NATIVE AMERICAN POLICY

NETWORK JOURNAL OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION (NASA)

Vol.  XIV, No. 2                          Now available as INDIGENOUS POLICY                              Fall, 2003
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     Native American Policy publishes articles, commentary, reviews, news, and announcements concerning Native American and international indigenous affairs, issues, events, nations. groups and media. We invite commentary and dialogue in and between issues.
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Editor's note: The Table of Contents, below, has been indexed for the web, although none of the text was altered through that process. The file is quite large and all on one page, so it may take some time to load all of it; please be patient. In addition to the index, I have placed "to-the-top" arrows throughout in order to facilitate your navigation through the document. Current and back issues of Indigenous Policy available at the link above. Migwetch (thank you).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NASA info: p. 1;  Report of the NASA Business Meeting at APSA & Current E-mail Voting: p. 2.

Upcoming Events: p. 3.

Ongoing Activities: p. 4;  (International Activities. p. 8).

Indian & Indigenous Developments: p. 10;
In the Courts:
US Supreme Court
Lower Federal Courts
State Courts
Tribal Courts
Local Courts

Tribal Developments
Economic Developments

International Developments: p. 33.

Dialoguing:

    From Gabe Morales, On Native American Gang Members, p. 40. 

Articles:

   Suzan Shown Harjo,  "American Indian Religious Freedom Act at 25," p. 42.

   Jennifer Robinson, "American Indian Voting Rights Litigation," p. 43.

   Steve Sachs, "Protecting Sacred Sites," p. 46.

   Michael W. Posluns, In Canada: "First Nations Governance Act Dies: Will a New Government

      Do Any Better?" p. 53.

 Media Notes: p. 56.
Websites

Announcements p. 63.

 

Steve Sachs, Co-Editor                Anne McCulloch, Co-Editor             Paula Mohan

(Political Science, IUPUI)           Columbia College                             305 Salisbury Hall

Home: 4820 N. Broadway St.     1301 Columbia College Dr.              Political Science Department

Indianapolis, IN 46205                Columbia, SC 29203                        University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

Phone/Fax: (317)924-5965         (803)786-3628 Fax: 786-3393         Whitewater, WI 53190

ssachs@earthlink.net                   amcculloch@colacoll.edu                 (262)472-5772 (o), (608)233-2812 (h)

                                                                                                             mohanp@uww.edu

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DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE NEXT ISSUE IS MAY 8

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NATIVE AMERICAN POLICY PLANS FOR 2003-04 - WE INVITE YOUR HELP AND INPUT

        We hope that you are having a fine fall. This newsletter is now available on the web with via e-mail notification of new issues at no charge. Native American Policy puts out two regular issues a year (Spring and Fall) with Steve Sachs, Paula Mohan and Anne McCulloch as Coeditors. Our many thanks and considerable appreciation to Jeff Corntassel, who formatted the last few issues and put them on line, while acquiring articles and information for this Journal. We are seeking additional editors, columnists and commentators for regular issues, and editors or editorial groups for special issues, and short articles for each issue.

     Jeff Corntassel and colleagues put together a special winter 2002 issue with a focus on "federal recognition and Indian Sovereignty at the turn of the century," and we hope to have additional special issues in the future.  We invite short articles, reports, announcements and reviews of meetings, media and media, programs and events, and short reports of news, commentary and exchange of views, as well as willingness to put together special issues.

     Send us your thoughts and queries about issues and interests and replies can be printed in the next issue and/or made by e-mail. In addition, we will carry NASA news and business so that these pages can be a source of NASA communication and dialoguing as well as circular letters and annual meetings at APSA. This issue carries a continuing series of columns by Michael Posluns of York University, on Canadian First Nations developments. In addition to being the newsletter/journal of the Native American Studies Association, we collaborate with the Native American Studies Section of the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) and provide a dialoguing vehicle for all our readers. This is your newsletter. Please let us know if you would like to see more, additional, different, or less coverage of certain topics, or a different approach or format.

      Our process is for submissions to go to Steve Sachs, who drafts each regular issue. Unsigned items are by Steve. Anne McCulloch and Paula Mohan then make editing suggestions to Steve. Paula puts this Journal on the web, along with recent back issues, at http://www.majbill.vt.edu/polisci/corntassel/.

NASA 2002-03 COORDINATING COUNCIL:

Randy Akee, akee@fas.harvard.edu

Gerald "Taiaiake" Alfred, taiaiake@uvic.ca, (250)721-6440, PROGRAM CO- COORDINATOR

Marie-Claire Antoine, marieclaire.antoine@taylorandfrancis.com

Barbara Bixby, bixby@email.arizona.edu

Michael Brintnal, brintnal@naspaa.org

Dave Colnic, colnic@u.arizona.edu

Jeff Corntassel, ctassel@uvic.ca (250)721-6440, APSA MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP COM, PROGRAM CO

Renee Cramer, rgc8396@nyu.edu, (718)720-3321

Stephanie. Di alto, sdialto@uci.edu

Susan Grogan, segrogan@smcm.edu, (240)895-4205

Luke Jones, jones.luke@epa.gov, (202)285-3199

Anne McCulloch, amcculloch@colacoll.edu, (803)786-362 COEDITOR

Paula Mohan, mohanp@mail.uww.edu, (262)472-1120, CO-EDITOR, PROGRAM CO- COORDINATOR

Maggi Murdock, (307)268-2713

Sharon O'Brien, obrien@eagle.cc.ukans.edu, (785)864-2661

Jeff Peterson, petersgd@uwec.edu

Stephen Sachs, ssachs@earthlink.net (317)924-5965, COORDINATOR, COORDINATING EDITOR

Christine Sneller, csneller@sneller.co

Carol Tebben, carol.tebben@uwp.edu (262)595-2067

Darlene Williams, williamsd018@hawaii.rr.com

Franke Wilmer, upofh@gemini.oscs.montanta.edu, (406)994-5246.

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AMERICAN INDIAN WEB PAGE ON RACE ETHNICITY & POLITICS SECTION LINK

     Paula Mohan has constructed the American Indian webpage on the Race and Ethnic Politics link to the APSA website at http://facstaff.uww.edu/mohanp/nasa.html. She is actively soliciting material for NASA's webpage in the areas of syllabi, directory of scholars, graduate and undergraduate programs, new publications, resources and related areas. Contact her at mohanp@mail.uww.edu.

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REPORT OF THE NASA BUSINESS MEETING AT THE APSA MEETINGS

AND CURRENT E-MAIL/SNAIL MAIL VOTING

     The Native American Studies Association decided to continue Steve Sachs as Coordinator and Coordinating Editor of its Journal/Newsletter. Paula Mohan replaced Jeff Corntassel as editor responsible for posting issues on the web, while Anne McCulloch remains an editor. Taiaiake Alfred and Jeff Corntassel are working with Paula Mohan to take over as program coordinators from her, especially responsible for NASA's program at APSA. Jeff Corntassel is continuing as liaison to NASA on its Native American scholarships.

     Following up on last year's meeting and E-mail/snail mail decisions to change our name from the Native American Studies Association, in part by substituting "indigenous" for "Native American", the meeting proposed to the membership, for ratification by E-mail/snail mail ballot that the new name be The Indigenous Studies Network. This will change the name of this publication to "Indigenous Policy"

PLEASE E-MAIL STEVE SACHS AT: ssachs@earhlink.net, to vote on whether you approve the name of this organization to become: The INDIGENOUS STUDIES NETWORK.

     NASA put on one indigenous panel of its own, cosponsored by the Ecological and Transformational Politics Section, and there were a number of Indian/Indigenous papers on Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section panels. Other native/indigenous papers were on Theme Panels, and panels of the sections on: Foundations of Political Theory, Comparative Politics of Developing areas, and Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations. There were also two posters under "Ethnic Politics" and "Bureaucracy and regulation". These, and any other indigenous papers we may have missed, are available on line in the APSA 2003 proceedings at: http://apsanet.org/. Once there click "Meetings," then "2003 Meeting Paper Proceedings."

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UPCOMING EVENTS

     NASA'S PROGRAM AT THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION (APSA) MEETING, in Chicago, September 2-5, headquartered at the Chicago Hilton hotel, will consist of at least one, and possibly more, panels, plus a business meeting and networking session to share interests and concerns. Preference will be given to panel and paper proposals received by November 14. Please send proposals to NASA's Program CO-Coordinators: Gerald "Taiaiake" Alfred and Jeff Corntassel, Indigenous Governance Programs, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700 STN, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada (250) 721-6440, Fax: 472-4724,  iprc@uvic.ca, or ctassel@uvic.ca, www.uvic.ca/igov, and Paula Mohan, 305 Salisbury Hall, Political Science Department, University of Whitewater, Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI 53190 (262)472-5772 (o), (608)233-2812 (h), mohanp@mail.uww.edu).

