Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M 73 As a part of the Two Circle's efforts to increase intercultural awareness and appreciation, the Institute helped organize a tour of Japan in 1988 and 1989 with a festival of native North Ameri- can arts, including Indian dance and visual arts. e Institute also serves as the fiscal agent for the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team. e Institute helped organize and fund a delegation of indig- enous peoples of North America to attend the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders in London, Moscow and Kyoto. In 1993, another delegation went to the Global Forum held in Kyoto, Japan. Another Traditional Circle delegation attended ,the Fourth World Wilderness Congress in Denver in 1987 and participated in the international Environmental Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. With the guidance and participation of the Traditional Circle, the Institute established a unique intergenerational program, Heal- ing the Future, for Indian youth and families in 1996. e program combined traditional healing and ceremonial experiences with intervention and counseling activities to build on the strengths of Native communities to care for one another and the Earth. In 2004, the Institute launched its Traditional Indian Youth Leadership Initiative based on traditional approaches to educating Indian youth in the ways of their traditional spiritual and cultural heritages. Beginning in 2006, the Institute developed and managed a series of forums titled Ancient Voices – Contemporary Contexts. e princi- pal objective of the Forums is to fulfill a 2005 Elders Circle mandate: "get the Elder voice out" and get dialogue started across cultures. e es- sential elements of the Elders' message include: • We are destroying the earth and the life on it. • We are killing each other. War and genocide are rampant in many parts of the world because of race, ethnicity, religion, and greed. e same factors, along with drugs and alcohol, are at work in subtler ways throughout the world. • e ancient and proven indigenous voice is the only one that takes a holistic view of both environmental and social destruc- tion. It is spiritual, unencumbered by religious dogma. It is not parochial or selfish, and can be a saving factor in meeting the issues that threaten the world. Current programming includes Meetings of Indigenous Time- keepers and Weaving Webs of Women's Wisdom gatherings. Institute Founder, Robert Staffanson recently released his mem- oir, Witness to Spirit: My Life with Cowboys, Mozart and Indians. In it Staffanson gives the reader an intimate look into his amazing life and the improbable history of the Two Circles. Mohawk traditional rites of passage group photo

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