OPA

PARIS, France – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell met today with French Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira to express the United States' concern about tribal sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony that are sold at French auction houses, and to seek cooperation in working to repatriate objects to Indian tribes in the United States.

In the meeting, Secretary Jewell and Minister Taubira discussed their shared commitment to helping tribes repatriate their sacred cultural objects that, under tribal customary law, are owned by the tribe as a whole and cannot be legally sold by individuals. The Secretary and Minister agreed to explore pathways that might provide greater protections for U.S. tribes seeking to repatriate their cultural property.

Secretary Jewell also met with President Catherine Chadelat of the Conseil des Ventes Volontaires, France's auctioneering association and regulator.

Paris auction houses have recently held a series of auctions that included Native American sacred objects such as ceremonial masks. The next such sale is scheduled for December 7 and includes items of concern to several tribes. In the meeting, Jewell noted U.S. tribes’ requests for greater transparency from French auction houses about the origins of objects being sold.

At the request of tribes, the U.S. Department of the Interior has worked closely with the Department of State, including the U.S. Embassy in Paris, to engage French authorities and raise public awareness. Only certain objects are considered “not for sale” by tribes, including objects that are sacred, used for religious or healing purposes, and deeply important to tribal identity.

In the meetings, Secretary Jewell also emphasized the unique legal and political relationship between the federal government and federally recognized tribes in the United States. Federally recognized tribes have their own governments within the U.S. political system, with the power to make contracts, own property, regulate their territory, to sue and be sued in court, and to appear in proceedings of administrative bodies, the same as any other sovereign nation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that $1 million in funding is being made available to federally recognized tribes through the Bureau of Indian Education’s Sovereignty in Indian Education (SIE) Enhancement Program. The SIE Enhancement Program supports tribes in their efforts to assume control of the BIE-funded schools serving their communities.

“The Sovereignty in Education Enhancement Program supports President Obama’s commitment to the tribes’ goals of guiding and enhancing their children’s education,” Washburn said. “Through the SIE program, the Bureau of Indian Education recognizes that tribes have a comparative advantage over the federal government in teaching tribal languages and culture, engaging the tribal community in schools, and providing accountability to the community. With proper resources, tribal governments can provide a higher quality of education in tribal schools and raise their students’ academic achievement levels.”

SIE Enhancement Program awards will range from $100,000 to $200,000 totaling $1 million per fiscal year depending on the number of schools involved, student enrollment, the complexity of creating a new tribally managed school system, and a tribe’s technical approach. These enhancements will provide funds for tribes to:

• Research and develop an alternative definition of adequate yearly progress (AYP);
• Develop an implementation plan that will reform a tribe’s current organizational structure towards an expert and independent Tribal Education Department (TED) that supports schools and students; and
• Covers the execution of the implementation plan with identified staffing, projected timelines, proposed budgets and activities.

The funds support the development of school-reform plans to improve educational outcomes for students and strengthen efficiencies in operating BIE-funded schools on the reservations where they are located. A tribe must have at least one BIE-funded school to be eligible for funding.

“The Bureau of Indian Education is actively responding to the recommendation from tribal leaders that it support tribal leadership on Indian education,” said BIE Director Dr. Charles “Monty” Roessel. “The Sovereignty in Education Enhancement Program is one example of how we are recognizing the desire and ability of tribal governments to assume responsibility for the BIE-funded schools serving their communities.”

The purpose of SIE Enhancement Program funds is to support the tribes’ capacity to manage and operate BIE-funded, tribally controlled schools as defined by the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988. The SIE Enhancement Program was established based on a recommendation contained in the Blueprint for Reform, a comprehensive report on how to improve the quality of education in BIE-funded schools. The program fulfills a recommendation in the Blueprint for the BIE to support tribal nations in their efforts to restructure school governance, assume control over BIE-funded schools serving their communities, and develop curriculum that is both academically rigorous and culturally relevant to their students. This is the second round of SIE funds awarded since October 2014.

