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President Barack Obama’s VAWA Law Signing Spotlights Native Women Warriors

Diane Millich (Southern Ute Indian Tribe) (second to left) and Deborah Parker (Tulalip Tribe) (third to left) joined President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, members of the administration and Congress, women's rights advocates, and domestic abuse survivors for the signing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization on March 7. Courtesy National Congress of American Indians — Diane Millich (Southern Ute Indian Tribe) (second to left) and Deborah Parker (Tulalip Tribe) (third to left) joined President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, members of the administration and Congress, women’s rights advocates, and domestic abuse survivors for the signing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization on March 7. Courtesy National Congress of American Indians

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

During the March 7 signing ceremony in the offices of the United States Department of the Interior of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Vice President Joe Biden had a difficult time remembering all of the many advocates and legislators he wanted to highlight and thank for their hard work on making the enhanced law a reality.

Similarly, it is difficult to single out all of the Native American women warriors who worked overtime to make the tribal provisions of the new law come to life.

There were tribal leaders like Terri Henry, Deborah Parker, and Fawn Sharp. There were lobbyists like Holly Cook Macarro, Kim Teehee, and Aurene Martin. National Indian organization leaders like Jackie Johnson Pata, Juana Majel Dixon, and the crew at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) led conference calls, action alerts, and legislative visits. There were advocates on the ground including Pamela Dalton Stearns, Theresa Sheldon, Jax Agtuca, and countless other Indian grassroots activists. And there were the male crusaders, too, like Wilson Pipestem, David Bean, Ernie Stevens, and U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).

“I felt elated,” said Henry, a tribal council member with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in summing up the day. “I’m incredibly happy and proud of our team of strong hearts—Native women and Native nations. I am humbled and honored that our collective effort to obtain this slice of justice was supported in so many ways by Native people across America.”

“It’s a miracle of such strength,” Dixon, secretary of NCAI and a Pauma tribal citizen, reflected in a YouTube video posted on the day of the signing by the U.S. Department of the Interior. “When we see the first case go through with the protections in order and our Native women protected … that’s going to be a breath of freedom, a breath of certainty that we can protect our people.”

All of them worked together for years for the greater good of Indian country as a whole—trying desperately not to allow tribal divisions on other issues get in the way (although Alaska Native women and families did lose out in the end due to a compromise pushed by their state’s legislators who fear expanding tribal jurisdiction in the “last frontier” state—a front that tribal women, including Johnson Pata, have said they plan to take on in the coming weeks).

Cole and his colleague, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), were told many times throughout the ups and downs of the legislative process in the House that Indian country would not compromise on the inherent tribal court jurisdiction provision, first offered in the Senate version of the bill; nor did tribal leaders want the removal process to federal courts to be overly simple, as that outcome would have treated tribal courts as lesser judicial bodies. In the end, the House on February 28 passed the Senate’s version of the bill that tribal advocates had been pushing all along—inherent tribal authority and a strict removal process intact.

The strong voices of female tribal advocates played a major role in the process, with some of them, like Parker, going so far as to share their own personal tales of familial abuse to help sway legislators’ minds. They were stories that drew national media attention, and they led at least one congressman, Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), to change his mind to end up supporting the tribal VAWA.

Indian women also got the attention of the White House early on, and they secured the Obama administration’s unwavering support, with the Justice Department directly rebutting Republican legislators who argued that the tribal provisions were unconstitutional.

At the president’s signing ceremony, Diane Millich, a citizen of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, was invited to introduce Biden, and to share her personal story of marrying a non-Indian man when she was 26 who ended up assaulting her soon after he moved in with her on her reservation.

“After a year of abuse and more than 100 incidents of being slapped, kicked, punched, and living in horrific terror, I left for good,” Millich told the audience. When she asked the tribal police for help, they could do nothing due to legal restrictions that said the tribe could not prosecute her husband because he was non-Indian. “If the bill being signed today were law when I was married, it would have allowed my tribe to arrest and prosecute my abuser,” she said to applause.

Many of the non-Indian advocates who gathered at the Department of the Interior headquarters to witness President Barack Obama sign into law the VAWA probably didn’t really understand how much the law alters the playing field for tribes by recognizing their “inherent” sovereign power to have jurisdiction over their lands—still, they cheered loudly all the same, largely because they got what they wanted in VAWA, and because the overall basic message was simple: All women and families, regardless of skin color, should be able to live without the fear of domestic violence and abuse. If increased tribal court authority over non-Indians could make that happen for Native women, the non-Indian advocates were on board.

Obama seemed to understand, singling out the Native provisions and the people who supported them: “Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people, and all women deserve the right to live free from fear,” he said. “And that is what today is all about.”

The president also noted that Indian country has some of the highest rates of domestic abuse in the country. “And one of the reasons is that when Native American women are abused on tribal lands by an attacker who is not Native American, the attacker is immune from prosecution by tribal courts. Well, as soon as I sign this bill that ends,” he said to major applause.

