U.S. Government's Policy of Empowerment in Indian Country

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Salazar Speech to National Congress of American Indians

11/15/2010

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – In a speech this morning to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar described the progress being made in a comprehensive agenda to reform, restructure and rebuild federal relations with Indian Country.

Secretary Salazar outlined a broad range of efforts underway to restore integrity in U.S. government relations with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, fulfill trust responsibilities to tribal members, and to work cooperatively to build stronger economies and safer tribal communities.

“The President firmly believes that consultation with tribal nations must focus on engagement and results – solutions that help build safer, stronger, healthier, and more prosperous Indian communities,” Salazar told members of NCAI. “Our role, then, is to help you fulfill your vision for your nations; to help your communities achieve their promise; to help your cultures flourish.”

In his remarks, Secretary Salazar also announced that the Administration today issued a letter of support for the White Mountain Apache Tribe water settlement in Arizona. The centerpiece of the settlement is the construction of the White Mountain Apache Tribe Rural water system which will greatly expand the current water delivery system to meet the very critical needs of the reservation.

The White Mountain Apache Tribe water settlement is the fourth Indian water rights negotiated settlement to be fully supported by the Obama Administration and reflects the commitment of the Administration to resolving long-standing disputes over water use in the West. With this support letter, the Obama Administration has supported nearly $1 billion of Indian water settlements that will secure for a number of tribes and their members not just a permanent water supply but also economic security and the resolution of long-standing conflicts with neighboring communities.

“The message from this Administration is clear,” said Salazar. “We want to settle Indian water rights disputes and we will support good Indian water settlements that result from negotiations with all stakeholders including the Federal government, and that come with a reasonable federal price tag and good cost share contributions from states and other benefiting parties.

The Secretary’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.

Remarks to the National Congress of American Indians
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
Albuquerque, NM
Monday, November 15, 2010

Good morning.

Thank you, Larry EchoHawk, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your work on behalf of the Department of the Interior as Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

I am proud to have you and your team here with me today. Del Laverdure, Paul Tsosie, Wizi Garriott, Mike Black, Sequoyah Simermeyer and Keith Moore are making a difference for Indian country every day.

It is an honor to be here with you this morning and to address the National Congress of American Indians. I am grateful for the important work you do to serve the broad interests of tribal governments and to protect tribal sovereignty.

You are in good hands with Jefferson Keel at the helm. President Keel has done an excellent job in his first year in office serving as the NCAI President as well as the Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. Thank you, President Keel, for your leadership.

It has been almost two years since President Obama took office and a year since the President brought together more than 400 representatives of federally recognized tribes for the historic White House Tribal Nations’ Conference.

At that Conference, President Obama pledged that we would work together, hand in hand, to ensure that American Indians, the First Americans, get the opportunities they deserve.

President Obama directed me, along with the other cabinet secretaries, to empower tribal governments to bring real and lasting change on issues from health care to education to law enforcement.

And from the beginning, it has been one of my top priorities as Secretary of the Interior to partner with Native Americans to address these challenges.

In close consultation with leaders here and across Indian Country since then, we have developed a comprehensive agenda to reform, restructure and rebuild federal relations with Indian Country.

We have pledged to restore integrity in government relations with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, to fulfill our trust responsibilities to tribal members and to work cooperatively to build stronger economies and safer tribal communities.

Like me, President Obama respects the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations and believes the federal government must honor its commitments to your communities. This Administration is working to uphold not just a government-to-government relationship with tribes, but a nation-to-nation relationship.

The President firmly believes that consultation with tribal nations must focus on engagement and results – solutions that help build safer, stronger, healthier, and more prosperous Indian communities. Our role, then, is to help you fulfill your vision for your nations; to help your communities achieve their promise; to help your cultures flourish.

American Indians and Alaska Natives must have a strong voice in shaping the policies that affect their communities. We are lucky to have Larry EchoHawk serving as a strong advocate in his role as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. And I am proud that Hilary Tompkins is Solicitor General for the Department of the Interior. In the White House, Kimberly Teehee and Jodi Gillette are important voices and we all work closely together.

With their help, and with the help of many people in this room, I believe we have begun to build a comprehensive strategy for empowerment – a strategy that is helping Indian nations build a future of their choosing.

I’d like to share some thoughts on how we are doing that.

First, the President’s national economic recovery plan laid the foundation for our agenda. Thanks to the $500 million investment in the Bureau of Indian Affairs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, thousands of men and women are now at work fixing and building roads, repairing and constructing schools, and improving security at detention centers. Another $40 million was provided for housing improvements and workforce training.

In addition, the funding for Indian Affairs in the President’s budget request has dramatically increased from years past. With the 2009 and 2010 budgets, President Obama has increased funding for critical Indian programs at the Interior Department by 14 percent.

This includes approximately $190 million over two years in Bureau of Indian Affairs loans to spur Indian economies where we know unemployment far exceeds the national average.

In these two budgets, there was an increase of $85 million or 35 percent in the Public Safety and Justice programs to put more law enforcement officers in Indian communities, improve training and equipment, fund tribal courts, and staff detention centers.

For education programs, these two budgets added $110 million, an increase of 16 percent for K-12 operations, tribal colleges, and scholarships. And in 2010 we began to forward fund tribal colleges, which will improve their ability to operate.

Another major initiative where we are seeing progress is in law enforcement.

We know that safer Indian communities mean stronger Indian communities. But for too long, the government has neglected law enforcement needs on tribal lands, where residents suffer violent crime at far greater rates than other Americans.

This is unacceptable.

It was a significant step in the right direction when President Obama signed into law the Tribal Law and Order Act. The Act contains important measures and resources to strengthen law enforcement that will help combat violence and lawlessness and ensure that more crimes are prosecuted on reservations.

The law authorizes the appointment of Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys to prosecute crimes in tribal communities in federal court; provides tribal courts tougher sentencing powers; and allows some tribal police officers to enforce federal laws on Indian lands.

The Act also increases Bureau of Indian Affairs’ recruitment and retention efforts for the tough and honorable jobs of tribal law officers. We will work closely with the Department of Justice to fully implement this law.

At Interior, I have established a senior-level working group to tackle the challenges of law enforcement needs on tribal lands. This year we launched a targeted, intense community policing pilot program on four reservations where we are working to reduce violent crime by more than 5 percent by year-end 2011.

All of Interior’s law enforcement bureaus pitched in to help on this important priority. We are seeing good preliminary results and hope to expand the program in the near future.

The group also spearheaded the development of a fully revamped recruiting process for Bureau of Indian Affairs law officers. As a result, we increased by 500 percent - 500 percent - the number of applicants for those positions, and the hiring of more than 70 new officers in the first half of 2010. That is the largest hiring increase in BIA’s history.

Violent crime in Indian Country must be aggressively confronted and we will continue to work with Tribes and the Department of Justice to address this pressing issue.

Equally important to the fabric of healthy communities is education. Improving Indian education programs is a special priority for me. I grew up in a small town in Colorado without electricity or running water. My parents were not wealthy people but they generously shared with me and my seven siblings a love of learning. My parents taught us that education was the key to our future, and, as a result, all eight of their children are first generation college-graduates.

I am proud to announce that, with Recovery Act funding and regular appropriations, this year Indian Affairs completed 14 major school projects, including six replacement schools, five replacement facilities, and three facilities improvement projects. The new and improved facilities will better serve nearly 3,800 Indian students in six states.

This past year I have met twice with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and national experts in Indian education to begin developing a national Indian education reform agenda. We are also working to develop the Indian portion of the Administration’s blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

We look forward to working with the next Congress to pass this important legislation, and we will continue to ensure that Indian country’s interests are represented.