An initiative of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, chaired by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, the Blueprint for Reform was issued in June 2014 following consultation with tribal leaders. President Obama established the Council as part of his commitment to engage in a true and lasting government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribes in a more coordinated and effective manner, including promoting and sustaining prosperous and resilient tribal communities.

The BIE will hold two pre-grant training workshops for SIE applicants via webinars on the following dates: •

• Pre-Grant Training 1: Tuesday, December 8, 2015, starting at 11:00 a.m. (EST).
• Pre-Grant Training 2: Friday, December 11, 2015, starting at 4:00 p.m. (EST).

Grant proposals must be received by January 13, 2016, at 4:00 p.m. EST.

For more information on the SIE Enhancement Program and to register for a webinar, visit http://www.bie.edu/Programs/Sovereignty/index.htm.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Education, which operates the federal school system for American Indian and Alaska Native children from the federally recognized tribes. The BIE director is directly responsible for implementing federal education programs and laws in 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools on 64 reservations in 23 states serving over 48,000 students. Of these, 59 are BIE-operated and 124 are tribally operated under Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act contracts or Tribally Controlled Schools Act grants. The BIE also funds or operates off-reservation boarding schools and peripheral dormitories near reservations for tribal students attending public schools.

WHAT: In October of this year, President Obama announced a series of public and private sector efforts to address the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic. As part of those commitments, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service; and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs will host a press conference to announce an agreement to equip BIA officers with naloxone for responding to incidents of opioid overdose. Following the press conference, there will be a community forum on preventing and treating prescription drug abuse and heroin use. Naloxone is a drug that reverses the effects of a prescription opioid or heroin overdose and saves lives.

WHO: Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy at the White House Dr. Susan V. Karol, Chief Medical Officer, Indian Health Service Michael S. Black, Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Charles Addington, Deputy Associate Director of Field Operations, Bureau of Indian Affairs

WHEN: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Central time, Wednesday, December 16 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Press conference (credentialed press only) 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Community forum on responses to opioid epidemic (open press)

WHERE: Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa 500 S Peoria Ave Tulsa, Oklahoma 74120

LIVE WEBCAST: The events will also be video Webcast. To watch LIVE online, visit: http://www.nativetimes.com

CONTACT: Indian Health Service Public Affairs newsroom@ihs.gov 301-443-3593 Bureau of Indian Affairs Public Affairs 202-208-3710

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has extended the effective date of its rights-of-way final rule by 90 days. The extension provides grantees, potential grantees, landowners and BIA personnel with more time to review the final rule and to adequately prepare for its implementation. The updated rule streamlines the process for obtaining the Bureau’s approval to ensure consistency with recently updated leasing regulations, increases the flexibility in compensation and valuations, and supports landowner decisions regarding the use of their land.

The new rule, originally scheduled to become effective on December 21, 2015, will now become effective on March 21, 2016.

“The new rule modernizes the process for obtaining rights-of-way over proposed oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines, railroads and other infrastructure projects on Indian lands,” Assistant Secretary Washburn said. “These reforms will expand economic opportunities for tribes and individual Indian landowners, as well as give more certainty to project proponents seeking rights-of-way approvals.”

Those specific reforms include clarifying the right of Indian land owners to negotiate the terms of rights-of-way directly with applicants and requirements for the BIA to issue prompt decisions on rights-of-way applications. The extension also delays the date by which current holders of assignments must provide documentation of their assignments to July 17, 2016.

The rights-of-way final rule was published on November 19, 2015, and updates the BIA’s regulations at 25 CFR Part 169, which were last updated more than 30 years ago. The old regulations were deemed ill-suited for the modern requirements for rights-of-way leasing. Among other issues raised by stakeholders were the need for faster timelines for BIA approval to improve economic development on tribal lands and greater deference to deals negotiated between tribes and lessees.

