Source: Climate Connections
The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi learns that greedy farmers have threatened the livelihood of Monsanto’s heroic patent attorneys.
Jon Stewart takes on Monsanto and seed patent laws
Native School Girls Should Not Be for Sale on the Street
By Walter Lamar, Indian Country Today Media Network
As schools across the nation are starting a new academic year, many Native girls wake to thoughts of preparation for time immemorial puberty ceremonies, their first prom and that cute fancy dancer at the annual pow wow. In contrast, the cold, stark reality for a host of other young Native girls is waking in the squalor of a seedy motel room, dank with the smell of stale beer and smoke. Their thoughts focus on the most recent beating and rape, bruises and displaced cartilage, vaginal and anal tears, the intense craving for a drug-induced escape and the powerful desire for someone to care.
As an FBI Agent in 1986 I was assigned to investigate the “Green River Murderer.” In the early 1980s, the violent strangulation deaths of 48 women in the Seattle, Washington area were attributed to a single killer. The murdered women were all alleged to have been involved in the sex trade.
After a period of time with no killings matching the killer’s signature points, I was assigned to look for places in the country where similar killings were occurring. Maybe he was dead, in jail, or killing somewhere else. The surprising results of the canvass were that many areas in the nation were reporting a similar pattern of multiple deaths, just not with such a high death count. Because these women and youths can be disposed of and not missed, people with ill intent view the poor souls engaged in the sex trade as castaways without a footprint. The Green River Murderer was arrested in 2001. When interviewed, he claimed to have killed so many, he could not remember the exact number. Over 70 deaths, a number of whom were Native American, were eventually attributed to his maniacal need to kill. After interviewing more than 50 prostitutes I clearly understood the horrific consequences of human trafficking. Their emotionless, blank stares told the story of their suffering.
Walter Lamar
Buying and selling children shouldn’t even be an issue in 21st century America, but it’s a problem that endangers disaffected youth from coast to coast, and particularly girls from Indian country. Thanks to groundbreaking work in Minnesota, not only is a picture emerging of the systematic victimization of women and children in Indian country, but states, tribes, non-profits and private companies across the U.S. and Canada are taking action to turn this problem around. However, many tribal members are still unaware of—or in denial about—the factors that lead to sex trafficking between their reservations and nearby cities or for those living in the cities.
Sexual exploitation often begins in childhood, which is so awful that the community response is often denial: “Oh no, that’s not happening here, we respect our young ones.” Two out of three child prostitutes interviewed for the Minnesota study had weak ties to family, and about half have run away from foster or group care. Children who grow up in abusive environments are far more likely to run away, to join a gang or to be tempted by promises of drugs, money or security.
Predators seek out runaway or homeless children, and about a third of runaways are forced into sex within days of hitting the streets. Once ensnared in this life, it’s hard to leave. Homelessness, addiction, financial and emotional dependence all combine with fear of being arrested tend to make trafficking victims reluctant to report their abusers, although most dream of escape. Prostitutes are regularly threatened and physically abused, both by pimps and by their customers. The level of violence is such that victims of human trafficking are 40 percent more likely to die of violent causes than other groups.
Although the clearest picture of sexual exploitation of Native youth has emerged from Minnesota, other tribes are also struggling to address sex trafficking. Elders in the Bethel region of Alaska are warning villagers about predators in Anchorage who watch for Native girls at popular teen hangouts and recruit them into prostitution and pornography with promises of an easy lifestyle. Pimps even coerce girls to recruit their friends from their villages. In South Dakota police point to the flow of young girls from the reservations to Sioux City. Liberal Portland, Oregon was shocked to discover the city had become a hub for child exploitation, involving many Native girls who had come to the city in search of a better life.
