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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Dakota tribes push for more autonomy amid federal cuts
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Chairman Jamie Azure delivers an address during the seventh annual Government-to-Government Conference for tribal and state leaders. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor) North Dakota tribal leaders highlighted uncertainty in federal funding, frustrations with the state Legislature and future economic development projects Wednesday during the state's seventh annual Government-to-Government Conference. The annual event brings leaders of the five tribal nations that share geography with North Dakota together with state officials to share updates, network and discuss common problems facing their communities. 'We're strong, strong people — and we're getting back to that mindset of pridefulness,' Jamie Azure, tribal chair for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said during his address. Azure said development projects in the pipeline for Turtle Mountain involve a retail center, movie theater, bowling alley and more. The conference was started by former Gov. Doug Burgum during his first term in office. Burgum is credited with improving relations between the tribes and the state government, which were at a low point when he took office in 2016. Gov. Kelly Armstrong, who succeeded Burgum in December, called continuing the conference a 'no brainer.' 'We need the collaboration of our tribal partners if we want North Dakota as a state to truly succeed,' Armstrong said. Like Turtle Mountain, officials from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate celebrated several new business opportunities coming to the Lake Traverse Reservation. Economic development is not about money, said Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Secretary Curtis Bissonette. 'It's about freedom, dignity and the ability to care for one another across generations,' he said. 'We are not waiting on permission to act.' Tribal leaders on Wednesday each expressed a degree of anxiety about federal programs. Native tribes receive services from the U.S. government in areas as wide-ranging as law enforcement, healthcare and land management. Native officials are worried about the impact of President Donald Trump's sweeping cuts to federal spending. Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Chairman Mark Fox said that if the federal government wants to stop funding tribes, it needs to help them maintain a 'financial infrastructure' that allows them to 'to survive and thrive economically.' 'If you take that away, then you're going to cause dependency to exist for the next 100 to 1,000 years,' he said. During her address, Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire shared some of her tribe's continuing efforts to collaborate with the federal government on land, energy and infrastructure issues. She said after several years of negotiating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Standing Rock last year entered into a co-stewardship agreement for Dakota Prairie National Grasslands within the boundaries of the reservation, for example. 'These milestones may seem small, but it gives our people the opportunity to participate and have a voice, when once our voice was taken,' Alkire said. She said she is also serving on a tribal advisory committee for the U.S. Department of the Interior under Burgum's leadership. Standing Rock leaders also provided updates on a wind farm project to improve energy infrastructure in southern North Dakota. They hope to finance it in part from a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, though they said federal staff cuts threaten the program. Alkire said she has asked Burgum if the program can be rehoused under the Department of the Interior. North Dakota tribal leaders see Burgum as an ally in Interior, energy role Tribal leaders also had much to say about the state government. Azure during his address played two video clips from this year's legislative session of state lawmakers questioning the integrity of Turtle Mountain's plans to build a casino and resort in Grand Forks. One was of Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, who during one floor session said the source of the tribe's financing was murky and might come from cartels. (Larson apologized for her remarks later that floor session.) Azure also played a clip of Rep. Lawrence Klemin, R-Bismarck, who dismissed the project and compared it to a Chinese company's failed plans to build a corn milling plant near the Air Force base in Grand Forks. Klemin said he no longer trusts economic development projects associated with Grand Forks. He later told The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead his comments weren't directed to the tribe. Azure said the comments were insulting to the tribe and called on the statehouse to do better. 'At the end of the day the mindset has to change, because we can't go back here every two years and show videos like this,' he said. Spirit Lake Nation Chairperson Lonna Jackson-Street urged the state to reinstate the motor vehicle excise tax exemption for tribal members living off reservation. Only tribal members who live on reservations receive the tax exemption under a law change adopted by the state Legislature in 2023. Jackson-Street said a large portion of Spirit Lake members live outside the Spirit Lake Reservation due in part to the federal government's illegal taking of tribal land under the Dawes Act of 1887, and now must pay thousands of dollars more in taxes on vehicle purchases. She also said the tribe has continued to take a hit because of North Dakota's burgeoning electronic pull tab industry, which has taken business away from the Spirit Lake Casino. 