I am proud that, for the first time in many years, we have stable leadership at the Bureau of Indian Education in Director Keith Moore. He and his staff are hard at work: reforming BIE management practices to ensure quality of delivery of services to Indian country’s children; taking steps to run the 59 BIE schools as a system; developing strategies to aid tribal nations in improving their own BIE-funded contract and grant schools; and bringing stability to our two tribal colleges, Haskell and SIPI.

We are also taking steps to bring Native languages and cultures back into the Indian education framework. One measure that is already under way is the expansion of the Family and Child Education program across 10 states. FACE is a family literacy program serving families and children from prenatal to 5 years of age by integrating the language and culture of the community it serves.

We are also working across the Federal Family with Health and Human Services, USDA, and the First Lady’s office to address the high levels of childhood obesity and diabetes among Native Youth because we know that healthy children lead to healthy communities.

Another issue which remains at the forefront of all of our minds is the settlement of the long-running Cobell litigation. I believe that last December’s settlement regarding the U.S. trust obligations is both fair and forward-looking. Most importantly, it will enable us to turn the page, help to right a historic wrong, and advance the on-going cause of trust reform.

With the approval of the settlement, a fund totaling $1.5 billion will be distributed to class members to compensate them for their historical accounting claims and to resolve potential claims that prior U.S. officials mismanaged the administration of trust assets.

The settlement also establishes a $1.9 billion fund for the voluntary buy-back and consolidation of fractionated land interests. The land consolidation program will provide individual Indians with an opportunity to obtain cash payments for divided land interests and free up the land for the benefit of tribal communities.

To provide owners with additional incentive to sell their fractionated interests, the settlement authorizes the Interior Department to set aside up to 5 percent of the value of the interests into a college and vocational school scholarship fund, as much as $60 million dollars, for American Indian students.

The injection of several billion dollars into Indian country through the Cobell settlement has the potential to profoundly change – and improve – the administration of trusts and the unlocking of fractionated lands that currently are legally frozen out of effective use by tribal communities. I am assuring you – today – that as long as I am the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, we will implement the $2 billion dollar land consolidation program through close and meaningful government-to-government consultation with the tribes. We want to – and need to – work closely with individual Indian landowners and affected tribes, to prioritize those heavily fractionated lands that should be targeted for acquisition by tribal governments.

Also, it is important to remember that once Congress approves the Cobell settlement, the Secretarial Order that I signed last year, setting up a Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will become effective. I am eager to establish this Commission because Cobell is only the start of true trust reform. The new Commission, which I will set up in consultation with you, will undertake a forward-looking, comprehensive evaluation of how Interior manages and administers our trust responsibilities. We need to be more transparent and customer-friendly. The status quo is not acceptable.

Before we move off the subject of our trust responsibilities, I want to recognize Interior’s Solicitor, Hilary Tompkins – the first American Indian to serve as the Department’s top lawyer – for her leadership in these activities. Hilary worked closely with Deputy Secretary David Hayes to break through the 13 years of gridlock and reach the historic settlement. She works tirelessly, every day, on your behalf.

Also, and particularly since I am in New Mexico, I want to thank Senator Jeff Bingaman for his tireless support in pushing for Congressional approval of the $3.4 billion dollar Cobell settlement. Jeff has been a real champion for this cause.

Restoring Indian Country’s land base is another way in which we are working to provide the resources needed for the sustained economic development of tribal communities. Working with Congress, we have made substantial progress in meeting our obligations to acquire land into trust for tribes.

Some months ago I called in Mike Black and his Regional Directors and told them to fix the logjam on trust land applications – and they are delivering for you.

In 2007 and 2008, the Interior Department acquired only 15,000 acres in trust on behalf of tribes. Today, I am proud to report that in 2009 and the first three quarters of 2010, the department has acquired more than 34,000 acres of land in trust on behalf of tribal nations – a 225 percent increase from the last administration’s record.

Once land is in trust, Indian country deserves responsive and responsible business practices from Interior that will help to manage the land and comply with the obligations of a trustee. Therefore we are working to overhaul the Department’s regulations governing leasing on Indian lands. The new regulations will streamline the process and restore greater tribal control over land use.

These changes will mark the most substantial changes to leasing on tribal lands in 50 years.

We are also working with many of you to push forward renewable energy development on tribal lands. We know that Tribal lands hold a great capacity for solar, wind and geothermal projects, and we are committed to helping you unlock that potential.

I understand that land and water are among the most sacred of interests to Indian County. The Obama Administration has re-energized the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing the water needs of Native American communities through Indian water rights settlements.

The President signed into law two settlements in March 2009 and, in sharp contrast to the previous administration’s opposition to numerous Indian water settlement bills, we have supported several pending settlement bills. The Administration’s 2011 budget requests funding that not only supports implementing approved settlements, but also includes increases to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Reclamation programs that support tribal and Departmental participation in pending negotiations.

Most recently, the Administration has engaged in successful negotiations that have led to letters of Administration support for three Indian water settlement bills for the Crow Tribe, Taos Pueblo, and the Aamodt case involving the Pueblos of Pojoaque, Tesuque, San Ildefonso, and Nambe.

And, I’m pleased to announce today that we are now issuing a fourth letter of support for the White Mountain Apache Tribe water settlement in Arizona.

The centerpiece of this settlement is the construction of the White Mountain Apache Tribe Rural water system which will greatly expand the current water delivery system to meet the very critical needs of the reservation.

This is great news for the White Mountain Apache Tribe community.

With this fourth letter of support, the Administration has, in the past few months, supported nearly $1 billion of Indian water projects that will secure not only a reliable water supply, but also economic security.

The message from this Administration is clear: We want to settle Indian water rights disputes and we will support good Indian water settlements that result from negotiations with all stakeholders including the Federal government, and that come with a reasonable federal price tag and good cost share contributions from states and other benefiting parties.

In closing, I’d like to describe our progress in an area that underlies everything we are doing and attempting to do in collaboration with tribal leaders. And that is the quality of the federal consultation process.

From the outset, my goal has been to establish a comprehensive, department-wide tribal consultation policy and process upon which tribes can rely.

On Nov. 5, 2009 at the White House Tribal Nations’ Conference, President Obama issued his executive memorandum supporting tribal consultation as “a critical ingredient of a sound and productive Federal-tribal relationship” and called on all federal agencies to develop “plans of action” to establish tribal consultation policy.

For the Department, holding tribal consultation meetings was the key to developing these important plans. We held meetings in seven cities with 300 tribal representatives and more than 250 federal officials.

With the input gained in these meetings, I established a Tribal Consultation Team to draft a new, comprehensive consultation policy. Soon, the Consultation Team will submit the draft policy to the tribes and tribal organizations for review and comment, and I expect to put our new policy in place this spring.

Everyone in my Department will be directed to comply with the consultation policy. The new policy will help tribal leaders be more engaged in policy development and will result in a process that is more transparent, comprehensive and effective.

There is no doubt that much work remains to be done – by all of us. Native Americans must be full partners in our nation’s economy, thrive in safe communities, and have equal access to quality education, healthcare and benefits. We will continue to work toward this goal as we fulfill our federal trust responsibility to support tribal communities and respect tribal sovereignty.

Thank you.

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"I am asking you to start a conversation about childhood obesity in your community"

This week, the U.S. "First Lady" Michelle Obama spoke of efforts to address obesity,
diabetes and other health challenges.

She said the issue of childhood obesity is of great concern to her,
and she applauded the efforts underway to deal with it in
Indian Country.

"It's a problem that affects every community from coast to coast,
and like so many of the challenges our country faces,
tribal communities are especially hit hard. "

Here is her video address to the 67th Annual Convention
of the National Congress of American Indians.