The president’s speech was televised, and if one looked closely, Indian women were well represented in the audience of his speech, and some like Parker and Millich made it onto the stage to shake his hand and to show their pride as he signed the bill into law.

Although the overall signing event was a celebration, it was also difficult because the tribal legislation of the hour wouldn’t be needed if Indian women weren’t getting abused at such alarmingly high rates. Aurene Martin, a citizen of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and founder of Spirit Rock Consulting, touched on that point, saying it was a “bittersweet” victory. “I was sad, because of all the women who had to suffer to make the amendments to VAWA necessary,” Martin said. “I cried during Diane Millich’s speech because of how terrified she must have been in her own home and on her own reservation, among her own people.”

At the same time, Martin was “proud and elated because of the awesome, unified effort made by all of Indian country to support the changes to VAWA.”

Many of these women warriors are now being honored in their communities, as well as via phone calls and social network messages. During the VAWA signing week, some of them were honored at the National Indian Women Honoring Luncheon, organized by Washington, D.C. tribal advocates who wanted to support them and to encourage their future successes.

Cook Macarro, a Red Lake Ojibwe citizen and lobbyist with Ietan Consulting, was one of those honored. In all, the VAWA experience was overwhelming for her—and she’s no novice, having been through her share of legislative battles. “To stand with so many Native women warriors and watch President Obama sign the VAWA into law was one of the proudest moments of my career,” she shared. “As my tears flowed, I thought of the women back home in Red Lake, working and staying at Equay Wiigamig (Women’s Shelter), and of the many other Native women who will now be protected and have access to resources because of this effort. For so many reasons, this was the sweetest of victories.”

Cook Macarro also shared a message for the abusers who made this law necessary: “To every non-Indian perpetrator of domestic violence or sexual assault on an Indian woman on Indian lands who went unprosecuted—take that!” she exclaimed. “You provided us with the story and legislative opportunity to touch the minds and hearts of Democrats and Republicans alike on the Hill and restore partial criminal jurisdiction to tribes for the first time since 1978.”

A Miscalculation on the Sequester Has Already Harmed Indian Health

Yvette Roubideaux, Indian Health Service director. AP photo.

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

The many ways the federal government’s sequester will hurt Indian country are easy to see. The National Congress of American Indians has released a policy paper saying that tribal economic growth has already been thwarted; the National Indian Education Association has said the cuts “devastate” Indian education; and Native journalist Mark Trahant estimates that the overall financial reduction for funding in Indian country totals $386 million—and that’s just through the end of September.

In all, the joint decision by Congress and the Obama White House, first made in 2011 and carried out on March 1, to allow an across-the-board 9 percent cut to all non-exempt domestic federal programs (and a 13 percent cut for Defense accounts)—known collectively as the sequester—amounts to a major violation of the trust responsibility relationship the federal government is supposed to have with American Indians, as called for in historic treaties, the U.S. Constitution and contemporary American policy.

While all of the cutbacks are troubling and difficult to bear, perhaps the most problematic of all are the ones happening at the Indian Health Service (IHS), housed in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The IHS must offer healthcare to enrolled tribal citizens, providing services for what are often the poorest of all Indians who live on reservations and can’t afford other healthcare.

With even the smallest of federal cuts, the agency—which has been vastly underfunded, by most tribal accounts, for decades—would have a more difficult time carrying out its mission. But it turns out that a sequester miscalculation—made through a combination of IHS error in misreading relevant law and a judgment call by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—has ended up costing tribal citizens much more than they were originally told.

IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux and her staffers had said at various tribal meetings and in letters throughout 2011 and early 2012 that “the worst-case scenario would be a 2 percent decrease from current funding levels” for IHS, rather than the 9 percent that was forecasted for most federal agencies if the sequester went into effect.

But Indian country began to learn late last year that Roubideaux’ predictions were wrong. IHS would be cut on March 1 at the same rate as every other non-protected agency. And since IHS was late to the game in planning for the larger cut, it didn’t work as aggressively at saving and protecting its resources as it could have. Also—and perhaps most egregiously—it fed tribes misinformation that cost them months of planning and advocacy time. “It’s unfortunate that we all relied on [IHS’s] earlier interpretation, because we could have addressed this earlier with the administration (especially the OMB) and the Congress,” said Jim Roberts, a policy analyst with the Northwest Portland Indian Health Board.

“Had IHS communicated the correct information in the previous fiscal year, tribal care providers that receive IHS funding would have been able to modify their budgets so they would have had more resources for this year—and thus the cuts to tribal citizens wouldn’t be as steep,” added Lloyd Miller, an Indian affairs lawyer with Sonosky Chambers who has worked on many lawsuits involving the agency. “The earlier tribal providers could have been planning for disaster, the better. In this case, tribes lost a whole year.”

