Siletz Tribal Behavioral Health Programs
Prevention, Outpatient Treatment, and Women’s and Men’s Transitional
Siletz: 800-600-5599 or
541-444-8286
Eugene: 541-484-4234
Salem: 503-390-9494
Portland: 503-238-1512
Narcotics Anonymous Toll-Free
Help Line – 877-233-4287
For information on Alcoholics
Anonymous: aa-oregon.org
Siletz Community Dental Clinic
Contact the Siletz Community
Dental Clinic if you experience dental
pain or a dental emergency. Staff will
do everything they can to see you as
soon as possible.
Morning check-in time is Monday-
Thursday from 8:30-9 a.m. and Friday
from 10-10:30 a.m.
Afternoon check-in time is Monday-
Friday from 1-1:30 p.m.
CEDARR
Community Efforts Demonstrating the Ability to
Rebuild and Restore
Mission Statement
We will utilize resources to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs,
delinquency and violence; we will seek to reduce the barriers to treatment
and support those who choose abstinance.
Feb. 3 • Noon
Siletz Community Health Clinic
200 Gwee-Shut Road, Siletz
Address, continued from page 1
non-Native. They are areas where Tribal
nations have made significant progress –
and our entire nation can as well.
1. Community Security
Let’s start with community security.
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw
Indians created a robust judicial system
that incorporates traditional Choctaw
values – preserving the peace and respect-
ing personal dignity. Their system features
special teen and healing-to-wellness courts
that are strengthening their community.
It’s one of many examples from
decades of Tribal governments’ success
in building capable systems to enforce
our laws and administer justice. America
can build on this progress by providing
better alternatives to incarceration –
well-grounded rehabilitation and, most
of all, effective crime prevention. Let’s
create restorative justice centers based on
Native concepts.
The recent decision by the Justice
Department to accept jurisdiction of the
Mille Lacs (Band of) Ojibwe – under the
Tribal Law and Order Act – is a great
step toward improving public safety and
addressing the problems caused by Public
Law 280. But our job is still not done.
There are so many more reservations that
need this federal help with law enforce-
ment, particularly in California.
We call for reauthorization of the
Tribal Law and Order Act. Congress
should fully fund important juvenile jus-
tice programs, efforts to collect accurate
and relevant data, and preventative ser-
vices for all families in Indian Country.
Today, Native women and children
experience the highest rates of violence
in the country. Tribes need full authority
to protect them from harm caused by non-
Indians on Tribal lands. Across America,
states and territories receive direct assis-
tance from the Crime Victims Fund – and
it’s time that Tribes do too.
Working together, we can secure our
communities.
2. Economic Equality
Second, let’s talk about economic
equality. Tribes are building more equi-
table, more robust economies.
Take the Tribes in the Idaho region.
Five Tribal nations are among the state’s
top employers. They boost Idaho’s econ-
omy by more than $650 million a year
– supporting twice as many workers as
they employ directly. 2 It goes to show that
when Tribes are empowered to govern,
our communities and neighbors are safer,
healthier and more prosperous.
America can build on this progress
by empowering Tribal governments to
eliminate the gaps that persist in income,
jobs and education.
Tribes should be able to collect taxes
without placing extra burdens on local
businesses. We call on the Department of
Interior to amend The Indian Trader regu-
lations – eliminate dual taxation in Indian
Country and empower Tribes to invest in
the infrastructure and services that make
economic development possible.
In addition, Tribes must be able
to issue tax-exempt bonds. They are
an indispensable tool that every other
modern government uses to seed private
sector growth. Tribal governments must
be treated the same as state and local
governments on labor issues. And we
must ensure that all Tribes can restore
their local land bases. I want to thank this
administration for partnering with us to
achieve this goal.
3. Education, Health and Wellness
Third, Tribes are looking after the
education, health and wellness of their
communities. Education is a promise
made in exchange for our land. We have
more work to do to ensure that Tribal
governments are directing the education of
their youth – especially on schools located
on Tribal lands.
We can do this by incorporating Tribal
culture and language into the classroom;
by acknowledging the role of Tribal educa-
tion departments in Indian education; and
by ensuring that students have adequate,
safe and modernized schools and environ-
ments in which to learn and thrive.
By working together, we can deliver
economic justice while meeting a goal
we all share – to give every child a chance
to succeed so that students like Dahkota
Brown can achieve their hopes and dreams.