VIDEO LINK: http://player.vimeo.com/video/16942865

mobama.jpg (18.33 KiB) Viewed 2373 times

http://player.vimeo.com/video/16942865

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Obama Administration Announces Second Tribal Nations Summit during 67th Annual Convention

Summit Set for December 16, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

Albuquerque, New Mexico - The Obama Administration announced this week that President Barack Obama will host a second Tribal Nations Summit in Washington, D.C. this December. The announcement, made by the White House’s Kimberly Teehee, Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs, was delivered at the National Congress of American Indians’ (NCAI) 67th Annual Convention, the nation’s largest gathering of tribal leaders, governments, and communities.

“With the announcement of the second Tribal Nations Summit today, the Obama Administration reaffirmed that tribal governments are equal members in the family of American governments,” said Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI, the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. “The federal trust relationship between the U.S. government and tribal nations is a non-partisan relationship. Our meetings with the executive branch have a long term focus of creating healthier and stronger tribal nations, to strengthen the entire nation.”

Since President Obama’s first Tribal Nations Summit in November of 2009, the federal government has increased the number and scope of tribal consultations, passed the Tribal Law and Order Act with bipartisan support, and made permanent the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Scheduled for Thursday, December 16, 2010, President Obama will host the White House Tribal Nations Summit. The Summit will include leaders from the 565 federally recognized tribes and give them an opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from the highest levels of his Administration. Each federally recognized tribe will be invited to send one representative to the summit.

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"And as you know, in April, we announced that we were reviewing our position on the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And today I can announce that the United States is lending its support to this declaration."
- President Obama VIDEO:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-vi ... ng-session

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 16, 2010
Remarks by the President at the White House Tribal Nations Conference
Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Everybody please be seated. Thank you.

Thank you, Fawn, for that wonderful introduction. Thanks to all of you. It is wonderful to be with you here today.

I see a lot of friends, a lot of familiar faces in the house. I want to thank all the tribal leaders who have traveled here for this conference. And I also want to recognize all the wonderful members of Congress who are here, as well as members of my Cabinet, including Secretary Salazar, who is doing terrific work here at Interior on behalf of the First Americans and on behalf of all Americans. So thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)

Yesterday, I had the chance to meet with several tribal leaders at the White House, continuing a conversation that began long before I was President. And while I’m glad to have the opportunity to speak with you this morning, I’m also very eager to see the results of today’s meeting. I want to hear more from you about how we can strengthen the relationship between our governments, whether in education or health care, or in fighting crime or in creating jobs.

And that’s why we’re here today. That’s a promise I’ve made to you. I remember, more than two years ago, in Montana, I visited the Crow Nation -- one of the many times I met with tribal leaders on the campaign trail. You may know that on that trip, I became an adopted Crow Indian. My Crow name is “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.” (Applause.) And my wife, when I told her about this, she said, “You should be named ‘One Who Isn’t Picking Up His Shoes and His Socks’.” (Laughter.)

Now -- but I like the first name better. And I want you to know that I’m working very hard to live up to that name.

What I said then was that as President I would make sure that you had a voice in the White House. (Applause.) I said that so long as I held this office, never again would Native Americans be forgotten or ignored. (Applause.) And over the past two years, my administration, working hand in hand with many of you, has strived to keep that promise. And you’ve had strong partners in Kim Teehee, my senior advisor for Native American issues, and Jodi Gillette, in our Intergovernmental Affairs office. You can give them a big round of applause. They do outstanding work. (Applause.)

Last year, we held the largest gathering of tribal leaders in our history. And at that conference -- you remember, most of you were there -- I ordered every Cabinet agency to promote more consultation with the tribal nations. Because I don’t believe that the solutions to any of our problems can be dictated solely from Washington. Real change depends on all of us doing our part.

So over the past year my administration has worked hard to strengthen the relationship between our nations. And together, we have developed a comprehensive strategy to help meet the challenges facing Native American communities.

Our strategy begins with the number one concern for all Americans right now -- and that’s improving the economy and creating jobs. We’ve heard time and again from tribal leaders that one of the keys to unlocking economic growth on reservations is investments in roads and high-speed rail and high-speed Internet and the infrastructure that will better connect your communities to the broader economy. That’s essential for drawing capital and creating jobs on tribal lands. So to help spur the economy, we’ve boosted investment in roads throughout the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Reservation Road Program, and we’ve offered new loans to reach reservations with broadband.

And as part of our plan to revive the economy, we’ve also put billions of dollars into pressing needs like renovating schools. We’re devoting resources to job training -- especially for young people in Indian Country who too often have felt like they don’t have a chance to succeed. And we’re working with you to increase the size of tribal homelands in order to help you develop your economies.

I also want to note that I support legislation to make clear -- in the wake of a recent Supreme Court decision -- that the Secretary of Interior can take land into trust for all federally recognized tribes. (Applause.) That’s something that I discussed yesterday with tribal leaders.

We’re also breaking down bureaucratic barriers that have prevented tribal nations from developing clean energy like wind and solar power. It’s essential not just to your prosperity, but to the prosperity of our whole country. And I’ve proposed increasing lending to tribal businesses by supporting community financial institutions so they can finance more loans. It is essential in order to help businesses expand and hire in areas where it can be hard to find credit.

Another important part of our strategy is health care. We know that Native Americans die of illnesses like diabetes, pneumonia, flu -- even tuberculosis -- at far higher rates than the rest of the population. Make no mistake: These disparities represent an ongoing tragedy. They’re cutting lives short, causing untold pain and hardship for Native American families. And closing these gaps is not just a question of policy, it’s a question of our values -- it’s a test of who we are as a nation.

Now, last year, at this conference, tribal leaders talked about the need to improve the health care available to Native Americans, and to make quality insurance affordable to all Americans. And just a few months later, I signed health reform legislation into law, which permanently authorizes the Indian Health Care Improvement Act -- permanently. (Applause.) It’s going to make it possible for Indian tribes and tribal organizations to purchase health care for their employees, while making affordable coverage available to everybody, including those who use the Indian Health Service -- that’s most American Indians and native -- Alaska Natives. So it’s going to make a huge difference.

Of course, there are few steps we can take that will make more of a difference for the future of your communities than improving education on tribal lands. We’ve got to improve the education we provide to our children. That’s the cornerstone on which all of our progress will be built. We know that Native Americans are far more likely to drop out of high school and far less likely to go to college. That not only damages the prospects for tribal economies; it’s a heartbreaking waste of human potential. We cannot afford to squander the promise of our young people. Your communities can’t afford it, and our country can’t afford it. And we are going to start doing something about it. (Applause.)

We’re rebuilding schools on tribal lands while helping to ensure that tribes play a bigger role in determining what their children learn. We’re working to empower parents with more and better options for schools for their kids -- as well as with support programs that actually work with Indian parents to give them a real voice in improving education in your communities.

We’re also working to improve the programs available to students at tribal colleges. Students who study at tribal colleges are much less likely to leave college without a degree and the vast majority end up in careers serving their tribal nation. And these schools are not only helping to educate Native Americans; they’re also helping to preserve rich but often endangered languages and traditions. I’d also like to point out last year I signed historic reforms that are increasing student aid and making college loans more affordable. That’s especially important to Native Americans struggling to pay for a college degree. (Applause.)

Now, all these efforts -- improving health care, education, the economy -- ultimately these efforts will not succeed unless all of our communities are safe places to grow up and attend school and open businesses and where people are not living under the constant threat of violence and crime. And that threat remains real, as crime rates in Indian Country are anywhere from twice to 20 times the national average. That’s a sobering statistics -- represents a cloud over the future of your communities.

So the Justice Department, under the leadership of Eric Holder, is working with you to reform the way justice is done on Indian reservations. And I was proud to sign the Tribal Law and Order Act into law, which is going to help tribes combat drug and alcohol abuse, to have more access to criminal databases, and to gain greater authority to prosecute and punish criminals in Indian Country. That’s important. (Applause.)