Roubideaux’ error happened because she was relying on internal analysis that indicated IHS would be protected in the same way services for veterans served by the U.S. Department of Veterans have been protected from steep cuts. Specifically, IHS leaders relied on the 1985 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (BBEDCA), which included a specific provision that named IHS as having a limited percent reduction under a sequester order, according to the agency.

Constance James, a spokeswoman for IHS, confirms that Roubideaux’ statements about the budget reduction being limited to two percent were based on the agency’s reading of the BBEDCA.

But then, in September of last year, OMB told IHS that the 2011 Budget Control Act, which would implement the current sequester, did not contain the BBEDCA provision for the agency. Or at least that was how the OMB’s Office of General Counsel was interpreting it, according to James.

With that OMB direction, Roubideaux quickly began backpedalling, telling tribal leaders since September 2012 that IHS and the thousands of tribal citizens it serves would be subject to the full sequestration.

IHS is now working overtime explaining the change, probably because officials there are worried at least in part about congressional oversight. Indeed they should be, as some Congress members are threatening investigations over the misreading of the law, with concerned tribal leaders saying they too would like answers.

On March 1—the day the sequester order was signed by President Barack Obama—Roubideaux held a conference call with some tribal leaders in which she explained that because of the shortened fiscal year, the full amount of this reduction will be done over the next seven months, since the first six months of fiscal year lump-sum funding has already been released to tribes.

Roubideaux has also asked tribal care-providers to be very conservative in their spending until the full impact of sequestration is known. The agency is also working to transfer any remaining continuing resolution-funding out to self-governance tribes as soon as possible, in accordance with the terms and conditions of respective Title V compacts and funding agreements.

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The agency is trying to deflect blame for this mistake from Roubideaux. When asked if it was the IHS director’s fault that the law was misread, James said via e-mail, “These are administration determinations based on OMB [Office of General Counsel] guidance. So, no this is not an agency (Roubideaux) interpretation.”

But that response isn’t enough for Roberts and other tribal health and legal experts monitoring the situation. “They misapplied the law,” Roberts says. “Their response does appear to sum it up.”

Miller says the interpretation was “patently incorrect” and that it would be good to know who at the agency was relying on a nearly 30-year-old law as applicable to the current situation. “Were they relying on a legal opinion? If not, why not?” he says.

On top of these concerns, Roberts also cautions that tribes need to be prepared to expect furloughs and reductions in service at IHS direct-managed sites. The National Congress of American Indians says that the sequester will decrease inpatient admissions by 3,000 and outpatient visits by as much as 804,000 in IHS and tribal hospitals and clinics.

There seems to be little or nothing that can be done to ease the devastating pain this sequester will bring to Indian country. Charlie Galbraith, the Associate Director for Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House, said at a February gathering of tribal leaders of the United South and Eastern Tribes in Washington, D.C. that “the way we protect tribal priorities is to avoid sequester.”

But the White House didn’t avoid sequester, so now what? When asked by tribal leaders if tribes could be exempted from sequestration, given the Obama administration’s strong belief in federal-tribal trust responsibility, Galbraith said, “That’s just not going to happen. We have the entire military machine, every lobbyist, every contractor, trying to exempt the military provision—the president is not going to cut this off piecemeal. We need a comprehensive solution that is going to address the real problem here.”

In other words, if the Obama administration protected federal-tribal trust responsibility by preventing cuts to Indian programs, “it weakens our argument as a whole,” Galbraith said. “We need the support of Indian country out there being public, writing op-eds, on Facebook, on Twitter, telling the American people how important it is that we come to a balanced solution that raises revenues and cuts spending in an appropriate, reasonable way.”

In the end, all that’s left to be done is to accurately calculate the damage, and to try to advocate for Congress to restore funding as soon as possible. That’s what Trahant, a citizen of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, has been doing by detailing the intricacies of the austerity measures on his website, which grows increasingly popular as tribal communities began to realize the extent of the damage as the sequester kicks in.

The staff of the NIHB is also looking for legislative solutions. “[W]e are seeking a legislative fix that would exempt IHS from the sequester,” says Stacy Bohlen, director of the organization. “We [have been noting] that all health programs supported by the federal government, with the exception of Indian Health Service, are not subject to sequestration. This is not okay.”

Indian leaders could also press for Roubideaux to be punished, but some say there is general reluctance to do that, since she’s done a solid job of addressing many tribal needs since beginning her tenure in 2009. “There’s always fear in biting the hand that feeds you,” says Miller. “But these are legal questions, not policy questions. This is not rocket science.”

Members of Congress who have expressed dismay at IHS leadership shortcomings over the years, are less inclined to be forgiving. Laura Mengelkamp, a spokeswoman for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), says her boss, a medical doctor by trade and vice-chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, is extremely concerned about the IHS situation. “The IHS may have made an unfortunate mistake or misinterpretation of sequestration that created confusion about the impacts of the law,” she says. “Sen. [John] Barrasso [(R-WY)] believes that the OMB should have shared its findings/report and fully consulted with the Indian tribes on this issue much earlier in the process.”

