OPA

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, December 20, 2001, in Minneapolis, Minn., at a second consultation meeting on the Department's plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel (7901 24th Avenue South) starting at 9:00 a.m. (CST).

On November 15, 2001, the Department announced plans to transfer and consolidate Indian trust asset management functions currently administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other Interior agencies within a new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. The Department also announced the establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Indian Trust Assets Management to oversee BIT AM and a new Office of Indian Trust Transition to implement the transfer and consolidation plans.

The Department has scheduled a series of consultation meetings with tribal leaders and other affected and interested parties. Additional meetings will be held on January 3, 2002, in Oklahoma City, Okla.; January 10 in Rapid City, S.D.; January 17 in San Diego, Calif.; January 23 in Anchorage, Alaska; and February 1 in Washington, D.C. (Arlington, Va.). A notice on the meetings with dates and locations was published in the December 11 Federal Register.

-BIA-

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Interior Assistant Secretary ~ Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, January 3, 2002, in Oklahoma City, Okla., at the third in a series of consultation meetings on the Department's plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Westin hotel (1 North Broadway) starting at 9:00 a.m. (CST).

On November is, 2001, the Department announced plans to transfer and consolidate Indian trust asset management functions currently administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other Interior agencies within a new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. The Department also announced the ~establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Indian Trust Assets Management to oversee BIT Al\1: and a new Office of Indian Trust Transition to implement the transfer and consolidation plans.

Consultation meetings also will be held on January 10 in Rapid City, S.D.; January 17 in San Diego, Calif.; January 23 in Anchorage, Alaska; and February 1 in Washington, D.C. (Arlington, Va.). A notice with meeting dates and locations was published in the December 11 Federal Register.

-BIA-

(Washington, D.C.) – The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb is in Ottawa, Canada today for bilateral talks with representatives from the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The bilateral talks were created to provide an opportunity for the United States and Canada to exchange information on how each administer their responsibilities to their indigenous populations.

“I welcome the exchange of information and ideas on how each country deals with the unique relationships we have with our first nations,” Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb said. “It will be constructive dialogue that will result in our doing a better job of delivering services.”

During the one-day meeting, the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will meet with a group headed by Marc Lafreniere, Deputy Minister, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The discussion of issues will involve: First Nation governance; education; economic development and on-reserve employment; litigation; federal responsibilities for land and natural resource management; building infrastructure; water rights; and cross border issues that Canada and the United States share in common.

Accompanying the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs is, William Mahojah, Director, Office of Indian Education Programs, Jim Pace, Director, and Eric Wilson, Deputy Director, Office of American Indian Trust.

Two years ago, a group of Canadian government officials and First Nations people traveled to Washington, DC and met with the former Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs and staff at the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) will hold its 11th Annual Memorial Service May 9, 2002, to commemorate the sacrifice made by tribal law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will start at 10:30 A.M. on the BIA Indian Police Academy grounds in Artesia, New Mexico.

"The BIA Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial pays homage to those brave police officers who paid the ultimate sacrifice," Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb said. "We must never forget those individuals or their families for what they gave up while working for our safety."

Robert Ecoffey, Director, BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services will provide the keynote address. Kenneth Scabbyrobe, a spiritual leader from the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana will provide the blessing for the Memorial Service. At this year's Memorial Service, three names of fallen officers will be added to the granite stones joining seventy-eight other law enforcement officers, whom have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1852. The names of Officer Creighton T. Spencer, Elko, Nevada, Marshall Shelby D. Blackfox, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and Officer John Red Horse, Pine Ridge, South Dakota will join their fallen comrades on the Memorial.

Officer Creighton T. Spencer, BIA Law Enforcement died on March 25, 2001 while responding to a call for assistance in a town seventy-five miles away from his Elko, Nevada station. While in route, Officer Spencer lost control of his patrol car rolling it across the median where it was struck in mid-air by a semi-tractor trailer traveling in the opposite direction. Officer Spencer's death is particularly poignant since his father, Officer Jack Spencer; Captain of BIA Police at the Western Agency was tragically killed in the line of duty on September 25, 1998.