We’ve also resolved a number of longstanding disputes about the ways that our government has treated -- or in some cases mistreated -- folks in Indian Country, even in recent years. We’ve settled cases where there were allegations of discrimination against Native American farmers and ranchers by the Department of Agriculture. And after a 14-year battle over the accounting of tribal resources in the Cobell case, we reached a bipartisan agreement, which was part of a law I signed just a week ago. We’re very proud of that and I want to thank all the legislators who helped make that happen. (Applause.)

This will put more land in the hands of tribes to manage or otherwise benefit their members. This law also includes money to settle lawsuits over water rights for seven tribes in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico -- and it creates a scholarship fund so more Native Americans can afford to go to college.

These cases serve as a reminder of the importance of not glossing over the past or ignoring the past, even as we work together to forge a brighter future. That’s why, last year, I signed a resolution, passed by both parties in Congress, finally recognizing the sad and painful chapters in our shared history -- a history too often marred by broken promises and grave injustices against the First Americans. It’s a resolution I fully supported -- recognizing that no statement can undo the damage that was done; what it can do is help reaffirm the principles that should guide our future. It’s only by heeding the lessons of our history that we can move forward.

And as you know, in April, we announced that we were reviewing our position on the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And today I can announce that the United States is lending its support to this declaration. (Applause.)

The aspirations it affirms -- including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples -- are one we must always seek to fulfill. And we’re releasing a more detailed statement about U.S. support for the declaration and our ongoing work in Indian Country. But I want to be clear: What matters far more than words -- what matters far more than any resolution or declaration -– are actions to match those words. And that’s what this conference is about. (Applause.) That’s what this conference is about. That’s the standard I expect my administration to be held to.

So we’re making progress. We’re moving forward. And what I hope is that we are seeing a turning point in the relationship between our nations. The truth is, for a long time, Native Americans were implicitly told that they had a choice to make. By virtue of the longstanding failure to tackle wrenching problems in Indian Country, it seemed as though you had to either abandon your heritage or accept a lesser lot in life; that there was no way to be a successful part of America and a proud Native American.

But we know this is a false choice. To accept it is to believe that we can’t and won’t do better. And I don’t accept that. I know there is not a single person in this room who accepts that either. We know that, ultimately, this is not just a matter of legislation, not just a matter of policy. It’s a matter of whether we’re going to live up to our basic values. It’s a matter of upholding an ideal that has always defined who we are as Americans. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one.

That’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re called to do. And I’m confident that if we keep up our efforts, that if we continue to work together, that we will live up to the simple motto and we will achieve a brighter future for the First Americans and for all Americans.

So thank you very much. God bless you. Thank you. (Applause.)

END

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Announcement of U.S. Support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Initiatives to Promote the Government-to-Government Relationship & Improve the Lives of Indigenous Peoples

I. Introduction
In his Presidential Proclamation last month honoring National Native American Heritage Month, President Obama recommitted ―to supporting tribal self-determination, security and prosperity for all Native Americans.‖ He recognized that ―[w]hile we cannot erase the scourges or broken promises of our past, we will move ahead together in writing a new, brighter chapter in our joint history.‖]

It is in this spirit that the United States today proudly lends its support to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration). In September 2007, at the United Nations, 143 countries voted in favor of the Declaration. The United States did not. Today, in response to the many calls from Native Americans throughout this country and in order to further U.S. policy on indigenous issues, President Obama announced that the United States has changed its position. The United States supports the Declaration, which—while not legally binding or a statement of current international law—has both moral and political force. It expresses both the aspirations of indigenous peoples around the world and those of States in seeking to improve their relations with indigenous peoples. Most importantly, it expresses aspirations of the United States, aspirations that this country seeks to achieve within the structure of the U.S. Constitution, laws, and international obligations, while also seeking, where appropriate, to improve our laws and policies.
U.S. support for the Declaration goes hand in hand with the U.S. commitment to address the consequences of a history in which, as President Obama recognized, ―few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans—our First Americans.‖ That commitment is reflected in the many policies and programs that are being implemented by U.S. agencies in response to concerns raised by Native Americans, including poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, health care gaps, violent crime, and discrimination.

II. The Review of the U.S. Position on the Declaration
The decision to review the U.S. position on the Declaration came in response to calls from many tribes, individual Native Americans, civil society, and others in the United States, who believed that U.S. support for the Declaration would make an important contribution to U.S. policy and practice with respect to Native American issues. The decision by the United States to support the Declaration was the result of a thorough review of the Declaration by the relevant federal agencies.

In conducting its review of the Declaration, U.S. agencies consulted extensively with tribal leaders during three rounds of consultations, one in Rapid City, South Dakota, and two in Washington, D.C. In addition, the agencies conducted outreach to indigenous organizations, civil society, and other interested individuals. Tribal leaders and others contributed to the review through their attendance at the consultation and outreach sessions, participation in those sessions by means of conference calls, and written submissions. In total, over 3,000 written comments were received and reviewed.

Tribes, groups, and individuals who participated in the review of the U.S. position on the Declaration presented a wide range of views on the meaning and importance of the Declaration. While they could not all be directly reflected in the U.S. position on the Declaration, they were all considered in the process.

III. The Declaration and U.S. Initiatives on Native American Issues
The United States is home to over two million Native Americans, 565 federally recognized Indian tribes, and other indigenous communities. U.S. support for the Declaration reflects the U.S. commitment to work with those tribes, individuals, and communities to address the many challenges they face. The United States aspires to improve relations with indigenous peoples by looking to the principles embodied in the Declaration in its dealings with federally recognized tribes, while also working, as appropriate, with all indigenous individuals and communities in the United States.
Moreover, the United States is committed to serving as a model in the international community in promoting and protecting the collective rights of indigenous peoples as well as the human rights of all individuals. The United States underlines its support for the Declaration’s recognition in the preamble that indigenous individuals are entitled without discrimination to all human rights recognized in international law, and that indigenous peoples possess certain additional, collective rights. The United States reads all of the provisions of the Declaration in light of this understanding of human rights and collective rights.

U.S. agencies are currently engaged in numerous initiatives to address the concerns raised by Native American leaders and issues addressed in the Declaration. Many involve the continuation of activities highlighted in the White House Tribal Nations Conference Progress Report released in June 2010. Additional efforts to strengthen the government-to-government relationship, protect lands and the environment and provide redress, address health care gaps, promote sustainable economic development, and protect Native American cultures are addressed below.

III. 1 Strengthening the Government-to-Government Relationship

As President Obama noted: ―Washington can’t – and shouldn’t – dictate a policy agenda for Indian Country. Tribal nations do better when they make their own decisions.‖ The record over the forty years since the United States adopted its policy of greater tribal autonomy is clear
– tribal self-determination has enabled tribal governments to establish, develop, and enhance tribal institutions and infrastructure ranging from those addressing the health, education, and welfare of their communities to those such as tribal courts, fire protection, and law enforcement. The clear lesson is that empowering tribes to deal with the challenges they face and that taking advantage of the available opportunities will result in tribal communities that thrive.

The United States is therefore pleased to support the Declaration’s call to promote the development of a new and distinct international concept of self-determination specific to indigenous peoples. The Declaration’s call is to promote the development of a concept of self-determination for indigenous peoples that is different from the existing right of self-determination in international law. The purpose of the Declaration was not to change or define the existing right of self-determination under international law. Further, as explained in Article 46, the Declaration does not imply any right to take any action that would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States. For the United States, the Declaration’s concept of self-determination is consistent with the United States’ existing recognition of, and relationship with, federally recognized tribes as political entities that have inherent sovereign powers of self-governance. This recognition is the basis for the special legal and political relationship, including the government-to-government relationship, established between the United States and federally recognized tribes, pursuant to which the United States supports, protects, and promotes tribal governmental authority over a broad range of internal and territorial affairs, including membership, culture, language, religion, education, information, social welfare, community and public safety, family relations, economic activities, lands and resource management, environment and entry by non-members, as well as ways and means for financing these autonomous governmental functions.