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, went further, saying, “The administration has been playing a political shell game when it comes to the impact of sequestration on the Indian Health Service budget. At first, tribes were assured that all IHS programs would fall under the Budget Control Act’s two percent limit. … Now the administration has backpedaled and claims that IHS’ discretionary appropriation is fully sequesterable. Ultimately, this is another example of the federal government actively undermining its trust responsibility to our Native peoples.

“Fully exempting the Department of Veterans Affairs budget from sequestration is an acknowledgment of our sacred responsibility to our troops,” Young added. “I am angered by the administration’s double-standard. How can they choose to uphold one sacred responsibility and not another? I certainly plan to conduct vigorous oversight of the Indian Health Service in this Congress, and we will obtain answers from the Service as to how it is managing its budget issues.”

VAWA, Good News-Bad News, and Dirty Oil: How Obama Gave Himself Cover to Kill Native Sacred Sites

By Gyasi Ross, Indian Country Today Media Network

INCREDIBLE NEWS: On Thursday, February 28th, 2013, the House of Representatives finally decided that Native women, LGBTQ women, and immigrant women were worthy of protections from rape, stalking and sexual assaults via Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This was a huge deal for Tribes, ironically as it was a substantial step toward the end of “tribes” and the beginning of “nations” for Native people—being able to regulate all people within their territories. President Obama stood strong for tribal sovereignty in this very important matter for Native people.

Big deal, definitely. All those people and organizations—all federally recognized Indian tribes, NCAI, Deborah Parker, Sarah Deer, Center for American Progress and many many more that helped to organize—you should be very proud.

HORRIBLE NEWS: On Friday, March 1, 2013, the Obama Administration decided that Native sacred sites were not worthy of protections from the rape and pillage via the Keystone XL pipeline. Despite pretty much every reputable scientist who is not on an oil company’s payroll saying the opposite, the State Department somehow concludes that the Keystone XL pipeline “is unlikely to have a substantial impact” on the rate of Canada’s oil sands. “The analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggest that there would be no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed project route.”

If President Obama approves the Keystone XL pipeline, make no mistake, he and his Democratic Party placed themselves diametrically opposed to the interests of Native people.

Let’s be clear: President Obama has been great on many issues for Native people. He’s best on those things that will most quickly speed Native people’s assimilation into western society, e.g. criminal jurisdiction that mimics the western system (that’s what the hold up was on VAWA—due process), economic development further ingratiating Native dependence on the western economic system. Those things are important—Natives must compete in those realms, so that’s fair.

But on those things that are distinctively Native—Obama has been absolutely terrible. Shameful. He’s done nothing on sacred sites—in fact, he’s done the opposite. Keystone XL will run through many sacred sites (some “official” sacred sites according to white man law, and some that are just sacred because we value them) and the damage will trickle into many more. He’s done nothing for Native languages. Zero.

Radio silence.

Look, all the economic development and jurisdiction in the world doesn’t matter if the Earth is, as Winona LaDuke says, “scorched.” After all, what is the point of exercising criminal jurisdiction over lands that are uninhabitable?? Tribes are cognizant of that—land and language is what makes Native people “Native.” Not casinos, not police forces, and definitely not simply repeating the word “sovereignty” over and over. Land–presumably with clean water and clean air—is at the center of our religious ceremonies and our creation stories. And while we’re rightfully celebrating the amazing victory of VAWA, we should also understand that this guy has shown that he’s got many of the same destructive tendencies as his predecessor.

As much as we like this guy, Obama, and we dig that he sings Al Green and seems to like having a few Natives hanging around and was even adopted by Native people like Johnny Depp, we must hold him and his party accountable also just like we did with his predecessor. If the President and Democrats keep trying to cook the earth just like the Republicans, well then we have to get them out of office just like we did them.

The President’s legacy with Native people will ultimately be determined by how he deals with the environment, climate change and Keystone XL. Why? We’re the stewards of this land—we cannot “go back to where we came from.” We come from right here. Some, that do not understand Native people’s relationship to the land, will argue “there are no federally protected sacred sites affected!” Those folks just don’t get it—it’s not just the few places that the government determines are “sacred” that we’re concerned about. No, all of this land is sacred and is not supposed to be ripped apart for a few coins. Soon, after the euphoria of winning the VAWA war wears off, we’ll realize that the Obama’s Administration snuck a fast one past us—the day after VAWA passed!

I hope I’m wrong. Still, the Administration hasn’t given us any reason to think that I am. Idle No More—we’re not going to take this lying down.

