And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "Andre P. Cramblit" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: www.ncidc.org
Subject: [FN] TRIBAL SYMPOSIUM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For your information..... --
TRIBAL SURVIVAL: A SOUTHWEST SYMPOSIUM TO BEGIN THE NEXT CENTURY
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Din� College Office of Continuing Education
Lena Fowler, Director
520-283-6321 fax: 520-283-4590
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"We know that within the legislative and judicial systems of this nation,
there are only a handful of people having even a limited knowledge of
Indian law, Indian culture, and the meaning of tribal sovereignty. Yet
those leaders are now in charge of determining federal Indian policy?" John
Echohawk, executive director Native American Rights Fund
TUBA CITY, Ariz. On March 31, Din� College Office of Continuing, Northern
Arizona University Navajo Language Program and Friends of the Navajo Treaty
Project will begin the largest conference on Federal Indian Policy ever
held in Arizona.
Tribal Survival: A Southwest Symposium To Begin The Next Century will bring
to Flagstaff some of the best minds now working in federal Indian law,
politics, government, the environment, education, commerce and current
American Indian affairs.
These individuals include U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Navajo Navajo Supreme
Chief Justice Robert Yazzie, University of Colorado law professor Charles
Wilkinson, Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin, Morningstar Institute
President Suzan Shown Harjo, Native American Rights Fund Director John
Echohawk, and Manley Begay of the Harvard University J.F.K. School of
Government, to name a few.
In the field of law and government, federal Indian policy is perhaps the
most complicated area to understand. This is particularly apparent in
today's Congress. Legal relations with America's native people pre-date the
founding of the United States and are codified in our laws and embodied in
our U.S. Constitution. Yet only recently have law schools begun to include
the study of Indian law in their curricula. Most Americans, likewise, still
do not realize the existence, extent and importance of tribal-federal
relationships.
We are extremely fortunate to be able to bring these Indian policy
educators, policymakers and lawmakers to Flagstaff all at the same time.
They are very hard to schedule. These presenters are acknowledged as the
best in this field.
In addition, we have linked Tribal Survival to the exhibit of the original
U.S.-Navajo Treaty of 1868, now on loan from the National Archives and
Records Administration in Washington, D.C., until June 1. This is a
momentous event. Once the treaty returns to Washington, D.C., it cannot go
out on loan for another 10 years.
The Conference opens with pre-conference registration on Wednesday, March
31, and runs through noon Saturday, April 3. An evening banquet will begin
at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 1.
Challenges and Successes
"It would be wise to anticipate many challenges, challenges that will have
a profound impact upon your future and challenges that may set you back and
take away some gains you have fought for, for many decades." U.S. Sen.
Daniel Inouye, U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee 21-year member
Once considered a poor and inconsequential minority and "the vanishing
Americans," Native Americans are currently staging one of the most
remarkable regenerations and rise in influence ever observed in American
politics:
In California, tribes are now one of the most important financial
contributors to both parties in state and federal political campaigns,
ranked at the top along with doctors and teacher unions. One of that
state's most expensive political campaigns over Proposition 5, a gaming
proposition, recently passed by 62 percent in the tribes' favor.
In Connecticut, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, the most successful gaming
tribe in the country, has completely changed the way a state government
perceives and does business with its Indian people who have become the
largest taxpayers in the state.
In New York, the Oneida Tribe has taken the state to federal court to
reclaim an entire city based on its treaty rights, and recently purchased
the only national Indian newspaper in the country, Indian Country Today.
In Arizona, the Navajo and Hopi Tribes are adjudicating their water rights
to the Colorado and Little Colorado River Basins, which may impact the
distribution of water in seven states and Mexico.
Here in Coconino County, strong Navajo voter turnout in 1998 was key to
passing the $21 million development of Coconino County Community College's
Flagstaff campus and long distance learning program although non-Indians in
Flagstaff overwhelmingly voted against it.
And once considered a do-nothing assignment, U.S. senators now have a
waiting list to serve on the Senate Indian Affairs.
"Although there has been ample legislative activity in Indian affairs
during the 20th Century, many of the basic rights of Indian tribes depend
upon constructions of treaties, statutes, and executive orders promulgated
during the 19th Century, or even the 18th Century." Charles Wilkinson,
American Indians, Time and the Law.
Despite recent positive change, challenges to Indian rights, treaties,
sovereignty, law, civil rights, and their special relationship to the
federal government, and their legal existence continue unabated. "Indian
lives are governed by hundreds of treaties, thousands of federal statutes,
and numerous regulations and administrative rulings, many of them
contradict each other," writes John Echohawk. Hence, the purpose of this
conference is to bring together those individuals, organizations and
policy-makers who work daily on these very Indian issues.
Conference participants will be educators, journalists, students, tribal
representatives, local, state and federal officials who seek insights on
American Indian affairs.
Some of our conference workshops will be:
Planning and Policy-Making for Tribal Nation Building.
Indian-U.S. Treaties Yesterday and Today.
Visit to the original Navajo Treaty of 1868.
Federal Indian Law in This Century and The Next.
How To Work with Today�s Congress.
Tribal Issues in the Courts. � Tribal Economic Development.
Evolving Economics of the Colorado Plateau.
Environmental Issues in Indian Country.
The Influence and Use of the Media.
(A complete listing is contained in accompanying conference agenda.)
For more information or to register, call the Dine' College Office of
Continuing Education in Tuba City at 520-283-6321.
--
Andr� Cramblit, Operations Director
[Image]
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC is a non-profit
organization founded in 1976 to meet the social, educational, and economic
development needs of American Indian communities and for the conservation
and preservation of cultural, historic, and traditional resources and
sites. NCIDC operates a fine Arts Gallery and Gift Boutique featuring the
best of American Indian Artist's and their work, with emphasis placed on
the work of the Tribes of N.W. California.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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