Federal agencies are engaged in a wide range of activities to enhance tribal self-determination in areas crucial to the well-being of tribal members.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), for example, is deeply committed to strengthening tribal police and judicial systems. Accordingly, the President’s FY 2011 Budget Request provides $321 million to DOJ for tribal public safety initiatives, an increase of 42% over FY 2010. This includes $255.6 million for grants to Indian tribes for tribal law enforcement efforts. The FY 2011 Budget Request also sustains FY 2010 appropriations increases of over 21% for Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded public safety and law enforcement efforts and includes an additional $19 million to support 81 new FBI positions (45 agents) to investigate violent crimes in Indian Country. These increases build on over $250 million in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (Recovery Act) funds made available to tribes in FY 2009 to address criminal justice needs.
In addition, on July 29, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA). This comprehensive bill is aimed at improving public safety on tribal lands. The statute gives tribes greater authority to prosecute crimes and increases federal accountability for public safety in tribal communities. In conformity with the TLOA, the Attorney General established the Office of Tribal Justice as a separate component within the organizational structure of the Department of Justice. The Office has played, and will continue to play, a key role in DOJ’s ongoing initiative to improve public safety in Indian Country, and it serves as the primary channel for tribes to communicate their concerns to the Department, helps coordinate policy on Indian affairs both within DOJ and with other federal agencies, and seeks to ensure that DOJ and its components work with tribes on a government-to-government basis. The Departments of the Interior, Justice, and Health and Human Services are engaged in an unprecedented effort to consult with tribes to develop policy and implement this new law.

In response to tribal input, DOJ has also streamlined its grant-making process. The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) combines ten different grant programs into a single solicitation. In September 2010, hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native communities received the first grants under CTAS – almost $127 million to enhance law enforcement, bolster justice systems, prevent youth substance abuse, serve sexual assault and elder abuse victims, and support other tribal efforts to combat crime.

During consultation sessions conducted by the Department of Education with over 350 tribal leaders in 2010, those leaders stressed the importance of greater tribal control over the education of Indian students. The Administration agrees. Therefore, the Department of Education has proposed changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to enhance the role of tribes in Indian education and allow greater flexibility in the use of federal education funds to meet the unique needs of Native American students.

Sixteen different tribes, from Maine to Alaska, participated this summer in the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs Water Training Program. The Training Program is taught by instructors from several Department of the Interior bureaus. The program strengthens tribal governments and prepares them to manage their own natural resources with qualified tribal government employees who have the necessary expertise to help alleviate the shortage of technical expertise on Indian reservations.

Other agency programs that enhance tribal self-determination are discussed in subsequent sections.

In addition to enhancing the self-determination of federally recognized tribes, the Obama Administration has supported the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, which provides a process for forming a Native Hawaiian governing entity that would be recognized by, and have a government-to-government relationship with, the United States. Congress has also enacted many more narrowly focused statutes for Native Hawaiians similar to those for other native people, such as the National Historic Preservation Act, which provides protections to properties with religious and cultural importance to Native American Indian tribes and Native Hawaiians; the Native Hawaiian Education Act, which establishes programs to facilitate the education of Native Hawaiians; the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, which provides housing assistance in the form of grants and loans; and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which protects Native American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian gravesites.

U.S. Government efforts to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with tribes cannot be limited to enhancing tribal self-determination. It is also crucial that U.S. agencies have the necessary input from tribal leaders before those agencies themselves take actions that have a significant impact on the tribes. It is for this reason that President Obama signed the Presidential Memorandum on the implementation of Executive Order 13175, ―Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments,‖ and directed all federal agencies to develop detailed plans of action to implement the Executive Order. In this regard, the United States recognizes the significance of the Declaration’s provisions on free, prior and informed consent, which the United States understands to call for a process of meaningful consultation with tribal leaders, but not necessarily the agreement of those leaders, before the actions addressed in those consultations are taken.

The United States intends to continue to consult and cooperate in good faith with federally recognized tribes and, as applicable, Native Hawaiians, on policies that directly and substantially affect them and to improve our cooperation and consultation processes, in accordance with federal law and President Obama’s call for better implementation of Executive Order 13175. The United States does so with the firm policy objective, where possible, of obtaining the agreement of those tribes consistent with our democratic system and laws. At the same time, the United States intends to improve our engagement with other indigenous individuals and groups. The United States will also continue to implement the many U.S. laws that require the agreement of federally recognized tribes or indigenous groups before certain actions can be taken or that require redress for takings of property.

U.S. Government efforts in this area are numerous. Federal agencies have submitted the consultation plans required by the Presidential Memorandum and are currently implementing them. A number of agencies have created new offices to ensure proper implementation of their consultation policies. Examples are the Office of Tribal Government Relations in the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will be established in 2011, and the Office of Tribal Relations in the Department of Agriculture. Other agencies, like the Department of Energy, found it appropriate to establish a Tribal Steering Committee to analyze the agencies’ consultation practices. Similarly, the Department of Health and Human Services established a Secretary-level Tribal Advisory Committee to create a coordinated, department-wide strategy to improve consultations with Indian tribes. In addition, some agencies have experimented with ―webinars‖ and other online technology to permit tribal leaders to participate in consultations without incurring the costs and time commitments of in-person sessions. These innovations show the seriousness with which federal agencies are taking consultations.

In addition, the Administration is continuing its multi-agency collaborations with tribal governments to develop comprehensive policy for Indian Country. Several agencies are working together on policy priorities and are coordinating on consultation sessions. For example, the Departments of the Interior and Education have been working closely to combine and coordinate their resources, and to maximize their efforts to impact Indian education. As part of the United States review of its position on the Declaration, fourteen federal agencies participated in tribal consultations, which included sessions held in Indian Country and at the State Department.

Federal agencies have put their consultation plans to work over the past year in a wide variety of contexts, and the valuable input received from tribal leaders is reflected throughout U.S. policies and programs in Indian Country.

III. 2 Protection of Native American Lands and the Environment, and Redress

The United States recognizes that some of the most grievous acts committed by the United States and many other States against indigenous peoples were with regard to their lands, territories, and natural resources. For this reason, the United States has taken many steps to ensure the protection of Native American lands and natural resources, and to provide redress where appropriate. It is also for this reason that the United States stresses the importance of the lands, territories, resources and redress provisions of the Declaration in calling on all States to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories, and natural resources. Consistent with its understanding of the intention of the States that negotiated and adopted the Declaration, the United States understands these provisions to call for the existence of national laws and mechanisms for the full legal recognition of the lands, territories, and natural resources indigenous peoples currently possess by reason of traditional ownership, occupation, or use as well as those that they have otherwise acquired. The Declaration further calls upon States to recognize, as appropriate, additional interests of indigenous peoples in traditional lands, territories, and natural resources. Consistent with that understanding, the United States intends to continue to work so that the laws and mechanisms it has put in place to recognize existing, and accommodate the acquisition of additional, land, territory, and natural resource rights under U.S. law function properly and to facilitate, as appropriate, access by indigenous peoples to the traditional lands, territories and natural resources in which they have an interest.

U.S. agency initiatives in this area are numerous.

Perhaps most significantly, the Obama Administration has acquired over 34,000 acres of land in trust on behalf of Indian tribes, which is a 225 percent increase since 2006. Lands held in trust for tribes are used for housing, economic development, government services, cultural and natural resource protection, and other critical purposes. Recovering and protecting the tribes’ land base is a hallmark objective of this Administration. After the recent Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, Congress introduced, and the Administration has fully supported, legislation to reaffirm the authority of the United States to take land into trust on behalf of all federally recognized Indian tribes.