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                     WSSA 2004 AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES SECTION PROGRAM

     The American Indian Studies Section of the Western Social Science Association expects to again have a full program of panels at the association's meeting in Salt Lake City, UT April 21-24, 2004 at the Sheraton City Center. The American Indian Studies Section Coordinator for the meeting is Jeff Corntassel,   WSSA@uvic.ca (250)721-6440. Deadline for proposals, including abstracts, tentatively, is  November 17 . Information, which will eventually include the preliminary program, can be accessed on line at http://www.asu.edu/copp/wssa/index.html.

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     The National Association of Native American Studies (NANAS) will hold it's 2004 Annual Conference jointly with the National Associations of African American and Latino Studies and at the International Association of Asian Studies, in Atlanta, GA, November 11-14, 2004. To receive information, contact Dr. Lemuel Bery, Jr., Executive Director, NAAAS & Affiliates, P.O. Box 865, Morehead, KY 40351 (207)282-1925, Fax: 606/784-1037 E-mail: naaasgrp@webcom.com www.NAAAS.org.

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The Indian Land Working Group is putting on the 13th Annual Indian Land Consolidation Symposium, be hosted by the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CS & KT) the week of September 29 - October 3, in Polson, MT, at the KwaTaqNuk Resort, owned and operated by the CS& KT. For details contact Marlena Johnson or Theresa Carmody at the ILWG offices: (505)247-9561; (505)668-9013. or tcarmody@qwest.net, www.ilwg.net.

The 18th California Indian Conference and Gathering, "Gathering the Past, Weaving the Future!" will be October 10-12 held in the Monterey Bay region. It is an annual event for the exchange of views and information among academics, educators, California Indians, students, tribal nations, native organizations and community members. Any topic focusing on California Natives is welcome. Anyone interested in giving a paper, presentation, or organizing a session, panel, or presentation should send an abstract of 150 words to Rob Edwards (Anthropology Department, Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003 (831) 479-6294, redwards@cabrillo.edu), by August 1. Abstracts after that date will be considered only if space is available on the program. Please be sure to include an e-mail address, phone number and mailing address. Please state if you are available to present on any of the 3 days or only particular days. Vendors specializing in California native arts and crafts and/or materials, please contact us. Inquiries are welcome. For information, go to: http://www.californiaindianconference.org, http://bss.sfsu.edu/calstudies/cic/.

The 2003 History Conference at the Pequot Museum, "Indian Country In the New Millennium: A 50-Year Retrospective," at Mashantucket, CT, sponsored in part by the Barona Tribe of Lakewood, CA and the Chickasaw Nation of Ada, OK is October 17-18. The conference this year centers on the relationship between American Indian Tribes and the United States government. For information contact Dr. Kevin McBride, (860)396-6814, kmcbride@mptn-nsn.gov.

American Indian Leaders of Today and Tomorrow Conference, sponsored by the California State University at Long Beach, American Indian Student Council, American Indian Studies Department and the CSULB American Indian Alumni Chapter are pleased to announce the upcoming " is scheduled for Friday, October 31, 2003. For more information, please contact: Ms. Anna Nazarian-Peters, Coordinator, Student Life and Development, American Indian Student Services, CSU Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., USU-205, Long Beach CA 90840-0604 (562)589-8528, anzarian@csulb.edu.

Ending Violence Against Native Women Training Institute is in Seattle, WA, November 10-14. For details call Sacred Circle at 1-877-RED-ROAD (733-7623).

The American Society for Legal History conference in Washington in November will include a panel on the recognition of First Nations law and its relation to the common law.

The 15th Annual conference for American Indian Women: "Strengthening Our Spirits" is at the Hilton Sacramento Arden West, Sacramento, CA, November 30 - December 3, 2003. For details contact: American Indian Training Instiyue, Inc., 4221 Northgate Blvd., Suite 2, Sacramento, CA 95834, Contact Deborah Kawkeka: 916-920-0731, DJKawkeka@aol.com.

American Indian Graduate Student Association 2nd Annual Conference: "New Voices in Indigenous Research" is at UC Berkeley, April 1-2. For details contact: dornason@uclink

The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) 2004 conference will be April 23-24. For details go to: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/ASEN/conference.htm.

The Eleventh Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference will be held at the University of California at Berkeley on June 11-15, 2004. More information will follow in early spring regarding registration and a call for papers. Also, Nurturing Native Languages with papers from the 8th, 9th, and 10th Stabilizing

Indigenous Languages conferences is now available on-line at: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/NNL/.

Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) 2004 convention at, "UNITY 2004 Conference: A Powerful Alliance; A Force for Change" is at Washington, DC, August 4-8. NAJA is one of four associations that make up UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.  NAJA has long supported other minority organizations in their efforts toward increasing people of color in the newsrooms, in particular Native Americans. For details, go to the UNITY homepage at:  http://www.unityjournalists.org/, or contact Native American Journalists Association, 555 N. Dakota St., Al Neuharth Media Center, Vermillion, SD 57069.

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ON GOING ACTIVITIES

           Steve Sachs

Activities in the U.S.

     National Congress of American Indians President Tex Hall and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., in June, called tribes to work together to develop a tribal energy title of the comprehensive energy policy bill everyone can agree on, after debate in the Senate turned along party lines. Hall stated, "We want to make sure that the tribes are crafting this legislation. It's our land, it's our resources." Some tribes, including the Navajo Nation, object to provisions that limit the Department of Interior's role in development projects, fearing it will weaken the federal government's trust obligations. Senators. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) introduced an amendment to strip the bill of the contested portions. "The underlying bill," Bingaman said on the floor, "has in it real clear language that essentially lets the Secretary of Interior off the hook. It eliminates responsibilities the Secretary would otherwise have." Republicans argued against the change and said it would defeat the bill's main purpose: to reduce bureaucratic hurdles and speed up development of Indian lands, where it is estimated that at least 10 percent of the nation's untapped energy resources lie. Environmental groups and several state attorneys general of both parties have also raised objections to the Indian title of S.14, believing that the elimination of Interior's involvement will skirt environmental laws and allow development without considering the impacts on the public. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes, the Chickasaw Nation, five Pueblo tribes in New Mexico and the United South and Eastern Tribes have said they support the bill. But there is disagreement on a provision to allow public comment on tribal energy projects. More and updated information is available at: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: http://energy.senate.gov; National Congress of American Indians: http://www.ncai.org; Navajo Nation:  http://www.navajo.org; and Council of Energy Resource Tribes: http://www.certredearth.com.

     The Native American Tribal Leaders Summit, with 40 tribes attending, was held, in mid June,  at the Gila River Indian Community to encourage tribes to speak to federal authorities with one voice and improve government-to-government relations. Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. stated, "Out in Indian country, we were kind of doing it on our own. There was never really a movement to come together with one voice. I think that happened." The federal government shortchanges tribes on law enforcement, health care and social services issues, Shirley said. Indian leaders want the government to better observe the unique relationship that's supposed to exist between tribes and federal authorities, said Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians. Tribes, for instance, won't likely get as much homeland security money as they need because the federal government doesn't provide the money directly to tribes, Hall said. "We want to reaffirm that it needs to come to the tribes."

     Tribal Leaders Forum: "Sovereignty in Crisis," Organized By: American Indian Resources Institute, was held in San Francisco June 30 to July 1. The forum provided an opportunity for Indian leaders to meet and discuss current and emerging challenges to tribal governing and jurisdictional authority in Indian Country. For information, contact the American Indian Resources Institute at  (510)834-9333, FAX: 9510)834-3836.

     In July, Native American Rights Fund (NARF) executive director John Echohawk announced that the president of the National Academy of Sciences has affirmed his support for the National Research Council (NRC) Interim Report on Klamath Basin, that is "blatantly discriminatory against Native American people." Echohawk urged withdrawal of the Interim Report, citing socioeconomic bias and sloppy science. He stated that that the committee had applied standards inconsistent with the NRC’s extensive guidance on species protection under the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the committee considered the "economic stakes" involved in the agency decisions, even though the NRC has instructed that such decisions must be based only on scientific aspects of species protection. Moreover, the "economic stakes" considered by the panel were only those of non-Indians, and equivalent Indian interests were ignored. Recent articles in Science and Fisheries magazines reported that the hastily organized NRC Committee on Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River Basin employed flawed logic in its evaluation and preparation of the report. Copies of a "Klamath Tribes’ Water Rights" and "The Case for Klamath Tribal Lands Restoration" are available from Monica Shovlin at 541-434-7028 or mshovlin@ulum.com. The Native American Rights Fund has been presented with the "Silver Award" for excellence in the development of the organization's 2002 Annual Report by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). More than 900 entries were received by LACP in the annual report competition that was held last spring. In late July, several hundred Yurok Indians, who hold the Klamath River sacred to their way of life, and supporters protested against government water policies they say favor upstream farmers and threaten endangered salmon.