Shelby D. Blackfox, Cherokee Nation Marshall Service died on November 6, 2001 while en route to meet an informant in the matter of drug interdiction case when he lost control of the motorcycle he was riding and was hit by a passenger car going in the opposite direction.

John Red Horse, Indian Police, Pine Ridge, South Dakota was killed on November 14, 1894 near an Indian camp near Rushville, Nebraska. Officer Red Horse was responding to break up a fight, when an individual in the group attacked him with a club, others joined in beating Officer Red Horse to death.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial site is constructed with Native American symbolism and traditional plants incorporated into the design. The three granite stones are surrounded by a cement/aggregate surface forming a circle around the vertical slabs with an opening to allow for access. Sage, a plant with spiritual significance, is planted in the four directions to consecrate the hallow ground. Four planter areas are filled foliage surrounded by white, red, yellow, and black stones to signify the four colors of mankind on the Earth.

The original Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial was dedicated on May 7, 1992 at the BIA's Indian Police Academy (IPA), in Marana, Arizona. The Memorial was later moved to Artesia, New Mexico and re-dedicated on May 6, 1993 when the BIA Indian Police Academy was relocated to New Mexico.

A 750 person department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services provide uniformed police services, detention operations, and criminal investigation of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country

Who: BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services

What: 11th Annual Memorial Service for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers

When: May 9, 2002 10:30 A.M. MDT

Where: BIA Indian Police Academy 1300 West Richey Avenue Artesia, New Mexico

(Washington, D.C.) – Bilateral talks between agencies from the United States and Canada that administer programs to help their Indigenous populations yielded a commitment to continue sharing information and working on common issues of concern. A one-day meeting took place on May 2, 2002, in Ottawa, Canada with delegations headed by the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb and Marc Lafreniere, Deputy Minister of the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

“Both countries, clearly share a strong commitment to enabling economic, educational, and social successes in working with the First Nations in our respective countries and I look forward to working in this cooperative spirit with Canada’s Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs to advance these objectives,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb. “I am extremely pleased with the open and frank discussions that we had during the talks.”

The United States and its neighbor to the north have similar histories, yet different styles, in dealing with its Indigenous populations. Each formed relationships based on treaties, physical interaction, and judicial rulings that establish the framework for dealing with their Indigenous inhabitants. Canada has similar government based programs for education, land and resource management, and social programs as the United States, but Canada continues its policy of more direct control over the tribes. Since the early 1960’s particularly with the passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act of 1975, the United States embarked on a journey to implement programs that encourage tribes toward self-governance and self-sufficiency. The Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is looking to implement similar polices, but are constrained by laws that prevent them from adequately doing it.

“INAC is hampered by antiquated laws that prevent them from implementing the types of programs that allow the tribes to exert more control over their internal affairs,” said Eric Wilson, Deputy Director, Office of American Indian Trust. OAIT works with its counterpart from the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) to coordinate and facilitate the meetings. “They are looking for success stories to go to the Canadian Legislature to get them to amend the Indian Act, so that Canadian Aboriginals can achieve a level of self-governance and self sufficiency like the tribes are doing in the United States.

The formal discussions established a set of issues that each country has common concerns about, and interest in cooperating with each in order to make their programs more beneficial to tribal people. The meeting focused on five major topics: Economic Development and On-Reserve employment; education; litigation case management; land and resource management, and policing and security issues were on the agenda. Representatives from both agencies shared overviews and answered questions on specific programs, success stories, and policies that have contributed to tribal self-sufficiency.

