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.
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