This article has been alluded to in the past. Getting permission from the
Seattle P-I has taken almost three weeks, but at least it's been granted...
I sincerely believe this article is of the utmost importance. This goes well
beyond the tribes of Washington State, and it can and will affect many tribes
across the nation, especially those sections concerning prior denial of
recognition and geographic location. I posted the entire text of the bill
last month.
[ David's previous article is available via the Web archives as:
http://bioc09.uthscsa.edu/natnet/archive/nl/9603/0190.html
You can also obtain a copy from the NATIVE-L LISTSERV archives via the
database retrieval system (send a message to "listserv@tamu.edu" with
the message text "get nn-intro archives native-l" for more details) as
article #13839. --Gary ]
AMR
dAVe
CIT/CIPC
METCALF WOULD BLOCK TRIBAL RECOGNITION
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (SP) - FRIDAY, March 22, 1996
By: PAUL SHUKOVSKY P-I Reporter
Edition: Final Section: News Page: C1
Word Count: 1,226
[reprinted courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
TEXT:
Congressman Jack Metcalf, R-Wash., has introduced a bill that could prevent
dozens of Indian tribes around the United States from getting official
recognition from the federal government.
In Western Washington, the bill could affect the unrecognized Chinook,
Cowlitz, Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmoo, Snoqualmie and Steilacoom tribes.
The Samish Tribe, which recently was recognized, probably would not be
affected.
Metcalf says the bill is necessary to keep tribes that have failed to
gain treaty rights in court from continually trying to gain recognition
through administrative avenues.
Hearings probably will be held sometime next month by the House
Resources Subcommittee on Native American and Insular Affairs, said Jim
Miella, spokesman for committee Chairman Elton Gallegly, R-Calif.
Metcalf introduced the bill at the behest of the Tulalip Tribes of
Marysville, which have a history of seeking to block unrecognized Western
Washington tribes from gaining recognition.
The Tulalips are particularly concerned about the Snohomish and the
Snoqualmie, which they contend are merely social groups descended from the
two tribes. But the chairmen of those two tribes say the Tulalips are
acting out of ``greed'' and simply want to prevent unrecognized tribes from
sharing in treaty fishing rights, casino gambling revenues and increasingly
scarce government funding.
Recognition carries with it federal dollars for support of tribal
government, health care, social services, education, housing and cultural
resources. Recognized tribes become sovereign governments with a legal
status similar to states. Without federal recognition, it would be
difficult for tribes to survive.
Metcalf last week refused to be drawn into the intertribal debate,
saying ``the tribes have squabbled among themselves since time
immemorial.'' He said it is time to bring some finality to the government's
decades-long process of deciding which Indian groups deserve to be
officially recognized.
``There will be some injustice there, but you can't unscramble the
egg,'' Metcalf said, referring to the complexities of Native American
history, which have left many tribes scattered and in disarray.
The Snohomish and Snoqualmie, along with the Duwamish, Samish and
Steilacoom tribes, were excluded from participating in treaty fishing in
the 1970s when U.S. District Judge George Boldt made his landmark ruling
that Puget Sound tribes are entitled to half the salmon catch.
Boldt ruled the five tribes could not share in treaty rights, in part,
because he found that they had not continually maintained an organized
tribal structure since their ancestors signed treaties with the United
States in the 1850s.
Metcalf's bill draws language directly from the Boldt ruling to exclude
Western Washington tribes from recognition.
The bill would affect more than 100 unrecognized tribes throughout the
country that are seeking federal recognition through an administrative
process run by the Department of Interior. The bill requires that any
Indian group seeking recognition show that a majority of its members live
in a specific geographic area.
It is a provision that could be difficult for even some recognized
tribes to meet. But Metcalf said, ``If they are not really living together,
then they are not really a tribe.''
A minority staffer on the congressional committee said yesterday it is
likely Metcalf's bill will face opposition from the Democrats. The staffer,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the bill is being pushed by
the Tulalips because ``they don't want other tribes getting a piece of the
pie.''
