***************
Shea and Marie,
I got a fax from Mark Fiddler about Wednesday's committee meeting. I
put in the mail this morning to you, Shea, so if you're lucky you'll
get it tomorrow, otherwise Monday. Here's a sketch of it. Nothing
definitive happened, no decisions were arrived at. The report from
Dorsey & Whitney outlined the testimony of various people.
Chairman McCain indicated the NCAI proposal (the "Tulsa proposal") would
be introduced as a standalone measure, and might also be offered as an
amendment to title 3 of HR3286. No change on this news.
Senator Campbell told an interesting story of how he and his northern
Cheyenne father would have failed to be considered Indian for the purpose
of ICWA under the existing Indian family doctrine, since "significant
affiliation" didn't happen until later in life.
Senator Glenn complained about retroactive applicaiton., but otherwise
doesn't want to intrude on membership determinations.
Rep. Solomon, an adoptee, criticised retroactivity and the supposed
failure of Tulsa to limit period of time in which a tribe could
intervene after TPR. Wants to take it up in House-Senate conference.
Rep. Geren felt the U.S. was "founded on the premise that no citizen is
claimed by their ancestral nation." Chm McCain took strong exception, as
did Sen. Inouye; some explanations followed.
Rep's Young and Faleomavaega expressed support for Tulsa.
Rep. Pryce repeated Geren's criticisms.
Assoc. Deputy Att'y Gen'l Seth Waxman stated DOJ supports committee's
effort to delete title 3, and supports Tulsa. Asst Sec. for Indian
Affairs Ada Deer, a member of Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, feels
ICWA's working fine (her tribe has intervened in more than 900 ICWA
cases, involving 12% of hte tribe's population), supports Tulsa.
Oneida chairwoman Deborah Doxtator, Gila River Indian Community Governor
Mary Thomas told moving stories and expressed support for Tulsa.
NCAI president Ron Allen spoke, expressing concern with the recent spatew
of ICWA amendments, based on isolated instances and exceptions to the
general rule that ICWA is working.
The interesting part for me was that Gradstein and Gorman testified,
giving their endorsement of the Tulsa amendments, and suggesting some
technical changes (my guess is they'd like those item #9 membership
citeria published). In response to a question, "Gorman told the
committee if the alternative proposal had been in place, the Rost case
... would never have occurred, because the tribe would have been given
adequate notice, and incentives in the form of sanctions would have been
in place to discourage misrepresentation that the children are Indian"
(I'm quoting what Dorsey & Whitney wrote, not necessarily a direct quote
from Gorman.)
Mike Walleri, of Tanana Chiefs Conference, said Sen. Glenn's concern
about retroactivity would be addressed by the Tulsa proposal because of
the timely notice to the tribe of a placement.
The committee will receive additional written testimony for two weeks,
until July 10th.
-- Kevin McCarty (kmc@netcom.com)Marie Fouche Member of the Lost Bird Society based on the Pine Ridge Reservation, trying to help those who were adopted off the rez, fly home.
Lost Bird Page http://rainbow.rmii.com/~fouche