The annual Tribal Canoe Journey is supposed to be a time of healing and unity for the Pacific Northwest’s native people.
But on the Hoh reservation, in West Jefferson County, some say politics may be threatening to undo that message of good will.
The Hoh Tribal Council on Friday attempted to keep the tribe’s 10 pullers from going on the canoe journey as tension mounts over accusations that the council has misspent money, said the tribe’s hereditary chief, Daki Fisher, and tribal member Mary Leitka.
Fisher and Leitka, 62, said the Tribal Council told the pullers after blessing their canoes Friday morning that the canoe journey, this year to Neah Bay, was canceled for the Hoh people, without offering much of an explanation.
“They were trying to say that the canoes couldn’t go because it belongs to the tribe,” Leitka said.
“I told them that it belongs to the people.”
Maria Lopez, council chairwoman, said Friday that she had no comment on that incident.
The pullers transported their canoes by trailer to LaPush on Friday.
Leitka said they weren’t provided any supplies or a support boat from the Tribal Council and added that they were going to seek help from other tribes to continue the journey.
Hoh tribal pullers were ceremonial greeted at LaPush on Friday.
They reportedly had paddled to the mouth of the Quillayute River and approached First Beach for the welcoming ceremony.
On Friday, about 11 tribal employees, about a quarter of the people who work for the tribe, were fired, Leitka said.
Terminated employees included herself and seven of her relatives, she said.
Lopez at first denied that anyone had been terminated.
Later, in a written statement, the Tribal Council said that the terminated employees were laid off to “improve the efficiency of the tribal government and protect its financial resources.”
The statement said the employees will be given six months of paid health care and may be able to return to their jobs when positions are added.
Council members declined further comment.
Leitka said that she believes that the firings and council’s attempt to cancel the tribe’s participation in the tribal canoe journey were both in response to recent accusations from tribal members, including herself, that the council has misspent money.
“I feel like it was retaliation for what I did,” she said, referring to the accusations which she has spearheaded.
All but one of the employees who were fired, Leitka said, signed her petition for an independent audit, which was provided to the council in March.
The council refused the request, she said, so she filed a complaint with the Northwest Intertribal Court System last month.
A hearing on the accusation will heard by a NICS judge Aug. 13 on the Hoh reservation, she said.
Fisher, who holds a ceremonial role as chief, concurred with Leitka’s view of the terminations.
“The few council members that are in there, are with the tribe,” he said.
“Then there are others that are against the tribe.”
Asked to clarify, Fisher said: “Just for themselves, pretty much.”
Fisher added that “quite a few people are upset,” including himself, over the council’s attempt to prevent the tribe from participating in the Canoe Journey.
“They’re our canoes,” he said.
“I don’t think the council has a right to say if we can or we can’t take them.”
Tribal canoes from Western Washington and British Columbia will converge at Neah Bay on Monday.
Makah Chairman Michael Lawrence and Lower Elwha Klallam Chairwoman Frances Charles said Saturday that they hadn’t heard of the Hoh pullers being in a dispute with their Tribal Council.
Quileute Tribal Chairwoman Anna Rose Counsell-Geyer couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.