Native News

The Native News Project is a new initiative from MPR News.

Stay informed with the latest news about local and national Native American communities, highlighting stories and issues important to Native American communities in Minnesota and beyond.

Our coverage includes cultural events, policy updates, community stories and more to provide a platform for Native voices, perspectives and important news.

How the craft flour movement could be a boon to farmers and Indian Country
As U.S. wheat farmers face painful losses in the global market due to President Trump's policies, one domestic flour mill on a reservation in Oregon is expanding its production twelvefold.
Vatican will return dozens of artifacts to Indigenous groups in Canada as gesture of reconciliation
The Vatican is expected to soon announce that it will return a few dozen artifacts to Indigenous communities in Canada as part of its reckoning with the Catholic Church’s troubled role in helping suppress Indigenous culture in the Americas, officials said Wednesday.
On-demand transportation service links Grand Rapids to rural and tribal communities
Minnesota's Advanced Rural Transit Innovations, or goMARTI, has expanded its free, on-demand transportation service that links Grand Rapids to rural and tribal communities along Highway 2 in northern Minnesota. 
‘Going to get tougher’: Tribes grapple with ongoing government shutdown
The United States is 20 days into the third-longest federal government shutdown in history and Indian Country is bracing for an unstable future ahead as reserve funding for many tribes could begin to dry up.
Ojibwe artist George Morrison’s family relishes his first solo exhibit at The Met
A few dozen Minnesotans traveled to New York to celebrate Ojibwe painter George Morrison, as the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled his first solo exhibition and placed the Minnesota-born artist among the giants of American modernism.
White Earth Nation expands bison herd in northwest Minnesota
The White Earth Nation Bison Program is advancing its food sovereignty goal by adding 45 new bison to its two herds near Naytahwaush and Mahnomen.
State signs cannabis agreement with third tribal nation
A Dakota nation in southeast Minnesota has become the third tribal nation in the state to sign an agreement regulating the sale of cannabis outside tribal land.  
New Dyani White Hawk show at the Walker is a 'love letter' to community
The “Dyani White Hawk: Love Language” exhibition, which is up at the Walker through Feb. 15, is a big and bright kaleidoscopic show, an expansive mid-career survey spanning 10,000 square feet of the Walker and the last 15 years of the Minnesota artist's career. 
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe sues 3M, other companies over 'forever chemicals' contamination
The lawsuit says the band's testing found "alarming" levels of PFAS in lake water, fish and deer on the Leech Lake Reservation. Tribal members depend on hunting, fishing and cultivating wild rice for food, and for cultural and religious practices.