Indian Claims Commission Granted More Than $36 M During 1968

Awards totaling about $36 million were granted 13 American Indian groups by judgments of the Indian Claims Commission during 1968, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today.

Congress has appropriated funds for $30.6 million of the total granted. The appropriated funds earn interest for the tribes involved while the funds are on deposit to their credit.

The, Indian Claims Commission was established iii 1946 as an independent agency by Act of Congress. It hears and determines the claims of tribes and other identi­fiable groups of American Indians living in the United States. In 1967 its membership was expanded from three to five.

The present commissioners are John T. Vance, Richard W. Yarborough, Jerome K. Kuykendall, Margaret H. Pierce and Theodore R. McKeldin.

Most of the Indian Claims filed with the commission are for fair value of 1ndian lands ceded to the United States or taken by the Government in the past. Increasingly, the funds received through judgments are now being invested by the tribes for projects to improve the social and economic conditions of their people.

Typical projects include scholarships for the education of Indian youth, social services for reservation dwellers, construction of community centers and funding of community development projects, and tribal enterprises including recreational tourism development, industrial parks and other projects designed to bring new sources of income and employment to the Indians.

Awards granted to the tribes in 1968 by the Indian Claims Commission included: