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Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe Changes Tribal Membership Criteria

November 7, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

A deeply divided Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council has voted to change the requirements to become a member of the Tribe.

In a 6 to 5 vote, the council voted to tighten the source of the Indian blood quantum requirement for members.

The Tribe’s constitution, adopted in 1986, requires that members be descended from a person on one of three lists compiled in the 19th century, or from a Tribal base role compiled in 1982, plus be at least one-quarter “Indian blood.”

The constitution does not, however, define what is meant by Indian blood.

Early version of the Tribe’s enrollment ordinance also left it largely undefined, and it was interpreted to mean descent from most North American indigenous people. The council then tightened that to define it as descent from a member of any federally recognized Tribe.

The newest version, adopted at a special session of the Tribal Council Oct. 26, specifies that only “Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan” blood counts toward the one-quarter Indian blood.

“Tribal Council finds that the current definition of ‘Indian blood’ provided in (the enrollment ordinance) is overly broad and inconsistent with the constitution,” said the resolution adopting the revised law. “The Tribal Council finds that blood inherited from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is the only blood directly relevant to membership under the constitution of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.”

Under the old law, for example, a child born to a Saginaw Chippewa Tribal member with one-fourth Indian blood and a full-blooded member of the federally recognized Navajo Nation would qualify for membership. By most reckonings, that child would have five-eighths Indian blood quantum.

Under the new law, that child would not qualify as a Saginaw Chippewa.

International Commission Holds Historic Hearing on Violence Against Native Women in the U.S. – U.S. Officials and Native Advocates Agree Violence Must End

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Terri Henry, Co-Chair, National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Native Women, and Tribal Council Representative, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, encouraged the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit Native communities to learn more about the epidemic of violence against Native women. An ILRC photo by Leonardo Crippa.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — During an historic hearing dedicated to their missing and murdered Native sisters throughout the Americas, Native women and tribal advocates resorted to an international human rights body to raise global awareness on the epidemic of violence against Native women in the United States. Representatives of the United States appearing at the hearing admitted that this level of violence against Native women is “an assault on the national conscience.” Continue reading →

Stories from the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center

November 4, 2011Kate Fort

From the Penninnsula Daily News

By Diane Urbani de la Paz
Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — Even as symbols of death stood around them, the men and the women sang hopeful songs about life.

Their songs, in the form of poetry, short stories and finally the sinewy sounds of an electric guitar, filled the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center last Tuesday night.

The evening, to mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month, became a survey of real-life comedy and tragedy, told by people you might not expect to appear at a poetry reading.

“Don’t go back,” began Christopher Thomas, a member of the Indian Voices writing group that hosted the open-mic night.

Then the enormous man paused, bowing his head. This poem is titled From a Friend, and it is his plea to a woman enmeshed in a brutal relationship.

“Don’t go back to the blue and the black,” Thomas said.

“Don’t go back . . . to the list of excuses.”

The poet stopped again, overcome by tears. The audience sat in perfect silence.

“Sorry,” Thomas said.

Then he finished “From a Friend” and went on to read a few of his trademark comedic poems.

His few minutes at the podium epitomized the evening, sprinkled as it was with smiles and tears.

Turtle Talk friend Trent Crable was also featured in the article:

Another of the poets appeared for the first time at an Indian Voices gathering; he had wanted to come for a while and had two poems ready to go.

So Trent Crable, a towering figure in a black coat and horn-rimmed glasses, walked to the front.

Crable, a Makah who grew up in California, is now the legal counsel for the Elwha tribe.

As if to show the assembly the men of the future, Crable’s 3-year-old son Carver — named after the late writer Raymond Carver — strode forward too.

“I don’t know if he’s going to let me do this,” Crable said.

But as he offered his poems, “Waiting for the 33” and “Laundry,” Carver stood close beside his father’s leg, not a word or a fidget in sight.

Then, poems read, father and son walked back to their seats, the picture of dignity.

BLT: ABA to Honor Mary Smith

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher4 Comments

Here:

The American Bar Association said today it will honor Mary Smith of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division for her work promoting diversity in the law.