     The annual Governors' Interstate Indian Council hosted by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, in August, brought together some of the 36 states that have created councils to serve as a liaison between tribal and state governments. Justice Department assistant U.S. attorney Jan Morley reported that "Methamphetamine has become an epidemic in our Indian Country. We're losing our children to this drug war, and we need to take our children back." "We need to start pooling our state, federal and tribal resources," Morley said. "We need to make (drugs) our war." She stated that another major issue is homeland security, with some tribes not having the funds to police their borders with Canada or Mexico. Nationally, there was a significant jump in major crime in Indian country in 1999-2000, and a slight increase in the years since then, said Keith Hanzell, FBI special agent based out of Bemidji in north-central Minnesota. The FBI opened 1,887 new cases in Indian country in 2001, including 615 cases of sexual abuse of children and 433 assaults. It also included 184 death investigations. Hanzell said 73 percent of the FBI money spent in Indian country for 2003 went to training, primarily for tribal law enforcement. He said that although the relationship between police on and off reservations is growing stronger, there continue to be gray areas with jurisdiction, especially involving tribal courts. There are more than 280 tribal justice systems in the United States, including Alaska, but they're not seen as equal to state court systems, said Vince Knight, executive director of the National Tribal Justice Resource Center. The Interstate Indian Council was created in 1949 by state governors to improve relationships with Indians and provide a liaison in creating public policy with lawmakers, with the federal termination policy expected to develop. The Council has continued to play a liaison role with changes in federal Indian policy. This year's conference included representatives from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Virginia.

     Americans For Indian Opportunity (AIO) facilitated an inclusive, participatory Indigenous Leadership Interactive system Forum for the United Nations of All Tribes Foundation conference, "Strengthening Children and Families: Networking Urban Indian Centers in the U.S.," in Seattle, May 8-9. AIO's Ambassadors Program of leadership training and networking is in its tenth year. AIO founder and President, LaDonna Harris. received the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women's Governor's Award in May. AIO's international activities are discussed below.

     The Alliance Against Racial Mascots (ALLARM) has been working for the passage of California Assembly Bill 858 to ban the use of Native mascots in public schools in the state. ALLARM has put on several Action Days, on May 28th in Sacramento and around the state. Collaborating with ALLARM are the Coyote Valley Tribal Council, Hoopa Valley Tribe, California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Los Angeles County/City Native American Indian Commission, Tribal Law & Policy Institute, the UCLA Native Nations Law and Policy Center, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), National Conference for Community and Justice, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), California Teachers Association (CTA), California School Employees Association and the California Labor Federation. For more information call (213) 250-8787 or go to www.allarm.org. Find Another Name, an organization committed to the elimination of American Indian mascots and symbols by sports teams, schools and corporations, led a protest against the continued use of "redskins" by Washington's National Football League team at its annual "Welcome Home" Luncheon in August 27. For more information contact Find Another Name, (888)368-7991, Cell:(703)973-0755, UnfairName@aol.com, FindAnotherName.com.

     The Native Youth and Culture Fund, an initiative of the First Nations Development Institute, focuses on preserving, strengthening, or renewing Native culture and tradition among Native youth. The Fund believes that by investing in youth and giving them a sense of community and tradition, a community insures that it will have future leaders. The Fund invites proposals from rural or reservation-based Native nonprofits, Native communities, tribes, and tribal enterprises. For more contact Kay A. Strawder, J.D., M.S.W., Regional Women's Health Coordinator  Region IX Office on Women's Health, 50 United Nations Plaza, Room 327, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415)437.8119, kstrawder@osophs.dhhs.gov, www.4woman.gov or www.4girls.gov, or go to: http://www.firstnations.org/.

     The United Indian Development Association, which was founded in 1969, has worked with more than 300 tribes since its inception, providing everything from training courses to assistance in obtaining government contracts. The UIDA has a business services subsidiary serving the Eastern United States from an office in Marietta, Ga. In September, UIDA put on a Native American Business Conference and Trade Show at the Coronado Springs, FL Resort at Walt Disney World to keep momentum going on tribal business development. The gathering was a venue for American Indians as well as other small-business people to network and get together with representatives of large companies and government agencies. For information go to:  www.uida.org.

     First Nations Development Institute hosted its third Wisdom of the Giveaway Conference on September 8-10, in Milwaukee, WI, to promote asset-building and formalized giving in Native American communities, with the co-sponsorship of the Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation, a charitable giving program of the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe. The conference series brings together representatives from tribes, foundations, regional nonprofits, and governments to share their experience, knowledge, and networks about formalized philanthropic giving. It is designed to: Facilitate the creation of sovereign Native American philanthropic funds and foundations; Inform tribes and tribal members of the tax benefits in formalized giving; Inform tribes, inter-tribal organizations, and mainstream foundations on the myriad sovereign legal structures that support asset-building in a way unique to tribes as they create nonprofit and philanthropic structures; Strengthen the Native American nonprofit sector as a whole; Bring philanthropies together to share knowledge and expertise. Build partnerships to strengthen Native American philanthropy for the benefit of both Native and non-Native communities; Leverage national education, research, networking, and policy activities with regional knowledge, networks, and hands-on philanthropic activities to strengthen Native philanthropy on a regional basis; Increase the capacities of tribes, inter-tribal organizations, and other Native entities to control, manage, leverage, and increase philanthropic assets. For additional information contact Megan Hunter, (540)371-5615, mhunter@firstnations.org, or check the First Nations' website at www.firstnations.org.

     The National Tribal Environmental Council (NTEC) participated in World Water Monitoring Day, October 18, to draw the attention of tribal leaders to the necessity of preventing pollution and the spread of toxin's on reservations. NTEC worked to provide 60 tribes with water sampling kits so that they could add their data to the world wide educational event. NETC aims at enhancing tribal capacity to protect, preserve and promote the wise management of air, land and water for the benefit of present and future generations.. For information on the event, go to: www.worldwatermoniteringday.org.

     Kim White Bear Woman Nahgahnub (Fond du Lac) is forming the Minnesota Tribal Guardian ad Litem Program, with the goal of having a trained American Indian advocate for every Indian child who comes to a Minnesota district or tribal court in cases of suspected abuse or neglect. American Indian children in Minnesota are taken from their homes by the courts at a rate five times greater than their proportion of the population. The aim to reduce that rate by eliminating cultural misunderstandings that can sway a judge's decision.

     The International Indian Treaty Council held its 29th Treaty Conference, October 3-6, at the Sac & Fox Nation Tribal Grounds, Stroud, OK, as a Campout conference, with free registration, campsites and meals provided. Sessions were held on the environment, sacred sites, oil & gas development, treaties, sovereignty, health, Indigenous work at the UN. Youth workshops. For more Information contact: (405)303-2330 or http://www.treatycouncil.org/contact.html.

     As usual this October, there have been numerous alternative activities honoring native peoples and demonstrations against Columbus Day. One action is a petition for Native American National Holiday, which can be found at: http://www.petitiononline.com/indian/petition.html. Also, there are numerous activities in many places for Native American Month in November.

    Amnesty International (AI) has been putting on a series of hearings concerning racial profiling across the United States. A number of American Indians, along with African and Muslim Americans, testified at the Tulsa hearings, in October, concerning their experiences with racist actions by police officers. In June, AI issued a report on violations of human rights of indigenous peoples of the Americas. The report, following up on the December 2002 OAS report citing the U.S. for violation of the rights of the Western Shoshone in forcing settlement payments on them for land taken, stated that recent government seizures of livestock owned by Western Shoshone on that land are escalations of those human rights abuses.

     Oyate Books is a Native organization working to see that Indian lives and histories "are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us. For Native children, it is as important as it has ever been for them to know who they are and what they come from. It is a matter of survival. For all children, it is time to learn the truth of history. Only in this way will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue". Oyate's work includes evaluation of texts, resource materials and fiction by and about Native peoples; conducting of teacher workshops, in which participants learn to evaluate children's material for anti-Indian biases; administration of a small resource center and library; and distribution of children's, young adult, and teacher books and materials, with an emphasis on writing and illustration by Native people. For more information contact Oyate Books, 2702 Mathews St., Berkeley, CA 94702 (510)848-6700, oyate@oyate.org, http://www.oyate.org/.

     The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has been working to get Congress to protect tribal sovereignty and to live up to its trust responsibilities. For details contact FCNL, 245 2 St., Washington, DC 20002 (202_547-6000, fcnl@fcnl.org, www.fcnl.org.

     The National Congress of American Indians has a project called Native Vote 2004 and is mounting an extensive voter mobilization in collaboration with regional organizations, local tribal governments, centers serving the Indian populations of urban centers, and non-governmental organizations whose focus is on democracy initiatives. One of their efforts includes a listserv for Natives engaged in voter work. For more visit:

http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/issues/other_issues/nativevote.asp. Chief Rufus Davis, Addai Caddo of Nachitoches, LA has formed the American Indian Voters Association, (AIVA) to get more Indians registered and to the poles, which he feels will become more important with the rise of an organized anti-tribal sovereignty opposition in groups like One Nation.