At the end of the day, the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs McCaleb and Deputy Minister Marc Lafrenier agreed that a series of thematic meetings between program directors should be conducted to work on details that pertain to their programs. Through dialogue, several themes emerged from the talks were: the Office of Indian Education Program’s FACE program; BIA’s Indian Youth Water Resources and Survey Technicians Training Programs, Ground leases/assignments on Tribal land to enable home loan mortgages; Canada’s litigation case management system; and law enforcement issues that pertain to the Akwesasne reservation that straddles the U.S./Canadian border in New York.

The Office of American Indian Trust will coordinate future meetings as a part of the Office of Indian Affairs’ international program. “We want to ensure that quality discussions are taking place that will assist both agencies in achieving their objectives,” said Jim Pace, Director, OAIT.

Already, a contingent from the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada will visit with Office of Indian Education Programs personnel in Phoenix, AZ and will tour Gila Crossing Day School and Black Water Day School in Arizona during the week of May 20th. The discussion will focus on the Family and Child Education (FACE) Program initiated in 1990 to develop an integrated model for an American Indian early childhood/parental involvement program that has successfully improved children’s ability to learn.

The meeting in Ottawa, Canada was the second meeting between top-level administrators of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The first meeting took place on June 14, 2000 a delegation from Canada led by Shirley Serafini visited the Department of the Interior and met with the former Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs and his staff.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced her designation of Aurene M. Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, as Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. “Aurene Martin brings solid experience in Indian affairs and a commitment to excellence to her new role,” said Secretary Norton. “She will be an able leader for the Bureau of Indian Affairs during its transition into an efficient and effective Indian service.” Martin had served as Deputy Assistant Secretary under Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb, who recently retired from public service.

“I’m deeply honored to accept Secretary Norton’s designation,” Martin said, “and I am confident that our efforts to improve the BIA will result in improved services to the trust beneficiaries and the federally recognized tribes.”

In October 2001, Martin joined the Interior Department as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary after having served as Republican senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs since January 1999, where she oversaw Indian health care, gaming and self-determination issues and appropriations. From October 1998 to January 1999 she served as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).

From June 1993 to October 1998, she worked for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and left as Senior Staff Attorney. While there she worked on all aspects of tribal representation including Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) litigation, gaming, and self-determination and tribal government issues.

Martin was born in Shawano, Wisconsin, and was raised on the Menominee Indian Reservation. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she majored in History, Italian and History of Culture. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1993. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar and has been active in its Indian law section, including serving as an officer of the section.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with 10,500 employees nationwide, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes.

Note to Editors: A photo of Ms. Martin may be viewed via the Interior Department’s web site at www.doi.gov.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb today joined a ground blessing ceremony for a $38 million classroom and dormitory complex in Santa Fe, New Mexico, emphasizing President Bush's Indian Education Initiative and commitment to nationwide educational reform.

The Santa Fe Indian School project is funded by $23 million in President Bush's 2002 budget. The new dormitory will be built with $15 million proposed in his 2003 budget. When completed, the school, which has 550 students, will serve about 1,200 children from 26 tribes, including the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, Jicarilla and Mescalero Apache Tribes, and Navajo Nation.

Other BIA schools receiving replacement buildings from the President's 2002 budget include the Wingate Elementary School in New Mexico; Polacca Day School and Holbrook Dormitory (Navajo Nation) in Arizona; Ojibwa Indian School on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota; and Paschal Sherman Indian School on the Colville Indian Reservation in Omak, Washington.

"The President cares deeply about our children's education and is committed to closing the achievement gap so that no child will be left behind," Norton told Pueblo and tribal leaders during the ceremony at historic Santa Fe Indian School.

"That means improving the quality of education in all Bureau of Indian Affairs' schools, working with parents, teachers, and school boards across Indian Country, and building educational excellence through higher standards, higher expectations, and greater accountability."

Norton spent two days visiting and conferring with Indian leaders in New Mexico. The Santa Fe Indian School is one of 12 BIA schools that will be receiving new buildings during the next few years to replace aging structures that pose a health and safety threat and make learning difficult.