Law enforcement is reacting by engaging in active investigations and widespread sweeps of child trafficking rings. In July, an FBI sting rescued 105 teens forced into sexual slavery and arrested 150 pimps. In August, agents arrested nine men at the Sturgis motorcycle rally who were pimping girls between 12-15 years of age. Because the Internet enables child trafficking and distribution of child pornography, investigators have had to develop some serious technical expertise. The European approach has been to work with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to deter the use of their search engines to find child pornography or other images of exploited children. Working across borders, law enforcement agents continue to improve their tools for tracking child predators.
What happens to the teen and child victims of these crimes? Beds in shelters, health care, and legal assistance are usually enough to address a victim’s immediate needs, but equally critical long term needs include housing assistance, education, counseling and possibly drug and alcohol recovery. Sadly, the resources to help victims of child sex trafficking are lacking. Most cases involving underage prostitution result in no services provided to the victim.
Some states, like Minnesota, South Dakota and Oregon, are working to change that by knitting together networks of providers to help these exploited children. Minnesota’s Safe Harbor Initiative increases the opportunities for young people to walk in off the street, a method called “No Wrong Door.” Under new laws in these states, children who have been prostituted cannot be charged with juvenile delinquency and are instead treated as victims of a crime. Child welfare advocates hope that if exploited youth don’t fear criminal prosecution, they will be more likely to report crimes against them.
Meanwhile, finding beds and services for victims identified under the Safe Harbor Initiative has been a challenge. If money were no object, existing networks of service providers could be expanded to accommodate victims of child prostitution. In the real world, reduced federal funding has existing programs on life support.
Concerned adults can raise awareness about what’s happening to our daughters. By writing letters or talking to our tribal governments, we can express support for providing abused and neglected children and teens with services to get them on a healing path, before they turn to the arms of a child trafficker. When endangered children feel like their needs are being heard and addressed, they find the courage and confidence to reject empty promises from pimps, gangs and other predators. If being disassociated from family and having low self-esteem are the symptoms of a girl in trouble, then being cared for by a community may be the ounce of prevention we need.
It is unimaginable to think of those lost spirits who have died under the worst of circumstances and disposed of in some unknown place. Their spirits continue to roam.
A recent Facebook post said, “I’m seeing children who are hungry, lonely and scared, doing their best to take care of each other.” The post went on to say some of our children are witness to things they shouldn’t see and are hurt with nowhere to turn. The post closed with, “We’re failing our most vulnerable.” I say that failure is not permanent, unless we fail to rise up in force to protect our future.
Walter Lamar, Blackfeet/Wichita, is a former FBI special agent, deputy director of BIA law enforcement and is currently president of Lamar Associates. Lamar Associates’ Indian Country Training Division offers culturally appropriate training for Indian country law enforcement and service professionals with both on-site and online courses.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/24/native-girls-should-not-be-sale-151407
Cherokee Nation Mourns as Veronica Is Returned to Adoptive Family
Suzette Brewer, Indian Country Today Media Network
In the end, it came down to one simple strategy: Waiting. As Dusten Brown faced the Damocles Sword of jail time and a felony warrant, Matt and Melanie Capobianco only had to wait.
Last week, as the clock was running down on the stay that the Oklahoma Supreme Court had granted him, Dusten Brown had tried to negotiate even a bare minimum of visitation with his daughter. At the beginning of the week, there was a hopeful offer that included three weeks in the summer, one weekend every other month in South Carolina, and with alternating Christmases, which seemed like a solid deal. But as the parties returned to court on Wednesday morning, the Capobiancos again reneged and the negotiations started all over again.
By Friday afternoon, they made one last half-hearted offer in which Brown would get to see his daughter roughly 10 hours a month in South Carolina, with supervision. But even that, according to insiders, was not written to include any kind of enforcement.
Even before they were virtually forced into mediation in a courthouse in Tulsa last week, Dusten Brown had tried to negotiate a settlement with the Capobiancos for months, which they outright rejected.