     The Eagle and Condor Indigenous People's Alliance, in Oklahoma, headed by JoKay Dowell, held a demonstration against the Oklahoma Farm Bureau at the bureau’s annual membership meeting on Oct. 21 at the Tahlequah Community Building. The Farm Bureau is a founding member of One Nation, a privately-funded organization that wants to "push back against the massive expansion of tribal authority," according to their Web site. One Nation, an Oklahoma-based group dedicated to opposing tribal sovereignty, apparently has spawned allies in Montana and New York that have virtually identical opinions on tribal issues. The Citizens Equal Rights Foundation (CERF) is based in Ronan, Montana. In New York, Upstate Citizens for Equality (UCE} "was formed in August 1997 to give the landowners facing the Oneida Land Claim a voice in what will determine their future." Their web sites can be found on One Nation's: http://www.onenationok.com. A spoof of it is at www.onenationok.com.

 

International Activities

     Council of Indigenous Organizations and Nations of the Continent - Consejo de Organizaciones y Naciones Indigenas del Continente (CONIC) supports the rise of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and seeks to role back colonization, including neocolonialism by multinational corporations, declaring it a crime against humanity, a violation of the international law of nation states. "We have arrived at the moment in history of the world where a dialogue among civilizations and world views is necessary at the global level. Only so will the hope for Peace and Dignity with justice for our human society survive, established through a sustainable ecological relationship to the Mother Earth itself as foundation. This is the Mandate of the Indigenous Peoples; it supersedes that of the United Nations system; it is an expression of the jurisprudence of indigenous international law: it is the path of Tradition and Liberation. For details contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta, TONATIERRA, P.O. Box 24009. Phoenix AZ 85076.

     Conciliation Resources (CR) is an international service for conflict prevention and resolution. "CR's organizational objective is to provide practical and sustained assistance to people and groups in areas of armed conflict or potential violence. We specifically work with those working at community or national levels to prevent violence or transform conflict into opportunities for social, economic and political development based on more just relationships. Where mechanisms for effective participation are non-existent or weak, sustained conflict transformation support implies providing opportunities locally, nationally and sometimes regionally, to build or strengthen civic capabilities for dialogue and problem-solving.... In striving to attain our objective, CR: assists local organizations in the development of indigenously-rooted, innovative solutions to short and long-term social, economic and political problems related to armed conflict or communal strife; involves previously marginalized or excluded groups in community and national peacebuilding processes; helps build or strengthen civic capabilities for dialogue, problem-solving and constructive action, locally, nationally and sometimes regionally, when existing mechanisms for effective participation are either weak or lacking; promotes organizational transparency and accountability, as well as inclusive and participative decision-making; participates as fully as possible in the local and international development and dissemination of conflict transformation practice and theory; enters into partnerships and collaborative arrangements with other organizations and participates in networks such as the Committee for Conflict Transformation Support (CCTS), the UK Conflict and Development Network (CODEP) and the European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation; draws on a pool of skilled staff, programme associates and consultants to apply a wide range of expertise in addressing armed conflict or the threat of large-scale violence." A major effort of CR has been to promote peace in the troubled Manu River Countries of West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Because troubles in any of these nations spill over into the others, CR has been engaged, since 2001 in facilitating dialoguing among NGO's in the three nations, assisting them in developing a deep understanding of the conflicts and their causes, and enhancing the NGO's ability to take peace promoting action. Related to this, CR has been working with the Sulima Fishing Community Development Project and the Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement (BPRM) in Sierra Leone. The Sulima project involves an indigenous peace monitering system between two tribes that promotes peacebuilding, development and access to justice. BPRM is a coalition of 11 communities engaged in peacebuilding and reconciliation. Recognizing that how media cover events and topics relating to on going or potential conflicts often has inflaming or calming effects,CR's Media and Conflict Program helps African journalists provide more balanced and constructive coverage of conflicts, particularly in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In the Caucuses, CR has been active in conflict transformation and civil society capacity building work relating to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict for five years, and has been working with the media to promote more peace enhancing coverage. In Northern Uganda, CR has been helping Kacoke Madit, formed by Acholi communities, to improve its communications in efforts to find alternative ways of building peace in the region. In Angola, CR has partnered with Action for Rural Development and Environment in a civic and human rights education effort. In Fiji, CR has been working with the Citizens Constitutional Forum (www.ccf.org) to facilitate the rebuilding of democracy by enhancing civil society development. In addition, CR's Accord program of on line and in print publications documents peace building work, providing a record and analysis of what does and does not work in what circumstances. Current accord projects being developed involve Columbia and Angola.  For more information see the latest CR's latest Annual Report, which can be downloaded as a PDF file at: http://www.c-r.org/pubs/annreps/annreps.shtml, or contact Conciliation Resources, 173 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 1RG, UK, Tel. +44 (0)20 73597728, communications@c-r.org. 

     Cultural Survival launched its Law Initiative in May to contribute to the international movement to recognize and respect the rights of indigenous people in international law and practice. The initiative is assisting in the development and passage of a UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and an Organization of American States Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous People, in addition to assisting indigenous rights efforts in particular nations and developments. For information, contact: Cultural Survival, 215 Prospect St., Cambridge, MA 02139, or call Miriam Ross: (+44) (0)20 7687 8734, mr@survival-international.org, http://www.survival-international.org

     In June, a group from Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) had a joint meeting in New Zealand with Advancement of Maori Opportunity (AMO) to support development of AMO's Ambassador Program of leadership development and networking, which is now in its second year, and to enhance international collaboration in developing Advancement of Indigenous Opportunity International (AIO International) as a networking vehicle for international indigenous cooperation for improving the globalization process for the benefit of all peoples. To enhance their collaboration and enrich both organizations, AIO and AMO arranged to each have members of their partner organization on their own board. AIO International held its first board meeting in Crete, in July, in conjunction with AIO and AMO participation in the "Agoras of the Global Village" Annual Conference of the International Society for Systems Sciences, which included AIO and AMO facilitating the indigenous "Wisdom of the People Forum." For more information contact Americans for Indian Opportunity, 681 Juniper Hill Rd., Bernalillo, NM 87004 (505)867-0278, aiomail@unm.edu, www.aio.org, or AMO, Level 2, 153 Victoria Street, Hamilton, New Zealand, P.O. Box 4397, Hamilton East,  Hamilton, New Zealand,  Phone: +64 7 838 3030, sperls@ihug.co.nz, www.amo.co.nz.

     The Chiapas Media Project (CMP), a bi-national partnership that provides video and computer equipment and training to indigenous and campesino communities in Southern Mexico, now makes its award winning videos available for purchased on-line at: www.promedios.org or with check or money order: Chiapas Media Project, 4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL 60625. For more information please contact: (773)583-7728 or: cmp@chiapasmediaproject.org. The Indigenous People's Human Rights Project in Minneapolis supported the efforts of young indigenous activists to document on film antiglobalization protests at the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September, and to collect stories of how neoliberal globalization has been injuring indigenous peoples. For information, contact Amalia Anderson: chapona_us@yahoo.com.

     Cultural Survival carried an article, "Manuscripts for Peace in Mali", by Larry Childs and Issa Mohamed, in its Spring issue, stating that, "Malian democracy now has the potential to lead West Africa, and even all of Africa, in the creation of the pluri-ethnic state. In Mali, cultural diversity is celebrated as an asset rather than opposed as a threat to monolithic national identity. Government officials, traditional leaders and NGOs hold a strong conviction the historic Timbuktu manuscripts from the 12th through 19th centuries could further cultivate a distinctive Malian development paradigm-one rooted in this ancient culture of rapprochement. Scholars during this period, commonly referred to as Ambassadors of Peace, used the written word extensively to guide leaders of Malian empires that once spanned vast areas of West Africa. The writings, influenced by traditional African thought and the Islamic faith, are written in Arabic and languages indigenous to the region. They are relevant today for their treatises on tolerance and peaceful means to resolve conflicts."

     The World Summit Of Indigenous Entrepreneurs: A New Mechanism for Shared Prosperity (WSIE) took place in Toronto, Canada, August 18th-20th, as a program of the World Trade University in Honor of the United Nations Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. The Goals of the Summit are to:1) Develop a dialogue with fellow indigenous entrepreneurs; 2) Initiate a flow of ideas and information across all boundaries and borders; 3) A potential formation of joint ventures and development of organizations to promote indigenous products; 4) Possibly establish an institute for indigenous knowledge; 5) Discuss issues of greatest importance to Indigenous entrepreneurs; 6) Provide networking opportunities between entrepreneurs and venture capital organizations. The World Summit of Indigenous Entrepreneurs (WSIE) was designed to provide a global forum for indigenous entrepreneurs from a variety of industries in countries around the world, as well as other entrepreneurs who wish to do business with indigenous people. For more information contact Phillip Trip (Karuk), (415)283.4757, dla1@aol.com, or Co-Chair of the Summit and Global Coordinator Sujit Chowdhury wsie@wtuglobal.org, or go to: http://wsie.wtuglobal.org.

