Native American Legal Update : Native American Law : Foster Pepper Law Firm : Northwest, Seattle, Spokane, Portland Lawyer & Attorney

Free podcasts from the informative Tribal non-profit organizations seminar in Seattle are now available for you to download from this website. The sessions include:

The Need for Fostering Non-Profits in Indian Country:

Ken Gordon, Executive Director, The Potlatch Fund

Non-Profit Law in Indian Country:

Millie Kennedy, Native American Unit, The Northwest Justice Project
Don Chalmers, President, SparrowHawk Consulting Company
Timothy Brewer, Reservation Attorney, The Tulalip Tribes
Shana Barehand, Tribal Liaison for the WA Department of Revenue

Dispute Resolution in the Tribal Context: “Cultural Awareness and Strategic
Planning”:

Michele Vendiola, Consultant/Facilitator, Community Alliance & Peacemaking
Project
Christina Parker, Field Attorney, The Northwest Justice Project
Greg Guedel, Chair, Foster Pepper PLLC Native American Legal Services
Group

You can access the podcasts below and through Foster Pepper’s iTunes page.

PODCAST - AUDIO
(Audio files are in .mp3 format and require an Audio player or you can listen via iTunes.)

The Need for Fostering Non-Profits in Indian Country:

• Listen to Ken Gordon, Executive Director, The Potlatch Fund

Non-Profit Law in Indian Country:

• Millie Kennedy, Native American Unit, The Northwest Justice Project
• Listen to Don Chalmers, President, SparrowHawk Consulting Company
• Listen to Timothy Brewer, Reservation Attorney, The Tulalip Tribes
• Listen to Shana Barehand, Tribal Liaison for the WA Department of Revenue
• Listen to the Non-Profit Law Panel

Dispute Resolution in the Tribal Context: “Cultural Awareness and Strategic Planning”:

• Listen to Michele Vendiola, Consultant/Facilitator, Community Alliance & Peacemaking Project
• Listen to Christina Parker, Field Attorney, The Northwest Justice Project
• Listen to Greg Guedel, Chair, Foster Pepper PLLC Native American Legal Services Group
• Listed to the Dispute Resolution in the Tribal Context Panel

Listen to all the audio files and subscribe to the RSS feed.

PODCAST - VIDEO
(Video files are in .m4v format and require QuickTime.)

The Need for Fostering Non-Profits in Indian Country:

• Watch Ken Gordon, Executive Director, The Potlatch Fund

Non-Profit Law in Indian Country:

• Millie Kennedy, Native American Unit, The Northwest Justice Project
• Watch Don Chalmers, President, SparrowHawk Consulting Company
• Watch Timothy Brewer, Reservation Attorney, The Tulalip Tribes
• Watch Shana Barehand, Tribal Liaison for the WA Department of Revenue
• Watch the Watch the Non-Profit Law Panel

Dispute Resolution in the Tribal Context: “Cultural Awareness and Strategic Planning”:

• Watch Michele Vendiola, Consultant/Facilitator, Community Alliance & Peacemaking Project
• Watch Christina Parker, Field Attorney, The Northwest Justice Project
• Watch Greg Guedel, Chair, Foster Pepper PLLC Native American Legal Services Group
• Watch the Dispute Resolution in the Tribal Context Panel

Watch all the video files and subscribe to the RSS feed.

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The latest foray by federal courts into the anachronistic (and often bizarre) legal analysis of who qualifies as an “Indian” comes from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in its decision in the case of United States v. Maggi. The bottom line: unless you are a member of a federally-recognized Tribe, you are not an “Indian” under federal law.

As with most of the cases that analyze the issue of who is an “Indian”, the Maggi case arises from a dispute over whether a federal court or Tribal court has jurisdiction over a person accused of committing a crime on Tribal lands. Under current federal law, Tribal courts can only hold jurisdiction over people who qualify as “Indian”.  Tribes are not allowed to exercise jurisdiction over people who are not considered “Indian” by the federal government -- making Tribal courts the last legal venue in the US where race determines access to justice.