To read the work of legal fiction that will allow for the destruction of sacred sites from the State Department, please click here:
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/609322-keystone-xl-dseis-2013-v1.html#document/p22/a94021

Gyasi Ross
Blackfeet Nation
Activist/Attorney/Author
Twitter: @BigIndianGyasi
www.cutbankcreekpress.com

Native American Indian Lobby Day, March 13

This Wednesday, March 13th is Native American Lobby Day in Olympia.

Weekend fun: Music, birds, dinosaurs and mountain men

Herald Staff

Get ideas: The Everett Home & Garden Show is Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Comcast Arena. You’ll find lots of displays, speakers, vendors and other fun stuff, such as a wine tasting. Find all the details in our story here.

Watch birds: Hike along with other birders and Pilchuck Audubon Society members on a free day-long adventure on Sunday. The group will look for shorebirds, waterfowl, passerines and raptors on Camano Island. Meet at 8 a.m. at Quilceda Walmart on the east side of the parking lot near I-5. Carpool to Camano Island and visit English Boom, Iverson Spit and Davis Slough. No elevation gain. Dress warmly and bring rain gear and bird scopes if you have them. The group will stop for lunch along the way. Leader: Terry Nightingale, 206-619-2383, 206-619-2383, tnight@pobox.com. For more information, go to pilchuckaudubon.org.

Was the wolf framed? You’ll have to decide for yourself after seeing this hilarious, live retelling of “The Three Little Pigs.” To hear Alexander T. Wolf’s side of the story, you’ll have to take your family to see the Dallas Children’s Theatre production of “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” on Sunday in Everett. Find all the details here.

Old time: The Cascade Mountain Men present the Muzzleloading Arms and Pioneer Craft Show on Saturday and Sunday at the Evergreen Fairgrounds. More than 300 vendors and exhibitors will be on hand with leather and fur goods, camping gear and period costumes. Demonstrations include blacksmithing, wool spinning and wood carving. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 a day; teens younger than 16 must be accompanied by an adult; kids 12 and younger get in free. Parking is free. For more information, call 425-890-7208 or go to www.cascademountainmen.com.

Musical revue: A good melody is timeless. So says the creator and producer of “In the Mood,” a big-band-inspired 1940s musical revue that’s playing Saturday in Everett. Or make that more than 40 good melodies, which is about how many songs the audience will hear as “In the Mood” re-creates the swing-era experience. Read the details in our story here.

Roof-raising music: They may sing gospel, but a Blind Boys of Alabama concert ain’t nothing like a church service. The Blind Boys’ live shows are roof-raising affairs. The performers make a stop in Edmonds on Saturday. Read more in our story here.

Spring forward: Don’t forget to set your clock ahead an hour on Sunday morning. Unless you want an excuse to be an hour late to everything.

Shop, for a good cause: The Convent of the Meeting of the Lord offers its spring fundraiser at the Quiet Light Candles shop, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at 29206 64th Ave. NW., near Stanwood. The fundraiser features the nuns’ homemade pure beeswax candles and other gifts. The event includes candle-pouring tours, coffee and cookies. For more information, call 360-629-0285 or go to www.quietlightcandles.com.

Free clothing swap: The Great Oak Harbor Giveaway Day is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Oak Harbor Christian School, 675 E. Whidbey Ave. Shop for new-to-you clothing and household items. Free admission. More info: 360-675-2338.

“Dino Day”: Kids can dress up in dino gear, crack open their own fossils, watch scientists prepare a duck-billed dinosaur fossil, and dig for a fossil ichthyosaur in the Dino Dig Pit. Dino Days is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Burke Museum, on the University of Washington campus, at the corner of NE 45th Street and 17th Avenue NE. Call 206-543-5590 or go to www.burkemuseum.org to learn more.

Watershed Heroes: Colville Confederated Tribes Win Sierra Club Award for Battling British Columbia Smelter

Colville Confederated Tribes Chairman John Sirois, center (holding award plaque), and previous Watershed Hero Award recipient Mary Verner pose with tribal members at Sierra Club award dinner. Colville received the 2013 Watershed Hero Award from the Sierra Club's Washington chapter. Photo: Jack McNeel. — Colville Confederated Tribes Chairman John Sirois, center (holding award plaque), and previous Watershed Hero Award recipient Mary Verner pose with tribal members at Sierra Club award dinner. Colville received the 2013 Watershed Hero Award from the Sierra Club’s Washington chapter. Photo: Jack McNeel.

By Jack McNeel, Indian Country Today Media Network

The Colville Confederated Tribes’ successful effort to hold a British Columbia smelter accountable for dumping pollutants into the Columbia River for a century has caught the attention of the Sierra Club Washington State’s Upper Columbia River Group, which bestowed its 2013 Watershed Hero Award on the tribes.

Colville won a major victory in 2012 when the company, known today as Teck Metals Ltd. (formerly Teck/Cominco), admitted in court to depositing millions of tons of toxic substances into the river, which flows into Lake Roose-velt. Pollutants included 250,000 tons of zinc and lead, as well as 132,000 tons of other hazardous substances such as more than 200 tons of mercury, cadmium and arsenic.

