Lower Sioux Indian Community
Morton, Minnesota
The First Americans’ Cultural Treasures project is built on the recognition of the cultural assets of Native communities that connect the past to the present and the future, and ultimately preserve Native knowledge systems, identities, and lifeways. The project is made possible through the Ford Foundation America’s Cultural Treasures Regional Challenge Initiative, in a funding partnership with Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.
Lower Sioux Indian Community
Cultural Treasures Initiative
This funding will support a partnership between the Lower Sioux Cansayapi Culture Department and the Cansayapi Wicoicage Oti (Intergenerational Cultural Incubator) to restore and improve access to historic Dakota sites, facilitate a traditional canoe journey and culture camp, and provide intergenerational learning opportunities through art & culture workshops.
About the Cansa’yapi Cultural Department
- Vision: Cansa’yapi is a vibrant gathering place where all generations and relatives come together to share and sustain our connections to our traditions and to one another, and together, we promote the well-being of our Dakota Oyate and the Oceti Sakowin.
- Mission: To gather, protect, nurture, and share our everchanging vibrant Dakota traditions with the Oceti Sakowin.
- Strength: Our members are resilient, strong, and our greatest resource.
- The Cansayapi Cultural Dept. which includes the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Lower Sioux Agency Historic site, tribal monitors and cultural advisors, undertake the preservation, protection and planning for the maintenance of Lower Sioux Community’s historical and archaeological resources, traditional cultural sites and burial locations. Our stewardship is not limited to the boundaries of the reservation, we place historical claim on an area of over 24 million acres in the Minnesota River Valley alone. The importance of our kinship with Mother Earth is reflected in Cansayapi Cultural Dept’s commitment to stewardship through which we exercise our sovereignty and continue the practice of natural law in our work