The old school site and 24 original buildings, which qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, will be preserved and given to the All Indian Pueblo Council of New Mexico when the new school is finished.

Founded in 1889, Santa Fe Indian School went from one of the weakest schools in the BIA system to one of the best. Norton noted that the principles that guide President Bush's Indian Education Initiative -- a strong sense of community, commitment to local control, and belief in the pursuit of excellence -- helped make the Santa Fe Indian School a model of academic achievement for other BIA schools.

President Bush's initiative provides the tools to carry out this systemwide reform, Norton said, offering Indian parents, tribal leaders, school boards, and educators the means to work with Interior and the BIA to build educational excellence. These tools include increased budget support, curricula reform, access to information technology, and new education laws, such as the President's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

These mandates promote higher academic standards, increased parental involvement, and local control; expanded flexibility in using federal education funds; and program consolidation and streamlining. They also require greater accountability for student progress and academic achievement, offers funding for what works, and expands parental options for children in failing schools.

Providing safe, adequately equipped and maintained schools is an important part of the initiative. The President's 2002 budget provided $293 million for BIA school construction, including $123 million for new buildings at Santa Fe and five other BIA schools and $61 million for major repair projects at 10 more. His 2003 budget calls for another $293 million for BIA school construction, with $120 million for new buildings at Sante Fe and five other schools.

On May 15, Norton visited the Isleta Elementary School and the To'Hajilee School to promote the Family and Child Education Program. The Bureau of Indian Affairs developed FACE in 1990 as an American Indian initiative to increase parental understanding and involvement in early childhood education. Last year more than 3,000 families participated in the FACE Program.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that the Joint DOI/Tribal Leaders Task Force will hold its next meeting on May 19- 21, 2002 in Minneapolis, Minn. The Task Force was established in February of 2002 to review plans on improving the Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

In addition to Assistant Secretary McCaleb, Interior Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles, Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Indian Trust Transition Director Ross O. Swimmer will be in attendance at the meeting, which is the fourth since the task force’s inception.

On November 15, 2001, Secretary Gale Norton announced her proposal to transfer and consolidate Indian trust asset management functions currently administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and other Interior agencies within a new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management (BITAM). She also announced the establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Indian Trust Assets Management to oversee BITAM and a new Office of Indian Trust Transition (OITT) to implement her transfer and consolidation plan. After holding an extensive series of consultation meetings with tribal leaders on her trust reform efforts, Secretary Norton formed the task force to review her proposal along with alternative plans submitted by tribes.

The task force held its first meeting in Shepherdstown, W.Va., on February 1-4, 2002. Subsequent meetings were held in Phoenix, Ariz., in March and in San Diego, Calif., in April.

Transmittal Letter From Secretary Norton Full Report Chart of Key Dates List of Task Force Members Photograph

(WASHINGTON) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, presented to Interior Secretary Gale Norton today the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform's five options for improving the department's management of Indian trust funds and assets. McCaleb and Hall are Task Force co-chairs.

The five options reflect the best features and major elements contained in the Task Force's submissions. The Task Force is proposing to submit these options to Indian Country as part of the department's on going tribal consultation process on trust reform.

"The Task Force has worked diligently and swiftly," Secretary Norton said. "I'm confident we will continue to make progress. This effort is a excellent example of how communication, consultation and cooperation can bring people together to achieve meaningful trust reform for the future good of Indian Country."

The 13-section report gives an overview of the Task Force's history, mission and organization; outlines proposals submitted by tribes and others that were reviewed by the Task Force; identifies the Interior Department's five options for trust management improvement along with pros and cons for each option; proposes specific "cross-cutting" principles that the five options should address; explores changes needed at low, mid, and upper-management levels within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the department; and recommends "key" criteria with which to evaluate the options.

