Tlingit: Honoring our elders, establishing our traditions - Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to watch the Children’s Celebration take place in Centennial Hall. I sat next to my clan grandson Kingheestí, and near many of my favorite people in the world who are working tirelessly to revitalize our Tlingit language.

Tlingit-Haida: Housing announces new CEO - Ricardo Worl is the new president and chief executive officer for the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority. Set to retire at the end of April, current president and CEO, Blake Kazama, wraps up over a decade as head of the authority, starting in 1998.

Tlingit and Haida: Parnell seeks Native forum's help on education - Gov. Sean Parnell defended his commitment to education to the Native Issues Forum on Wednesday, and challenged the Alaska Senate to pass the budget he submitted. Speaking to the Tlingit-Haida Central Council Indian Tribes of Alaska-sponsored forum, Parnell defended his education budget, saying his proposals have been mischaracterized.

Tlingit and Haida: Central Council announces new CFO - Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced its appointment of Theresa Belton as the Tribe’s acting chief financial officer on Thursday.

Tlingit: Woosh kaanáxh gaxhtuda.aat: Conference convenes in Sitka - This week marks the beginning of Wooshteen Kanaxhtulaneegí Haa At Wuskóowu (Sharing Our Knowledge): A Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans, which runs from March 29-April 1 in Sitka. The conference began in 1993 as a way to gather culture-bearers, Tlingit speakers, learners, scholars and interested parties to reaffirm the customs and traditions of the Alaska Tlingit and Kaiganii Haida clans.

Tlingit-Haida: Hoonah weavers study ancestors' work at Smithsonian Institution - Five master weavers from Hoonah traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to study hundreds of Tlingit and Haida woven artifacts in the Smithsonian Institution’s collections. Huna Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes the preservation of Huna Tlingit culture, coordinated the trip in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices program to augment a series of weaving workshops held in Hoonah last year.

Tlingit-Haida: Could B.C. mine hurt eulachon runs? - Add tribal governments to the list of those concerned about large-scale mining near the Canadian border. They said an open-pit copper and gold mine planned for northeast of Ketchikan could threaten hooligan, also known as eulachon or candlefish.

Tlingit: Alaska Native Leader Niles Cesar Passes Away - A leader in moving tribes to greater self-determination died over the weekend. Niles Cesar was a member of the Raven moiety and L’ukwaax.ádi clan. Anchorage services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. The family plans to announce Juneau services soon. Niles Cesar passed away last Saturday at age 70 after a long struggle with cancer.

Tlingit: Juneau writer brings old Tlingit tales to life - In the Tlingit story of Strong Man, the hero, Dukt’ootl’, grows up building his strength until one day he is ready to become a leader of his people. The challenges that face teens today are a little different, but writer Ishmael Hope was able to relate the ancient Tlingit story to a modern-day story describing the evolution of a bullied teen into a confident young man, who is able to achieve his goals through hard work.

Tlingit: Decolonize the Tlingit! - We can look at why the prison population in Lemon Creek Correctional Facility is 85% native when natives make up only 14.8% of the total population in Alaska. We can also look at how our traditional hunting and fishing rights have been altered to make us look like criminals in today’s law systems. The judicial, congressional, educational, and democratic systems were put in place to make minorities fail, and fall subject to the will of the majority, the colonizer.

Tlingit: Juneau students drum up interest in history - One class of Gastineau Elementary School students is in the process of making deer hide drums as part of a multi-disciplined history lesson. The drum making is just a portion of the Tlingit learning that goes on at Gastineau. Before working on the drums, the students led a lesson on the calendar. They spoke in Tlingit calling out the months, days, weather and other related items.

Tlingit: Master Artist Mabel Pike Passes Away - Tlingit Master Artist and Elder Mabel Pike has passed away. Pike was born in Douglas and spent her early years in Juneau. She and her husband Joe lived in Tanana and Bethel in the 1960s before moving to Anchorage, where she soon became active in Native community activities. Her son Jan See says she’s perhaps best known for her beadwork and as a teacher.

Tlingit and Haida: State Gives Money To Central Council Tribe’s Child Support Unit - The State of Alaska agreed to release more than $50,000 to Central Council Tlingit and Haida Tribe’s Child Support Unit. The court agreement allows the Council to disperse the money to some families who have been waiting for years to see it.

Tlingit and Haida: CCTHITA, state reach agreement on child support - The Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced Tuesday they entered an agreement with the state of Alaska to release funds for child support orders pending the outcome of a final court order.

Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian: U.S. legislation threatens oldest, tallest trees in Tongass rainforest - Up to 17 percent of the tallest old-growth trees in the Tongass temperate rainforest could be cut under new U.S. legislation. The report argues that the legislation under consideration would resurrect the banned practice of "high-grading," which allows loggers to select the largest, most-ancient trees across the forest for cutting despite their ecological importance. The legislation is a part of a controversial 65,000 acre logging concession in Tongass to Sealaska Corporation, which is owned by 20,000 members of Native communities, from the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes.

