President Matthew B. Pagels has been addressing important Nation news, the status of all things COVID-19 related on our Territories and everything in between over the course of the last few months via short video clips that are posted to the Seneca Media & Communications Center YouTube channel and other SNI media outlets. So, if you’re looking for the most up-to-date Nation news, make sure to tune in!

You can also access the Presidential Updates here:

• SNI Official Newsletter website:
  www.sninews.org
• The Nation’s main website:
  www.sni.org
• Seneca Media Facebook page:
  www.facebook.com/senecamedia
• Seneca Nation COVID-19 Response Hub
  covid19.snigis.org
• Seneca Nation Twitter account
  @theSenecaNation

The post Presidential Updates appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

60 Day Comment period for the proposed resolution:

WHEREAS, the purpose of the government of the Seneca Nation of Indians is to safeguard the people so they may feel secure within our Territories. In the preamble of our Constitution, it is written, “…to provide for ourselves greater safeguards to pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, and bring ourselves, as a Nation, to as high a plane intellectually, socially, morally as possible…”

WHEREAS, a primary function of our government is to safeguard Seneca Nation Territories.

WHEREAS, the Seneca Nation and the people are experiencing substantial harm by the influx and sale of illegal substances on our Territories.

WHEREAS, our government can no longer rely upon New York State to use its enforcement authority to stop the illegal drug traffic that is rampant on our Territories and must use the power of our own government and officials to stop the drug trafficking within our boundaries.

WHEREAS, criminal enforcement authority on our Territories resides with New York State, however, the Seneca Nation can exert civil authority within our governmental jurisdiction. Civil actions can be excluding individuals whom reside on our Territories. Those that are doing harm and damage to our people can and should be excluded from our Territories. Civil actions should be brought by the Seneca Nation against individuals whom are doing harm to our people. Seneca Nation members whom are engaged in illegal drug trafficking should be excised from our Territories as well.

WHEREAS, elected officials took an oath to uphold and protect the Seneca Nation Constitution and by so doing have a duty to protect and safeguard our Territories.

WHEREAS, action is required by our leaders to safeguard the people from the damage caused by the trafficking of illegal substances on our Territories.

WHEREAS, known traffickers of illegal substances have done great damage on our Territories and, therefore, should be excluded.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED; the Council of the Seneca Nation of Indians hereby takes action to exclude, banish, and remove individuals from Seneca Nation Territories.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED; that the Council will proceed with developing policies regarding any order of banishment i.e., removal of any and/or all benefits that are made available to members of the Seneca Nation.

Please submit comments to Millicent Proud, Treasurer’s Office. 716-945-1790 ext. 5108.

The post Banishment Resolution appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

The post SGC Stakeholders Meeting appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

• General Manager
• Security Guards
• Customer Service Reps
• Cleaners
• Vault Cashier
• IT Generalist

Salamanca Location:

• Cleaners

Oil Spring:

• Slot Operations Cashier
• Customer Service Reps

If you have already applied, or have previously been a part of our team, please send us your updated resume and application.

Interested persons should submit their resume and/or application to human.resources@senecagames.com

Phone: IRVING (716)549-4389
SALAMANCA/OS (716)945-8276

Website: www.senecagames.net

The post Seneca Gaming & Entertainment JOB OPPORTUNITIES appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

See video message below:

The post Presidential UPDATE (2.26.21) appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

The Matt Fraser appearance at Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino has been canceled. It was originally scheduled to take place at the Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino, 777 Seneca Allegany Blvd., Salamanca, New York 14779.

Refunds are available up to 14 days prior to the scheduled show date from the original point of ticket purchase with proof of purchase.

Due to the ongoing nationwide impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on live entertainment performances, the Matt Fraser appearance at Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino has been canceled. The appearance had been scheduled for Saturday, July 17, 2021 at 7PM.

Please continue to check our websites for up to date entertainment information. senecaniagaracasino.com and senecaalleganycasino.com

The post Matt Fraser Appearance At Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino Canceled appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

WHAT: Motown Extreme shows at The Bear’s Den Showroom inside Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino have been canceled.

WHERE: Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino
310 Fourth Street, Niagara Falls, New York 14303

REFUNDS: Refunds are available up to 14 days prior to the scheduled show date from the original point of ticket purchase with proof of purchase.