In spite of their public proclamations that they had “always” insisted that they would allow Veronica to stay in contact with her paternal biological family, behind the scenes insiders say it was apparent to the Brown family and their lawyers that the Capobiancos weren’t interested in negotiating any kind of deal at all. This fact alone is one of the reasons Dusten Brown had fought so vociferously and publicly to force them to the negotiating table.
But even then, the negotiations were merely photo opportunities in which they were photographed arriving and leaving the courthouse in downtown Tulsa. Once inside, they had no pretense about their intentions. All they had to do was wait; no matter what Dusten Brown did or did not agree to, he was going to jail, say insiders.
After the “negotiations” failed again on Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court lifted their stay, which allowed Veronica to remain with Brown while he continued to seek legal redress in Oklahoma.
Exhausted and left with few options other than jail time and the loss of his military career and pension, he discussed her peaceful transfer with his family, legal team and tribal officials. He and his wife, Robin, packed a few bags for Veronica, who had just turned four-years-old last week. Before the family gathered to say their last goodbyes, Tommy Brown, Veronica’s grandfather, began suffering chest pains and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
At 7:30, a caravan of federal marshals made their way to the Jack Brown House in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a guest residence near the Cherokee Nation tribal complex where the Browns had been staying for several months to maintain their privacy.
Chrissi Nimmo, the assistant attorney general for the tribe, took Veronica’s hand and led her to the waiting SUV that was to take her to the Capobiancos.
After a four-year struggle to keep his daughter, one that led the shy, unassuming soldier all the way to the Supreme Court and beyond, it was over.
As the Brown family went to the hospital to visit their patriarch, the Capobiancos went on another media blitz, starting with a live interview on CNN.
As word of the transfer began to go viral, condolences for Dusten Brown and his daughter began pouring in from all over the country.
“We are deeply, deeply saddened by the events of today, but we will not lose hope,” said Todd Hembree, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation. “Veronica Brown will always be a Cherokee citizen, and although she may have left the Cherokee Nation, she will never leave our hearts.”
“Our hearts are heavy at this course of events,” said Terry Cross, executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. “Any other child would have had her or his best interest considered in a court of law. The legal system has failed this child and American Indians as well. Our prayers are with everyone concerned, but most of all with Veronica.”
Experts say that because of Veronica’s current age, she will experience trauma and homesickness. But adult adoptees who have been watching from the sidelines are all-too-familiar with the challenges that lay ahead for a little girl who is cognizant enough to know what has transpired.
In Oklahoma, she was surrounded by her large extended family, which included her grandparents, her father and stepmother, her sister, Kelsey, from Brown’s first marriage and a chatty phalanx of half a dozen cousins, with whom she had grown close. She had made friends at pre-school and loved her pets. She was a spark of lightning with a sharp mind and quick to giggle, a girl who loved pink and shoes.
In South Carolina, Veronica will be the only child on both sides of her adoptive parents’ families. The Capobiancos, both of whom are in their mid-40s, have no other extended family nearby, save for a stepmother who was divorced from Melanie’s father before he passed away.
Time will tell what the ultimate outcome will be for Veronica, who will undoubtedly be given the best of what the Capobiancos can afford in terms of education and the trappings of an older, upper middle income childless couple. Nonetheless, so far in her young life, she brought attention to the corrupt and broken system of illegal adoptions that are taking place every day throughout Indian Country. In spite of her removal from Oklahoma, Veronica Brown paved the way for other children to remain with their communities and families, bringing attention to the loopholes and cracks in the Indian Child Welfare Act that allow attorneys, social workers, guardian ad litems and judges to continue profiting from a very profitable industry adoption and foster care industry that traffics Native babies and children.
“We hope the Capobiancos honor their word that Dusten will be allowed to remain an important part of Veronica’s life,” said Hembree. “We also look forward to her visiting the Cherokee Nation for many years to come, for she is always welcome. Veronica is a very special child who touched the hearts of many, and she will be sorely missed.”