Tlingit: Wrangell women take a whack at tribal house restoration - A unusual crew of woodworking women has been flailing with adzes over the past several months as part of the Shakes Island renovation project in Wrangell. The seven-person team charged with the task of shaping 7,000 feet of wood by hand includes four female adzers. The Wrangell Cooperative Association or WCA, which is managing the project, thinks this is the first time that females have been a significant part of an adzing team.

Tsimshiam-Haida-Tlingit: Lee Wilkerson’s Indian Warrior Journey Continues to Gain Strength - In October, Indian Country Today Media Network reported on the planned Indian Warrior Journey, a canoe trip conceived by Air Force pilot Captain Lee Wilkerson for this summer, which he hopes will involve members from every Native American tribe in the U.S. Since that article was published, he says he has received support from more than 50 tribes. Wilkerson and his brother, Nathaniel Wilkerson – who are Tsimshiam, Haida, and Tlingit – are planning an 850-mile canoe trip from Juneau, Alaska to the Quinault Nation, near Olympia, Washington, in traditional Haida canoes they are making. He is inviting two young men from every Native American nation in the country to join him. He says he will need to raise $360,000 for the project.

Tlingít: SEARHC mourns death of Dan Moreno Jr. - It is with great sorrow that we learned about the death early yesterday morning of Dan Moreno Jr., who represented Sitka Tribe of Alaska on the SEARHC Board of Directors from 1993-94. Dan's Tlingít name was Kaa Taan, and he was a member of the Kaagwaantaan (Eagle/Wolf) moiety. Dan was of the Ch'aak' Kudi Hít (Eagle Nest House) and was a grandchild of the L'uknax.adi (Coho Clan).

Tlingit: Library and PIA introduce Tlingit culture program on Elizabeth Peratrovich Day - In 1945, the Alaska state legislature signed the Anti-Discrimination Act into law, and began an era of improved racial relations in the state. Civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich was instrumental in this bill’s passage and her work is celebrated across the state on February 16, Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Anti-Discrimination Act.

Tlingit-Haida: House speaker faces school funding questions at Native Issues Forum - House Speaker Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, right, and Rep. Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue, answer questions during the Native Issue Forum at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Wednesday. The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will hold a series of Wednesday forums on Native issues during the legislative session.

Tlingit-Haida: Central Council to host Native Issues Forum - The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will hold a series of Wednesday forums on Native issues during the legislative session. The events are set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 8 and 22, March 7 and 21, and April 4.

Tlingit: 2 new Anchorage Museum exhibits explore different Alaska themes - At first glance, there's not much in common between two exhibits opening Friday at the Anchorage Museum. Tlingit artist Preston Singletary's "Echoes, Fire and Shadows" is a collection of elegantly crafted, blown-glass pieces that interpret Alaska Native myths in a modern medium and blends them with other indigenous cultures from around the world.

Tlingit: Glass artist has Alaska roots - Born in San Francisco in 1963, Preston Singletary has lived in Seattle almost ever since. But Alaska has a claim on him. His maternal grandmother was full-blood Tlingit from a Sitka area family. Traditional Northwest Indian themes and forms are fused into the glass works that have made him an internationally known artist.

Tlingit: Winter lecture series at Sheldon Jackson Museum starts Jan. 21 - The Friends of the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka have announced the start of the museum’s winter lecture series, featuring noted researchers and artists discussing topics related to the museum’s collections. A lecture by Tlingit weaver Teri Rofkar will close the lecture series on March 31. Her talk, “Partnerships in Understanding: Materials Characterization and Condition Assessment of Tlingit Spruce Root Baskets at the National Museum of the American Indian,” discusses her ongoing collaboration with the conservation staff at the Smithsonian Institution to better care for and understand Tlingit spruce root basketry.

Tlingit: City of Kake celebrates centennial - The song began with drumbeats, followed by a powerful call from the dance group leader. As the steady tempo of the drumbeats increased in volume, a chorus of women's voices began to sing, joined by the baritone of the men's voices. The gym floor soon filled with brightly colored regalia, emblazoned with clan crests. Eagles, ravens, sharks, killer whales, frogs and many others filled the room as the Keex' Kwaan dancers performed their grand entrance for the guests assembled in the Kake Community Hall this weekend. One hundred years ago, January 8, 1912, marked the day when the community of Kake became the first Alaska Native village to be recognized as a municipal government under the federal government. The decision represented a turning point for the community as traditional Native ways of governing were left behind in order to adopt Western laws. Today, Kake continues to be a predominantly Tlingit community nestled along the northwest shore of Kupreanof Island along Keku Strait. Around 500 people live in Kake.

Haida: Nation leader outraged over “libelous” Enbridge documents - The president of the Haida Nation Council, Guujaaw, was shocked when he saw his organization’s name on Enbridge documents submitted to the Joint Review Panel for hearings on the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline. "Enbridge has provided deliberately misleading and false information claiming that [it] has built relationships with the Haida Fisheries Program, Haida Development Corporation and Haida Child and Family Services,” Guujaaw said in an email to the Joint Review Panel dated Dec. 20. "We would like to have all these names stricken from Enbridge's files [and] documents as it is libelous bringing these organizations into disrepute, not only with their own constituents, but also the many First Nations, organizations and people committed to the health of this planet."

Haida: Artist honoured for life's work

Tlingit and Haida: Judge grants tribal courts power in child-support cases