The tribes, having pressed their case for two decades, also made legal history when the court struck down the notion that a foreign company could not be held liable under U.S. law. The victory was marked in high style on February 23 when Sierra Club leaders, including John Osburn, co-chair for Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River group, joined tribal members in Spokane, Washington, for the presentation of its Water-shed Heroes honor at an awards dinner.

“Watershed Heroes are people who act out of love and respect for nature,” said Mary Verner, former director of Upper Columbia United Tribes and the former mayor of Spokane, who won the award last year and presented it this year.

“We’re very grateful for all the sacrifices you have made,” Verner said in introducing Colville Tribes chairman John Sirois and recognizing others from the tribes who had played major roles in the process.

“I’m grateful you relayed the history,” Sirois said. “I’m grateful for you honoring all the work of the past councils that really put in the time and effort. We have such a great legal team. There are countless people who played a role in this. It’s really a validation of who we are as a people. All along the river, those places are named after our people and where we come from: Okanogan, Chelan, Methow, Eniat, San Poil, Lakes, that is who we are. That is where our people are buried. That is where we’re born.”

Between 1896 and 1995, Teck’s smelter dumped 400 tons of waste a day—derived from the smelting process—into the Columbia River. The smelter is about 10 miles north of the U.S. border.

“It comes as no surprise that after being dumped into the Columbia River, all this toxic material flows downstream. The company tried to deny that,” Verner said. “Some of the most ridiculous arguments one has ever heard from a corporate entity have been raised by Teck/Cominco, now known as Teck Metals Ltd. The Colvilles weren’t having it.”

In the 1990s the tribes asked Canada to tell Teck to stop polluting the river, but Teck did not comply. The U.S. made similar attempts to stop the company but met with the same lack of results. In 2003 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified Lake Roosevelt as a Superfund site and entered into an agreement with Teck to study the problem, making it clear that Teck would not be held responsible for the cleanup. But Teck found that unacceptable.

“In 2004 the tribes decided they could not wait any longer, and they filed a suit,” Verner said. Washington State eventually joined the tribes.

“To say the case of Pakootas v. Teck/Cominco is a landmark case would certainly be an understatement,” Verner said. “What a complex case it was! It has required navigating some incredible intricacies of the law, not even counting the science and politics.”

The tribes also got the court to overrule Teck’s argument that a company in another country cannot deliberately pollute U.S. waters and is not covered by U.S. law.

“The question is not where the polluter is located, but where the pollution is located,” Verner said. “It makes absolute sense, but the Colvilles had to fight for that outcome.”

Last April the court ruled that Teck could not escape liability. In September, Teck admitted it had knowingly and deliberately discharged 10 million tons of slag and toxic pollution into the Columbia. And in late 2012 a federal judge ruled that Teck qualifies as a polluter under the Superfund law.

“Heroes are tenacious,” Verner said of the tribes. “But it’s not over. Teck has appealed the ruling. They are trying to take this to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

As long as the bulk of the pollutants remain in the river or wash up on black beaches, the Colville Tribes will continue the battle. “Our future is about the water, all of us,” said Sirois. “We’re all in this fight together, to protect our environment, to protect our resources.”

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/06/watershed-heroes-colville-confederated-tribes-win-sierra-club-award-battling-british

President Obama Signs Violence Against Women Act Into Law

Indian Country Today Media Network

President Barack Obama this morning signed into law the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act that includes tribal provisions.

“Previously, tribes had no jurisdiction over non-tribal members, even if they are married to Native women or reside on native lands. But as soon as I sign this bill, that ends,” Obama said before the signing.

“This is a landmark bill not only for all women and our future generations but also for Indian tribes. This law, for the first time since 1978, restores the sovereign power of Indian tribes to criminally prosecute non-Indians for sexual assault and domestic violence crimes on Indian reservations,” a statement released by The Seattle Human Rights Commission said.

The signing took place at a ceremony at the Interior Department and included longtime VAWA advocate and vice-chair of the Tulalip Tribes Deborah Parker along with Senators and House members.

Diane Millich, an American Indian domestic abuse survivor introduced Vice President Joe Biden following her personal story about abuse and what the passing of VAWA means to her.

The signing can be seen on C-Span here.

President Obama signs Violence Against Women Act

By Julia Dahl, CBS News

(CBS) – On Thursday afternoon, President Obama signed into law the re-authorized Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The act, originally passed in 1994, provides federal funding for programs and research aimed at preventing and prosecuting domestic and sexual violence.

The new version of the law includes several new measures, including granting Native American tribes jurisdiction to prosecute non-native perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence against native women. Previously, tribes had no jurisdiction over non-tribal members, even if they are married to native women or reside on native lands.

But, said Obama Thursday, “as soon as I sign this bill, that ends.”

