Upcoming Workshops, News, Resources

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) writes: “During this week, also known as Orange Shirt Week, communities across the country and Canada come together to acknowledge the lives of children who never returned home, honor the strength of survivors and descendants, and recognize the ongoing impacts of federal Indian boarding school policies on Indigenous communities and beyond.”

• On September 30, wear orange and tell people why you are participating in Orange Shirt Day.
• See the NABS Day of Remembrance toolkit and consider taking more specific and ongoing actions.
• Find a Native-led commemoration event near you.
• Purchase a Day of Remembrance shirt here. Appropriately, it features a Lakota design (image below) that represents a parfleche bag, used to carry medicines.

Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s T-shirt design. Purchase here.

How are you and your community planning to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day? Are Native peoples in your area planning activities? Can you encourage friends, colleagues, and family members to join you in participating? What can you do to uplift the history and presence of Native peoples in your region on Indigenous Peoples Day and every day?

Visit Running Strong for American Indian Youth to learn about the history and purpose of Indigenous Peoples Day: “What it is, why it matters, and how to celebrate.”

Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples

In this 2-hour participatory program, we experience the history of the colonization of Turtle Island, the land that is now known as the United States. The story is told through the words of Indigenous leaders, European/American leaders, and Western historians. We engage with this history through experiential exercises and small group discussions. And we are invited to consider how we can build relationships with Indigenous peoples based on truth, respect, justice, and our shared humanity. Facilitated by TRR’s Native and non-Native teams. Appropriate for high school students and adults.

The same workshop is offered on each date:

Saturday, October 24, 4-6 pm ET (3-5pm CT; 2-4pm MT; 1-3pm PT). REGISTER HERE.

Sunday, December 6, 4-6 pm ET (3-5pm CT; 2-4pm MT; 1-3pm PT). REGISTER HERE.

Webinar: What Does Sovereignty Mean to Native Nations?

What are the historical and legal foundations that determine the relations between tribal nations and the U.S. government? What does tribal sovereignty mean? What are its promises and its limitations? How do tribes exercise and advocate for their sovereignty today?

Dr. Aaron Payment (Anishinaabe & Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) will address these questions and more! Dr. Payment is a federal Indian policy expert and scholar as well as an elected Tribal leader, serving three terms on the Sault Ste. Marie nation’s Tribal Council and four years as Tribal Chairperson/CEO. He advocates for Tribal Sovereignty as an Executive Committee Member of the National Congress of American Indians and President of the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes and United Tribes of Michigan. He has testified in Congress over 30 times, reminding legislators of their trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations.

Bring your questions to Dr. Payment’s webinar, and look forward to learning a lot!

Wednesday, November 18, 8-9:30pm ET (7-8:30pm CT; 6-7:30pm MT; 5-6:30pm PT). REGISTER HERE.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Payment.

Visit our new Resources and Actions webpage here to explore:

1. How can I explore historical and ongoing colonization and Native Resistance?
2. How can I examine my own family history in relation to Native Peoples?
3. How can I support and build relationships with Native peoples?
4. How can I learn from Indigenous wisdom and teachings?

The ReHuman School

This month’s featured resource from our list is The ReHuman School: Indigenous-led Online Courses Moblizing Humanity Toward Biocultural Restoration. Check it out!

Image is from the ReHuman School’s website.

The 2026 PeaceWays Newsletter, published by Friends Peace Teams, features articles by peace and justice workers all around the world on the topic, “Cultivating Resilience.” Learn how they face challenges of war, displacement, climate disasters, historical trauma, and discrimination, and work for justice on every continent. In the Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples section (page 11), three Native American leaders describe how their Tribal nations build and sustain resilience through traditional cultural practices.

Read ICT News’ Native Vote: The State of the Race and articles about Native candidates for national offices.

A beaver in Lynx Pond, in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine. By NPS – NPGallery, Public Domain, via Wikimedia.

Land Back in Maine

Penobscot Nation Regains 11,297 Acres in First Phase of Major Land Return! “Being able to restore those lands back to our stewardship is a very moving thing,” says Penobscot Natural Resources Director Chuck Loring Jr. in this Tribal Business News article.

Lakota School is Finalist for $1M Prize

Native News Online reports: Small All-Girls School on the Pine Ridge Reservation Up for $1million Prize. The Pine Ridge Girls’ School (Anpo Wicahpi) is an all-girls college preparatory school that is grounded in Lakota culture and girls’ empowerment.

Tribes Protest Line 5 Oil Pipeline

Enbridge is a Canadian oil company that is building a series of pipelines through Native lands (and waters) in the U.S.  Native protesters fought hard but were not successful in stopping construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 a few years ago. Now Native Americans are joining with environmental organizations to block construction of Line 5, which threatens the waters of the Great Lakes. Read Native News Online’s report, Three Fires Confederacy Makes First Mackinac Bridge Walk, Calls for Line 5 Shutdown.

Note: Our November 18 webinar speaker, Dr. Aaron Payment, will talk about this issue in terms of Tribal sovereignty.

A Resistance Camp to Protect Michigan’s Wetlands

Truthout reports, Indigenous Tribes Form Resistance Camp Against Proposed Copper Mine in Michigan. At Camp Animikiiwadiswan, or Thunderbird Nest resistance camp, Tribal members are protesting plans for a copper sulfide mine that would threaten the Upper Peninsula’s wetlands.

Fight for Sovereignty on the US-Mexico Border

Two major publications have published reports from the US-Mexico border where the Tohono O’odham nation is defending their sovereignty and their land against the Trump administration, which is determined to build its border wall through Tohono O’odham land. And the Native American Rights Fund filed an amicus brief in the case, on behalf of Tribal nations around the country.

• In High Country News, read Tohono O’odham Fight Border Wall on Sacred, Sovereign Lands
• In the New York Times, For a Border Tribe, Trump’s Wall is a Betrayal: ‘They want to erase us.’
• Native American Rights Fund, Tribal Nations Oppose Federal Government’s Trespass in Border Wall Case.

Low Water in the Grand Canyon Affects Tribes

High Country Today asks, “What Will Happen to the Grand Canyon as Water Levels Drop?” The Pueblo of Zuni along with other human and non-human communities will be among the most harmed.

Conflict with Christian Church on the Wind River Reservation

WyoFile investigates, Who is the Christian legal group representing the Wind River church embroiled in sermon controversy? The Northern Arapaho Business Council banned the Foundations For Nations church from the Wind River reservation after Pastor Sarah Lucas said Native people should turn away from their traditional ways, calling them a false “idol.” The Northern Arapaho are standing firm, and the church is fighting back.

Note: On January 26, renowned author Patty Krawec (Lac Seul First Nation) will offer a Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples webinar on the issues around Christianity and traditional Native spirituality.

When Cultural Appropriation Turns Deadly

A new book, Plastic Shaman: The True Story of a Deadly Self-Help Retreat and America’s Misguided Quest for Wellness, by award-winning journalist Annette McGivney, “is an indictment of America’s obsession with self-help — and ultimately absolution for its sins against its first people — via ‘authentic’ Native American ceremonies without coming into contact with the people from whom the ceremonies were brutally stolen,” writes Elyse Wild in her Native News Online review. Wild’s excellent article goes a long way in laying out the indictment.