For additional information on the final rule, please visit the Indian Affairs website at http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/ORM/RightsofWay/index.htm.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that he has signed a reservation proclamation for approximately 292 acres of trust land located in the city of Payson, Gila County, Ariz., belonging to the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The parcel will be added to the Tribe’s existing reservation under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 467).

“I am pleased to exercise the authority delegated to me by the Secretary of the Interior and to issue this reservation proclamation, which quadruples the size of the Tonto Apache Tribe’s reservation,” Washburn said. “Restoring tribal homelands is one of President Obama’s highest priorities. Consistent with this priority, the Tonto Apache Tribe hopes to develop the new reservation land into homes for tribal members.”

Restoring tribal homelands and furthering tribal sovereignty are among the Obama Administration’s highest priorities for Indian Country. Tribes exercise significant sovereign powers on reservations and have the ability to govern themselves.

As a result of the proclamation, the Tonto Apache Reservation, previously consisting of 85 acres of land, now encompasses more than 375 acres of land.

A proclamation is a formal declaration issued by the Secretary of the Interior, and delegated to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, proclaiming that certain lands acquired for an Indian tribe are a new reservation or are being added to an existing reservation. The request for a proclamation must originate from the tribe. The parcel was acquired in trust in 2010 under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The land that is the subject of the proclamation is adjacent to the existing reservation land and was acquired through a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service. In 2011, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sought input from state and local governments about a proposed reservation proclamation and received no objections or concerns.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs is responsible for helping the Secretary of the Interior in fulfilling the federal government’s trust responsibilities to tribal and individual trust beneficiaries and for promoting self-determination and self-governance for the Nation’s 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

Department of Interior Funds the Expansion of DOJ Tribal Access Program at 31 BIA Social Services and Law Enforcement Locations by 2020

Department of Justice Expands Tribal Access Program to Additional 25 Tribes This Year

DENVER— The Department of Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney and the Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein jointly announced a dramatic expansion of the Justice Department’s Tribal Access Program (TAP) for the National Crime Information Center, which is the federal government’s key program that provides tribes with access to the national crime information databases.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) will fund the instillation of TAP Kiosks at three locations where the Bureau of Indian Affairs-Office of Indian Services (BIA-OIS) deliver direct service social services by the end of 2019 and DOI aims to expand TAP access at all 28 BIA-Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) operated law enforcement agencies and detention service centers. BIA locations will provide some degree of access to TAP for services delivered to more than 50 tribal communities that currently do not have any direct access. An additional five Pueblo communities will work with BIA-OIS for issues related to social services. The Department of Justice will fund access for 25 tribes, bringing the number with current access from 47 to 72, a 50 percent increase.

“I am proud to authorize the funding for the expansion of the Tribal Access Program to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make the future of justice in Indian Country stronger,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney at the 75th National Congress of American Indians Convention today. “The Bureau of Indian Affairs is proud to grant greater access to these important databases at more locations throughout Indian Country. Performing background checks is a critical step in protecting our precious Native children in foster care, and tribal communities served by the BIA will benefit from access to this extensive public safety tool.”

“For far too long, a lack of access to federal criminal databases has hurt tribal law enforcement—preventing them from doing their jobs and keeping their communities safe,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “With the Tribal Access Program, participating tribes will be able to protect victims of domestic violence, register sex offenders, keep guns out of dangerous hands, and help locate missing people. This milestone demonstrates our deep commitment to strengthening public safety in Indian country.”

Participation in the TAP provides tribes and the BIA the ability to conduct state-of-the-art biometric/biographic kiosk workstations capable of processing finger and palm prints in child abuse cases, and to vet foster parents more efficiently pursuant to requirements under the Native American Children’s Safety Act of 2016 (NACSA).

“Access to information is vital to effective law enforcement,” said Trent Shores, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Native American Issues. “The Tribal Access Program will enhance and improve the ability of tribal law enforcement officers to serve their communities. The Native American Issues Subcommittee is proud to support the continued expansion of this tool throughout Indian Country.”