In addition, the United States intervened in a federal suit, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and United States v. Granholm, and worked to facilitate a settlement that recognizes the tribe’s entire reservation to be Indian Country, resolving over a century of disputes over the boundaries and existence of the reservation. The court approved that settlement on November 23, 2010. This settlement, which involves the tribe, the United States, the State of Michigan, and local governments, will promote greater intergovernmental cooperation and provide the clarity necessary for effective law enforcement and civil regulation on the reservation. The United States has also sought to protect tribal lands, and tribal jurisdiction over those lands, in several other court cases, including the City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation, Cayuga Nation v. Gould, and Water Wheel v. LaRance.

Other agency initiatives include the release by the Forest Service of $37.3 million in Recovery Act funds directly to tribes for wild land fire management and the improvement of habitat and watersheds. Of the total Forest Service funding received under the Recovery Act, $213 million was provided to benefit tribes and tribal lands.

The Obama Administration has also made extensive efforts to resolve longstanding Native American legal claims against the United States and private entities related to lands, natural resources, and other issues.

In 2009, the United States reached an agreement for over $1.79 billion to address contamination at over 80 sites in 19 states pursuant to resolution of the American Smelting and Refining Company, LLC (ASARCO) bankruptcy. The settlement includes approximately $194 million for the recovery of wildlife, habitat, and other natural resources managed by the federal, state, and tribal governments at more than a dozen sites. The settlement is part of the largest environmental damage bankruptcy case in U.S. history, and resolves ASARCO’s environmental liabilities from mining and smelting operations that contaminated land, water, and wildlife resources on federal, state, tribal, and private land.

In late October 2010, the Administration reached a $760 million settlement with Native American farmers and ranchers, in Keepseagle v. Vilsack, a case alleging discrimination by the Department of Agriculture in loan programs. Under the agreement, the Department of Agriculture will pay $680 million in damages and forgive $80 million of outstanding farm loan debt. The federal government also agreed to create a 15-member Native American Farmer and Rancher Council to advise the Department, appoint a Department ombudsman, provide more technical assistance to Native American borrowers, and conduct a systematic review of farm loan program rules.

On December 9, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Claims Resolution Act, which includes the Cobell v. Salazar settlement agreement. In 1996, Elouise Cobell charged the Department of the Interior with failing to account for billions of dollars that it was supposed to collect on behalf of more than 300,000 individual Native Americans. After fourteen years of litigation, enactment of the Claims Resolution Act finally closes an unfortunate chapter in our history. The Act creates a fund of $1.5 billion dollars to address historic accounting and trust management issues, and it also allocates up to $1.9 billion dollars to convert some of the most highly fractionated individual Indian lands into land that can be managed for the broader benefit of the respective tribe. As part of the $1.9 billion, a trust fund of up to $60 million dollars is being created for a scholarship fund for Native Americans.

In addition, this law includes an unprecedented package of four water settlements benefitting seven tribes in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico. This law finally gives the Crow, White Mountain Apache Tribe, and the Pueblos of Taos, Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque, and San Ildefonso permanent access to secure water supplies year round.

As noted by Secretary of the Interior Salazar, ―Congress’ approval of the Cobell settlement and the four Indian water rights settlements is nothing short of historic for Indian nations.‖ He explained that the settlements ―represent a major step forward in President Obama’s agenda to empower tribal governments, fulfill our trust responsibilities to tribal members and help tribal leaders build safer, stronger, healthier and more prosperous communities.‖ They demonstrate not only that the United States has a well-developed court system that provides a means of redress for many wrongs suffered by U.S. citizens, residents and others – including federally recognized tribes and indigenous individuals and groups -- but also that redress is available from the U.S. Congress under appropriate circumstances. The United States will interpret the redress provisions of the Declaration to be consistent with the existing system for legal redress in the United States, while working to ensure that appropriate redress is in fact provided under U.S. law.

The Administration is likewise committed to protecting the environment, and recognizes that many indigenous peoples depend upon a healthy environment for subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering. The Administration therefore acknowledges the importance of the provisions of the Declaration that address environmental issues. While there is far more that needs to be done, the United States is taking many steps to address environmental challenges in Indian Country and beyond.

In July 2010, President Obama signed Executive Order 13547, Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and the Great Lakes, drafted with substantial input from tribes, which established a Governance Coordination Committee with three tribal representatives, as well as tribal engagement in developing priority action areas. Of special interest are the priority areas of the Arctic and developing coastal and marine spatial plans.

In 2010, the Department of the Interior (DOI) provided grants worth more than $7 million through the Tribal Wildlife Grants Program for 42 Native American tribes to fund a wide range of conservation projects in sixteen states. The Tribal Wildlife Grants program has provided more than $50 million in the past eight years for 400 conservation projects administered by 162 federally-recognized tribes. The grants provide technical and financial assistance for the development and implementation of projects that benefit fish and wildlife resources and their habitat, including non-game species.

DOI has also engaged in numerous cooperative resource protection efforts with tribes, including a water quality and biologic condition assessments agreement with the Sac and Fox on the Iowa River, restoration of the Klamath River though possible dam removal and in partnership with the Klamath River Basin tribes, and assistance to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to assess the impact of land use and climate change on wetlands.

Over the past year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded targeted grants to tribes for specific preventative tasks to address environmental degradation, including $150,000 to the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council to establish a Brownfields Tribal Response Program that will promote environmental health for several Pueblos and tribes in New Mexico and West Texas. Two additional grants were made for projects run by tribes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a part of President Obama’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a $475 million program that represents the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. The grants are to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to develop a sustainable hazardous waste collection program to serve tribal and non-tribal community members, and help prevent toxic contaminants from entering Lake Superior, and to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa to improve habitat and water quality in the Bear River Watershed, which directly affects waters flowing into Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.
The Department of Agriculture also invested $84.8 million dollars in water and environmental projects benefitting tribal communities in the lower 48 U.S. states during FY 2010 and an additional $66.2 million dollars for similar projects benefitting tribal communities in Alaska through the Rural Alaska Village Grants program. A further $120.8 million was invested in essential community facilities benefitting tribal communities.

The Department of Energy (DOE) provides grants to many Indian communities to allow them to develop renewable energy resources and energy efficiency measures in their communities in ways that benefit not only those communities, but the whole planet, while serving as models for other U.S. communities. With DOE assistance, tribes are developing a wide-range of renewable energy resources and conservation measures, including geothermal, solar energy, wind and biomass technologies and comprehensive recycling programs. These programs reduce the carbon footprint of tribal communities, while creating jobs and reducing costs.

DOE has also worked closely with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to clean up contamination from Cold War storage of hazardous waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, the tribes’ ancestral home. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have the technical capabilities and qualifications, funded by a DOE-Idaho Cooperative Agreement, to assist the Department and the regulators in reviewing the effectiveness of the cleanup work and assuring that the environment, and particularly the Snake River Plain Aquifer, are not contaminated or threatened.

The Fisheries and the Northwest Protected Resources Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also consults formally and informally with the Northwest treaty tribes when considering the designation of critical habitat for endangered species, including salmon, to ensure the agency is informed of relevant tribal science and any potential impacts to the tribe that may arise from a designation of tribal lands as critical habitat. Documented information from these consultations with NOAA has ensured the protection of listed species and minimized any impact to tribal trust resources. Additionally, NOAA Fisheries and NOAA General Counsel for the Northwest consult with four tribes with ocean treaty fishing rights for groundfish in conjunction with the Pacific Fishery Management Council process. An example of the success of this practice is that, in 2010, NOAA Fisheries adopted a tribal whiting allocation that was agreed to by all affected tribes and the State of Washington.

III. 3 Addressing Health Care Gaps
The Obama Administration understands the priority tribal leaders place on improving the delivery of health care services in their communities, as well as the significance of related provisions in the Declaration. The Administration has responded, as evidenced by the 13% increase in funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) in FY 2010 and the 9% additional increase for IHS proposed in the President’s FY 2011 Budget Request. These increases are on top of $500 million provided to the IHS under the Recovery Act.

