Recent news reports state that global warming and the shrinking Arctic ice caps are opening sea lanes, making islands accessible and causing the international community to engage in a new race to acquire this ''new world.'' Conflicts have already arisen over shipping, islands, fish, minerals and oil that are now becoming exploitable.
Governments are even now engaged in asserting sovereignty over these assets. Canada, Denmark and the United States are already involved in disputes over these issues. For example, Canada and Denmark have sent diplomats and warships to plant flags on Hans Island near Greenland.
Manifest Destiny is alive as it aims itself at the Arctic, once again placing human greed above human beings.
In the 2001 Census, about 46,000 people living in non-reserve areas reported having Inuit identity. This group represented about 6% of the total non-reserve Aboriginal population. The majority of Inuit lived in the following four Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic as defined by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami:
the northern coastal and southeastern area of Labrador, home to 7% of Inuit
Nunavik, which lies north of the 55th parallel in Quebec, where 19% of the Inuit population lived
the territory of Nunavut, home to about one-half of the Inuit population
the Inuvialuit region in the northwestern corner of the Northwest Territories, home to about 7% of the Inuit population.
For thousands of years, Inuit people made their homes from natural materials native to their Arctic surroundings. They built snow shelters known as igloos to house entire families through the long winter. Igloos were complete with snow benches and beds, warm furs for blankets, and long entry tunnels to keep out the wind and cold.
The inside of an igloo was often quite comfortable, with temperatures at or just above freezing. In the summer months many families built skin tents framed with whalebones for structure. The tents were easy to set up and take down as the Inuit lived nomadically, following the animals that provided their main food source. While modern day Inuit may still use an igloo for shelter during a winter hunt, pre-fabricated houses have replaced the igloo as permanent housing. These houses sit on the permafrost -- a layer of earth that remains permanently frozen throughout the Arctic year. Today's Arctic villages have elaborate systems adapted to the permafrost with water and sewage piped above ground. Global warming threatens to melt the permafrost and disrupt the very foundation on which the modern Arctic infrastructure rests.
What are the Inuit going to build their homes on when the ice melts underneath them? They will be forced to relocate.
Here is a message from the Inuit leader, Aqqaluk Lynge.
We ask you to be responsible.
Action Call!
Manifest Destiny being alive and operating is a moot point now. That is the flashlight; here is the laser beam: the Senate Republican Steering Committee.
The Senate Republican Steering Committee has put secret holds on everything from Indian health care to methamphetamine funding to amendments to the Adam Walsh Act. NCAI President Joe Garcia tribes are shocked by the obstructionism.
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The Senate Republican Steering Committee is composed of some of the most conservative Republicans. The group is led by Sen. James DeMint (R-South Carolina) and its members include Sens. John Kyl (R-Arizona), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama).
In addition to emailing the Senators that compose the Senate Republican Steering Committee, which I provide links to below below, this is a broader action call and request.
My request is that "Sen. James DeMint (R-South Carolina) and its members (that)include Sens. John Kyl (R-Arizona), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama)" all receive the negative attention they deserve in at least one diary by at least some of the people that are reading this now in the future.
Please expose them, for I firmly believe that only Democratic elected officials will serve the best interests of the Indigenous People, especially including a Democratic president.
My wife has a job that requires her to work in Sam's Warehouse & today she came in contact with Sen. Jim DeMint, and one thing she asked him was his opinion on the "lady down in Texas" as I think she recounted it.
When asked why most of the less than two dozen protesters were white, she said First Nations people actually want more non-natives to participate in resolving native claims.
Vickers said First Nations need land and wilderness to survive as a people and to recover from decades of abuse they have suffered.
Near the end of the Clinton administration, former assistant secretary Kevin Gover offered an apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "Never again will we allow policy to proceed from the assumption that Indians possess less human genius than the other races," he said in August 2000. "Never again will we be complicit in the theft of Indian property. Never again will we appoint false leaders who serve purposes other than those of the tribes."
At the time, Gover said his apology was not on behalf of the U.S. "That is the province of the nation's elected leaders, and I would not presume to speak on their behalf," he said.
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
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About
Native American Netroots
...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide - a constituency that often lacks access to the justice system. NARF focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.
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Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights News by Brenda Norrell
In honor of my mother, 
