Haudenosaunee News

• The Youth and Elders Gathering hosted by the Onondaga Nation from July 23rd to July 31st was a great success. Over 200 people attended from such nations as the Lakota, Guatemala Indians, California Indians, Navajo, Hopi, Menominees and Haudenosaunee.

Each day started with a tobacco burning at 6:00am. The Onondaga women cooked three meals a day for the participants. Lodging was camp out style. Towards the end of the week some elders went to a local motel.

The youth participating in the gathering also camped out and ate their meals with the elders. The youth did meet together and prepared a statement which was not finalized and will be presented at a later time.

The Flathead nation of Montana will be hosting the Elders-Youth gathering in 2012.

• The Haudenosaunee Standing Committee on Repatriation and Funerary scheduled a meeting for August 3, 2011 at the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. The agenda was incomplete at press time. More information to follow next week.

• The Haudenosaunee Peace and Trade Committee has tentatively set a date for their meeting Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at Onondaga Nation Cookhouse. Start time 10:00 o’clock. An agenda item will be the cigarette issue.

An update on the Haudenosaunee Identification Cards:

Two hubs (stations) are being set up, one in Onondaga and one in Six Nations. The hub in Six Nations is up and ready to go. There are some technical difficulties in the Onondaga station. These technicalities are being resolved.

Equipment still needs to be delivered to some of the Nations and then training can begin.

The Haudenosaunee Documentation Committee are working hand in hand with Siemens to ensure the operation of producing the I.D. Cards will run smoothly. The technical issues at Onondaga should be clarified within the next few weeks and at that time this hub (station) will be fully operational.

There are many technical issues for this whole process. The hologram had to have adjustments and this work had been completed and incorporated into the card.

The work is slow and often time consuming, however, my friends – we will have our own Haudenosaunee I.D. Card sooner than later. Just be patient a little longer.

Have a good week.