Chronology of American Indian History

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a direct affront to traditional Native beliefs and one
more nail in the coffin of all the tribes throughout
the country [and their] ability to survive intact.”

January 25

Hearings begin in Canada on Mackenzie
Valley Pipeline proposal.
Canada’s National Energy Board starts holding
hearings about a proposed pipeline through the
Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territory. The
hearings will be held over 11 months in 27 commu-
nities that would be affected by the construction.
The massive project is budgeted at $7 billion
and would transform the region, bringing jobs and
industry into a largely undeveloped area. Because
of environmental concerns, in the past many Na-
tive people in the region have opposed the pipeline,
which has been debated for nearly 30 years (see
entry for APRIL 15, 1977). However, three Na-
tive groups have signed on to become part owners
in the new pipeline project, so the hearings will
likely weigh their interests against the concerns of
environmentalists.

January 25

Award-winning “Navajo” author Nasdijj is
revealed to be a non-Indian.
“Navahoax,” an article in L.A. Weekly by Matthew
Fleischer, reveals that Nasdijj, a best-selling author
who claims to be a Navajo (Dineh), in fact is a non-
Indian named Tim Barrus. In memoirs including
Blood Runs like a River through My Dreams (2003)
and Geronimo’s Bones (2004), Barrus wrote that he
had been raised on the Navajo Reservation by an
alcoholic Navajo mother. For his book The Boy
and the Dog Are Sleeping (2003), he was awarded
the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, which is given
to distinguished writers of color. Less than a week
after Fleischer’s article appears, Barrus’s publisher,
Ballantine, announces that it will stop shipping his
books.

“[W]hat happens to the

posers?... And what happens to

all the damage they caused and

the money they made and the

accolades they garnered under

false pretenses? They abscond

with the money and goods and

leave the mess for the people

they pretended to be.

The pseudo-Indians should

not be held harmless. They

should be made to pay. There

ought to be a law, you say? I

couldn’t agree more.”

—Author and activist

Suzan Shown Harjo on the

Nasdijj scandal

March 2006

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns

the ruling against John Ligon and Carroll Mizell

for stealing petroglyphs. (See SEPTEMBER 8, 2004.)

The court maintains that the Justice Department

did not prove the stolen rock art was worth more

than $1,000—the minimum required for a felony

conviction.

March 7

The House of Representatives considers

legislation to end off-reservation Indian

casinos.

Congressman Richard Pombo of California in-

troduces a bill to the House of Representatives to

block the construction of Indian reservations out-

side reservation borders. The bill would amend

the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (see entry for

OCTOBER 17, 1988), which allows tribes to estab-

lish casinos off the reservation if they obtain the