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/24/cherokee-nation-mourns-veronica-returned-adoptive-family-151418
Could how much fish you eat have a bearing on where Boeing will build its 777X?
By Jerry Cornfield, The Herald
OLYMPIA — Three months after a dispute over how much fish Washington state residents eat nearly derailed the state budget, a panel of lawmakers revisited the controversial subject Monday in a more peaceful fashion.
But that doesn’t mean the fighting is over.
Members of the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee got a progress report on revising the state’s water quality standards, a process that ties the amount of fish each resident eats with the levels of contaminants allowed in water discharged from industrial facilities.
This matter ignited a political tiff in the second special session in June when Senate Republicans insisted a comprehensive study of individual fish-eating habits be done before serious work began on rewriting the rules.
They were acting at the behest of the Boeing Co., which is concerned an increase in the consumption rate could lead to stricter discharge rules. That could require the company to spend millions of dollars in renovations at its facilities, and some Republicans contend it will convince Boeing to undertake its 777X program in another state.
Senate Republicans, who ultimately conceded on the study, organized Monday’s hearing partly to send a message to the Department of Ecology, which is writing the rules.
“We want to let them know we’re paying attention,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, who led Monday’s 90-minute work session. “I think the people of South Carolina are paying attention to this rule, too.”
He said he may push again for a comprehensive study in the 2014 legislative session.
“My feeling is we’re going to work with the department because we have to,” he said, adding that he wants another update in November. “We’ll take a look and see what’s happened.
Environmental groups are watching closely, too, though none was allowed to speak to the committee during Monday’s work sesssion.
Two months ago, a coalition filed a notice of its intent to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency to force the state to enact more stringent standards.
Kelly Sussewind, water quality program manager for the state Department of Ecology, said the threat of a lawsuit “keeps the pressure on us” to stick to the timeline for making a decision.
Under the timeline, the department would propose changes early next year, hold hearings and adopt changes at the end of the year.
The standards are to ensure rivers and major bodies of water are clean enough to support fish that are safe for humans to eat, Sussewind explained. Whatever is adopted needs to be approved by the federal government.
Since 1992, the state has assumed the average amount of fish eaten each day is 6.5 grams, which works out to about a quarter of an ounce per day or 5.2 pounds per year
Regulators are considering an increase to at least 17.5 grams a day, or about 14 pounds a year, to be in line with current federal guidelines.
Sussewind told lawmakers the state is not required to do anything, but the federal government might not approve the new rules without a higher rate.
A Seattle attorney who did testify Monday said the state is going to have to do a good job explaining itself.
“There is a lot of emotion around this issue,” said attorney James Tupper, who said he represents firms which would be affected by the changes. “I think Ecology and the state have some really difficult policy choices to make. “The question is how will they come down on them?”
Yakama Nation demands clean up of Columbia River following release of fish consumption advisories
Source: Pyramid Communications
TOPPENISH, Wash.—Yakama Nation Chairman Harry Smiskin today said state and federal governments must act to clean up polluted sections of the Columbia River that are contaminating fish. The call for action followed the release of fish consumption advisories by the Oregon Health Authority and Washington Department of Health.
“The fish advisories confirm what the Yakama Nation has known for decades,” he said. “State and federal governments can no longer ignore the inadequacy of their regulatory efforts and the failure to clean up the Columbia River.”
In the Treaty of 1855, the Yakama Nation retained fishing rights throughout the river. The Yakama Nation repeatedly identified contaminated sites along the Columbia, expressing concerns for the health and culture of the Yakama people and calling upon the state and federal agencies for cleanup actions that would protect the tribe’s resources.
“The new advisories once again pass the burden of responsibility from industry and government to Tribes and people in the region,” Chairman Smiskin said. “Rather then addressing the contamination, we are being told to reduce our reliance on the Columbia River’s fish,” “This is unacceptable. The focus should not be ‘Do not eat’—it should be ‘Clean up’ the Columbia River.”
