Friends of the Falls and the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI), convened the Native Partnership Council as a channel to share stories about Owámniyomni, consider this place from an Indigenous perspective, and set guiding principles for the project. Dakota Tribal leadership endorsed this approach as a method to center Native voices.

All four Mni Sota Dakota Tribal leaders were invited to participate in the Council or to name a representative. Additional Council members were identified from the following categories: History Keepers, Spiritual Leadership, Artists, Environmental, Youth/Young Adult and Exiled Dakota Descendants.

• Shelley Buck, Vice-President, Prairie Island Indian Community
• Jewell Arcoren, Dakota Lakota, enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
• Juanita Espinosa, enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Nation, Turtle Mountain and LCO Descendant
• Wakinyan LaPointe, Sicangu Lakota
• Maggie Lorenz, Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, descendant of Spirit Lake Dakota Nation
• Mona Smith, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota

The Council was joined and supported by the following spiritual and community leaders:

• Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota
• Brian Matrious, Anishinaabe/Ojibwe
• Carrie Day Aspinwall, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Minneapolis Urban Band Member (Facilitator)
• Robert Lilligren, enrolled in the White Earth Ojibwe Nation
• Angela Two Stars, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
• John Koepke, Ojibwe
• Melissa Olson, tribal citizen of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe at Leech Lake

The initial meeting of the Native Partnership Council was held in September 2021 in the form of a Ki Ceremony. “Ki” means “to arrive back to where one started, to return” in the Dakota language.

At the beginning of each gathering, we’d smudge and recognize that the River has a spirit which we must honor and respect; she is the life vein of our Mother Earth. The Council then met in a circle, a place where all are equal and each voice has its place. Here, they shared thoughts and stories about the Falls. Members responded to questions like:

• How can we look at this place through the lens of tribal history?
• What is your personal history with this place? Do you have family stories related to the River?
• In what ways has this history been hidden or erased? Are there ways it is still visible?
• How do we define the site’s significance?
• How do our people experience the River today?

These prompts led to powerful conversations about familial trauma, personal identity, tribal history, and cultural values. Native Partnership Council members also advocated for those who cannot speak for themselves. They spoke powerfully about the lasting impacts of genocide, industrialization, and commercialism on all of our relations – the River, the four-legged, the fish, the winged.

At the heart of all discussions was the River – a living spirit and mother of life. The Council challenged us to consider what the River wants, what can be learned from the water itself, and what would happen if this living force could flow as she wanted again.

Rather than record traditional meeting minutes, we documented early Native Partnership Council gatherings in a way that aligns with Native culture and traditional practices. Michelle Buchholz, a Wet’suwet’en artist who leads Cassyex Consulting, bore witness to Council sessions and created graphic recordings depicting key stories and themes.

Council members’ stories and sentiments coalesced into four themes that formed the basis of engagement sessions with the broader public:

• A Place to Restore a Story Disrupted
• A Place of Power
• A Place of Connection / Mitákuye Owas’iƞ (All Our Relations)
• The River is a Spirit / Mní Wičóni (Water is Life)

In 2022, Friends of the Falls and NACDI hosted five Community Conversations to educate and engage the public.

These events were tools to expand awareness for The Falls Initiative, increase transparency into our community engagement process, create a bridge between Native and non-Native communities, and align the priorities of multiple stakeholder groups.

The Partnership Council helped shape the format and content for each Community Conversation, and afterward, met to reflect on the public input. They took on the task of “weaving” together public and Council perspectives in order to find alignment.

Just as artist Michelle Buchholz bore witness to sessions of the Native Partnership Council, Friends of the Falls and NACDI engaged Studio Thalo to document Community Conversations from a BIPOC perspective.

Artists Nell Pierce, Bayou (Donald) Thomas, and Olivia Levins Holden produced a digital graphic recording in response to each community event, as well as a large-scale painting encapsulating themes that were shared across the complete Community Conversation series.

“Parallel trauma” is a term coined by scholar and Native Partnership Council member Jewell Arcoren to describe the trauma carried by the perpetrators of violence, which runs parallel to the intergenerational historical trauma experienced by victims. The concept of parallel trauma challenges those who committed genocide against Indigenous people, or subsequently benefitted from systems of privilege and oppression, to peel back generations of shame, guilt, and fear and recognize the ways we are all connected to each other. By recognizing this dual-trauma, we can level the playing field, open the door to accountability, and move entire communities toward healing and recovery. 

Credit: Arcoren, Jewell (2022). Intergenerational Historical Trauma and Parallel Trauma. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Schools of Graduate & Professional Programs, Counseling and Psychological Services.

The First Season Report conveys the thoughtful engagement process crafted by Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, NACDI, and Carrie Day Aspinwall to ground the project in Indigenous values and bring Native and non-Native communities together. This first season of work, through December 2022, might be considered “winter”, a time for connection, storytelling, and preparation for what’s to come.

Read the Executive Summary or dive into the four-part document for detailed information.