     The Assembly of First Nations in Canada (AFN) is a national aboriginal lobby group that represents over 630 First Nations communities on matters affecting their lives, including treaty rights, land claims, culture, economic and human development, education, and governance issues amongst many others. The AFN is lead by its elected National Chief who serves a three-year term. The current national Chief is Matthew Coon Come, a former Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees and a highly regarded advocate for preserving aboriginal human rights in and out of Indian country.

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INDIAN AND INDIGENOUS DEVELOPMENTS

                 Steve Sachs, IUPUI

U.S. Developments

     In the trust account case, on September 2, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth required the Interior Department to fix the trust accounting system and provide a full accounting of all 300,000 American Indian individual trust accounts, going back to 1887, by 2007, but expressed little confidence the department will act effectively to do so. In giving the order, Lamberth rejected the Interior Department's proposal to limit the accounting to the last nine years. In addition to setting the accounting deadlines, Lamberth appointed a new judicial monitor to keep tabs on the accounting progress, conduct investigations if necessary, and report to the court. The Interior Department has said it would take five years and cost $335 million to account for the Indian money. In June, Judge Lamberth temporarily shut down many of the Interior Department's computers, for a second time, after Interior refused to allow a court appointed special master to test the measures set up to protect Indian money from hackers.

     Congress, in passing the Interior appropriations bill, in early November, has put off settling the trust fund case by 15 months, ostensibly to have enough money for fire fighting in California and elsewhere. The delay provision is reported to have been a White House initiative. In June, Indian leaders including members of National Congress of American Indians testified before the Senate committee on Indian Affairs proposing mediation as the best method to bring the long suit to end reasonably quickly and fairly. Senators Campbell and Inouye initially agreed, but Campbell has more recently introduced the Indian Money Account Claims Satisfaction Act of 2003 that would appropriate $40 million over four years to pay Indian account holders, in order to make the money available to Indians quickly. The act would establish the Indian Money Account Task Force, composed of nine experts in forensic accounting, Indian law, commercial trust, mineral resources, economic modeling and civil litigation to determine the balances of individual accounts. An account holder could accept the balance determined by the Task Force, challenge it before a new Indian Money Claims Tribunal, chosen by the Attorney General, or remain a part of the current class action law suite.

     If a settlement is not reached soon on the Indian trust case, Congress may well step in and settle it in a manner that will not be as costly as rectifying each account back to the beginning, to the extent that corrupted records would allow. Several plans have been drafted, any on of which, or variants of them, may resurface high on the legislative agenda. In June, for example, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved a legislative rider to the FY2004 Interior Appropriations bill that would have given the Secretary of the Interior the authority to unilaterally settle any claim relating to the accounting or the balance of any individual Indian money account (IIM account). The Secretary would have been given four years to perform a "statistical sampling evaluation" in a manner she deems "feasible and appropriate given the availability of records" to achieve a 98% confidence level in the rate of past accounting error. The Secretary would then have had the power to adjust the balances in IIM accounts by applying the error rate to the transactions in an IIM account, with judicial oversight of the secretary's settlement of any account limited to reviewing the method for conducting the statistical sampling. The legislation would have removed jurisdiction from the federal courts to hear any other claims by IIM account holders for accounting or account balances. The measure would also have called for settlement only of accounts that were open as of Oct. 25, 1994. NCAI has been supportive of developing a reasonable settlement, but opposed this proposal as lacking any objective methodology and giving the IIM account holders no choice in determining whether or not to accept the settlement.

     A three member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in July, overturned Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's contempt citation by judge Lamberth, last year, for hiding failures to comply with his orders in the trust fund accounting. The appeals court stated that she cannot be held accountable for her predecessors mismanagement. A contempt citation against Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb was also overturned, on the grounds that it did not specify an act or omission. Lawyers for a group of Indians have asked the nine active judges who sit on DC Court of Appeals to reinstate the civil contempt citations against Norton and McCaleb.

      In a 39 page report, in August, to U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who is hearing the Trust Fund case, Special Master Balaran found that Interior Secretary Gale Norton has violated federal law and breached her trust duties to the Indians by allowing contracts that grossly undervalue individual Navajo trust lands, as much as 20 to 200 times below comparable lands owned by non-Indians and tribes. This allowed the gas companies to run pipelines to California at a fraction of real market costs. Balaran said that Interior had conveniently "erased" all relevant information that had been stored in its computer systems and has destroyed or lost all hardcopy trust records, in violation of federal law, court orders, Interior Department rules and regulations in a clear breach of trust. Balaran did not estimate total losses sustained by the Navajo trust beneficiaries as a result of the Interior Secretary's failure, but noted that losses are at least $170 to $550 per rod. "It is doubtful, as a result whether Navajo allottees are receiving 'fair market value' for  leases encumbering their land." The losses to Navajo Nation may be in the tens of millions of dollars. Balaran's findings are as a result of his March 6, 2003 site visit to BIA offices in Window Rock, Ariz., and Gallup, N.M. The complete report is available at www.indiantrust.com. Kevin Gambrell, who had been head of the BIA's Farmington, NM Indian Minerals Office, and says he had complained to superiors to no effect for six years that the Navajo were not receiving fair compensation for use of their land, was fired by the BIA after he spoke to Balaran about the compensation problem.

     The Department of the Interior's (DOI) held its Tribal Self-Governance Fall Conference in Palm Springs, California, in early October 7. The meeting included election of tribal representatives to serve on the DOI Self-Governance Advisory Committee. The twenty-four member Self-Governance Advisory Committee deals with self-governance issues for tribes nationwide and gives tribal governments the opportunity to implement their sovereignty with limited federal involvement while allowing the federal government to carry out its trust responsibilities in a government-to-government manner. President Bush has nominated Dave Anderson (Ojibwa and Choctaw), a businessman who has run Famous Dave's Restaurants, to head the BIA as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved the nomination in October. Anderson has said he would seek advice from Indian leaders and do everything he could to protect tribal sovereignty. He has stated that his primary interests are in helping American Indian youth overcome adversity and working with tribes to create economic development opportunities. In October, BIA officials were engaged in a series of consultations around the country that began during the summer concerning proposed restructuring of the agency, that Principal Deputy Director Aurene Martin said, "will lead to better overall management, better tribal management and better cooperation with other agencies. Several services would be consolidated and a new position created: Deputy Director of Trust Services, for the first time separating trust and tribal services. About 100 customer service representatives are to be added to help tribal members keep track of trust funds. There has been much skepticism among Indian people about the reorganization and there have been complaints that there was no consultation in developing the reorganization plan, according to reports in Native American Times on July 1 and October 1.

     The Bush administration began moving forward, in Junes, with plans to elevate Indian issues within the Department of Education. Acting on a long-standing tribal request, Secretary Rod Paige will elevate the department's Office of Indian Education, to report to Undersecretary Eugene Hickok rather than an assistant secretary. The change is part of Secretaty Paige's focus on improving options for Indian students and their parents. The Department hopes that the research component of the No Child Left Behind Reform Act can help turn around the current situation in which 80%-90% of Indian students lack proficiency in math, science and reading. Indian nations and their education departments can share their success stories not just among themselves, but also with federal officials. The announcement of the changes was made at a day long summit hosted by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which looked for ways to advocate for Indian education on a tribal, state and national level. Attendees stressed the need for greater funding and more input into decisions that impact their students. Attendees included representatives of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the National Indian Education Association (NIEA). The 2004 budget request for the Office of Indian Education is $122.4 million. Of the amount, $97.1 million will be used to help public schools develop programs to address the unique educational and cultural needs of Indian students. Also, $20 million is to be used for a preschool program and an Indian teacher initiative, and $5 million for research.   For more and related  information go to:  Office of Indian Education, Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/oie/index.html; and National Indian Education Association: http://www.niea.org.