On Nov. 15, 2001, Secretary Norton announced her proposal to transfer and consolidate Indian trust asset management functions currently administered by the BIA and other Interior bureaus to one specific organization. She also announced the establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Indian Trust Assets Management to oversee trust reform. After holding an extensive series of consultation meetings with tribal leaders earlier this year, Secretary Norton agreed to sponsor a task force to review her proposal along with alternative plans submitted by tribes. By the end of April, a total of 29 alternative proposals and comments had been received, reflecting a wide range of ideas.

The Task Force is composed key Interior Department officials, along with 24 tribal leaders and 16 alternates from the BIA's 12 regions. Co-chairing the task force are Deputy Interior Secretary Steve Griles, McCaleb, Hall and Sue Masten, Chairwoman of the Yurok Tribes of Indians of California.

"The Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force has taken its mission very seriously," McCaleb said. "I commend the task force members for their hard work and commitment to the process of finding an appropriate, equitable solution to the current state of trust management within the department."

"The Task Force has selected what we think are the best options for further consultation with the tribes. We need to clarify the lines of responsibility and put someone in charge of developing a trust accounting system. After that, the hard work will really start in actually designing the system and developing the policies and procedures that will work out in Indian Country," Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota Chairman Tex Hall said.

The Task Force held its first meeting in Shepherdstown, W.Va., on Feb. 1-4, 2002. Subsequent meetings were held in Phoenix, Ariz., in March; San Diego, Calif., in April and Minneapolis, Minn., in May. The task force's next scheduled meeting is June 13-15 in Bismarck, N.D. Additional meetings will be held over the next six months to allow the task force to continue its work.

- DOI -

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior has submitted plans to a federal court outlining a proposed $335 million effort to conduct an historical accounting of individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts as well as a separate blueprint to guide the future management of Interior's trust obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles says the filing late last night confirms the Department's firm commitment to reengineer its trust asset management functions and reasserts Interior's ability to perform an historical accounting for some 260,000 Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust account holders.

"Interior is ready, willing and able to provide an historical accounting to account holders," Deputy Secretary Griles said today. "We intend to provide IIM account holders with historical statements of their accounts and detailed information regarding their land assets. A 1994 federal statute specifies the scope of this monumental task. Secretary Norton and this administration are committed to seek the necessary funding from Congress to perform this important work."

The Historical Accounting Plan is expected to take five years and is designed to provide each IIM account holder with a Historical Statement of Account. Most of the money in IIM trust fund accounts will be reconciled through a transaction-by-transaction basis, while other accounts will be reviewed through accepted accounting methods that include statistical analysis.

Four of the nation's five largest accounting firms are consulting with Interior's Office of Historical Trust Accounting (OHTA), including Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Grant Thornton LLP and KPMG LLP. A fifth firm - Chavarria, Dunne & Lamey LLC has experience with numerous Indian trust projects over preceding years. OHTA is also being advised by Bank of America, which has the largest commercial trust operation in the United States. Nationally recognized historical research and statistical consulting firms have also been retained for this project.

"While we have been working aggressively to create a plan to review the history of Indian trust accounts, Interior is also looking forward - carrying out a comprehensive and systematic plan to reform how it will manage its trust responsibilities into the future," Deputy Secretary Griles said today. "We are following through with our commitment to completely examine and document Interior's current trust business processes across Indian country so we are able to confidently reengineer those functions to ensure we will meet our goals and objectives in trust asset management. "

Griles says Interior's trust management reform efforts have been part of an open process that has benefited from tribal leaders' input and that tracks previous reports filed with the federal court:

"We have described and identified our trust management reform efforts in quarterly reports to the court, beginning with the Eighth Report filed in January of 2002," he said. "Interior's reorganization and reform efforts have been conducted in the full view of tribes through an exhaustive consultation and review process over the past year. The reengineering and reorganization efforts that are now underway at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Office of the Special Trustee would not have been possible without the advice and counsel of tribal leaders."