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D.C. hearing 'big step' for Little Shell recognition

Written by Administrator

Friday, 15 April 2011

D.C. hearing 'big step' for Little Shell recognition Apr. 15, 2011 Written by: ELIZABETH BEWLEY WASHINGTON— The Interior Department official who denied the Little Shell Chippewas' application for tribal recognition in 2009 told lawmakers Thursday that the department "is not opposed" to legislation that would recognize the tribe. Interior Department Deputy Assistant Secretary George Skibine said the slow pace of the Little Shell's recognition process — a 32-year effort — concerns federal officials. John Sinclair, one of two opposing chairman of the Little Shell Tribe, said after Thursday's hearing that he wished the department supported the bill, but the fact that it didn't oppose the legislation was a "big step." "We have an opportunity here that we didn't have in the past," Sinclair said. The Little Shell have petitioned the Interior Department since 1978 for official federal recognition, which would entitle the tribe to federal Indian programs — such as health, public safety and education — and confer a measure of legitimacy that its members have sought for more than a century. The petition won initial approval in 2000, but was denied nine years later because the tribe didn't meet three of the Interior Department's seven criteria. For example, the tribe wasn't able to show that it had been an Indian community on a "substantially continuous basis" since 1900, according to the agency. An appeal of the 2009 decision is under way, but Little Shell leaders and members of Montana's congressional delegation say it's time for Congress to intervene. The bill discussed at Thursday's hearing was sponsored by Montana's senators, Democrats Jon Tester and Max Baucus. It's similar to legislation that was introduced but never voted on during the last session of Congress. Tester said he would have preferred to leave the decision to the Interior Department, but he and Baucus introduced legislation because "the administrative process is not perfect." "It doesn't always work the way it was intended," Tester said during Thursday's hearing. "And the Little Shell Tribe is a good example of one of the few times Congress should override the administrative process." Skibine said the Interior Department is working to improve its review method, which many people say is unfair and slow. Officials have discussed establishing a definite beginning and end of the process to eliminate delays, easing the criteria for recognition and offering tribes a forum with federal administrators before a final decision is released. The department hopes to put a new process in place by the end of President Barack Obama's term, in January 2013, Skibine said. Jerome Gottschalk, a Native American Rights Fund attorney who represents the Little Shell, said the current "one-size-fits-all" recognition criteria don't make sense for scattered groups such as the Little Shell Tribe. He noted that the tribe was migratory for much of its history and because of that it has struggled to document that it has been a constant, distinct community since 1900. "Because of the unique and complicated nature of its history, the tribe is outside the scope of regulations, but nonetheless requires recognition," Gottschalk said. "There's no doubt you're dealing with Indians — and you're dealing with an Indian tribe." The Little Shell Tribe's other chairman, John Gilbert, wasn't at the hearing Thursday, although a spokesman for the Great Falls-based council he chairs had indicated earlier this week that Gilbert planned to attend. A dispute over a May 2009 election split the tribe's 4,300 members between Sinclair's Havre-based council, which led the tribe before the election, and Gilbert's Great Falls-based council. Gilbert wasn't willing to let Sinclair be the sole representative at the hearing without an agreement to settle the stalemate between the two factions, a Great Falls council spokesman said earlier this week. Tester, whose office invited Sinclair to testify at the hearing, has stayed out of the tribe's internal dispute "out of respect for principles of tribal self-government," Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy said. He added that the dispute "does not impact (Tester's) push for federal recognition of the Little Shell tribe, which he believes is long overdue." After Thursday's hearing, Sinclair said he didn't know what Gilbert decided to do about the hearing, and that plans for the two councils to meet had stalled. "I don't know where we're at," he said. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110415/NEWS01/104150327

 

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