close as one kilometre from a reserve. Concerns are for band members who use the territory to fish, hunt and trap. The nation says proposals it has made to lessen the impact on the environment and community have been ignored after three years of consultation with Dover Operating Corp, owned by Athabasca Oil.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued an assessment critical of an environmental impact review of the Keystone XL pipeline. In a letter to high level State Department officials overseeing the permit process, the EPA raises issues regarding greenhouse gas emissions and pipeline safety. The State Department review determined Keystone XL would have a minimal impact on the environment. The EPA’s assessment was anxiously awaited and could raise barriers to approval of the project.

Sisters lead Louisville

Thanks to a pair of Native American sisters, the Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team recently had its share of supporters on both sides of the border. Shoni and Jude Schimmel, who grew up on Oregon’s Umatilla Indian Reservation, are members of the Cardinals’ squad that advanced all the way to the NCAA women’s championship match. But in the end the sisters and their teammates were defeated by the University of Connecticut Huskies 93-60 in the national final. The championship match was held April 8 in New Orleans.

Rank Comix for May 2013

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By Adam Martin