Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2017)
S moke S ignals MAY 15, 2017 5 Tribe seeks amendment to Oregon bill regarding veterans By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor SALEM – Tribal Council Chair- man Reyn Leno and Veterans Spe- cial Event Board Chairman Steve Bobb Sr. testified before the House Committee on Veterans and Emer- gency Preparedness on Thursday, May 4, seeking an amendment to a Senate bill that would require bet- ter cultural competency for Tribal veterans’ representatives accredit- ed by the federal government. The bill was approved 30-0 by the Oregon Senate. It recognizes the service of Native American veterans and requires the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs to assist with programs overseen by the state’s nine federally recognized Tribes and federal accreditation of Tribal veterans’ representatives. The requested amendment would insert language that requires “em- ployees, agents and representatives of the Department of Veterans’ Af- fairs who provide aid and assistance to a Tribe consult with appropriate officials and members of the Tribe as to the needs of Native American vet- erans within the Tribe, and approach the provision of aid and assistance to the Tribe with an understanding of cultural values and practices regard- ing Native American veterans who are members of the Tribe.” Leno and Bobb were accompanied by Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Cameron Smith. “We created a curriculum,” Leno According to the committee’s staff summary, there are more than 100,000 Tribal members in Oregon and approximately 3,800 of them are veterans. ficult question. … In the Tribal environment, it’s about families coming. I actually went and looked for services. I would have never done it had my wife, my kids, my grandkids not pushed me to do that because in the belief of veterans there is always Steve Bobb Sr. Reyn Leno somebody that needs it more than you. We believe testified. “I don’t know how many one of the answers to your question people know that. Grand Ronde is you need to get these families in- stepped up and we created a cur- volved … if not that veteran will sit riculum for education in schools home and go without that service about the nine Tribes in Oregon believing there’s another veteran to be taught. In that process, we needing that service.” bring teachers out to the Tribe and Bobb echoed Leno’s sentiments we teach them how to teach that about veteran thinking when it curriculum. comes to requesting their earned “As a veteran, I believe if you are go- U.S. Department of Veterans Af- ing to have success with these people fairs services. going out to the Tribes, they need to “Warriors do not live with the understand the culture of the Tribes feeling of being owed,” Bobb said. because if you don’t understand that, “Therefore, their contributions to it’s not going to be successful. the peace and the freedom of this “In the Tribal culture, it goes nation that we all love so very much, to the question of how do you get surely the care of all those that have veterans to come in and ask for served should be on an equal level.” that service? That is a very dif- Leno said cultural training for Tribal veterans’ representatives could be held in Grand Ronde, just like the Tribe offers for Oregon teachers. Committee Chairman Paul Ev- ans, a Democrat from Monmouth, said, “Keep talking. We like the way the amendment is going. A way to move this bill that had a 30-0 vote in the Senate, has agreement among the agencies and the Tribes is something that we want to assist in and move forward.” “Without the amendment in our Native ways … if a person out there is just going to sit in his office and wait for a veteran to walk in the door and say ‘I need help,’ it’s not going to happen,” Leno said. “He needs to be open to his Tribal family. That family can actually be people who aren’t even related to him who actually come in and say, ‘I got this veteran. He needs help.’ I think that is the purpose of this amendment, to make sure that we get these people aware of our cul- ture and history.” Leno and Bobb, who are both Vietnam War-era Marine Corps veterans, said they are in favor of Senate Bill 80 with the proposed amendment. According to the committee’s staff summary, there are more than 100,000 Tribal members in Oregon and approximately 3,800 of them are veterans. “Another way to get veterans in the door is reduce the paperwork,” Leno said. Ad created by George Valdez