“We at the BIA-OJS look forward to having direct access to these vital resources,” said Deputy BIA Director for Office of Justice Services Charles Addington. “We have waited years for the opportunity to streamline how we access these critical databases and the funding authorized by AS-IA Sweeney will allow our law enforcement officers the ability to receive the information they need to do their jobs effectively and keep them safe.”

TAP, offered in two versions, TAP-FULL and TAP-LIGHT, allows tribes to more effectively serve and protect their communities by fostering the exchange of critical data through several national databases through the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) network, including the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Next Generation Identification (NGI), National Data Exchange (N-DEx), National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) as well as other national systems such as the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets).

TAP-FULL consists of a kiosk workstation that provide access to national systems and is capable of processing finger and palm prints, as well as taking mugshots and submitting records to national databases. TAP-LIGHT is software for criminal agencies that include police departments, prosecutors, criminal courts, jails, and probation departments. Both versions provide federally recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with national crime information databases for both civil and criminal purpose. TAP is currently available to 47 tribes nationwide with over 220 tribal criminal justice and civil agencies participating.

All 28 BIA-OJS Agencies which include Detention Centers will have access to TAP. Through these agencies, BIA law enforcement provides service and support to 64 tribes, and of these tribes, 53 tribes do not currently have any direct access to TAP.

1. Crow Creek Agency
2. Ft. Totten Agency
3. Lower Brule Agency
4. Standing Rock Agency
5. Turtle Mountain Agency
6. Winnebago Agency
7. Yankton Agency
8. Anadarko Agency
9. Concho Agency
10. Miami Agency
11. Ponca Agency
12. Colorado River Agency
13. Eastern Nevada Agency
14. Ft. Apache (White Mt.) Agency
15. Hopi Agency
16. San Carlos Agency
17. Southern Paiute Agency
18. Truxton Canon Agency
19. Uintah & Ouray Agency
20. Mescalero Agency
21. Northern Pueblos Agency
22. Southern Pueblos Agency
23. Ute Mountain Ute Agency
24. Blackfeet Agency
25. Crow Agency
26. Northern Cheyenne Agency
27. Wind River Agency
28. Nett Lake Agency

The following three BIA-OIS locations will have TAP Kiosks installed for the dedicated purposes of vetting foster parents for Tribes within their service areas:

1. Northern Pueblos Agency at Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico
2. Anadarko Agency in Anadarko, Oklahoma
3. Northern Cheyenne Agency in Lame Deer, Montana

The BIA-OIS at the Fort Peck Agency will also work in partnership with the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, a tribe equipped with direct access to TAP-FULL, and will begin using the tribe’s TAP Kiosk in 2019.

Furthermore, the BIA-OIS and the Justice Department will partner and work alongside each of the 17 tribes served by the four BIA Agencies and will explore utilizing the Kiosks for each tribe’s foster care licensing program as part of the NACSA requirements.

For the tribes selected by the Department of Justice, TAP is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).

The following tribes have been selected by the Department of Justice to receive funding for the next phase of TAP FULL:

1. Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
2. Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana
3. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation (Washington)
4. Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes, Oklahoma
5. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota
6. Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
7. Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona
8. Hopi Tribe of Arizona
9. Lower Elwha Tribal Community (Washington)
10. Northern Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
11. Penobscot Nation (Maine)
12. Quinault Indian Nation (Washington)
13. Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota
14. Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona
15. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan
16. The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
17. Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (Washington)
18. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota

The following tribes have been selected by the Department of Justice to receive funding for the next phase of TAP LIGHT:

1. Bishop Paiute Tribe (California)
2. LaJolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California
3. Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan
4. Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (Massachusetts)
5. Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California
6. Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe (Washington)
7. San Pasqual Band of the Diegueno Mission Indians of California

TAP is managed by the Justice Department’s Chief Information Officer with assistance from the Office of Tribal Justice to provide specialized training and assistance for participating tribes as well as a 24x7 Help Desk.