'We're trying to establish new businesses within our community to supplement what our casino lost because of e-tabs,' she said. During the North Dakota legislative session, Native lawmakers supported a bill that would have required the Legislature to consult tribes on policies that would affect their communities. Proponents of the bill, which failed in the Senate, noted that the statehouse passed laws that allowed for the proliferation of gambling without speaking with North Dakota tribes that rely on casino revenue. 'For the future, as a tribal leader and whoever may step into these shoes, it's important you know that our government works with tribes on consultation,' Jackson-Street told the audience on Wednesday. Armstrong in his speech Wednesday applauded the state Legislature for passing House Bill 1199, which requires the state to create a task force dedicated to reducing the number of missing or murdered Indigenous people in the state. Armstrong said while he was in Congress he worked on Savanna's Act, which seeks to improve the federal response to the same issue. Armstrong said he thinks the Savanna's Act is 'good legislation' but that he thinks House Bill 1199 will be more impactful. 'That's a perfect example of how you don't solve those problems in Washington, D.C.,' he said. 'This is solved on Main Street across rural North Dakota. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tribes, North Dakota partner to update 30-year-old textbooks on Native history
Updated tribal textbooks detailing the history and culture of the five Native nations that share land with North Dakota will soon be available at public schools across the state. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor) Revised textbooks on the five Native American tribes that share land with North Dakota will be ready in time for next school year. For about three decades, the books went without updates due to a lack of funding, said Lucy Fredericks, director of Indian and multicultural education for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. In 2023, the agency began work on editing the books with the help of federal grant money. The revision process was a joint effort among the Department of Public Instruction, the five tribes, higher education institutions across the state and other educational and cultural organizations. 'We wouldn't be able to get it done without our partnerships,' Fredericks said at a Thursday night reception at United Tribes Technical College celebrating the books' completion. The Indigenous Education Coalition — a group that included some of the series' original authors — and Sacred Pipe Resource Center took the lead on revising the text, according to a project timeline provided by the Department of Public Instruction. They fielded input from tribal colleges, tribal education and historic preservation offices as well as other groups. Updates included incorporating more recent historical events into the textbooks. 'Really, at the heart of this is Indigenous peoples telling their own stories,' said Sashay Schettler, assistant director for Indian and multicultural education at the Department of Public Instruction. The six-part series includes one introductory textbook and books focusing on each of the five tribes — including an all-new book on the history and culture of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. The state initially held off on including Sisseton-Wahpeton since its administrative center is in South Dakota. The idea was that South Dakota could produce a textbook of its own, but that never happened. So the Department of Public Instruction during the revision process reached out to the tribe to see if it wanted to join the North Dakota textbook series. Nick Asbury, website content specialist for the agency, said he anticipated it taking at least a couple years to write the book from scratch. The tribe managed to write it in 90 days so it could release alongside the other updated editions, he said. 'I have never seen anything like that,' Asbury said. 'It was amazing to see.' Though the series is written for a K-12 audience, higher ed institutions rely on them for information, too. The ebooks will be available for free online this summer, according to the Department of Public Instruction. Print editions will be rolled out to schools this fall and also will be available for purchase. The original editions of the textbooks are available for free on most ebook platforms. The agency hopes to revise the books every three to five years going forward. Recent grad sees a gap in educational quality for tribal students Under a law adopted by the state Legislature in 2021, North Dakota K-12 schools are required to teach Native history. State survey data collected in 2023 indicates schools may be struggling to meet that requirement. The survey found that 75% of teachers and 89% of administrators were aware of the legislation. Additionally, 57% of teachers and 67% of administrators said they were aware of tribal history resources published by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. The project was made possible in part because of federal grant funding. Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler noted during the event that the future of some of the Department of Public Instruction's federal grants remains uncertain. The agency hopes the new books will become a staple for North Dakota history classes. 'These books today provide a comprehensive and rich resource of material that our educators can use in teaching Native American culture, history and traditions in our state,' Baesler said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
