NCAI President’s Address, President Jefferson Keel

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)

Executive Council Winter Session

Washington, DC – March 5, 2013 – L’Enfant Plaza Hotel

It’s only been a few weeks since I delivered the State of Indian Nations address and while much of the speech is still relevant – already many things have changed related to a number of the issues that I addressed. For some of you this is the first time I’ve seen you since our very successful Annual Conference, which we held in Sacramento California, and a number of big events have occurred over the last five months.

First, our Annual Conference was a great success. Sacramento was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed great weather. We shared in the traditions and the celebrations of the California tribes, and we concluded some really important work and discussions. The Convention this past year was a Constitutional Convention and we reaffirmed our commitment to Indian country and made important decisions about our constitution.

NCAI members addressed, in detail, a range of issues. From the first resolution passed – Support for the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe Reservation Expansion Act, to the last, a resolution on the United Nations World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014, NCAI membership put forward our agenda.

Our Native Vote campaign was a huge part of 2011 and 2012, and was an incredible success.

As a result of the combined efforts of NCAI, Native Vote and all our partners – individuals and organizations alike – we turned out the largest Native vote ever in 2012. And now that the Presidential election season is over, we will focus on helping Native candidates, increasing protections for all of our people at the ballot box, and supporting get out the vote efforts in upcoming elections.

Since October the Cobell Settlement was finalized and the federal government began to make its payments to individual account holders. With such a large influx of money to Indian Country, NCAI launched our Protect Native Money Campaign – to educate Native people about protecting Native money from frauds and scams.

Here’s why – starting in 2012, $3 billion in individual and tribal trust fund settlements will come to Indian Country through the Keepseagle and Cobell class action legal settlements. Lump sum payouts to individual recipients started in 2012 amounting to more than $2 billion. In addition, more than 50 tribal trust settlements, totaling more than $1.0 billion, have been settled and payouts have either already been made or are due shortly, with another estimated 60 tribal settlements in the pipeline to be resolved. NCAI is committed to ensuring that Indian Country protects Native Money, if you have any questions, go to our website.

In December, many of you attended the fourth annual White House Tribal Nation’s Summit, where we welcomed the next four years with the Obama Administration. In advance of that meeting, NCAI once again developed and issued a substantial collection of policy recommendations, from tribal leaders, governments, organizations, advocates, and citizens. We hope the Obama Administration will take steps to ensure that these meetings remain a central promise of the trust responsibility, and not an element that might come and go with each administration.

The importance of nation-to-nation dialogue became even more clear with the dawn of 2013, as many of us looked North. Our brothers and sisters and first Nations of Canada are working to realign the nation-to-nation relationships between Canada’s political leadership and the first nations of Canada. As we said then; we stand united as the tribal nations of North America, as a family of first peoples and first governments of this land, and we stand united to protect our rights.

These nation-to-nation relationships do not disappear when leaders come and go from office, these are bonds that will forever link us as we were the first people of this land.

In the weeks following Superstorm Sandy, where the nations of the Northeast coast underwent great hardship, the federal government passed and signed into law the Stafford Act. This act authorizes tribal governments to directly request emergency aid from the federal government without going through state governments or waiting for state governments to act. This is a shining example of what dedicated consultation between nations can accomplish. I want to thank Administrator Fugate for his help in getting this done.

Many of these items I referenced just two weeks ago during the 2013 State of Indian Nations Address, which I delivered just days after President Obama delivered the State of the Union.

In that address titled Securing Our Futures, I outlined the State of Indian Nations once again, as we’ve done every year for almost 11 years. I called on tribal leaders and citizens to work to secure our communities, our nations, and our future prosperity.

I noted some of the actions that Congress should take to ensure that treaty rights and trust obligations are upheld and strengthened. I also outlined actions that are necessary to strengthen our status as equal members of the family of governments of America.

And while I have been criticized by a handful of opinion columnists in Indian Country, for placing an apostrophe out of place, or quoting a great American, let me state for the record that I am proud to be an American – a Native American and a US citizen.

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