Wellness is also critical to achieve-
ment. Look at the Chickasaw Nation
Medical Center’s cutting-edge Diabetes
Care Center. Its holistic health and preven-
tative care programs are providing a model
for clinics everywhere. America can build
on this progress with investments that
strengthen the physical, mental, emotional
and spiritual health of every Tribal com-
munity. For more than a decade, Nike’s N7
Fund and others have partnered with us to
support fitness programs.
But more can be done and we are ask-
ing the federal government to permanently
reauthorize the Special Diabetes Programs
for Indians so that Tribal communities can
continue to combat this disease.
At home, my own Swinomish Tribe
recently became the first in the lower 48
to bring oral health care to our people
through dental therapists. We commend
Alaska Natives for being the first to do
this. I am confident that others will follow
their lead.
Broadly speaking, America needs to
do more of what works and less of what
doesn’t work.
When funding through the Indian
Health Service hits delays, it creates
uncertainty for clinics, hospitals, staff and
patients. We call on Congress to provide
advanced appropriations for the Indian
Health Service. We also call on both the
administration and Congress to relieve
our communities of the financial burden
they will bear under the Affordable Care
Act’s employer mandate. This simple fix
will go a long way to secure the health of
our citizens and make sure our kids grow
up in healthy communities.
4. Climate Change
Last – but certainly not least – is the
threat of global climate change, which
threatens not only food security but all of
humanity. Some will deny this threat even
exists. But Indian Country is on the front
lines. We have seen it. Our Tribal scientists
and Elders are documenting rising tides
in the Arctic, altered migration patterns,
unpredictable harvest times and the worst
droughts in recorded history.
Native scientists and policymakers are
working to address these challenges and
prevent even worse calamities. Nations
from Blue Lake Rancheria to the St. Regis
Mohawk Tribe are crafting ambitious plans
to limit their carbon footprint and reverse the
impacts of climate change on their lands.
And in Paris, Tribal leaders were
proud to take their rightful place among
leaders of nations. They shared their
scholarship and their indigenous knowl-
edge, and helped the world reach a historic
agreement. We ask for the establishment
of a permanent Climate Adaptation Task
Force in collaboration with Tribal leaders.
In discussions about how to mitigate
the effects of climate change, manage
natural resources and protect our sacred
places, Native peoples stand ready to serve
as experts and partners. Together, we can
combat climate change.
Conclusion: Promise of tomorrow
Consider all we’re achieving today.
At every level of government, more and
more leaders are seeing that the path to a
brighter future for America runs through
Indian Country. Imagine how much fur-
ther we’ll go as the next class of Ameri-
can legislators and policymakers further
strengthen Tribal self-determination.
But let’s be honest – progress will
not continue on its own. WE must drive
it – in the halls of our governments, in our
relationships with our communities and
in voting booths across the country. That
is how we honor those who came before
us – and those who will follow.
I think about my great-great-grand-
father, Kel-Kahl-Tsoot, who put his X on
the Point Elliot Treaty in 1855. 3 My dad,
who is 82, carries his Indian name. And I
think about my grandchildren, the seventh
generation since the signing of that treaty.
So much has changed in that time.
This is the question before us today:
Where do we want Indian Country to be
in another seven generations. How about
70 generations? What progress will we
make to help them achieve their promise?
It is up to us. ALL of us. Just as it
always has been. Thank you for your time.
May the Creator bless you, bless
the United States of America and bless
Indian Country.
Thank you.
1
books.google.com/books?id=-QkLsa7e
MnoC&lpg=PA137&ots=Y9pJF7LiHL
&dq. The Indians had the full undivided
and independent sovereignty as long as
they choose to keep it and this might be
forever.
2
“In total, the five Tribes of Idaho directly
employ 4,641 employees, collectively
making them one of the top 10 employ-
ers in Idaho.” Also: “When the estimated
impacts are aggregated, the sum of all of
the direct, indirect and induced effects in
2013 for all Tribal activities (see table on
next page) are: […] 13,840 jobs” media.
spokesman.com/documents/2015/02/
Idaho_tribes_economic_impact.pdf
3
indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.
com/2015/02/01/brian-cladoosby-nmais-
meet-native-america-series-158972
February 2016
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Siletz News
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