According to Tina Olson, co-director of Mending the Sacred Hoop, an advocacy group dedicated to fighting violence against native women, as many as 50 percent of native women marry non-native men. This means that if they become victims of domestic violence, they have little recourse through the tribal justice system.

“It’s not as if native women want something unique,” says Olson. “They just want the justice other women get.”

Olson says she has “high hopes” about how the new law will help tribal women, but is taking a “wait and see” attitude until funds for enforcement – and consequences for failing to enforce – arrive.

In addition to the new provisions aiming to protect Native American women, the re-authorized VAWA allows groups representing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered men and women to apply for grants to prevent sexual violence and care for victims. The new law also includes the SAFER Act, which aims to whittle down the backlog of DNA tests – often known as “rape kits” – in police storage around the country; and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act which provides services to victims of human trafficking.

VAWA expired in September 2011 and stalled in Congress after the House of Representatives balked at some of the new provisions in the version passed by the Senate. House Republicans drafted an alternative bill, but it failed when brought for a vote on Feb. 28. Later that day, the House voted 286 -138 to pass the Senate version.

Ariel Zwang, the CEO of SafeHorizon, a group that provides shelter and services to victims of domestic violence, says that as important as the new protections the reauthorized VAWA provides is the message the passage of the law sends to victims and perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence.

“Before VAWA, society’s response to domestic violence was basically to tell the guy to go walk around the block,” says Zwang. The law, she says, makes a national statement that “this is wrong, it’s a crime, and we’re going to talk about it and prosecute it.”

President Obama agreed, saying Thursday afternoon that the original law “made it possible for us to talk about domestic abuse.” The new law, he said, assists immigrant women whose status may be tied to an abusive spouse and “expanded housing assistance so that no woman has to choose between a violent home and no home at all.”

The signing coincides with a new report by the Department of Justice that shows that after declining between 1995-2005, the rate of sexual assault in the U.S. leveled off between 2005-2010. The new report also shows that fewer women are reporting sexual assault to police: in 2003, 56 percent of sexual assault victims reported to authorities, compared to just 35 percent in 2010.

North Korea warns of pre-emptive nuclear strike on U.S. – UN approves new sanctions against North Korea

The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, a move that sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States.

North Koreans attend a rally in support of a statement given on Tuesday by a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War as well as boasting of the North's ownership of "lighter and smaller nukes" and its ability to execute "surgical strikes" meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday. Photo: Jon Chol Jin/AP — North Koreans attend a rally in support of a statement given on Tuesday by a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War as well as boasting of the North’s ownership of “lighter and smaller nukes” and its ability to execute “surgical strikes” meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday. Photo: Jon Chol Jin/AP

By Edith M. Lederer and Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS —The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, a move that sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States.

The vote Thursday by the U.N.’s most powerful body on a resolution drafted by North Korea’s closest ally, China, and the United States sends a powerful message to North Korea that the international community condemns its ballistic missile and nuclear tests – and its repeated violation of Security Council resolutions.

The new sanctions are aimed at making it more difficult for North Korea to finance and obtain material for its weapons programs.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

North Korea vowed on Thursday to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric as U.N. diplomats voted on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for “a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors” because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against the North.

Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for several crude nuclear devices.

Such inflammatory rhetoric is common from North Korea, and especially so in recent days. North Korea is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills. At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, tens of thousands of North Koreans protested the U.S.-South Korean war drills and sanctions.

Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told the crowd that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington.

“Intercontinental ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status,” Kang said. “When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils, …. will be engulfed in a sea of fire.”

The U.N. Security Council was considering a fourth round of sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The resolution was drafted by the United States and China, North Korea’s closest ally. The council’s agreement to put the resolution to a vote just 48 hours later signaled that it would almost certainly have the support of all 15 council members.

The statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

It accused the U.S. of leading efforts to slap sanctions on North Korea. The statement said the new sanctions would only advance the timing for North Korea to fulfill previous vows to take “powerful second and third countermeasures” against its enemies. It hasn’t elaborated on those measures.

The statement said North Korea “strongly warns the U.N. Security Council not to make another big blunder like the one in the past when it earned the inveterate grudge of the Korean nation by acting as a war servant for the U.S. in 1950.”

North Korea demanded the U.N. Security Council immediately dismantle the American-led U.N. Command that’s based in Seoul and move to end the state of war that exists on the Korean Peninsula, which continues six decades after fighting stopped because an armistice, not a peace treaty, ended the war.

In anticipation of the resolution’s adoption, North Korea earlier in the week threatened to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War.

North Korean threats have become more common as tensions have escalated following a rocket launch by Pyongyang in December and its third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Both acts defied three Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from testing or using nuclear or ballistic missile technology and from importing or exporting material for these programs.

U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said the proposed resolution would impose some of the strongest sanctions ever ordered by the United Nations.

