In the wake of an unprecedented gathering of more than 400 Native American leaders with President Obama and Cabinet members last week, a question remains:
Will government agencies keep the promises of the president of the United States?
“Is it just a listening session, or it is something that will be productive in the long run?” said Frances Charles, chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, based west of Port Angeles, who attended the gathering of nations along with the tribe’s vice chairman, Russell Hepfer, and leaders of all other North Olympic Peninsula tribes.
Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe — based in Blyn — and treasurer and former president of the National Congress of American Indians, said he felt “cautious encouragement” after Thursday’s White House Tribal Nations Conference in the Sydney R. Yates Auditorium of the Department of the Interior.
Obama told tribal leaders their community deserved more from its government.
He signed an executive order requiring all Cabinet members to provide a plan for consulting Native American tribes.
The Cabinet plan is due in 90 days, and will set the stage for departments and agencies dealing with Native Americans to create their own plans, Allen said.
“Politics is what it is, and you have to be vigilant in making sure that what you want to have happen will happen,” he said.
“It’s an encouraging moment,. Now it’s up to us to go do our homework. It’s a partnership. It’s not a one-way street. We have to engage with him.”
Said Charles: “We’re going to wait to see the outcome of the 90-day period.
“How are they going to work with the tribes?” she wants to know.
“Are they going to take a hard look at the concerns?”
Also attending the Washington, D.C., conference — to which all of the 564 federally-recognized tribes were invited — were other representatives of Peninsula tribes:
Carol Hatch, chairwoman of the Quileute tribe; Michael Lawrence, chairman of Makah tribe; and Jonette Leitka-Reyes, vice-chairwoman of Hoh tribe, as well as a representative of the Quinault people, Allen said.
“I get it. I’m on your side,” Obama told the largest gathering of tribal leaders in U.S. history.
The president signed an executive order requiring all Cabinet members to provide a plan for consulting Native American tribes.
The Cabinet plan is due in 90 days, and will set the stage for departments and agencies dealing with Native Americans to create their own plans, Allen said.
“Politics is what it is, and you have to be vigilant in making sure that what you want to have happen will happen,” he said.
“It’s an encouraging moment,” Allen said. “Now it’s up to us to go do our homework,” he added. “It’s a partnership. It’s not a one-way street. We have to engage with him.”
The Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe also was represented, he said, as well other Washington state tribes such as the Lummi, Tulalip, Cowlitz, Chehalis, Yakima and Puyallup.
“We had a strong showing from the Northwest,” Allen said.
Issues discussed
Issues important to tribal leaders that were discussed during the conference — and in numerous groups and gatherings conducted both before and after the meeting with the president — included sovereignty, health care and education.
“The most pressing issue is recognition and respect of tribal government and our sovereignty, to restore and enhance the tribal governments ability to address the needs of their communities,” Allen said.
Allen addressed the full group of conferees after Obama’s appearance. He discussed primarily law enforcement and judicial issues, he said.
Both Allen and Charles said their tribes “work very well” with Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, but both also said that some tribes — especially on large reservations in other areas of the country — have areas in which there are “pockets” without any real law enforcement.
This came about because of the “reversal of long-standing judicial decisions that have eroded tribes’ authority to ensure effective public safety capacities,” Allen said.
He gave, as an example, the situation in which “a non-Indian comes into a reservation and commits a crime” and the tribal police have no authority over him.”
“We’re one of the fortunate ones,” Charles said.
“We have a good working relationship with the sheriff’s department. We’re able to retain the person until the county comes on board. . . . our working relationship is just outstanding.”
But, she and Allen said, that’s isn’t true everywhere.
In such areas, the response of law enforcement may not be timely, they said, “and often [the crime] is simply ignored,” Allen said “so it creates pockets of troubling issues. . . . It could even be as bad as pockets where terrorism could happen.”
Both mentioned a need across the country for attention to violence on tribal land, especially violence against women.
Tribal projects
Charles said that the White House received a “white paper” on Lower Elwha tribal projects.
A top concern for her is health care, and declining dollars for caring for tribal members.
“We have several members who have been diagnosed with cancer, and one of those patients can wipe out our budget,” she said.
Other primary concerns: education of youth, care of elders and veterans services — such as providing transportation to medical services in Seattle — and procedures being in place to ensure that tribes have input into changes that affect them.
So the two tribal leaders — and, they say, many others — are awaiting the results of the plan Obama ordered.
“What [the plan] should do is create a meaningful and effective dialogue between tribal leadership and each of the departments and agencies,” Allen said.
“Once you do that, you can identify the unique problems or needs that each of those departments should address.
“At the end of 90 days, if that plan is in place, then various departments will come up with plans for addressing tribal issues.”
Both are encouraged by the conference.
“It was a great historical event,” Charles said. “All of the leaders there were enthused about not only meeting with the president but also listening to the commitment that he has.”
Allen said that Obama “noted in his remarks that for too long, we have broken our promises to you. . . . Treaties have been violated, promises have been broken, and it’s time for us to move into a new more meaningful chapter in the relationship.
“I think he gets it, and I think that his team gets it,” Allen added.
“He is looking at ways to make it happen.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.