For more information visit www.yakamafish-nsn.gov.
Native Vegetation Filling in Restored Skokomish Estuary
Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commiussion
Kneeling in a thicket of vegetation in the Skokomish estuary, Shannon Kirby combs her hands through the tall green grasses in front of her, calling out codes that identify them by size, type and abundance.
The habitat biologist for the Skokomish Tribe is studying the native freshwater and saltwater vegetation that is taking over the Skokomish estuary, which was diked and dredged for 100 years until recently.
“The response in vegetation is very promising, as is the diversity that’s out here,” Kirby said. “Estuarine plants are a huge source of food for animals, and double as a water filtration system, neutralizing pollutants and providing nutrients for plant growth. We’re right on target for where an estuary should be.”
The tribe is finding pickleweed, salt grass, sedges, rushes, sea arrow grass and Puget Sound gumweed.
Since 2010, every August, when vegetation is in full bloom, tribal staff visit 75 sites throughout the 1,000-acre estuary, looking at plant types, sizes, growth and soil composition.
These observations coincide with the tribe’s insect studies, which include conducting lavages on juvenile salmon to determine the insects they are eating.
“The quality of salmon habitat is determined by the plants that are out here and the insect food source,” Kirby said.
The tribe has been restoring the estuary at the mouth of the Skokomish River since 2007, through dike and culvert removal, large woody debris installation and native plant revegetation. Through three phases so far, the tribe has restored up to 1,000 acres of habitat for salmon and wildlife.
Kids Fly a Kite for Science
Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe youth collected data for the U.S. Geological Survey by flying a kite over the Elwha River this summer.
As part of a science-based summer camp focusing on the Elwha River restoration project, the kite was collecting data about the ever-changing Lake Aldwell delta. The red kite had a small digital camera attached to the fly line, set up to take pictures of the ground below every three seconds.
The USGS is collecting aerial photos to document the rapidly changing deltas of the Elwha River during removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, said KC Nattinger, a field science educator with NatureBridge, a Lake Crescent-based science education camp.
“It’s a great project for the kids since it allows them to participate in a science experiment in an area that they are culturally tied to,” Nattinger said.
In addition to flying kites, the kids took water quality samples, explored old tree stumps and driftwood, and learned about the tribe’s cultural ties to the river.
Klallam language teacher Harmony Arakawa talked about rediscovery of the tribe’s creation site. It had been under Lake Aldwell reservoir for a century until the Elwha Dam was removed last summer, draining the reservoir.
Arakawa talked about the site and its purpose. Tribal members would go on spirit walks to the creation site, first bathing themselves in the river and Olympic Hot Springs and then walk to the creation site seeking a vision.
Wendy Sampson, another Klallam language teacher, told the kids they are in the middle of history and are collecting stories that they will share with future generations.
“You kids are part of history,” she said. “You were some of the last kids whose picture was taken in front of the Elwha Dam before it came down.”
The stories passed down by older generations explaining how the river has changed has been backed by the science taking place on the river recently, Sampson said.
“These stories aren’t just stories,” she said. “We’re seeing evidence of the stories that our elders have told us.”
Lummi Nation holds reef net fishery at Cherry Point
Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries, September 17, 2013
For the first time in generations, the Lummi Nation held a reef net fishery at Cherry Point.
“It feels good to say that as of yesterday, we, the Lummi Nation have been reef netting,” said Lummi Chairman Tim Ballew at a tribal event Aug. 28. “To know that tomorrow we will reef net and the days after we will too.”
The traditional reef net is suspended between two canoes. Tribal fishermen watch for the salmon to swim close to the surface, then lift the net.
“A sxwole (reef net) is a gift from our creator, therefore an inherent right,” said Al Scott Johnnie, tribal cultural administrative policy assistant. “The sockeye salmon spirit came to our people and showed them how to make the reef net from the willow and other materials that were used from long ago. This was a way of life for our people, and the method was also to allow our sockeye to go up into the river so they could replenish, because they were our extended family.”