After President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in March, making permanent the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, IHS initiated consultations with tribal leaders to implement the Act and determine their priorities. Tribes identified long-term care, behavior health, and diabetes/dialysis as their primary concerns. IHS held a meeting on Long Term Care in Indian Country on November 1-2, 2010 to begin the conversation about implementation priorities with tribes. IHS is also continuing the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, a Congressionally-approved grant program now in its thirteenth year, which has resulted in increased control of diabetes in indigenous communities and decreasing rates of end stage renal disease. Related demonstration projects have also shown significant promise.

Tribes also stressed the need to improve the collaboration and coordination of services for veterans eligible for both the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and IHS services. The IHS Director met with VA Secretary Shinseki in May 2010, and they agreed to update the 2003 VA-IHS MOU governing their agencies’ cooperation. The updated MOU was signed in October 2010 and a letter to tribal leaders initiating a consultation on the implementation of the MOU was released in November 2010.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior are working together to combat the problem of suicide in Indian Country. The two Departments launched a series of listening sessions between November 2010 and February 2011 to obtain the input of tribal leaders on how the agencies can effectively work within their communities to prevent suicide. The information gathered will inform a major Suicide Prevention Summit to be held in Spring 2011.

III. 4 Promoting Sustainable Economic Development
The Obama Administration has also taken numerous steps, consistent with the Declaration, to promote the economic wellbeing of indigenous peoples in the United States.

A priority for the Administration has been to combat unemployment in Indian Country as evidenced by the President’s FY 2011 Budget Request, which includes $55 million, representing a 4% increase over FY 2010 funding, for the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s Indian and Native American Program, which grants funding to tribes and Native American non-profits to provide employment and training services to unemployed and low-income Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Additionally, the Recovery Act allocated over $17 million for the Native American Supplemental Youth Service Program to support summer employment and training opportunities for disconnected youths.

In addition, this summer, the Department of Labor awarded approximately $53 million to 178 grantees to provide quality employment and training services specifically for Native American adults who are unemployed, underemployed and low-income individuals. It awarded an additional $13.8 million in grants to 78 tribes, tribal consortiums, and tribal non-profit organizations to offer summer employment and training activities for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian youth between the ages of 14 and 21, residing on or near Indian reservations or Alaska Native villages. The youth program targets high school dropouts and youth in need of basic skills training and provides an array of employment and training services, including job placement assistance, work experience, and occupational skills training. In addition, the Recovery Act included $17.8 million in grant funding for Native American youth activities, including summer employment and training opportunities.

The Department of Labor has also been working to address the needs of Native Americans with disabilities. It has collaborated with tribal colleges and universities through the Workforce Recruitment Program to provide internship opportunities for students with federal employers. The Department, tribal colleges and universities, and the National Indian Health Board have worked together to develop a training curriculum for tribal members with disabilities that will provide the opportunity for them to become Community Health Aides. In addition, Add Us In, a new initiative sponsored by the Department, is designed to identify and develop strategies to increase employment opportunities within the small business community for individuals with disabilities. This initiative includes targeted Native American owned and operated small businesses.

In addition, the Treasury Department has a program to strengthen the economic health of Native American communities generally. The Native American Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Assistance Program, or NACA Program, now includes 57 certified Native CDFIs. CDFIs are non-government financial entities whose primary mission is to promote community development, principally by serving and being accountable to a low-income community, and by providing development services. Native participation in NACA increased significantly in 2009 and 2010, and on April 30, 2010, the CDFI Fund announced awards totaling $10.3 million to be used for small business/venture capital, affordable housing, and consumer loans.

Tribal leaders regularly identify the lack of adequate housing as a major impediment to economic development in their communities. To assist with addressing housing needs, the Recovery Act allocated $510 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Native American Housing Block Grant program for new housing construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, and infrastructure development. By December 1, 2010, tribal recipients had already expended almost two-thirds of those funds for new construction, rehabilitations, energy-efficient improvements, and infrastructure development in Indian Country.

In addition, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a number of other housing initiatives.
On October 12, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act. The Act amends the definition of ―income‖ for HUD’s Indian Housing Block Grant program so that the determination of a family’s income excludes amounts received from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a service-related disability, dependency, or indemnity compensation. The new law will benefit disabled Native American veterans and their families who might otherwise be ineligible for low-income housing assistance under HUD’s program.

In 2011 and 2012, HUD will conduct a comprehensive, national Native American Housing Needs Assessment Study. Before field research begins, the Office of Native American Programs is sponsoring a series of seven regional outreach meetings with tribal housing stakeholders, including tribal leaders; federal agencies; and private sector, non-profit, and state entities to discuss the upcoming study and to lay the groundwork for maximum participation. These outreach meetings will provide a forum for discussing the community and economic impact housing has on tribal communities as well as identifying the needs for creating sustainable reservation communities and economies. These meetings will continue the ongoing dialogue between HUD and tribal leaders in Indian Country.

The Administration is also committed to supporting Native Americans’ success in K-12 and higher education. The Recovery Act invested $170.5 million in Indian education at the Department of Education and $277 million in Indian school construction at the Department of the Interior. The President’s FY 2011 Budget Request provides $31.7 million in funding for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities in the Department of Education, a 5% increase over FY 2010. The Budget Request includes $127 million for postsecondary education for Native Americans under the Department of the Interior.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act increases the maximum Pell Grant award by the Consumer Price Index, which is estimated to raise the award from $5,550 to $5,975, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In addition, the law provides $300 million for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, $50 million for Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions, and $150 million for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions over the next ten years. These investments will be made in order to renew, reform, and expand programming so that students at these institutions are given every chance to reach their full potentials. These efforts respond to the concerns of Native American leaders as well as priorities identified in the Declaration.

In addition, President Obama appointed members to the Department of Education’s National Advisory Council on Indian Education (Council), as authorized by the ESEA, who met for the first time on November 3, 2010. The current Council consists of fourteen members who are Native Americans. The Council is required to advise the Secretary of Education concerning the funding and administration of Department programs that include or may benefit American Indians and Alaska Natives, make recommendations to the Secretary of Education for filling the position of Director of Indian Education, and submit a report to Congress on any recommendations that the Council considers appropriate for the improvement of federal education programs that include or may benefit Native Americans.

The Department of Education is also working to combat discrimination against Native Americans in education. In March 2011, the Department’s Office for Civil Rights will provide technical assistance on civil rights issues that affect Native American communities in California, with particular focus on national origin and race discrimination, harassment, and bullying, to an audience of parents, activists, tribal leaders, teachers, and school leaders. Together with the Department of Health and Human Services, it will also provide in Fall 2011 technical assistance to parents and students, as well as social outreach service providers for the Native American communities, on civil rights issues that affect Native American communities in Minnesota and North Dakota.

The Administration is also working with tribal leaders to bring their communities into the 21st Century by equipping them with high speed access to the Internet. Both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce have programs to do so.

The Department of Agriculture recently awarded $32 million to bring high speed, affordable broadband to the Navajo Nation. The Department of Agriculture also received Recovery Act funds to expand broadband access. It provided grants and loans totaling over $158 million to expand broadband access in tribal communities through the Broadband Initiatives Program. This included ten infrastructure investments directly to tribes and tribally-owned businesses and eleven technical assistance awards to tribes to assist with regional broadband plans to promote economic development.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce awarded almost 30 percent of the $4.7 billion that the Department received from the Recovery Act to Indian tribes and recipients that indicated that their projects will benefit tribal areas. This funding will be used to increase access to broadband services in underserved areas of the country.

Similarly, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office made $216.3 million in Recovery Act investments benefiting American Indian and Alaska Native populations, including $36.3 million for community water and wastewater infrastructure, $97.5 million for community facilities, and $81.1 million for single family housing (691 home loans). In addition, the Recovery Act allocated $310 million to the Department of Transportation for the Indian Reservation Roads Program and over $142 million to the Department of the Interior for roads maintenance.

