Native Welcome to Washington, D.C.
Day with President Obama had merit for tribes, leaders say
by Alex DeMarban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alaska Natives who attended a historic tribal meeting punctuated by speeches from President Barack Obama last month say they were overjoyed at the administration's promises to help tribes.
The White House Tribal Nations Conference was the "largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in our history," Obama said during his opening remarks.
In attendance were representatives from most of the nation's 564 federally recognized tribes, including dozens of people representing the 229 tribes in Alaska. Following are comments from those who attended:
Ron Hoffman, CEO of AVCP Housing
"I think the important thing about this meeting is Obama's directives that his secretaries give him a report in 90 days. This would allow true consultation with the tribes and take a look at the regulations and adopt policies that are more favorable to tribes. Coming from the president that he wants true consultation with the tribes, it's a huge positive step for Native Americans."
Donne Fleagle, McGrath, president and CEO of MTNT, a regional tribal organization
"It gives tribes hope. That we have a president who's not just going to make promises, but who is really serious about it, and he's starting the dialogue, it wasn't the end. He had his top cabinet members there and they were taking notes.
"He said this wasn't pomp and circumstance. He made mention that he's an adopted Croix, and he really felt that the United States should start keeping their promises.
He added funds, especially to Indian Health Service programs. It's a start."
Robert Nick, representing AVCP Housing
"What needs to happen now is that tribes across America need to work hard the next three months to try to get their recommendations on some of the federal programs that affect Alaska Natives and American Indians. And President Obama needs to follow up with his Cabinet . . .
"It's my hope that the federal programs that affect Alaska Natives and American Indians will improve and hopefully more funding will come with them too.
"I'm very, very pleased with the president's comments.
"What needs to happen for Alaska is that Title VII of ANILCA needs to be looked at again, hopefully the promise of having a subsistence priority for rural Alaskans needs to be met. It's not being met. The state of Alaska's input into the Office of Subsistence Management is slowly eroding the subsistence priority."
Tom Tilden, president of the Curyung Traditional Council
"I was really encouraged by a couple things Obama said. His departing comments were very encouraging. That this is not the end but this is the beginning of a relationship between tribes and the nation.
"I was encouraged and discouraged (with statements from the secretaries). I was encouraged to hear they were willing to listen to us, to find out that our problems are unique and that they're still in existence. I was discouraged to find out that a lot of the funding (isn't enough). Like Indian Health Service. In Alaska, it's only funded at 44 percent of its need and we still need more. A $17 million increase is a lot of money but it doesn't cover all the needs.
"We still have unmet needs that really need taken care of. Education, public safety, all of those issues."
Matthew Nicolai, president and CEO of Calista Corp.
"It's the access to the administration. It's that they promise to address our issues in Alaska. Now it's up to us to follow through with some of the items that were addressed by the administration.
"We'd like to see a commission addressing whether Indian issues should be placed on a higher priority instead of a second priority (with the possibility that a new cabinet position would be created dealing with Indian issues).
"So we asked that this president create a commission to see if this is the right time to address Indian affairs as a priority issue."
Marie Greene, president and CEO of NANA, the Native regional corporation in Kotzebue
"The discussions have been very promising.
"You can tell that the tribes that are present this afternoon want to come on board with the president and his Cabinet.
"We hear from this panel (on public safety in tribal communities) that they're committed, not only to making our needs aware but also to (committing) those funds. Now we need to lobby for our funds."
Dimitri Philemenof, president and CEO of the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association
"A couple of months ago, I was at the initial meeting in Washington, D.C., with other Native American and Alaska Native leaders (to plan with administration officials for the Tribal Nations Conference.)
"I'm impressed that they had the second meeting (the tribal conference) to meet the president and I see good things happening out of this.
"We have been dealing with the funding, and more and more it seems they kind of expect us to live on less and less and I'm seeing a turnaround here with the administration.
"This conference was beautiful. I hope this continues."
Caroline Cannon, president of the Native Village of Point Hope, who got a hug from the president
"Obama indicated that we had been recognized as second-class citizens, but he said he would end that. After being an advocate for the community, it seems like we've been repeating ourselves over and over. Just recognizing us for who we are was special."