Known in the tribal language as Xwe’chi’eXen, Cherry Point was a Lummi tribal village and traditional reef net site for hundreds of years. After the Lummi Nation signed the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855, tribal fishermen continued to reef net until about 1894, when non-Indian fish traps out-competed them, according to the 1974 U.S. v. Washington ruling that reaffirmed tribal treaty fishing rights.
A 1934 ban on fish traps in Puget Sound gave tribal fishermen renewed access to their traditional sites, but the 1939 opening of a cannery brought more competition from non-Indian fishermen who were able to reef net in more profitable locations.
In the U.S. v. Washington ruling, Judge George Boldt noted that there were 43 reef nets operating off Lummi Island at the time; none of them by tribal fishermen.
“Members of the Lummi Tribe are entitled to and shall have, as a matter of right, the opportunity to fish with reef nets in such areas,” Boldt wrote. “(W)hile non-treaty fishermen when licensed by the State to fish in reef net areas have the privilege of fishing in those areas ‘in common with’ Lummi Tribal members, they do not have the right to do so.”
North of Bellingham, Cherry Point is the site of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal, a coal export facility that would be the largest in North America if built. Lummi tribal leaders strongly oppose the coal terminal, because of the damage it would do to natural resources and the traditional grounds.
The pink salmon reef net fishery celebrated the tribe’s traditional use of the area. “We want our young people to remember some of the teachings of our ancestors and this way of the reef net,” Johnnie said.
SWAIA Launches Intensive Performing Arts Workshop for Native Youth
This fall, SWAIA is launching its first annual NextGen Intensive Performing Arts Workshop for Native youth led by renowned Native artists Brian Frejo, Louie Gong, Ehren Kee Natay and Michelle St. John.
Santa Fe, NM (PRWEB) September 23, 2013
NextGen SWAIA Intensive Performing Arts Workshop is a weekend program for Native youth (ages 12–18) that explores art, traditional and contemporary music and dance, and spoken word. A series of interactive workshops will take place from November 15-17. Participating youth will perform in front of an audience on Sunday (Nov 17) afternoon and during SWAIA’s Winter Indian Market (Nov 30). This exclusive opportunity will provide eight Native youth a unique opportunity to work with and learn from renowned Native artists and performers Brian Frejo, Louie Gong, Ehren Kee Natay, and Michelle St. John. Applications are due October 4, 2013.
Brian Frejo (Pawnee/Seminole) is a cultural activist, motivational speaker, youth advocate, actor, musician, photographer and DJ. He is a member of the Grammy–nominated drum group Young Bird and plays the Native American flute. Additionally, Frejo has appeared in over twenty feature films and television series in his career.
Louie Gong (Nooksack) is an educator, artist, and activist. Gong is the founder of Eighth Generation, which combines elements of Salish icons and urban pop culture to create one-of-a-kind shoes that speak to questions and statements on identity and culture. Gong is known for his workshops around the world, his partnerships with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and has been featured on NBC News, in the New York Times, and Native Peoples Magazine. Gong was also named in Native Max Magazine’s list of the “Top 10 Inspirational Natives: Past and Present.”
Ehren Kee Natay (Diné/Kewa) is a musician, dancer, actor, painter, and jeweler. Natay has toured the nation as a professional drummer and has been awarded various fellowships for his work as an artist, including the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian Fellowship and the SWAIA/Heritage Hotels Rising Artists Fellowship. Natay designed t-shirts and merchandise for the 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market Artist Designed Collection.
Michelle St. John (Wampanoag) is a two-time Gemini Award winning actor with over 30 years of experience in film, theatre, voice, and music. Her film credits include Smoke Signals, Northern Exposure, and The Business of Fancy Dancing. For ten years she was the co-managing artistic director for the award winning play The Scrubbing Project and co-founded the Native women’s theatre company Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble based in Toronto. St. John is currently a producing partner for Frog Girl Films.