     The Department of Education has informed Senator Ted Stevens that several Alaskan groups and schools will benefit from $14.5 million he secured to implement the Alaska Native Education Equity Act, an amendment to the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in December of 2001. Local programs receiving grants under the act are: $520,000 to the Southeast Regional Resource Center for ANSWER Camps which will provide a series of two-week summer retreats to meet the critical need for culturally relevant reading, writing, science, and math enrichment activities for seventh and eight grade students in rural Alaska; $497,613 to the Juneau School District for the K-3 Tlingit Culture and Language Program which aims to improve the education and academic performance of Alaska Native students in  Juneau; $269,128 to the Hoonah City School District for Parents are Teachers (PAT) which offers services delivered by local parent educators who  live permanently within the community. The goal of PAT is to enable all parents to be the first educators of their children. $353,168 is awarded to the Craig City School District for the CANCAT project which will make available a mathematics resource teacher throughout the instructional day for academically at-risk children and young people and their adult caregivers, so they can work together more effectively on mathematics skills and to provide parenting education, childcare, and transportation to increase adult  caregivers' effectiveness as one-on-one mathematics coaches; $455,806 to the Juneau School District for a summer camp, school year support network, and a  series of after school activities; $590,000 to the Chugach School District for the Voyage to Excellence Program which aims to prepare students for transitions to the world of work through career awareness and job-shadowing opportunities, service learning, hands-on entrepreneurial experience, and  the incorporation of work-related situations across the academic curriculum; $520,648 to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the Rural Educator Preparation Partnership Program to increase the number of Alaska Native  Teachers; $430,000 to the University of Alaska for the Alaska Teacher Placement Program in partnership with the Alaska Federation of Natives and three rural school districts; $119,472 for the University of Alaska  Anchorage for Project Success which will prepare over 70 rural Alaska Native  educators to work with Alaska Native children, particularly those with disabilities, by increasing access to and success in well-established,  distance delivered Associate Degree programs; $412,500 to the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Tribes for Creating Cultural Foundations, a  home-based preschool service which uses new technologies to share Native and  other traditions, skills, and strategies in supporting Head Start staff to provide appropriate services for children and families in Southeast Alaska; $467,772 to the Sealaska Heritage Institute to develop curricula, lesson  plans, and teaching materials for Haida language immersion classes tailored to kindergarten, and the first and second grades; and $318,371 to the University of Fairbanks for the Kitsuuit Program which provides culturally relevant education in early childhood development to allow Native students, who are also the Head Start teachers, to remain in their community while  taking courses.

     The Bush Administration wants to overhaul the Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS), a scientifically-based framework for ensuring that logging will not damage salmon watersheds, by abolishing the core requirement of the Strategy-that logging, road construction, and other activities must improve or at least not harm endangered fish habitat and water quality. Meeting the Strategy's objectives and heeding watershed analysis findings would become optional. These rollbacks of the salmon and water quality protections will unleash a frenzy of destructive logging held back by the courts.

     In 2003, the Bush administration, effectively delayed completion of the decade long Mni Wiconi project, to pipe treated water from the Missouri River to the arid Pine Ridge Reservation. The project would have brought water to what long has been America's most economically depressed county. Many of the 35,000 people on Pine Ridge do not have running water and many of the wells on the reservation are polluted by septic system percolation or contaminated by nitrates. Many Lakota People on Pine Ridge obtain their water by truck or transported in jugs. The close to completed project was halted after Pine Ridge Voters turned out in large numbers to play a significant role in reelecting Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, in a close race with Republican John Thune, strongly supported by President Bush. Within months of the election, the Bush administration, breaking previous promises, cut funding that stopped work on the project just as it was reaching the borders of Pine Ridge. Without access to a dependable supply of fresh water, Pine Ridge has little hope of economic development. However, in September, the Senate increased funding for completion and operation of the project in the 2004 Budget by adding $5 to the amount requested by the White House.

     HUD put on a two-day conference, ''Pathways to Home Ownership,'' in Pablo and Polson on the Flathead Reservation in Montana showcasing the success of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in overcoming many of the barriers that in the past severely limited on reservation home ownership. Only 91 conventional mortgages were made on Indian land between 1992 and 1997, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and title searches required by the BIA for most mortgages in Indian Country are backlogged so far that it will take 113 "staff years'' to eliminate the backlog, according to a recent General Accounting Office report. Indians have waited as long as six years to get a title report that most other Americans could get in a couple of days, according to the National American Indian Housing Council. The barriers include widespread poverty and unemployment, making credit hard to get; high population growth, creating high demand but little, if any, supply of affordable housing; few banks or other credit institutions on reservations to finance housing for Indians; a "land-tenure system" unfamiliar to off-reservation lenders; legal barriers within some tribes because tribal councils still have failed to enact foreclosure ordinances to protect lenders; and the glacially slow Bureau of Indian Affairs bureaucracy, which must be consulted for chain-of-title records in virtually every property, which may take two years or longer. Because the U.S. government holds much of the land in Indian Country in trust for the benefit of a particular tribe or tribal member, the BIA must research who or what entity has the rights to a build on the property. In addition, there are few, if any, real estate agents or brokers on reservations, for lack of business. This is especially a problem when buyers and sellers do not have knowledge of financing, title issues, contractor requirements and the numerous other technical details needed to consummate a real estate transaction. A further difficulty, even should financing be obtained, is lack of qualified housing contractors and even access to building materials, where reservations are in isolated areas.  A number of steps have been taken toward overcoming the barriers. HUD has been promoting housing opportunities aggressively with subsidized, Indian-only programs, bringing a substantial increase in the rate of providing housing, but with only 800 HUD-sponsored home-mortgage transactions in all of Indian Country since 1995, this is small in comparison with the need. In addition, HUD is putting energy into marketing section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program for homeownership, targeting Indians who have sufficient income to buy their own home, but have not because they have not developed a credit history. An increasing number of Indian nations have been working though the Tribal Point housing Partnership to increase home ownership. The partnership works through T-point plus, HUD Section 184, and the USDA Rural Housing Program. Tribal Point information is available at (866)818-3798. The BIA has formed the Land Title Status Commission to recommend changes in rules and procedures. Recommendations are being developed to deal with ''provider'' problems, lack of contracts, real estate, professionals, and especially for recommend changes in rules and procedures for title searches and recording mortgages, which the National Indian Housing Council has stated that this is ''the most serious impediment to producing adequate housing on American Indian reservations today.'' The Clinton administration promoted "one stop" mortgage centers, to make the process more efficient and convenient for potential home buyers. This had promise, but has largely fallen by the wayside under the Bush administration. Tribal governments can assist by passing ordinances protecting lenders in case of default, and by forming "nonprofit housing entities" on each reservation, as exemplified by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority on the Flathead Reservation. For more information on the conference contact reporter John Stromnes: (800)366-7816, jstromnes@missoulian.com.

 Developments concerning protection of sacred land are discussed in the article below: Protecting Sacred Sites.

     The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stated in October that it is undertaking negotiations with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes about their having a share in the management of the National Bison Range in Montana. The Timbisha Shoshone and Duckwater Shoshone Tribes, because of their proximity to Yucca Mountain, filed a petition with the Department of the Interior, in the summer of 2002, requesting designation as an effected Indian Tribe that, like other Nevada communities around the nuclear waste site with similar designations, would have a voice in the operation of the project and funding for independent over sight of it. Last November, the Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a resolution supporting the tribe's petition. As of the beginning of September, the Interior Department had yet to act on the request.

     In July, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, and Rep. Tom Udall, D-NM, introduced the Southwest Native American Language Revitalization Act of 2003. The bill would encourage the development of American Language to help reduce the impact of past discrimination against Indian language speakers. In June, Congressman Wally Herger, R-Marysville, CA, saying the Klamath Fishery Management Council overstepped its bounds by writing two letters to government leaders warning them that the death of 33,000 salmon last year was linked to farming operations upstream, introduced a spending bill provision that would eliminate the council's funding next year. The amendment passed an appropriations committee and was sent to the full House of Representatives. Herger's action has outraged river advocates, including American Indians, commercial fishermen and recreationists. For more information contact Reporter Alex Breitler at 225-8344, abreitler@redding.com. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives began to consider an amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill that would reform management of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges and help endangered salmon, bald eagles, and migratory birds that rely on the refuges and the nearby Klamath River in California and Oregon to help protect fish and wildlife in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and California. The measure was sponsored by Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Mike Thompson (D-CA), and Chris Shays (R-CT). Supporters say that the Blumenauer-Thompson-Shays Amendment would take an important step towards balance in the Klamath Basin, phase out those crops grown on the Basin's National Wildlife Refuges that consume the most water, use the most pesticides and provide little, if any, benefit to wildlife. Specifically, new farming lease agreements on the national wildlife refuges that replace leases that expire next year would not allow growing of onions, potatoes, horseradish, or alfalfa. For more information, visit www.klamathbasin.info, www.waterwatch.org, or www.onrc.org.

     Senator Ben Nighthourse Campbell said, in July, that his version of the Indian Energy Development and Self Determination Act, introduced as an amendment, would allow qualifying tribes to negotiate an arrangement with the Secretary of the interior that would cut though red tape in speeding the leasing mineral development process for tribes, but, " Energy development would remain subject to federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act, and the Endangered Species Act, and the public would have notice of and opportunity to comment on proposed development. Importantly, the process would be greatly streamlined so that tribes can compete with private holders of energy reserves." The Energy Policy Act of 2003, which passed the House as HR. 6, and was introduced in the Senate as S. 14, as originally written would terminate some federal trust responsibilities, and contains exemptions from federal environmental regulation, that Campbell's amendment was aimed at changing. Tribal governments would be able to receive general approval from the Department of Interior for energy related agreements, and then be free of Interior review for what ever subsequent energy related agreements they made. Once the Secretary has determined that a tribe is capable of regulating its own energy related development and has an environmental review process in place that can examine all relevant impacts, there is no requirement that what a tribe does be consistent with federal environmental standards. The Secretary's trust responsibility would be limited to cases in which a third party, such as a utility company, violated an agreement with a tribe, and the U.S, government would have no responsibility for any loss or injury sustained by any party to any tribal energy related agreement. Critics see this as beneficial to large energy companies, but dangerous for tribes and the general populace. Viewed as more positive for Indian nations, are provisions that establish a Department of Indian Energy Departments and Programs to promote Indian self-determination by promoting tribal energy development, including providing grants of up to $20 million a year until 2007 related to energy development by a tribe or by a consortium that included a tribe, and by up to $2 billion in energy loans to tribes that would be 90% guaranteed.

