Mining and VAWA Education Panel Hosted at Lac Courte Oreilles Feb. 16th

The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe and IndianCountryTV.com will be co-hosting several events on Saturday, Feb. 16, meant to educate citizens about the potential impact of legislation allowing open pit mining and other mining related operations in northern Wisconsin. A second subject that will also be part of the featured discussions from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. that day will be the Violence Against Women Act which is working its way through the current legislative process in Congress.

To be held at the LCO Casino Convention Center, the day will be filled with informative speakers, a discussion panel and report on what is being proposed in the state legislature regarding mining permitting. Events from noon to 9:30 p.m. are free and open to the public.

The Mining and VAWA discussion panel will begin with an opening by Ojibwe elder Edward Benton Banai on Ojibwe prophecies and features Chairman Mike Wiggins of the Bad River Ojibwe Tribe whose reservation may be impacted by the permitting of a mine in the Penokee Mountain Range near Mellen, Wisconsin. Bad River is immediately downstream from the proposed mine site.

Joining the mining panel will be Keweenaw Bay, Michigan Mining Impact Committee member Jessica Koski and Bob Kincaid of the Coal River Mountain Watch organization from West Virginia who will speak about mining impacts in their communities. The status of the Round Lake/Sawyer County Vanadium ore deposit will be addressed by speakers and how new regulations impact its potential as a mine.

The status of the Violence Against Women Act will be addressed by Aging and Disability Specialist Cleveland J. Doxtator who works for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Abuse. Joining Doxtator will be Denise Pictou Maloney who will discuss the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women project in Canada. Maloney lost her mother Annie Mae Pictou-Aquash in a 1975 execution in which 10 years of jurisdictional issues and challenges nearly prevented the prosecution of her mother’s killer.

Capping the day of events will be a social powwow dance beginning at 6 p.m. with local LCO specialty dances and a final grand finale honoring the Idle No More Movement at 8 p.m. with a one hour Round Dance song sequence.

A full feast will be featured from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and local citizens are welcome to add to the event potluck style for visitors by bringing sandwiches and desserts. Events will be broadcast in live stream from the www.lco-nsn.gov website and IndianCountryTV.com.