NextGen SWAIA Intensive Performing Arts Workshop is open to eight Native students at no cost; all food, lodging, and supplies are provided. Applications are available at this link. Deadline is October 4, 2013.
Tony West Addresses Native American Issues Subcommittee
Source: Indian Country Today Media Network
The following remarks were delivered by Tony West, associate attorney general at the Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS) meeting on September 18 in Hood River, Oregon.
Thank you, Karol, for that kind introduction. Karol is one of the leading advocates for tribes at the Department of Justice, and I’m delighted that she has taken the helm at OJP.
Let me thank Tim [Purdon, NAIS Chair] and Sandy [Coats, NAIS Vice Chair] for their very capable leadership of the Native American Issues Subcommittee, and for all they do to coordinate the Department’s efforts with its tribal partners. I also want to thank Amanda [Marshall, USA for the District of Oregon] and the many tribal leaders for hosting us. I’m honored to be here among you. Thanks, too, to Marshall Jarrett for his leadership at the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys and Tracy Toulou for the exceptional work he does as Director of our Office of Tribal Justice. Finally, I extend my appreciation to all the members of the committee for your hard work and commitment to these very important issues.
I’m very pleased to have this chance to meet with the federal and tribal officials responsible for the safety and welfare of Native communities and to talk about ways we can continue working together to strengthen the Justice Department’s work in Indian country. We have made unprecedented strides – and achieved remarkable success – in improving law enforcement and ensuring justice in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and I want to ensure that we build on our progress.
The progress has been tremendous.
Every U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction in Indian country has now appointed at least one tribal liaison, and we’ve designated a Native American Issues Coordinator to provide advice and assistance to U.S. Attorneys’ Offices on legal and policy issues. We created the Tribal Nations Leadership Council to advise the Attorney General on issues critical to tribal governments. We launched the National Indian Country Training Initiative, which last year trained some 2,500 federal, state, and tribal criminal justice professionals on issues ranging from domestic violence to wildlife and pollution enforcement. We created a Violence Against Women Federal and Tribal Prosecution Task Force and assigned additional federal personnel to investigate and prosecute cases on Indian lands. And we established the Office of Tribal Justice as a permanent component within the Justice Department.
We have also met – and exceeded – our responsibilities under the Tribal Law and Order Act. We published a final rule that authorizes the Department to assume concurrent jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in Public Law 280 states, and we have already exercised that authority. We’re enhancing our efforts to combat sexual assault by expanding support for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and Sexual Assault Response Teams in Indian country and by establishing a SANE/SART Advisory Committee. We’ve settled long-standing trust litigation and boundary disputes to the benefit of tribes. We’ve worked to protect water rights and natural resources on tribal lands and helped preserve Native cultural and religious practices. We’ve joined with our federal partners to develop, in consultation with tribes, a long-term plan to build and sustain tribal justice systems. And we’re fighting alcohol and substance abuse by coordinating services with the Departments of the Interior and Health and Human Services and by providing assistance to tribes that want to develop action plans to address these issues.
Finally, we’ve vastly expanded and strengthened our outreach to tribes. I have had the honor of joining the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and many other leaders in the Department at a number of listening sessions and consultations in Indian country. Attorney General Holder approved a policy statement committing the Department to regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials. This policy statement requires the Department to seek tribal input whenever we develop or amend policies, regulations, or legislation that will affect tribes. In addition, staff from across the Justice Department have partnered with their colleagues in the Departments of the Interior, Health and Human Services, HUD, and other agencies to hold tribal justice, safety, and wellness training and technical assistance sessions, where we’ve reached more than 5,500 participants. As a result of this greater coordination and cooperation, we’ve been able to more effectively target our resources to meet the most pressing public safety needs of tribes.