       Congress has been considering the proposed Tribal Government Tax-Exempt Bond Fairness Act of 2003, which would allow Indian tribes to issue tax exempt government bonds to finance construction projects other than class II gaming facilities. To date, in only two cases tribes have been able to use bonding under state law. In August, the California Statewide Community Development Authority cooperated with the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians to issue $145 million in municipal bonds to finance a 12 storey hotel and convention center, part of a larger tribal development plan. In September, Senator Tom Daschle. complaining that the U.S. spends only $1914 per person on health a year for Indians, compared to $3803 for prisoners, failed in an attempt to add $292 million to the Indian Health Service budget.

     On July 9, Indian leaders testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs complained that with states gaining as much as 25% of tribal gaming incomes, as occurred with the Mashantuck Pequot in Connecticut, states were using compact negotiations unfairly to take money needed for tribal purposes in order to bail out cash strapped states. Pojoaque Pueblo Governor Jacob Viarrial stated, "Compact Negotiations have become a smoke screen for extortion," asking the committee for protective legislation. Committee members agreed that something needed to be done to insure that widely fluctuating compacts do not divert money from important tribal services.

     The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs was expected to decide in late October whether to forward a bill to the Senate that would grant federal recognition to the Lumbees. Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole submitted the Lumbee Acknowledgement Bill in February. Dole has said that granting recognition to the tribe would correct a problem created by Congress in 1956. That is when Congress recognized the tribe through the Lumbee Act, but the law denied the tribe benefits and privileges given to other federally recognized tribes. The Osage Nation of Oklahoma has been petitioning Congress to amend the 1906 law which makes it the only tribe that can not decide on its own requirements for membership, and which might cause its recognition to end when the last of the currently five remaining members on the rolls, that were closed in 1907, dies. In Mid October Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas introduced a bill to answer the Osage petition. For details contact the Osage Nation at: (800)320-8742, www.osagetribe.com. The BIA has acted to give long-sought recognition to the Seminole Nation Freedmen, descendants of freed black slaves, some of whom have played important historical leadership roles for the Seminole Nation. The Freedmen have long been citizens of the tribe, but were denied the benefits afforded other members, and in were denied the right to vote in tribal affairs. They now have regained equal standing with other tribal members. Meanwhile, after the BIA reversed policy, no longer insisting that Freedmen members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma had the right to vote, six Cherokee Freedmen filed suite in federal court against the BIA asserting that their not being allowed to vote in a recent tribal election violated their rights.

     A report made public, in late July, by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says that the U.S. government is failing to provide adequate health care, law enforcement and education to American Indians. The commission said American Indians rank near the bottom of almost every social, health and economic indicator. They have more than twice the average poverty rate and unemployment rate and lag in high school and college graduation rates. In addition, they have the shortest life expectancy and suffer from more diseases. "Native Americans have suffered too long from inattention and halfhearted efforts, and the crisis in Indian country must be addressed with the urgency it demands,'' the report said. "The federal government must take immediate steps to resolve the disparate living conditions that plague Indian country.'' The report recommends immediate creation of a task force to study the problem and recommend solutions in time for next year's budget process. It also suggests agencies that provide services to American Indians should do annual assessments of unmet needs and should focus its efforts on building roads, water services, electrical grids and communications systems in Indian country. In a letter to the commission, Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, the nation's largest Indian group, called the report the most comprehensive analysis of the needs in Indian country in a decade. ``Without adequate funding for vital programs, empowerment of tribal institutions, and a genuine commitment on the part of the federal government to the policy of self-determination, tribal governments are ill-equipped to provide for their citizens, and their citizens, in turn, are denied equal access to resources most other citizens enjoy,'' Johnson commented. For details of the report check with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: http://www.usccr.gov/.

     The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act Unanimously Passed the Senate in mid October, distributing more than $128.8 million from a federal trust fund to over 6,000 members of the Western Shoshone Tribe. In addition, over $1.27 million dollars will be placed in an educational trust fund to be distributed to future generations of the tribe. Under the legislation, the entire per capita distribution would be tax-exempt, and no one would lose eligibility for Federal or federally-assisted programs, such as financial aid for college, because of this distribution. The legislation was originally introduced three years ago after tribal members voted overwhelmingly to accept distribution as settlement of their land claim. A second referendum held last year reached the same result.. The bill passed the Senate last year, but did not pass the House. Congressman Gibbons has also reintroduced similar legislation this year, which is now pending. The claims settlement stems from the work of the Indian Lands Claim Commission, which was established in1946 to compensate Indians for lands ceded to the United States. The commission determined that the Western Shoshone homeland had been taken through "gradual encroachment" during the settlement of the West, and awarded the tribe over $26 million in compensation, which with accrued interest and have grown to over $130 million. Some Western Shoshone tribal members continue not to accept the settlement and have been in conflict with the Bureau of Land Management, which claims that they have no right to graze live stock on land that these Western Shoshone hold is still theirs.

     As of September, the crafting of a bill (HR 1261) to reauthorize the WIA, job training program, act has moved away from requiring common performance measures for all parts of the program, so that performance indicators for the Indian WIA program could be appropriate for the real needs of Indian recipients.

     As of October 1, California Indian nations were the largest contributor in the recall election for the state's governor, having contributed more than $11 million with more expected in the last week. Indian money accounts for one of every six dollars of the $66 million contributed to candidates or spent by independent committees so far on the recall effort. The tribes have also given $2.5 million in support to conservative Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, who has been a longtime backer of the Indians. Some analysts say the contributions may have been intended to help undermine the GOP front-runner, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has made comments critical of Indian casinos, stating that they should pay more to the state. Schwarzenegger's victory nay also make it more difficult on the legislative front, where there is a good chance he will not sign legislation likely to emerge from the state legislature to protect sacred sites, that Governor Gray Davis said he would sign, and that Lieutenant Governor, Democrat Cruz Bustamante almost surely would have signed if he had been elected governor (see the article on sacred sites below, for details). Bustamante has been favorable to California Indian nations, one of whom gave him $2 million. His use and transfer of Indian money among his various political campaign accounts was held illegal by a California Court. His problems have been compounded by the fact that his lead campaign strategist, Richie Ross, also works for the tribes. So does his younger brother, Andrew Bustamante, who is the general manager of the casino near Fresno owned by the Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians. As Bustamante was attacked by other candidates for his use of Indian money, California tribes launched their own counter campaign of TV commercials. In the past five years, Californaia tribes have spent $120 million on state politics. Most of the money was used to persuade voters to pass a pair of ballot initiatives to legalize slot machines, pai gow poker and blackjack on reservation land. In recent years, as their profits have grown, the tribes have expanded political spending from ballot initiatives, to politicians sympathetic to their causes. They have also punished their enemies. In the 2001 Los Angeles mayor's race, two tribes spent more than $300,000 on radio ads and mailers, accusing candidate and former Assembly speaker Antoni Villaraigosa, who opposed casinos, of being soft on sex crimes and child pornography, and of supporting clemency for a convicted cocaine trafficker. Tribal casinos pay about $130 million annually into two state funds, one of which is used to cover public costs (for roads, sewers, firefighting) associated with the casinos, many of which are in isolated areas. The other fund gives money to tribes that do not operate casinos. The gaming nations would like to expand the number of slot machines they are allowed, which requires renegotiating their "compacts" with the governor. A number of tribal leaders have expressed concern that the tribes are in danger of a backlash from voters and politicians because of their growing revenue and political donations.

     In June, Republican congressional leaders sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gail
Norton stating that Congress did not intend tribes to go reservation shopping, and that the Secretary should "consider the consequences of allowing tribes to construct gaming facilities in areas where they have no historical connection," on the occasion of the Jena Band of Choctaw in Louisiana, who have no reservation, seeking a site for a casino, The tribe was recognized in 1995 and is seeking land for a reservation.

     The Republican Party received a $100,000 donation from the Agua Caliente Tribe of California when the tribe was seeking a meeting with the Secretary of the Interior. Sometime after making the donation, a lobbyist representing the tribe met with the Secretary. This is reminiscent of the donation for access, including with Indian nations, in the Clinton Administration, which the GOP criticized.

