Smoke Signals 5
FEBRUARY 1,2008
On Jan. 1 9, members of many
Northwest Tribes met at the Chinook
Longhouse in Ridgefield, Wash. At
left, Tribal member Jon George shows
his son. Tribal member Tynan, 9, a
drum. At right, Les Greene, wearing
hat, the hereditary Chief of Wyaatch
Howaltud among the Neah Bay
Makah, led a group of Cowlitz Tribal
members drumming while children
from many Tribes looked on.
& f wh ,r g
Photos by Ron Karten
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I
Peacemakers help iresoDwe disputes
PEACEMAKER continued
from front page
cases, which are excluded from the
Peacemaker program. The remain
ing 27 cases involved issues that
potentially could have been settled
outside of the courtroom with the
help of a Peacemaker.
Tribal Court Administrator and
Tribal member Angela Fasana has
worked diligently to add a Peace
maker component to the Tribal
Court system and provide Tribal
members with an alternative av
enue for resolving disputes, thereby
avoiding the courtroom.
"The purpose of the program is
to try to solve disputes in a non
adversarial way," Fasana said. "A
Peacemaker tries to find a way to
meet the interests of both parties
and come up with a resolution that
makes everybody happy."
When a person goes into court,
Fasana said, both parties tell their
story and then a judge makes a deci
sion. When they use a Peacemaker,
they are essentially using a media
tor who attempts to determine the
interests of both parties and help
them reach a mutual agreement.
Currently, the Peacemaker pro
gram is free of charge and open
to anyone in need of assistance in
settling a dispute. A Peacemaker
can assist with any type of dispute,
with the exception of custody issues
that arise under the Indian Child
Welfare ordinance.
Fasana said she anticipates that
the Peacemaker program will re
ceive many requests for help with
child custody disputes that are not
ICW related, but private custody
cases between parents who need
help to develop a parenting time
and plan agreement.
"Mediation can have different
flares, and we're going to bring
in a cultural component," Fasana
said. "Often, parenting agree
ments do not take into consid
eration the cultural component
of children attending pow-wows,
sweats, canoe journey or other
ceremonial things."
Fasana said she also expects to
receive requests for divorce cases.
However, to have a divorce settled
in Tribal Court, it must be an
undisputed case with everything
agreed upon.
"Sometimes the parties just need
a third party, the Peacemaker, to
sit down and work through the de
tails with them," Fasana said.
"So if they come to an agreement,
they can settle their divorce here
(in Tribal Court), which is a lot less
expensive than if they disagree and
have to file in a state court."
Fasana advertised for volunteer
Peacemakers in Smoke Signals
last fall and has since received
four qualified applicants for the
job. Two of those applicants, Sam
Henny and David Dehart, who are
both Grand Ronde Tribal members,
have completed the required 40
hours of mediation training at the
Clackamas County Dispute Resolu
tion Center and are ready to begin
making peace.
"I have about 30 years of experi
ence working in human resources
Ivahd iive:done mediation before,"
said Henny, Tribal and organiza
tional development manager for
Spirit Mountain Casino. "I think
it was the title; instead of say
ing mediator or mediation, it was
Peacemaker, and that sounded
comforting to me.
"But the level of mediation the
Peacemaker would do intrigued
me.
"I enjoy conflict resolution and
the investigative process of em
ployee relations. And when I went
to the Peacemakers training, which
was a very intense weeklong train
ing, I was hooked.
'The actual process of mediation
is simple, which says you facilitate
a process to get two people to sit
down at the table and come out
with an agreement. It's the stuff in
between that's difficult.
"So, in the class, it was a lot of
intensive role plays in many differ
ent situations that illustrates what
we will come up against all across
the board."
For Dehart, Tribal developmen
tor for Spirit Mountain Casino,
the mediation aspect gained his
interest in volunteering as a Peace
maker. He also has an interest in
Peacemaking because of the large
number of legal cases that Tribal
members file in Tribal court, which
he believes can split families.
He said he hopes to help Tribal
members find resolutions.
"Being a Peacemaker is pretty
compatible for me because I do em
ployee relations at work," Dehart
said. "It really goes to the heart, I
think, of self-sufficiency and Belf-de-termination
if you really look at it.
"You're not having a court tell you
what's good for you or having n judge
and jury determine what's good and
lvv 'j"i-'--i'r'''' it'-"'T- I f
o 6
:
Photo by Angle Sears
Grand Ronde Tribal members Sam Henny, left, and David Dehart are the first
two trained Peacemakers who will volunteer in the Tribal Court program to
resolve disputes before a trial is necessary.
equitable for two parties.
"It's two parties coming together,
identifying their interests and say
ing this is what's good for me.
"You will not likely get that in a
legal model."
Chief Judge Suzanne Ojibway
Townsend is a big supporter of
the Peacemaker program. She has
spent much of her career seeking
ways to resolve disputes because
she has seen the terrible toll that
a trial can have on people.
"I became interested in mediation
and peacemaking because I think it
helps people, and it's a much better
way to resolve a dispute; if it can be
done that way," said Townsend, a
Minnesota Chippewa. "Not every
dispute can be resolved through
peacemaking, but it's worth a shot
in almost every instance.
"Peacemaking allows people to be
more creative about how a dispute
might be resolved, and it allows
people to have a lot more control
over the outcome.
"You have the ability for both
sides to come out winners, where in
adversarial court proceedings that
rarely happens.
"In fact, many times everybody
comes out feeling like they've lost,
even if they've won because of the
length of time, expense and their
inability to have much power over
the proceedings.
"I don't think we could have done
better with our first two Peacemak
ers. We have some other folks going
through the training in the future,
and we're going to keep adding as
the program grows. But our first
two Peacemakers, I think, are just
outstanding."
The Peacemaker program is not
new in Indian Country. Several
Tribes have adopted similar pro
grams in their court systems. The
Navajo have a whole division in
their court system dedicated to
Peacemakers, the Coquille Tribe
has a Peacemaker component, and
the CoosLower UmpquaSiuslaw
have what they call Peace Giving,
all of which are a mediation process
used as an alternative to a court
room situation.
"I'm just really excited about the
program," Townsend said. "I think
it has the potential to be the thing
that we do that makes the most
difference. I really do.
"We just need to keep the ball
rolling and get people to come in
and try it."
"It's a great way to volunteer at
the Tribe," 1 lenny said. "I've always
wanted to work more with the Tribe
as a volunteer, and when I saw the
Peacemaker program, it fit into ev
erything I know and love." B