Through our Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, or CTAS as we call it, we’ve revamped and streamlined the process for tribes to tap much-needed federal funding. We’ve heard from tribes that this mechanism has been an important positive step in our relationship with tribes, and we continue to make it a centerpiece of our efforts to support tribal communities.
In fact, today I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Justice is awarding almost 200 new awards totaling more than $90 million under CTAS. These awards bring the total number of grants to tribes over the last four years to almost 1,000, totaling almost $440 million. These grants address an array of tribal justice system issues, from at-risk youth and violence against women to community policing and corrections alternatives, and they give tribes the support they need to keep their communities safe and ensure a just, fair, and effective system for fighting crime.
But there is more we must do. Violence against Native women continues at alarming rates, and children in Indian country encounter violence far too often.
I was proud to witness President Obama sign the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in March. This landmark legislation provides vital protections for all women, but it is especially important for what it does to help ensure the safety of Indian women. Now, thanks to the new law, tribes may exercise jurisdiction over certain crimes committed by non-Indians on their lands. This represents a giant step forward in our ability to hold perpetrators of domestic and dating violence accountable.
And we must do all we can to protect Indian children. More than 60 percent of kids in America encounter some form of violence, crime, or abuse, ranging from brief encounters as witnesses to serious violent episodes as victims. Almost 40 percent are direct victims of two or more violent acts. Tribal communities are no exception to this troubling phenomenon. As one tribal leader said, “For us. . . the question is not who has been exposed to violence, it’s who hasn’t been exposed to violence.”
As part of his Defending Childhood Initiative, Attorney General Holder established a national task force to study this problem and recommend ways to address it. One of the recommendations was the creation of a separate task force devoted specifically to children exposed to violence in Indian country. I’m pleased that work is well under way to stand up this task force, which includes both an advisory committee and a federal working group composed of U.S. Attorneys and other government officials, including our partners at the Department of the Interior, working in Indian country.
We anticipate that the Advisory Committee will convene hearings and listening sessions throughout the country and prioritize consultation with American Indian and Alaska Native youth. Our goal is to develop a national strategy to reduce and mitigate the impact of violence on children in tribal communities.
The Federal Working Group of the Task Force is already hard at work and making real progress. In an effort to ensure that juveniles held in tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs detention facilities are provided adequate and culturally-sensitive educational and counseling services, the working group initiated a close look at existing programs and services. As a result, BIA has ensured that contracts for teachers are secured for detention facilities in Towoac, Colorado, and Northern Cheyenne, Montana. To ensure that Bureau of Prison contract facilities provide culturally appropriate services to tribal youth in detention, the working group completed a survey of programs currently available and is currently analyzing the results to develop best practices to ensure consistency across facilities. These are just a few of many efforts currently underway.
This is my sixth trip to Indian country since joining the Department of Justice as a member of President Obama’s administration in 2009, and my fourth as the Associate Attorney General. Since my first trip to the Navajo Nation, where I met with brave Cold War Warriors, I have traveled from the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne in Montana to the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Acoma and Laguna Pueblos of the Four Corners. Earlier this month, I visited the Tulalip Tribes in Washington, and I am so pleased to join you today here in Celilo Village.
For me, these visits to Indian country are a great privilege. They are a great privilege for me because they remind me of the rich legacy that First Americans have bestowed upon this country, and that we are a stronger America because of that legacy.
They remind me of the important trust relationship between the United States and tribal nations, and that the struggle for tribal sovereignty and self-determination has too often been waged in the face of disruption and devastation caused by assimilation and termination policies pursued in the not-so-distant past.
The work we’ve done to strengthen public safety in Indian country – and the work we are doing to protect tribal sovereignty – is a collective responsibility, one that we all must share, federal and tribal officials alike. I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far. I believe we have written a great chapter in the story of our government-to-government relationship with tribes. I look forward to working with all of you to continue that story into the next – and even greater – chapter.
Thank you.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/22/tony-west-addresses-native-american-issues-subcommittee-151378