Missoulian reporter Vince Devlin had this good news from the Flathead Reservation last week:

ST. IGNATIUS – S&K Technologies had somewhere between 40 million and a billion reasons to celebrate Friday.
One of the firm’s seven companies, S&K Aerospace, landed a U.S. Air Force contract worth almost $1 billion, CEO Tom Acevedo confirmed.

While the bulk of the money will go to purchasing and repairing military equipment for more than 80 nations around the world, the contract will be worth $40 million to $50 million to S&K Aerospace to oversee the program for the next five years.
The $975 million contract is triple that of any previous contract S&K, owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has been awarded.

“What’s more exciting is that it was a full and open competition,” Acevedo said. “It means we can go up against any company of any size, and compete for and get these types of contracts.”

This one is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world.

URS Corp., headquartered in San Francisco, has held the federal contract for the past 10 years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Missoulian reporter Tristan Scott takes a closer look at the U.S.-Cadanda border and how crossing that line is sometimes a struggle for tribal members.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe officials have been mulling options and expressing frustrations about the situation at the border during talks with U.S. Border Patrol and Customs representatives this winter.

As Scott writes, there is a lot to discuss.

ELMO – The 49th parallel. The International Boundary. The Border.

In Montana, it is the northernmost perimeter, a 545-mile-long line along which the state rises to meet three Canadian provinces. The border distinguishes two nations and was born of negotiations that helped end the American Revolutionary War.

But to members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Blackfeet Nation, among others, the U.S.-Canada border is an arbitrary line demarcating ancestral lands, separating families and undermining tribal sovereignty.

In the most trifling circumstances, the border poses an annoyance to tribal members who regularly travel between Canada and the United States for family visits, council meetings or cultural and religious ceremonies. However, in other instances, either due to a lack of cultural awareness or a misunderstanding by officials with Customs and Border Protection, tribal members have been deeply offended or had their travel plans derailed.

Too many tribal members share horror stories of family members who are prohibited from crossing the border because they do not have a passport (they are not required to possess one) and of religious or cultural items that are unknowingly desecrated by Customs personnel, such as eagle feathers, sweetgrass or sacred medicine bundles.

“A lot of law enforcement and border patrol are ignorant about our culture and tradition in general,” said Vernon Finley of the Kootenai Culture Committee. “They don’t understand that as a tribe who lives along the border, we are allowed to move fluidly throughout our territory. We always have been. And they don’t understand the significance of our religious objects.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana held council elections in mid-December. The winds of change must of been blowing hard that day.

As Vince Devlin of the Missoulian reports, four of five incumbents were voted out of office.

The CSKT council consists of 10 seats come up for election every two years. Once the councilors are seated, they choose a chairman.

PABLO – Tribal government on the Flathead Indian Reservation will take on a decidedly different look Friday, when the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Council elects a new leader and four new council members are sworn in.

Voters last month turned four of five incumbents out of office, including Tribal Chairman E.T. “Bud” Moran.

Only council member Terry Pitts of Dixon was able to hang onto his job, defeating challenger Anita L. Orr Matt 659-626.

Every other incumbent went down to defeat. The casualties included both Moran, who represented the Pablo District, and former Chairman James Steele Jr. of Arlee.

“I’ve said before that Jimmy the Greek would have lost his shorts in a tribal election,” said former CSKT Chairman Fred Matt, who himself lost a 2006 council race that cost him the leadership position. “I can’t see any rhyme or reason to why it happens. There were no hot-button issues. I really think a large number of people just vote to change. They don’t always have a specific reason.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Bridge to connect communities, pave way for future generations
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes celebrated the opening of a 265-foot long footbridge connecting its tribal complex to Salish Kootenai College last month, Char-Koosta News reports.

The bridge is anchored on both sides by teepees ramps that tower over the highway running through the town of Pablo.

Planning for the $3.2 million project, which was partially funded by stimulus funds, began in 2009.

CSKT Tribal Health Director and Montana Transportation Commission Chairman Kevin Howlett said the structure connects the community to the future. “Building this represents generations to follow us into the future,” Howlett addressed those in attendance.

More Native American remains found in Oak Harbor; count rises to 11
Workers recovered more Native remains at a work site near Coupeville, Wash., the Whidbey News-Times reports, convincing experts working at the site that the space now occupied by a mini-mart must have once been a burial ground used by tribes in the area.

Eleven sets of remains have now been found under a section of land there and experts expect more will be revealed as the investigations into the remains’ origin continues. The findings have halted a road project, as state officials continue to investigate the remains.

(The state’s) physical anthropologist has completed only about two-thirds of his analysis so it’s very possible the remains of more people could be identified. She could not say whether this will further delay the project.

However, Project Manager Larry Cort said today that the recent discoveries will warrant another meeting between the state office, the city, and the six affected tribes.

The discussion will focus mainly on what to do with the remains. They could be left where they are or removed and reburied with the bones of the four others discovered in June, Cort said.