III. 5 Protecting Native American Cultures
As President Obama has recognized, the indigenous peoples of North America have ―invaluable cultural knowledge and rich traditions, which continue to thrive in Native American communities across our country.‖ The many facets of Native American cultures – including their religions, languages, traditions and arts – need to be protected, as reflected in multiple provisions of the Declaration.

Because of the breadth and depth of Native American cultures, they affect and are affected by the activities of many U.S. agencies. Some of those agencies’ efforts are noted in this section.

In July, President Obama signed into law the Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act to strengthen the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which makes it illegal to sell, offer, or display for sale any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian-produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian tribe. The new act empowers all federal law enforcement officers to enforce this prohibition and differentiates among penalties based on the price of the goods involved in the offense. The total market for American Indian and Alaska Native arts and crafts in the United States is estimated at a billion dollars, with an unknown but substantial amount of those sales going to misrepresented, non-authentic works.

The Secretary of Agriculture, in a letter of July 2, 2010, directed the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Tribal Relations and the Forest Service to begin a process of review of all Forest Service policies and to consult with interested tribes about how the Department and the Forest Service can do a better job addressing sacred site issues while simultaneously balancing pursuit of the agency’s mission to deliver forest goods and services for current and future generations. He emphasized the need to examine the effectiveness of existing laws and regulations in ensuring a consistent level of sacred site protection that is more acceptable to the tribes.

On July 30, 2010, the United Nations inscribed the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as the first mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Site in the United States. The Department of the Interior played a leading role in coordinating the development of the nomination dossier and successful inscription by the World Heritage Committee. Papahānaumokuākea’s inscription as a World Heritage Site is important to Native Hawaiians because it recognizes and incorporates the richness of the habitat and wildlife with the living, indigenous, cultural connections to the sea – where modern Hawaiian wayfinders (non-instrument navigators) still voyage for navigational training on traditional double-hulled sailing canoes; an aspect of inscription unique to Papahānaumokuākea. Additionally, World Heritage status places this traditional skill, which was used to navigate across the world’s largest ocean – one of the greatest feats of human kind – onto the world stage.

Since April 2010 the Department of Education has held six regional consultations with tribal officials regarding reauthorization of the ESEA. Among the statements heard time and time again were those on the importance of preserving Native languages. In response, the Administration has proposed changes to the ESEA that support, among other things, flexibility in the use of federal education funds to allow funding for Native language immersion and Native language restoration programs.

Due to joint efforts of federal agencies and tribes, 152 notices of decisions to repatriate human remains and cultural items were published in the Federal Register in 2010. Each of these notices is a direct consequence of museums and federal agencies consulting with tribes concerning the repatriation of human remains and cultural items previously held in collections. These notices account for 1,628 human remains and 9,062 associated funerary objects, an additional 2,052 funerary objects not associated with an individual, 11 sacred objects, 10 objects of cultural patrimony, and an additional 388 items that are both sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony. In addition, the Forest Service is exercising its authority to assist tribes over the next several years in reburial of over 3,000 sets of human remains and their associated cultural items that had been removed from National Forests.

The Department of the Interior, through the Fish and Wildlife Service, has also begun efforts with tribes to facilitate eagle feather possession for cultural and traditional uses and to promote coordination in wildlife investigations and enforcement efforts to protect golden and bald eagles.

Moreover, the Department of the Interior awarded over $8 million to support historic preservation programs and projects for Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian organizations. $7,250,000 was awarded to 100 Tribal Historic Preservation Officer programs, and $899,316 to 26 communities for a broad range of cultural heritage projects.

IV. Conclusion
The United States has made great strides in improving its relationship with Native Americans and indigenous peoples around the world. However, much remains to be done. U.S. agencies look forward to continuing to work with tribal leaders, and all interested stakeholders, so that the United States can be a better model for the international community in protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples.

[admin]

December 20, 2010

RAPID CITY, S.D

Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association comments on President's apology to Native Americans.

On December 16, 2010, approximately one year after he first addressed the issue, President Obama acknowledged the importance of a formal Apology to Native Peoples and his support for it.

Reflecting on the difficult circumstances of Indian nations today, the President said, “These cases serve as a reminder of the importance of not glossing over the past or ignoring the past, even as we work together to forge a brighter future. That’s why, last year, I signed a resolution, passed by both parties in Congress, finally recognizing the sad and painful chapters in our shared history—a history too often marred by broken promises and grave injustices against the First Americans.“ The President continued, “It’s a resolution I fully supported—recognizing that no statement can undo the damage that was done; what it can do is help reaffirm the principles that should guide our future. It’s only by heeding the lessons of our history that we can move forward.”

Last year, Senators Dan Inouye, Byron Dorgan, Daniel Akaka and Sam Brownback championed a Joint Resolution in Congress—the Apology to Native Peoples of the United States. Ironically, the Apology was enacted into law as part of the Defense Appropriations Act of 2009.

The Apology to Native Peoples of the United States (Public Law 111-118, Section 8113) states that “the United States, acting through Congress:

* Recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes;
* Apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by the citizens of the United States; and
* Urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land….”

Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI), a World War II Medal of Honor winner and Hero of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team noted, “In our early days as a nation, we entered into treaties with Native Americans pursuant to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution that recognize them as sovereigns. But later, we abandoned the path of an honorable course of dealings, and turned to war. Thousands lost their lives through these battles and horrific massacres. The native population everywhere was decimated.”

He continued, “Forced marches to relocate the native people from their traditional homelands to areas west of the Mississippi in the dead of winter cost thousands of more lives…. The treaties could have signaled a return to a course of honorable dealings … had the United States not proceeded to break provisions in every single one of the treaties….”

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), another World War II veteran, remarked, “In many ways, the United States broke these treaties and engaged in acts of war against our Native peoples, taking lands by force, displacing Native peoples and leaving them in poverty and suffering. At times, the United States informed indigenous, Native peoples that their continued residence on their original lands would be considered an act of war against the U.S. and if they did not leave, U.S. military forces commenced wars, imprisoned and killed Native leaders and people, and tragically at places like Sand Creek and Wounded Knee massacred Native men, women and children.”

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) now his state’s Governor-elect, added, “What this amendment achieves is recognition, honor, and the importance of Native Americans to this land and to the United States in the past and today and offers an official apology for the poor and painful path the U.S. Government sometimes made in relation to our Native brothers and sisters by disregarding our solemn word to Native peoples. It recognizes the negative impact of numerous destructive Federal acts and policies on Native Americans and their culture, and it begins—begins—the effort of reconciliation.”

At the time of its passage, Representatives Kildee, Cole, Napolitano, Honda, Boren, Walz, Reyes, Richardson, Kennedy, Teague, McCollum, Baca, and Herseth-Sandlin wrote to the President in favor of the Resolution saying, “Indian tribes aided George Washington and his troops during the American Revolution, and through more than 370 treaties, our Nation pledged to protect Indian tribes and Indian lands. Yet as a Nation, we later … engaged in warfare to seize Indian lands, destroyed Indian villages, and thousands lost their lives through battles and horrific massacres, at places like Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. Many Indian leaders, Osceola, Mangus Colorado, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and many others died at the hands of, or in the custody of, Federal officers and agents. Thousands died on forced marches from their homelands…”

As American Indian people, we believe that the Apology to Native Peoples by the United States is long overdue. The true history must be taught in American schools, so that today there can be real respect by the United States for Native nations and Native peoples. On December 16, President Obama took an important step forward by declaring his support for the Apology.

About Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association:

The Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association is founded on the principles of unity and cooperation to promote the common interests of the Sovereign Tribes and Nations of the Great Plains and their citizens.

Contacts

Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association
A. Gay Kingman
Cell: 605-484-3036