I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Oct. 20, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
RED LAKE -- Minnesota's 11 American Indian tribes called on the Canadian and U.S. governments to consult them when natural resources are being considered for or permitting the removal from the Great Lakes chain and its basin.
The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council approved the resolution Tuesday at its quarterly meeting, which was held at the Red Lake Reservation tribal headquarters on the Red Lake Reservation. The MIAC is a liaison group to the state Legislature and the governor's office.
The action was prompted by a request from the First Nations, an organization of American Indian tribes in Canada's Ontario province.
According to MIAC Executive Director Joe Day, First Nations became concerned over the taking of natural resources from the Great Lakes region when a company called Nova received a permit to bottle Great Lakes water and sell it to foreign countries.
Day said he did not know which country issued the permit.
None of the Indian tribes in either Canada or the United States were consulted about the permit even though they have a vested interest in protecting the resources, Day said, especially the Bois Forte, Grand Portage, Fond du Lac and Mille Lacs bands in Minnesota. All four tribes have hunting and gathering rights in the Great Lakes area.
The resolution states that the tribes have inherent rights to the natural resources in the Great Lakes region, and therefore, any diminishment of the natural resources within that region is a violation of the tribes' rights.
It asks that "federal governments notify Indian tribes and First Nations when natural resources are proposed to be used or taken so that Indian tribes and First Nation people become aware and may respond appropriately."
Day said that Nova'a permit to remove water from the Great Lakes in the Sault Ste. Marie area of Michigan and Ontario was pulled after First Nations protested.
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