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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2001)
4 JANUARY 15, 2001 Smoke Signals Mm Eto ragga Emm mag Gteraa Chinook Tribe of Washington Gains Federal Recognition 6 It's just a shame that history happened the way it did. We are not a terminated Tribe. All we did was sign one treaty in good faith and (then) refused to sign a second one which asked us to move out of our own country. Because of that, we ended up staying in our country and slowly over time losing rights. By the 1980s, they (the federal government) finally took away our right to fish and hunt as Indians. V & I . . '-, m ' ' f ' ... Tony Johnson works for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde as the Language Specialist and Acting Director of the Tribe's Museum program. It is a sad thing to me, and all of our Elders, that all these great uncles and aunties of mine have passed away and not seen this (federal recognition). In turn, of course, it's just a really great day to be able to look forward to our future generations not ever really understanding what it is to not be Indians. Tony Johnson, ChinookTribal member and son of Chinook Tribal Chairman Gary Johnson WILLAPA BAY, WA. - One Tribe's 22-year journey through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) pro cess for federal recognition ended recently when Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover signed the final determination in favor of federal acknowledgement for the Chinook Indian Tribe of Washing ton State in a ceremony at the De partment of the Interior's main build ing in Washington, D.C. "Today, we have the opportunity to address directly a historical injus tice lasting many years," said Gover. "The Chinook rejoin the family of Tribal Nations acknowledged by the United States." Present at the signing were Chi nook Chairman Gary Johnson and a delegation of Tribal Council repre sentatives and Tribal members. "This is a great day for the Chinook people," said Johnson. "We are grate ful to everyone who supported our recognition. Throw out the books that say the Chinook do not exist." The signing of the Chinook Tribe's federal recognition was Gover's last official act on his final day with the Interior Department. The Chinook Tribe is located in Southwestern Washington with sig nificant portions of the approxi mately 2,000-member Tribal popu lation having lived along the shores of Willapa Bay and the Columbia River 25 to 45 miles to the south and southeast of Bay Center. The Tribe first signed treaties with the United States in 1851. Despite suffering through decades of neglect by the federal government, Tribal members maintained their cultural traditions. In 1979, the Tribe noti fied the BIA of its intent to submit a petition for federal recognition to the agency's Branch of Federal Acknowledgement and Research. Gover made his final determination based on documentary and interview evidence, which in 1997 formed the basis for a proposed finding not to acknowledge the Chinook Indian Tribe, and an analysis of informa tion and comments received in re sponse to the proposed finding from third parties and the Tribe itself. He reached additional factual conclu sions after conducting a review and analysis of the existing record in light of the additional evidence. A review of the 1997 proposed find ing and information submitted by the Chinook Indian Tribe and third parties established that the Tribe had met all seven mandatory criteria from first contact to the present under 1978 regulations on recognition. Gover also concluded the Chinook Tribe had been acknowledged by Congress in 1925, thus meeting 1994 regulations requiring that a petitioner demonstrate historical continuity for the period commencing from the time of previous acknowledgement to the present. The Chinook Tribe was therefore determined to have met the criteria under both the 1978 and 1994 regulations. The full text of Gover's remarks can be accessed via the BIA's web site at http:www.doi.govbu-reau-indian-affairs.html. Gover Reaffirms Federal Trust Relationship Due to administrative error, the BIA had for several years failed to place the three Tribes on the list of federally recognized Tribes... Assistant Secretary of Indian Af fairs Kevin Gover has reaf firmed the federal trust relationship between the United States and the King Salmon Tribe and the Shoonaq' Tribe in Alaska and the Lower Lake Rancheria in California after find ing that their government-to-government relationship with the U.S. has never been severed. "The King Salmon Tribe, the Shoonaq' Tribe of Kodiak, and the Lower Lake Rancheria have been officially overlooked for many years by the Bureau of Indian Affairs even though their government-to-government relationship with the United States was never terminated," Gover stated in his finding dated Decem ber 29, 2000. "I am pleased to cor rect this egregious oversight." Due to administrative error, the BIA had for several years failed to place the three Tribes on the list of federally recognized Tribes it is re quired to publish annually in the Federal Register under the Federally O ''M 2j!lfrtwi 'Mils slHii Ctfititmrslt 'Hiiifc-iT'l&iitffcir. Recognized Indian Tribes List Act (Pub. L. 103-454, 108 Stat. 4791, 4792). The list, entitled "Indian En tities Recognized and Eligible to Re ceive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs," was last published on March 13, 2000. The Assistant Secretary found that the King Salmon Tribe of Alaska has existed and maintained a continuous Indian community from historic times, and that present-day Tribal members are descendants of a group that had been forced to leave an ear lier homesite destroyed during an eruption of Mount Katmai. The Assistant Secretary also found that the Shoonaq' Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska, has maintained a continu ous political organization since Eu ropean contact, that the Council of the Shoonaq' Tribe of Alaska has governed the historical Native com munity in and around the contem porary community of Kodiak, and that no other Tribe has claimed the territory or the Tribe's membership. Congress acknowledged Kodiak as an historic Native village possessing claims to aboriginal title in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). In 1987, the Kodiak Tribal Council learned it had not been included on a list of federally recognized Tribes published by the BIA in the Federal Reprjster an(j re quested the Secretary of the Interior to correct the list. In the case of the Lower Lake Rancheria of California, the Assis tant Secretary found that the Tribe had not been made subject to the Rancheria Act (Pub. L. 85-671, 72 Stat. 619, as amended by Pub. L. 88 419, 78 Stat. 390), by which Con gress terminated the federal government's trust responsibility for dozens of California Tribes during the 1950s, and that its Tribal status has been continuously maintained by Tribal members to the present day. With the Assistant Secretary's ac tion, the number of federally recog nized Tribes now stands at 561. Mi wok Indians Regain Federal Status PETALUMA, CA. (AP) - Af ter nine years of pushing for rec ognition by the federal govern ment, President Clinton signed legislation restoring status to the Coastal Miwoks. . The legislation gives the 400 Tribal members in Sonoma and Marin Counties access to federal health, housing and educational benefits. The status also allows the U.S. government to hold land in trust for members as a reservation and make it easier to rebury ances tral remains. Congress stripped the Tribe, now called the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria, of its federal recognition in 1958 in an effort to assimilate members into American society. The policy scattered the Tribe's members. The Tribe has no plans for a ca sino or other gambling opera tions, but it is considering busi ness proposals such as a cheese factory, said Tribal Chairman Greg Sarris.