Jenna Cederberg

Casey Lozar, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, was promoted to the position of vice president of resource development for the Denver, Colorado-based American Indian College Fund.

In his new role, Lozar is responsible for resource development for all fundraising departments at the Fund, a Fund news release said.

ICTMN had the story as well.

Lozar grew up in northwestern Montana and along with his job at the AIC Fund is working toward an MBA at the University of Colorado.

Lozar’s career includes having received two prestigious professional honors. He was named as one of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s 2010 Native American 40 Under 40 Award, which recognizes 40 existing and emerging American Indian leaders under 40 years of age who demonstrate leadership, initiative and dedication to achieve significant contributions in their careers, communities, and to Indian Country. He was also named as one of 12 of the Independent Sector NGEN Leadership Fellows.

Jenna Cederberg

If you haven’t already read Missoulian reporter Gwen Florio’s two-day look at the legacy of abuse at the Jesuit-run school and mission on the Flathead Indian Reservation, here is the set of stories.

Florio spent time with three tribal members who endured years of abuse at the hands of both priests and nuns. What does the recent $166.1 million settlement settlement with the Northwest Jesuits mean for the abused who have lived with the past so long? It’s been a long, hard road that continues for most victims, despite the pending settlement.

Part one: Anguish has never healed for Natives physically, sexually abused at St. Ignatius mission

(Garry) Salois, (Francis) Burke and (Leland) Hewankorn are among some 500 people – nearly all of them Native American or Alaskan Native – who prevailed in a $166.1 million bankruptcy reorganization against the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, better known as Jesuits.

Part two: Silence shrouds St. Ignatius Jesuit abuse case as settlement vote nears

ST. IGNATIUS – The recent $166.1 million settlement for people who were sexually abused in Jesuit-run schools and missions on Indian reservations and Alaskan villages made international headlines.

But here, where so much of the abuse occurred, the silence surrounding the case is as cold and deep as the stubbornly lingering snow on the Mission Mountains.

Also listed with the stories is a set of abuse resources.

Jenna Cederberg

Two bills signed into law this spring will help even out taxes for tribal entities, the Char-Koosta news reports. A lobbying effort from members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes help ensure the passage of the bills.

The first victory was the passage of House Bill 618, which provides for a property tax exemption for property owned by the Tribes if the property is used for essential governmental services. The passage of this bill puts the Tribal government on equal footing with cities, counties and the state where property is used for governmental purposes.

HB 618 will also help equalize tribal college tax exemptions and help clarify property size limits for the institutions.

The next triumph was Senate Bill 412, which provides for a temporary tax exemption while the Tribes are transitioning tribally owned property from fee status to tribal Trust status. The federal fee-to-trust process is an expensive 17-step process with involvement of the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs and several contracted professionals.

Jenna Cederberg

By Vince Devlin, of the Missoulian:

MOIESE – A year ago, the chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said he welcomed an investigation into the tribes’ involvement in the operation of the National Bison Range that was requested by a Washington, D.C., environmental group.

This week, he certainly welcomed the results.

On almost a point-by-point basis, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Interior found no merit in allegations long made against the tribes by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which had called for the independent review.

CSKT Chairman E.T. “Bud” Moran called the inspector general’s report “both gratifying and unsurprising.”

“The report proves what most of us in Montana already know,” Moran went on. “PEER’s allegations concerning tribal performance at the Bison Range are just wrong.”

PEER still currently holds the upper hand in its long-running battle to keep the tribes out of the management and operation of the Bison Range, which it says sets a precedent that could leave 80 percent of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and 57 national parks in 19 states, under similar agreements with other Indian tribes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Salish Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee Elders Committee is being asked to weigh in on the mining regulation discussion the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are having with the state of Montana.

Officials in Montana have offered to begin regulating building stone mines on reservation fee land, the Char-Koosta News reports. As the tribe’s legal department continues to examine the issue, the elders’ opinions are being brought into the discussion as well. Sovereignty and the health of the land were main points of interest at the first meeting with elders to discuss the mining regulations.

There are several unregulated stone building mines on the reservation already. One has generated anger because of its close proximity to the sacred Chief Cliff site overlooking Flathead Lake.

“When it comes to hard rock mines on fee land within the exterior boundaries of the Flathead Reservation, (fee land owners) can mine without regulations,” (CSKT legal department attorney Stu) Levit said. “The mining at Chief Cliff and Perma has been going on for quite a few years now. Cultural preservation acts don’t carry much weight.”

Levit said the Tribes were concerned about the building stone mining at Perma and went to the State with their concerns. It was in those discussions that the CSKT learned that the State doesn’t have the regulative authority when it comes to building stone mining.

. . .

Elder Pat Pierre advised caution when it comes to the strange bedfellows political mix of State and tribal because it seems that it is the tribal people who consistently come out on the short end of the deal. He added that tribal people historically have had little say – if any – in laws that affect them.

Jenna Cederberg