The final version of the draft resolution, released Wednesday, identified three individuals, one corporation and one organization that would be added to the U.N. sanctions list if the measure is approved.

The targets include top officials at a company that is the country’s primary arms dealer and main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national organization responsible for research and development of missiles and probably nuclear weapons.

The success of a new round of sanctions could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based.

The United States and other nations worry that North Korea’s third nuclear test pushed it closer to its goal of gaining nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. The international community has condemned the regime’s nuclear and missile efforts as threats to regional security and a drain on the resources that could go to North Korea’s largely destitute people.

The draft resolution condemns the latest nuclear test “in the strongest terms” for violating and flagrantly disregarding council resolutions, bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests “or any other provocation,” and demands that North Korea return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It also condemns all of North Korea’s ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment.

But the proposed resolution stresses the council’s commitment “to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution” and urged a resumption of six-party talks with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula “in a peaceful manner.”

The proposed resolution would make it significantly harder for North Korea to move around the funds it needs to carry out its illicit programs and strengthen existing sanctions and the inspection of suspect cargo bound to and from the country. It would also ban countries from exporting specific luxury goods to the North, including yachts, luxury automobiles, racing cars, and jewelry with semi-precious and precious stones and precious metals.

According to the draft, all countries would now be required to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to North Korea’s nuclear or missile programs.

To get around financial sanctions, North Koreans have been carrying around large suitcases filled with cash to move illicit funds. The draft resolution expresses concern that these bulk cash transfers may be used to evade sanctions. It clarifies that the freeze on financial transactions and services that could violate sanctions applies to all cash transfers as well as the cash couriers.

The proposed resolution also bans all countries from providing public financial support for trade deals, such as granting export credits, guarantees or insurance, if the assistance could contribute to the North’s nuclear or missile programs.

It includes what a senior diplomat called unprecedented new travel sanctions that would require countries to expel agents working for sanctioned North Korean companies.

The draft also requires states to inspect suspect cargo on their territory and prevent any vessel that refuses an inspection from entering their ports. And a new aviation measure calls on states to deny aircraft permission to take off, land or fly over their territory if illicit cargo is suspected to be aboard.

—

Lederer reported from the United Nations. Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.

SR 529 bridge nears completion

Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The ongoing replacement of the State Route 529 Ebey Slough Bridge has seen some significant milestones since this winter, and if the weather permits, March 8-11 will mark yet another key step toward the completion of the nearly three-year construction project.

“We’ve completely demolished the existing bridge structure, well below the ground line, to the point that no remnants are visible,” said Joe Rooney, chief inspector for the project with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “Once that was complete, we were able to build the approach fills on the west side of the new bridge, which put us in place to pave the full width, not including the final overlay we’ll be doing in April.”

According to Rooney, so long as the construction work doesn’t get rained out, SR 529 is set to be closed from First Avenue to Milepost 6, including the Ebey Slough Bridge, starting at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 8, and lasting until 5 a.m. on Monday, March 11.

“We’ll finally be pulling out that temporary barrier to put in temporary striping along where the permanent channels will be,” Rooney said. “The plastic imprinted striping will go in place this spring, but the new bridge will be at full capacity for the first time. With a little bit of landscaping work left, we should be completely out of here by May.”

Rooney noted that the original construction timeline afforded WSDOT and its contractor, Granite Construction, well into the summer months to wrap up their work, so they’re ahead of schedule and well within their budget.

“We’ve just been extremely fortunate,” Rooney said. “There haven’t been any significant change orders or design errors or surprising site conditions, and when you’re working that far under the surface, who knows beforehand what you can find. Granite Construction have been great partners as well.”

The project typically employed between 50-60 personnel on site, between subcontractors and specialists in fields such as pile-driving stone columns into the ground to form the supports for the new bridge.

“We built the new bridge well before we demolished the old one, which allowed us to keep traffic flowing throughout construction,” Rooney said. “We also benefitted from replacing a two-lane bridge with a four-lane bridge, so we were able to set up the two lanes on the west side of the new bridge as a staging area for construction without reducing the existing traffic capacity of the bridge. People had two lanes of traffic on the old bridge, and they’ve had two lanes of traffic on the new bridge, so they haven’t seen much difference yet.”

Rooney acknowledged the challenges of demolishing an old bridge directly over a waterway in an ecologically conscious fashion, so as not to contaminate the surrounding wetlands.

“We couldn’t have any debris at all, which is pretty difficult when you’re taking out a 700-foot-long span,” Rooney said. “To their credit, Granite Construction took this task seriously, and still managed to take out the existing structure to 10 feet below the mud line.”

Rooney reiterated that the scheduled closure of the SR 529 Ebey Slough Bridge from 8 p.m. on Friday, March 8, until 5 a.m. on Monday, March 11, is entirely weather-dependent, so check the WSDOT site at www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Public_Works/Services/Roads/roadsup for the latest information.