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One tribal official is offering details into the Tribal Public Safety Crisis Summit recently held by Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD).
Gov. Noem convened the summit after tribes banned her for comments she made about cartels on reservations and about Native children not having any hope.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB)’s Lee Strubinger has more.
At least two tribes, Flandreau Santee and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes, sent members to the summit to hear from the governor and other law enforcement officials.
Representatives from the US Attorney’s office and Attorney General also attended.
Francis Wakeman is a spokesperson for the Flandreau Santee tribe.
He attended the summit and says it was a good first step.
“The governor was very interesting in going to Congress with the tribes and asking for additional appropriations that would benefit both the tribal and the state law enforcement. But, everything’s being held up because the BIA isn’t doing their data—I don’t know if they’re inputting it or what thew issue was there—but they’re not providing the data that reflect the necessity for the governor or the tribes to go to congress and ask for more money.”
He says no mutual aid agreements were made during the meeting. That’s something Gov. Noem wants to see happen.
Gov. Noem has said that could help with cross jurisdictional law enforcement.
Currently, state law enforcement cannot go onto tribal lands and tribal police cannot enforce the law off reservations.
Wakeman says that’s something they heard about from law enforcement officials.
“I think the governor got everybody in the right room and stuff like that. But it was interesting to hear from law enforcement—not the governor or not the head of tribes or anything like that, but actually the people on the ground doing the work. That was very eye opening. Ducking in and out of the reservations, state lands, bringing crimes to the reservation and state.”
Wakeman says many Native Nations were not in attendance, as the summit was held the day before celebrations for the Battle of Little Big Horn when Lakota and Northern Cheyenne defeated General George Armstrong Custer in what is now southeastern Montana.
The governor’s office says all nine tribes were represented at the summit. But, at least two tribes, Lower Brule and Rosebud Sioux Tribes, confirm to SDPB they did not send representatives to attend the summit.
When asked to clarify, the governor’s spokesperson Ian Fury said, “there were tribal members in attendance.”
Lake County commissioners turned down Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT)’s offer to temporarily pay for law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation.
Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports this is part of an ongoing fight over who will manage felony crimes.
Lake County this spring was set to leave a longstanding agreement to arrest and prosecute tribal members for felony crimes, citing the cost of those services. But Gov. Gianforte argued the county couldn’t leave because of a paperwork technicality.
Gianforte offered the county $1.3 million over the next three years.
The governor said that money would give commissioners and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes time to work out funding.
The commissioners argued in a letter Monday that the state is trying to buy time while it too tries to step away from the deal.
Commissioners say the state is responsible for law enforcement on the Flathead Reservation and the county will bill the state for the enforcement of felony crimes.
Gov. Gianforte has previously said the state is not responsible for law enforcement on the reservation.
His office did not respond for comment by deadline.
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Sheilah Nicholas, a professor in the University of Arizona’s College of Education and faculty member in the university’s American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), leads a workshop for the Gila River Indian Community in 2019. The institute is now home to a new West Region Native American Language Resource Center. (Courtesy AILDI)
A new center at the University of Arizona, designated by the U.S. Department of Education, is working to help tribal communities revitalize and maintain their languages.
The new West Region Native American Language Resource Center is one of four inaugural centers doing similar work at other institutions.
The others are in Hawai’i, Oregon, and Nebraska.
The U of A center is focusing on Indigenous communities in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
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