To manage the ever-evolving area of tribal-federal indian policy; there must always be a legislative effort underway to ensure the foundational trust obligations are met.
FEDERAL RECOGNITION & HUMAN RIGHTS
The first bill I will introduce will be to restore long sought Chippewa sovereignty recognition in Montana. This has been a stain on Montana’s history and one I intend to address. This bill will be in keeping with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People–as the basic precepts of this law have been long followed in the Chippewa Cree case, where these divergent peoples had originated in Montana and Saskatchewan. Its validity as customary law can no longer be denied.
Part of the federal trust obligation is a recognition that tribal societies deserve to live in relative prosperity. This is the very least this nation can do; after all, it is due to tribal nation’s sacrifice of their own prosperity that this nation has thrived. I will work to pass adoption of the UN declaration in Congress.
ECONOMY
I believe economic prosperity of all tribal groups is the foundation and cornerstone of sovereignty; and further, tribal members cannot fully participate in their own tribal, state and federal citizen governments if they do not have a livable standard of life.
I will work to enact a goal of networking the private, non-profit, and public sectors to achieve this goal of targeted and sustained job creation. I will work to target CDBG funds for job creation only, until unemployment levels are at the lowest they can possibly be. I will ensure that through federal mandate, the poorest communities always have access to some federal funds to build their wealth. I will expand entrepreneurship on the individual and partnership levels, and greater economic opportunities–econonic ventures that will sustain tribes and their members for generations to come.
LAND
I will work to ensure Cobell is not forgotten; it is alarming to see some heirs of fractionation hold land shares that are equivalent to five inches square. This is a nation that prides itself on prosperity, yet the land holdings of tribal members have withered to nothing. I will work to enact policies that will reform land into trust regulations consistent with today’s realities.
I will work to enable tribes’ ability to reacquire private lands of cultural, historic and religious value. I will work when applicable, to expand on reservation land holdings, and reasonable expansion of tribal boundaries to meet the growing needs of their tribal members. Our tribal communities cannot thrive with policies that had stopped the effects of DAWES in 1934, but have done little since.