     Mary Ann Andreas, former chairwoman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, has announced plans to run for the California Assembly seat now held by Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City. If elected, it is believed that Andreas, a Democrat, would be the first American Indian to serve in the California Legislature. David Laughing Horse Robinson ran for Governor of California as a Democrat in the recall election. He has been the chairman of the unrecognized Kawaiisu Tribe since 1997. Six months after a Lakota, Charles Cummings, was elected sheriff of its county, because of a heavy Indian vote, Martin, SD announced plans to launch its own police department. Cummings resigned as Sheriff in August.

In the Courts

The U.S. Supreme Court

     In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the White Mountain Apaches had the right to sue the U.S. government for millions of dollars for failing to properly maintain Fort Apache, which sits on tribal land, and which the government has been operating since 1969. Once the fort is refurbished, the tribe wants to turn it into a tourist attraction, augmenting an Indian cultural museum at the fort. In mid-July, in ruling in Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Oakland, CA. U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong said the agency must rewrite its 10-year plan for providing water to the Lower Klamath River and protecting threatened salmon there, but she stopped short of ordering the Bureau to change its policy this year and send more water to the river  immediately. Information on the Klamath Indian nation's position and supporting data relating to the case are available from Monica Shovlin, (541)434-7028, mshovlin@ulum.com. The Supreme Court, in October, refused to hear an appeal, and thus let stand, a 2002 unanimous Montana Supreme Court decision upholding a Flathead tribal regulation allowing only tribal members to hunt on the reservation. In October, the high court refused to hear an appeal by publisher and Casino owner Larry Flint claiming unsuccessfully that California could not authorize a type gambling in Indian Casinos that is not permitted to non-Indian businesses.

Lower Federal Courts

     A Federal Circuit Court of appeals ruled, in July, that the Indian Health Services (IHS) owes the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma $8 million for breach of contract, for the nation's expenses involved in operating health centers in the mid 1990's that IHS had authorized but never paid its share of. The Cayuga Nation of New York and the Senaca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma argued their appeal of lands claims awards received in 2000 and 2001, in July, arguing that the nations should be awarded $1.7 billion, rather than the $248 million awarded, and that the lower court erred in barring eviction of current owners and returning land to the tribes as part of the remedy. The State of New York also appealed the early awards and is seeking a reduction, in the case involving 64,000 acres of land taken from the tribes in the Eighteenth Century. In late May, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Seneca-Cayuga Tribe vs. National Indian Gaming Commission (reported at: http://www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2003/04/01-5066.htm) that the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming and the Seneca-Cayuga and Fort Sill apache tribes of Oklahoma that an electronic version of a scratch and win pull-tab game is a class II gaming device, and not a class III slot machine, as contended by the commission, allowing the games to be used under the laws and compacts applicable to the casinos in question. On November 7, the 10th Circuit Court of appeals denied a petition for Leonard Peltier for a parole hearing, rejecting his attorneys' claim that the Parole Commission erred by putting off a new hearing until 2008. For more information go to: www.haveyouthought.com. The 10th Circuit ruled, in September, that the district court was correct in throwing out a suit by Black Seminoles against the BIA for services the tribe denied them, saying they should have sued the tribe. However, tribal sovereignty prevents them suing the Seminole Nation in federal court. Arguments were heard before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the "Kennwick Man" case, involving a supposedly 9300 year old skeleton found near Kennwick, WA. Arguments focused on the definition of Native American in the statute, as a key issue in whether scientists could have the remains for study or must turn them over to a local tribe for reburial.

     In a late July ruling on stream flows on the Klamath River in California, District Judge Saundra B. Armstrong denied  motions by the Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes to blame the fish kill on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for  not putting more water down the river. But, she said, arguments on both sides of the dispute over  whether higher flows would have helped the fish are strong enough to warrant a trial. Representatives from the Hoopa Valley Tribe said in October that they would give no further consideration to a proposal from the Westlands Water District for settlement of the Trinity River litigation, stating that there are too many unsupported hypotheses in the proposal for it to be a valid plan, which contains no new science, for protection of the Trinity River fishery. Moreover, the plan leaves less water in the river most years.  The tribe's position is that the Record of Decision signed by Secretary Bruce Babbitt after 20 years of study provides the necessary water volumes and times of release to protect and restore the Trinity fishery. The tribe's trustees, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) told the tribe they would give the Westlands settlement proposal no further consideration. Hoopa tribal Councilman Joe Jarnaghan said the Hoopa Valley Tribe would pursue Congressional legislation to implement the Trinity River Record of Decision (ROD). "This protracted litigation has brought the river's fish population to dangerously low levels.  We are asking Congress to keep its word about leaving us enough water for a healthy river..." for more information contact Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall (530)625-4211, Councilman Joe Jarnaghan  (530)625-4211, Mike Orcutt  (530)625-4267 ext. 13, or Tod Bedrosian    (916)421-5121. As of October, the Aamodt Case, involving the water rights of the Pojoaque, Tesuque Nambe and Ildefonso Pueblos, 51 acequias and 2825 individual claimants, appears to be approaching a settlement after three years of negotiations since the case came to federal court, and forty years of dispute.

     A federal district court in Washington, DC held, in October that a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 1999 cancellation of the Washington Redskins' trade mark, in response to a complaint by several Native activists, on the grounds the Redskins logo was demeaning, was based on insufficient evidence, and overturned the agency decision. The judge stated that he case, Pro Football, Inc. v. Harjo, No. 99-1385, does not address whether the name redskins is actually insulting to Indians. A Federal District Court in Kansas, in August, ruled that the Prairie Band Potawatomi has the right to issue its own license plates for vehicles owned by the nation and tribal members living on its reservation. In Pierre, SD, the U.S. District Court has dismissed a request for a court order to prevent prosecution on claims of First Amendment rights of association by Rebecca Red Earth-Villeda, accused by South Dakota of voter fraud by forging signatures on absentee ballot applications during last year's congressional election, allowing state prosecution to proceed. Opposing suits by the Narragansett Tribe and the State of Rhode Island went to federal court in July concerning whether the tribe has a right to sell tobacco free of state taxes. The case arose from a July 14 raid by state police of a tribal smoke shop in Charleston, RI, in which police and tribal members struggled. The Governor of Rhode Island has appointed an NCAI representative to the panel reviewing the raid. The U.S. court of claims, in June, recommended that Congress award the Alabama-Coushatta of East Texas $270.6 million for loss of ancestral land and resources.

      The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians filed suite in federal court, in July, to stop the transfer of the 43-acre former Coos Head Air National Guard Base near Charleston, WA to another party. Legally, the tribe had the right of first refusal on the property, but the BIA missed a deadline in filing for tribal ownership with the General Services Administration, apparently because of an administrative error by bureau staff. The Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the U.S. government are engaged in suite concerning the tribe's claim to the former Sun Flower Ammunition Plant near De Soto, KS. A group of Western Shoshone objecting to the land settlement, payment for which was recently authorized by congress, filed suite in the Federal District court for the District of Columbia against the federal government, in September, claiming 60 million acres in four western states and royalties for mining on much of that land. Six members of the Lakota Sioux Nation filed a class action suite against the federal government in U.S. court of Claims in Washington, DC, in July, on behalf of thousands of former Indian boarding school students, claiming $25 million in damages for abuse. The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Jeff Herman of Hollywood, FL, said that other suits are being planned to be filed in several states against the religious organizations that ran the boarding schools. Tom Poor Bear, an Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge, SD filed suit against the state of Nebraska, in July, alleging violation of his rights, as part of a pattern of discrimination, when he was arrested while part of a demonstration walk complaining of liquor sales in White Clay, NE. The suite also asserts that White Clay should be part of the Pine Ridge reservation, where liquor sales are illegal. A website chronicling White clay protest events, known as "camp justice," is at: http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html. A group of 14 native prison inmates filed suite, in late May, against the Main State Prison in federal court, claiming that the prison denied there freedom of religion, applying a smoking band to them for three years, denying them right to build a sweat lodge, seizing religious items, and temporarily confiscating the bowl the use to smudge with burned sweetgrass. In June, the Yakama Nation of Washington gave the federal government notice that it was preparing to sue the Department of Energy for allegedly failing to protect the Columbia River from pollution from the Hanford nuclear reservation. The Attorney General of Kansas filed suite in district court, in September, asking the court to order the Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission to suspend gambling at the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma's casino in downtown Kansas City, next to the nation's historic Huron Cemetery, alleging that the two agencies had failed to act properly to protect a national historic site, in allowing the gaming.

     New York State and the Oneida Nation reached a tentative agreement, in February, that would have the state and the federal government jointly pay $500 million to the tribe in return for its dropping a claim to 250,000 acres in Oneida and Madison counties. However, the federal negotiators sent a letter to the negotiations mediator, in August, stating that the federal government had no intention of paying that amount. In October, the area's Con