Smith, who was President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the DOJ Tax Division, is the president-elect of the National Native American Bar Association. At Justice, she serves as counsel to Assistant Attorney General Tony West.

The ABA’s Commission for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession said today that Smith, an associate White House counsel in the Bill Clinton administration, will receive the 2012 Spirit of Excellence Award at an event in February in New Orleans. Smith was not immediately reached for comment this afternoon.

The commission chair, Reginald Turner, partner in Clark Hill’s Detroit office, said in a statement that during the Clinton administration Smith was “the architect for a historic Native American policy initiative” that addressed areas that included health care, economic development and education.

The ABA said Smith worked on an executive order during the Clinton years that requires the federal agencies to engage trial officials in the development of policy that has implications for Native Americans.

A member of the Cherokee Nation, in Michigan, Smith in 2009 became the first Native American woman elected to the ABA’s board of governors. She is formerly a partner in the Chicago office of Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Scharf.

Smith’s nomination to run the Tax Division failed amid concern about her lack of experience in the tax industry. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) remarked that there are probably “thousands of highly experienced tax lawyers who would love to have a job like this.”

Smith withdrew her nomination last year. Obama in Septembernominated Fulbright & Jaworski partner Kathryn Keneally as assistant attorney general for the Tax Division. Keneally specializes in tax matters.

Elizabeth Warren Responding to Tea Party Antagonist

November 3, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. H/t Salon.

Reburial Ceremony for Saginaw Chippewa Ancestors Found in Flint

November 3, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

News Coverage of Gila River Case

November 2, 2011November 2, 2011Kate Fort

The article is here.

While the case and court’s opinion are unique, the possibility of a tribe being sued alone – without the federal government – is worrisome, said Michigan State University Indian law expert Matthew Fletcher. He said this case could encourage more people to sue tribes in land–use disagreements.

“That would have absolutely huge repercussions,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher called some of the courts’ statements “troubling,” as they might be used to pry open other tribal land–use claims by non–Indians.

“There are other landowners who have conflicts with tribes that could be encouraged by this,” he said.

Still, the case poses “a very narrow question, to be sure” because of its unique circumstances, Fletcher said.

Deputy Interior Secretary Criticizes Carcieri Decision

November 2, 2011Kate Fort

From an AP article printed in the Boston Globe, among others:

Hayes said the federal government opposes the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the law, and argued Congress should extend the right to hold land in trust to every tribe, regardless of the date of its recognition.

The administration envisions a “future in which we do not let legalistic interpretations of the law stand in the way of extending basic rights,” Hayes said at the National Congress of American Indians annual convention, which continues through Friday.

The high court’s ruling “must be overturned,” he said. His comments were met with cheers.

Hayes is the second highest-ranking official at the Interior Department. He said the Obama administration has worked to reverse a relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes that significantly deteriorated under George W. Bush’s presidency.

ICT Coverage of Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group Land Claim Presentation at IACHR

October 31, 2011Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here. An excerpt:

WASHINGTON—Six First Nations of British Columbia have taken to the international legal sphere in an effort to shame the Canadian government into recognizing long-standing land claims. Their rationale is simple: We never gave you the land, you took it, so either give us back the land, or give us some other form of remuneration, for stealing and profiting from the plunder.

The First Nations’ efforts were showcased in the capital of the United States on October 28 at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS is billed as the world’s oldest regional organization, dating back to 1889, and the IACHR was established in 1960 as a vehicle for the organization to promote and protect human rights.

The unprecedented hearing was granted to the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (HTG), which is made up of the Cowichan Tribes, Lake Cowichan First Nation, Halalt First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, Lyackson First Nation and Stz’uminus First Nation. The group accuses the Canadian government of violating the human rights of its 6,400 members by failing to recognize and protect their rights to property, culture and religion as recognized under the OAS’s principal human rights instrument, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. Canada has been a member of the OAS since 1989.

Robert A. Williams, Professor of Law and American Indian Studies and Director of the Indigenous Peoples at the University of Arizona, presents evidence at the hearing. He is flanked by Heather Neun of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and HTG president Richard Thomas, chief of Lyackson First Nation.