Salamanca, NY, Aug 08, 2011 — This week, we're going to take a look around Indian Country in New York. Taxing native smoke shops have grabbed headlines lately. But we're going to look deeper at some of the political, economic, and social trends shaping New York's native tribes and nations.

Today, the Seneca Nation, south of Buffalo. Casinos and tobacco sales have turned it from an empoverished territory to one of the top ten employer in western New York.

The Nation's new president, Robert Odawi Porter, has taken a lead role in negotiating native issues with the Cuomo Administration.

Porter wants the Senecas to go beyond smoke shops and slot machines. He's a Harvard-educated lawyer and academic. And he wants to recast one of the darkest moments of the Seneca people into an economic boon. David Sommerstein has this profile.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, May 06, 2011 — The hockey and basketball playoffs are at full throttle. But there's another professional sport deep in the title series - the national lacrosse league. Tomorrow, the Buffalo Bandits, one of the league's winningest franchises, takes on the Toronto Rock in the semifinals. The Bandits are led by goalie Mike Thompson, a Mohawk who lives in Akwesasne. Thompson's had an incredible year and an incredible career, having won both major North American lacrosse championships. David Sommerstein visited him at home and has this profile.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Dec 10, 2010 — Four years ago, a tobacco company in Akwesasne, Jacobs Manufacturing, started a native fashion show to raise money for the local hat and mitten fund.

The "Nations Best Next Top Model Show" has grown into a big attraction. More than a thousand fans filled the Jacobs plant on the St. Regis Mohawk reservation last Saturday night. Grammy-award winner Joanne Shenandoah performed.

Models from Iroquois communities showed off the work of ten Mohawk designers. The fashions included traditional regalia, cocktail and casual wear, and furs.

Joni Sarah White, an Akwesasne artist, joined models and designers at last weekend's Nations Best Next Top Models Show in Akwesasne. Winning model Chatnie Herne won a one-year contract with an Ottawa modeling agency.
Producer Randi Rourke Barreiro was backstage and by the runway for today's Heard Up North.  Go to full article

Nov 18, 2010 — The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe says it's "at an impasse" in talks with New York over sharing the revenue from the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino near Massena. The tribe says it's paid more than $50 million to the state, St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, and four north Country towns since 2005 under the Mohawks' gaming compact.

But those payments stopped last month when the tribe claimed New York violated an exclusivity clause in the compact by allowing slot machines on a little native territory in Clinton County. David Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Oct 22, 2010 — Jake Swamp, Mohawk chief and spiritual leader - planter of peace trees -- died unexpectedly a week ago. He was a public face of traditional Mohawks, opening ceremonies with a prayer in the Mohawk language, and traveling the world to teach about the teachings and issues of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee.

Swamp founded the Tree of Peace Society almost 30 years ago to recover and pass along Mohawk and other tribal culture and philosophy.

We remembered Jake Swamp this morning, with a 2002 archive story set at the society's center in western St. Lawrence County. Martha Foley has more.  Go to full article

Cornwall, ON, Oct 22, 2010 — Mohawk chief and spiritual leader Jake Swamp founded the Tree of Peace Society almost 30 years ago to recover and pass along Mohawk and other tribal culture and philosophy.

On the society's website there's a quote that reads:
"We plant the tree of peace. Under its roots we have buried the weapons of war. Hatred, greed and jealousy will be cast aside to make room for positive teachings."

One of these teachings comes from the Mohawk prophet Kanya-da-LEE-oh, or "handsome lake." Here's his story, as told by Jake Swamp.  Go to full article

Summerstown, ON, Sep 14, 2010 — Last weekend, hundreds of people gathered outside the arena on Cornwall Island for the Akwesasne Pow Wow. More than 200 dancers from across the Iroquois territories competed. David Sommerstein spoke with two smoke dancers for today's Heard Up North.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Aug 27, 2010 — Women are the traditional leaders in Iroquois culture. Their models of government and leadership were seeds for the U.S. Constitution and the women's suffrage movement. But the reservation system, Indian boarding schools, and racism helped weaken the matrilineal connection among the Iroquois people. This weekend, a hundred Iroquois women will convene at a heritage center in Akwesasne. They'll use conversation and sweat lodges, and also Power Point and Facebook, to try to reassert women's traditional roles amidst the fast pace of modern life. David Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

Rochester, NY, Aug 19, 2010 — Indian tribes are banding together to fight New York's attempt to collect taxes on tobacco sold at native-owned stores. Billed as an historic gathering of the six nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy, chiefs from the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora Nations met outside Rochester today.

In a joint statement, they called New York "a foreign nation". And they called the Paterson Administration's move to collect cigarette taxes on reservations "an effort to erode our sovereignty."

The meeting comes a day after the Seneca Nation sued New York in U.S. District Court to block the tax collection.

Paterson says the taxes would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to the cash-strapped state. The tax collection is scheduled to begin on September 1st.

The last time New York tried to collect the tobacco taxes on native lands, members of the Seneca Nation burned tires on the New York State Thruway, shutting down New York's main east-west highway.  Go to full article

Jul 06, 2010 — We continue our series, the Adirondack Attic, with Andy Flynn. You may know Andy from his series of "Adirondack Attic" books on local history. He uses the objects people make, use and leave behind to tell stories about the life and times of the region. NCPR is collaborating with Andy and his sources at the Adirondack Museum and other historical associations and museums in the region to bring these stories to air. Today, Andy visits the Six Nations Indian Museum in Onchiota.  Go to full article