| PRESS
RELEASE Contact: D. Alice LaClaire
March 31, 2004 Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: 605-964-4155
THE
GREAT PLAINS TRIBAL CHAIRMAN’S ASSOCIATION
TAKES STEPS TO ADDRESS THE TRUST REORGANIZATION
THAT IS MOVING FORWARD WITHOUT CONSULTATION WITH
TRIBES
The
Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association
consists of the eighteen tribes in the Aberdeen
Area which includes the states of Nebraska, North
Dakota and South Dakota. The officers for the Association
are: Harold Frazier, Chairman for the Cheyenne River
Sioux Tribe is the Chairman; James C. Crawford,
Chairman for the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe is
the Vice-chairman; Roger Trudell, Chairman for the
Santee Sioux Nation is the Secretary; and John Yellow
Bird Steele, President for the Oglala Sioux Tribe
is the Treasurer.
The
Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association
held its regularly scheduled meeting in Flandreau,
South Dakota on March 18, 2004. After much discussion
on the Trust Reorganization a Resolution was passed
to remove any Trust Officers or Deputy Superintendents
off their reservations as according to their respective
Exclusion Code pursuant to their Tribal Laws.
The
staff from the Office of Special Trustee (OST) has
stated that, “the Trust Reorganization has
already left the station and that the reorganization
is inevitable and the Tribes were consulted”.
According to a great number of Tribes across the
Nation this is not true and they all share the common
statement that they were not consulted.
Chairman
Frazier stated that, “the Great Plains Region
are major stake holders as they represent 27% of
all IIM accounts, 36% of all landownership records
and 37% of all land interests handled by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs”. The Great Plains Tribe
has a unified voice to Congress and the Department
of Interior (DOI) that true consultation with the
Tribes did not occur”. The Great Plains Tribal
Leaders all agree that the OST’s definition
of “consultation” is to gather all the
Tribes together and inform them about the Trust
Reorganization. “True consultation is when
the Tribes and the Government sit at the table together
and negotiate and come to an agreement and this
did not happen”, said Chairman Frazier.
The
Great Plains Tribal Chairmen presented an alternative
Plan in which a majority of Trust function would
remain at the Agency level and to fund more positions
at the local level instead of top heavy bureaucracy
where reform can be implemented closer to those
who are affected by Trust Reform.
The
Great Plains Tribal Chairmen went a step further
by passing a Resolution with the following positions:
• the Tribes of the Great Plains Region are
prepared to peacefully remove any
Trust Officer or Deputy Superintendent off their
reservation as according to
their respective Exclusion Code pursuant to their
Tribal Laws
•
call on Congress and the Department of Interior
to halt the implementation of
the Reorganization Plan and the placement of Trust
Officers and Deputy
Superintendents on their Reservations.
•
call on Congress to direct the Department of Interior
to reprogram the funding for the Office of Special
Trustee, the Trust Officers and the Deputy
Superintendents to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
at the local Reservation
agencies
*
call on Indian Tribes/Governments throughout the
Nation to join
them in this effort.
“We
took this action because we do not need any Trust
Officer or Deputy Superintendent on our reservation
to duplicate the duties of the current Superintendent
when there is a greater need for services such as
Range Technicians, Surveyors, Accountants, Appraisers
and other Trust services at the local level”
said Chairman Frazier.
The
Office of Special Trustee has already placed two
Trust Officers in the Oklahoma region and is in
the process of advertising for a Trust Officer to
be placed at the Pine Ridge Agency in the very near
future.
Chairman
Harold Frazier stated, “OST is moving forward
without consultation and we will reject the implementation
of their “Trust Plan”. As sovereign
nations we have the right to remove any individual
who is a threat to our people and implementation
of the “Trust Plan” is the beginning
of termination and we will utilize our Tribal Laws
to remove these people”.
The
Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association
is in agreement with the National Congress of American
Indians to HALT the Reorganization.
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