``But the way the bill is drafted, it goes far beyond the scope of the
Northwest,'' the staffer said. ``When a new tribe comes in, it cuts into
the funding of everyone. But it is just not fair to say no you cannot be a
tribe because we don't have enough money.''
The Tulalips did not exist historically as a tribe. They are a
collection of various Indian peoples, including Snohomish and Snoqualmies,
who were forced to settle on the reservation in Marysville. As a result,
the Tulalips claim they are the legitimate Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes
rather than their off-reservation relatives whose ancestors chose to avoid
the reservation.
But recent administrative decisions and ongoing court cases have
challenged the Tulalips' assertion.
Last year, an administrative judge ruled that the Samish should be
recognized by the United States. His reading of the facts directly
contradicted those of the now-deceased Boldt. And, in the case of the
Snoqualmie, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs also directly contradicted
Boldt with its initial determination that the tribe in the eastern King
County foothills should be recognized.
The Duwamish, Snohomish and Steilacoom tribes recently filed suit to
reopen Boldt's ruling on grounds that he may not have been mentally
competent.
The tribes were acting on information first revealed in a report in the
Post-Intelligencer that said Boldt had Alzheimer's disease when he ruled
the five tribes extinct. A district judge in Seattle ruled against the
tribes. The matter has been appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals where
a decision is pending.
Russel Barsh, an attorney for the Samish, said Metcalf's bill
``outrageously disregards what happened in the Samish case. Samish proved
in a hearing that Judge Boldt's decision against these tribes was based on
incomplete and erroneous evidence. The findings of fact underlying Boldt's
decision on these five tribes has been discredited in an independent
judicial review. It would be really ugly to slam the door in their faces
now.
``A small elite in Tulalip government fears the loss of their personal
profits from gaming, fishing and federal contracts.''
Tulalip Chairman Stan Jones did not return telephone calls for comment.
But tribal cultural resource manager Hank Gobin faxed a statement yesterday
praising Metcalf's bill, which ``will distinguish legitimate tribes from
the numerous groups of loosely-affiliated Indian descendants who have
chosen, over the years, to assimilate into non-Indian society.''
Attorney Jim Jones, who represents the Tulalip Tribes and is no relation
to Stan Jones, says it is fundamentally unfair to allow Indian groups that
have lost in court to have a second bite of the apple.
``It is a cultural identity issue of very high importance to the
tribe,'' Jones said. ``The tribe has over 2,000 Snoqualmie members and over
2,000 Snohomish members. It is grossly unfair to characterize it as an
economic issue.''
Gobin said the groups seeking recognition as the Snohomish and
Snoqualmie tribes, ``in reality are small groups of people whose ancestors
long ago separated themselves from the real Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes
that reside on the Tulalip Reservation.''
Bill Matheson, chairman of the unrecognized Snohomish Tribe, took issue
with the Tulalip contention that his people are merely a social group.
``The main body of the Snohomish people live off the Tulalip
Reservation,'' he said. ``The Tulalip Tribes are not an Indian tribe . They
are a conglomeration of various Indian tribes. For them to say that they
are the Snohomish tribe is totally unrealistic. The only reason they say
that is because, we, the true Snohomish, are the ones that should hold the
treaty-fishing rights. That's the reason the Tulalips are so opposed to the
Snohomish people; their whole basis for proposing this is for greed
purposes only.''
Snoqualmie tribal Chairman Andy de Los Angeles, whose tribe is on the
verge of being recognized by the federal government, calls the bill an
abomination.
``Every time we get close to getting federal acknowledgment, they change
the rules,'' de Los Angeles said. ``This is another example of the Tulalip
Tribes demonstrating greed.''
Copyright (c) 1996,The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
DESCRIPTORS: CONGRESS; INDIAN; PROPOSAL; STATE