Due to the ongoing nationwide impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on live entertainment performances, the Motown Extreme shows at The Bear’s Den Showroom inside Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino have been canceled. The shows had been scheduled for Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22, 2021 at 8PM.

Refunds are available up to 14 days prior to the scheduled show date from the original point of ticket purchase with proof of purchase.

Please continue to check our websites for up to date entertainment information. senecaniagaracasino.com and senecaalleganycasino.com

The post Motown Extreme Shows At The Bear’s Den Showroom Canceled appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

For the last year we have been confronted daily by the enormous challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped our Seneca Nation, the United States, and the world. But this is not our first confrontation with disease nor, unfortunately, will it be the last. Since 1492 the history of indigenous peoples, and in time our own Seneca history, has been a record of the devastation inflicted upon us by disease.

Smallpox reached North America by 1520. For the Hodinöhsöni’ the first smallpox epidemic hit in the mid-1600s. Smallpox would become a leading cause of death by disease among indigenous peoples until the twentieth century, but there were other equally deadly diseases to which our people had no defenses: measles, bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid, pleurisy, scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps, and whooping cough.

In the late 1840s the proliferation of typhoid, measles, and dysentery throughout the Cattaraugus Territory resulted in the deaths of upwards of 120 Senecas. In 1847 Laura Wright, the wife of missionary Asher Wright, had taken Seneca children orphaned by typhoid fever into her home. In 1854 the death of a Seneca man left nine sick and malnourished children in dire need and it was at this point an orphanage was established that ultimately became the Thomas Asylum for Destitute and Orphan Indian Children, later renamed the Thomas Indian School (TIS). Through the next 100 years infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles, dysentery, influenza and pneumonia would plague the orphan asylum and the surrounding Seneca communities.

By 1888 consumption, a.k.a. tuberculosis, was a leading cause of death among Senecas. Indeed, a study appearing in the New York Medical Journal the previous year maintained that tuberculosis accounted for 625 per 1000 American Indian deaths in New York State. An Extra Census Bulletin published by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1890 listed tuberculosis as the leading cause of death at Allegany and Cattaraugus. By 1909 tuberculosis was a leading health problem among American Indians nation-wide and accounted for 40% of all Indian deaths in the U.S. Today the incidence rate of TB among Native people has sharply decreased, however, it remains well above the rate found in the white population.

Dr. Albert D. Lake attended to the students at the Thomas Indian School from 1876 until 1922. It can probably be said that his forty-three years at TIS made him the most informed medical professional with regard to the health condition of the students and of the residents at Cattaraugus. At TIS he saw influenza, tuberculosis, scrofula, polio, trachoma, measles, impetigo, whooping cough, and scarlet fever. In his 1888 annual physician’s report he noted a 10% mortality rate among Senecas due to TB. But before the end of that year a deadly disease would resurface at TIS, Cattaraugus, and Allegany.

In the fall of that year Andrew John Jr. was in his third consecutive term as the Nation’s president. Leases were the consuming issue of the day and our opponents saw allotment, citizenship, and assimilation as the quickest way to dissolving our Nationhood and opening up our lands. In late September Job King, himself a former Nation president, announced the popular annual Iroquois Agricultural Fair was postponed because of the “untruthful and diabolical rumor of there being smallpox among the Indians.” However, within a week the territories were quarantined and roads leading from the Cattaraugus Territory to Gowanda were closed and railroad companies were not “to bring Indians from the reservation to Olean.” Buffalo’s Commercial Advertiser reported that “a serious condition of affairs is reported to exist on the Indian Cattaraugus reservation . . . on account of the prevalence of smallpox among the Indians . . . the sufferers are strictly quarantined, and are reported to be without food and without medical attendance. It is stated there are no doctors to vaccinate the Indian families and thus prevent a spread of the disease . . .” By early November the crisis had passed and quarantines were lifted, but not before eight Senecas perished to smallpox.

While there have been epidemics through the years, the last pandemic to strike Turtle Island occurred in 1918-1919. It was difficult to locate data and information to convey the experience of our Seneca people during that time. The H1V1 flu pandemic commenced during the waning days of WWI. Like the rest of the world, the Hodinöhsöni’ were not immune. It is estimated that from the fall of 1918 to early spring of 1919 approximately eight hundred Hodinöhsöni’ were infected and 80 did not survive the virus that quickly developed into pneumonia, the fatal complication of the virus. At the Thomas Indian School in a span of days in late October 1918, the entire student body, with the exception of one student, became sick. On October 31st three students, Elin Bennett from Cattaraugus, Hamilton Jimerson from Allegany, and Archie Logan, Onondaga, died. Ultimately six students and 4 staff members would succumb to the deadly flu.

