Tribal Council members attend third Tribal Nations Conference

Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy and Tribal Council Secretary Jack Giffen Jr. attended the third annual White House Tribal Nations Conference held at the Sidney R. Yates Auditorium at the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Dec. 2.

The goal of the event, according to the White House's Web page, is to provide leaders from America's 565 federally recognized Tribes the opportunity to interact directly with members of the Obama administration.

President Obama spoke to the conference on Friday, Dec. 2, and other Cabinet level administration representatives, such as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, attended.

Speaking at the close of the conference, President Obama spoke about the work he has done to improve communications between Tribal nations and the federal government, as well as his commitment to helping Indian communities realize prosperous futures.

"While our work together is far from over, today we can see what change looks like," Obama said. "It's the Native American-owned business that's opening its doors, or a worker helping a school renovate. It is new roads and houses. It is wind turbines going up on Tribal lands, and crime going down in Tribal communities. That's what change looks like."

At the Dec. 4 General Council meeting, Kennedy said that during her trip to Washington, D.C., which began on Wednesday, Nov. 30, she also testified regarding the Internal Revenue Service's plan to tax general welfare assistance provided by Tribes to Tribal members.

Kennedy said she spoke in opposition to the tax proposal because Tribes are stepping up and providing benefits that the federal government has failed to provide even though they were promised in treaties.

"I was advocating on behalf of our Tribal members," Kennedy said. "I basically said that when we entered into our treaties, there was a legal, binding contract that was made with the ancestors of our Tribe that said that the federal government would provide us with health, education, housing and welfare services, and a homeland. And they have yet to live up to fulfilling those responsibilities. So the Tribe has taken it upon themselves to provide services to our members and to tax our members because of the services we provide is an injustice."

Kennedy said she also attended a Northwest Leaders Conference at the National Congress of American Indians facility, where Tribal representatives discussed Northwest priorities to communicate to the Obama administration.

Kennedy also testified about public safety issues on Tribal lands, pointing out that restored Tribes, such as the Grand Ronde Tribe, have had to purchase their own public safety either through hiring private security firms or helping to fund local police departments. She said it was another example of something promised in treaties that the federal government has failed to deliver on.

"We signed a peace treaty, but were not given any funds to protect our lands," Kennedy said. "That is just wrong to ask us to do that."

Kennedy said she and Giffen also met with Oregon Sen. Kurt Schrader and discussed a proposed amendment to the Grand Ronde Reservation Act, which would streamline the process of taking former reservation land back into Tribal ownership.

They also talked with Schrader about a proposal by the other Oregon Tribes to take Chemawa Indian School into trust despite the fact that Chemawa sits in the ceded lands of the Grand Ronde Tribe.

The Grand Ronde Tribe, Kennedy said, continues to point out the "vast difference" between historical lands and ceded lands.

"Not a lot of people understand what that means," she said. "For us, what that means is that all of our grandfathers who were treaty signers, they identified those lands and gave them in exchange for services, and those services are not being provided, and that is why we fight for them.

"We know there are other Tribes who try to take over our lands that we gave up, and that is wrong."

Kennedy said Giffen also attended and spoke at a Government-to-Government Relations meeting before Friday's speech by President Obama.

"Every year, he has signed a major piece of legislation or executive order that has affected Tribes," Kennedy said about Obama. "His parting words were, 'As your president, I have your back.' "