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FARGO – A number of concerns have recently been raised about public safety and criminal investigations on the Fort Berthold Reservation. In response to these concerns, Christopher Myers, the U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota, and Charles Addington, the Director of the Office of Justice Services at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, met in Fargo earlier this month to discuss law enforcement resources and jurisdictional issues on the Fort Berthold Reservation. As a result of this meeting, the BIA is taking steps to enhance investigative resources and will soon increase its staffing levels from one to two investigators.

Both the BIA and Department of Justice are committed to doing their part to improve public safety and conduct effective criminal investigations on the Fort Berthold Reservation. This includes helping to drive down the high rate of violence against women and children and assisting in the active and ongoing investigation into a suspicious death case. However, the BIA and DOJ also recognize the necessary and vital role that tribal law enforcement must play in this process. To that end, the BIA is in communication with tribal law enforcement about how to improve the effectiveness of investigations on the Fort Berthold Reservation. In addition, DOJ is working with the FBI and the Department of the Interior to ensure the prompt provision of investigative resources for serious crimes such as domestic and sexual violence against women and children prevalent on North Dakota reservations.

The Departments of Justice and Interior are working together to deliver training to improve the quality of investigations and coordination among law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions in Indian Country. To provide quality training techniques to law enforcement responsible for conducting criminal investigations in Indian Country, the BIA and FBI have teamed up and developed a nine-day Indian Country Criminal Investigator Training Program. The training program is highly interactive and filled with hands-on labs specific to conducting criminal investigations in Indian Country. In addition, the Department of Justice is identifying training resources that can be brought to the field to improve the capacity of tribal and federal law enforcement to address the situation.

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STATEMENT
OF
TARA MAC LEAN SWEENEY
ASSISTANT SECRETARY – INDIAN AFFAIRS
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
ON
THE BRACKEEN V. ZINKE DECISION

October 08, 2018

For nearly forty years, child advocacy organizations across the United States have considered the Indian Child Welfare Act to be the gold standard of child welfare policy. The Department of the Interior strongly opposes any diminishment of ICWA’s protections for Indian children, families, and tribes.

The Department will continue to work with tribes and states to implement ICWA moving forward. We reiterate our support for ICWA’s goals of ensuring the safety of Indian children, maintaining Indian families, and promoting tribal sovereignty.

GLOUCESTER, Va. - U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke hosted an event today with Tribal leaders celebrating Virginia’s seven federally recognized tribes at Werowocomoco on the York River in Gloucester County. This site is believed to have been a place of leadership and spiritual importance to American Indians as early as circa AD 1200 and the 1607 meeting place of Powhatan and Captain John Smith, the leader of many Algonquian tribes.

At the center of the celebration were leaders of the seven tribes who recently received federal recognition: Chief Stephen Adkins of the Chickahominy; Chief Gerald Stewart of the Chickahominy, Eastern Division; Chief Dean Branham of the Monacan; Chief Lee Lockamy of the Nansemond ; Chief Robert Gray of the Pamunkey; Chief G. Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock; and Chief W. Frank Adams of the Upper Mattaponi.

“The perseverance of these Tribes to gain what they and their creator have always known is incredible,” said Secretary Zinke. “As the champion of the sovereign nations, it was an honor to share this historic day with everyone. I welcome these tribes into the Federal family with open arms.”

Also participating were Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda, Acting National Park Service Director P. Daniel Smith, representatives of the Virginia Governor’s and U.S. Senate offices, and many other dignitaries.

Six of the seven tribes received federal recognition in 2017 legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump on January 29, 2018, while the Pamunkey - the tribe of Pocahontas - received recognition in 2016.

In 2016, The Conservation Fund, a not-for profit 501(c)3 national conservation organization, purchased 264 acres of land in Gloucester County, Virginia, encompassing the historic site known as Werowocomoco. The Conservation Fund then sold the property to the National Park Service to ensure its permanent protection.

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