Fall 1918 and spring 1919 the second and third waves of the pandemic hit and impacted our region harder than the first wave. Then, like today’s pandemic experience, state and local governments closed schools and theaters, and banned all public gatherings. Parents were especially warned to keep their children out of crowds. In October 1918 Salamanca’s Republican Press reported that “the students and helpers at the Friends’ Indian school [a.k.a. Quaker School, Tunesassa] are all improving.”

Asher Wright, the missionary at Buffalo Creek and later at Cattaraugus, also served as physician to the children at the asylum and the Cattaraugus residents. He was known to spend his own money for medicines and he often appealed to New York State and the federal government for medical assistance generally to little or no avail. In 1875, the year of Wright’s death, the federal government did hire physicians to vaccinate Hodinöhsöni’ across the state. Approximately 38% were inoculated in the effort. Granted there was opposition to vaccinations within Seneca communities, but when the smallpox epidemic hit in late 1888 the TIS physician Dr. Lake was able to vaccinate 500 Senecas to curb the spread of smallpox throughout the Seneca territories.

Today we look forward to a time when we will be released from the grip of COVID-19. We have seen and felt the loss it has inflicted upon Seneca families and our communities. We have also witnessed and are thankful for recovery. To a lesser degree these are surely the same experiences and emotions felt by our people over the last centuries when unknown diseases befell them. I say lesser because today we have a government and a health system that, while some will find fault, have stepped up to the frontline to face something none of us in any of our lifetimes has every faced before. It’s new to us, yet not new from the perspective of our Seneca history.

The post Infectious Diseases Not New to Seneca Territory appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

The ERA program makes available funding to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SNHA will use the funds to provide assistance to eligible households through the SNHA ERA Programs. This program does not include homeownership or mortgages.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Eligibility
An “eligible household” is defined as a renter household in which at least one or more individuals meets the following criteria:
• Qualifies for unemployment or has experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19;
• Demonstrates a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability

Has a household income at or below 80 percent of the area median. Guidelines to Income Limits as of July 30, 2020:

Person(s) Income Limit
1 $43,960
2 $50,240
3 $56,250
4 $62,800
5 $67,824
6 $72,848
7 $77,872
8 $82,896

Rental assistance provided to an eligible household should not be duplicative of any other federally funded rental assistance provided to such household.

Eligible households that include an individual who has been unemployed for the 90 days prior to application for assistance and households with income at or below 50 percent of the area median are to be prioritized for assistance.

Household income is determined as either the household’s total income for calendar year 2020 or the household’s monthly income at the time of application. Income eligibility must be re-determined every 3 months.

Available Assistance
Eligible households may receive up to 12 months of assistance, plus an additional 3 months if the grantee determines the extra months are needed to ensure housing stability and grantee funds are available. The payment of existing housing-related arrears that could result in eviction of an eligible household is prioritized. Assistance must be provided to reduce an eligible household’s rental arrears before the household may receive assistance for future rent payments. Arrears will be eligible starting at the date of March 13th, 2020. Once a household’s rental arrears are reduced, grantees may only commit to providing future assistance for up to three months at a time. Households may reapply for additional assistance at the end of the three-month period if needed and the overall time limit for assistance is not exceeded.

Application Process
An application for rental assistance may be submitted by an eligible head of household. Households and landlords must apply through the SNHA ERA program. In general, funds will be paid directly to landlords and utility service providers.

Applications are available at the SNHA offices starting on Monday, February 22, 2021.

Applications will be available at SNHA offices located at 50 Iroquois Drive, Irving or at 44 Seneca St Elder Complex, Salamanca. Any questions you may call 716-532-5000.

The post Seneca Nation Housing Authority (SNHA) receives US Treasury funding for “Emergency Rental Assistance” (ERA) Program appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.

View Councillor Abrams’ letter of invitation to deliver the invocation for this year’s State of Indian Nations (SOIN) Address from NCAI President Fawn Sharp:

Ja:goh Councillor Abrams!

The post Councillor Abrams gives opening address for the State of Indian Nations 2021 appeared first on SNI Official Newsletter.