In determining that the defendants in the Maggi case were not “Indian” and therefore not subject to Tribal court jurisdiction despite committing crimes on Tribal land, the 9th Circuit quoted from LaPier v. McCormick, 986 F.2d 303 (9th Cir. 1993):

“Is the Indian group with which (a person) claims affiliation a federally recognized Indian tribe? If the answer is no, the inquiry ends. A defendant whose only claim of membership or affiliation is with an Indian group that is not a federally acknowledged Indian tribe cannot be an Indian for criminal jurisdiction purposes.”

The extreme difficulty for unrecognized Tribes to obtain federal recognition is well known – it can take decades just to receive a “no” from the federal government. The Maggi decision reinforces the courts’ brutal concept that unless you’re a member of a federally recognized Tribe, not only are you unable to obtain sovereign rights through your Tribe – you’re not even considered an “Indian”.
 

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This week in Seattle, Foster Pepper PLLC’s Native American Legal Services Group partners with the Washington State Bar Association’s Indian Law Section, WAACO, the Northwest Justice Project, and the Potlatch Fund to present the all-day legal seminar:

Nonprofit Law in Indian Country
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Foster Pepper PLLC
1111 Third Avenue, Suite 3000
Seattle, Washington 98101
www.foster.com

 Discussion topics include:

Incorporation and Other State Law Issues

Application for Tax Exempt Status

Compliance Issues for Public Charities

Fostering Nonprofits in Indian Country

Nonprofit Law in Indian Country

Cultural Awareness while Representing Native Americans

The program offers CLE credit for practicing attorneys, and podcasts of the sections will be available on this website following the seminar. Download the registration information HERE, or contact Jean Seeley at jeans@nwjustice.org or 206-464-1519, ext. 631.
 

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This Thursday, March 18, 2010 Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington will be the site for a far-ranging conference on legal issues of importance to Tribal communities and their advocates. Hosted by the Indian Law Section of the Spokane County Bar Association, the conference features nationally-recognized experts in numerous areas of law that are critical to Tribes. The conference itinerary includes:

The Indian Child Welfare Act – Tribal and State Perspectives (Identifying an Indian Child; Tribal staffing of ICW cases; domicile; utilizing Indian Child Welfare experts)

Tribal Court Practice; Inter-Jurisdictional Issues Arising in Tribal Courts (Tribal Court practice overview; abstention, exhaustion, removal; inter-jurisdictional issues)

Labor and Employment Law Issues for Tribes (FMLA; ADA; Pension Protection Act; and Tribal Considerations in drafting Employee Policies and Procedures)

Issues Regarding Multi-Jurisdictional Regulatory Oversight

Ethical Issues Arising in Tribal and State Multi-Jurisdictional Practice of Law

Registration information is available HERE.
 

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An article in the Seattle Times commemorates the events of March 8, 1970, when more than 100 Native Americans and their supporters launched a forceful protest at Fort Lawton, a former Army base located in West Seattle. Railing against the government’s policies and treatment of Native people, the protestors occupied a portion of the base and declared it Tribal land "by right of discovery". The action garnered national attention; Jane Fonda joined the protesters and was herself arrested.

The protest, which lasted nearly a month, mirrored the occupation of the abandoned penitentiary at Alcatraz in 1969. That action was ultimately joined by thousands of Native American activists and sympathizers, including some of the leaders of the action at Fort Lawton: Colville tribal members Randy Lewis and the late Bernie Whitebear.

The Fort Lawton protesters drove to the base with red banners streaming from their vehicles. "Then all hell broke loose," Lewis said. "MPs [military police] descended on us, Jeeps were turned over, they started whaling on us, and people were thrown in jail." In news accounts of the time, protesters said they needed medical treatment for their injuries, while the military denied using excessive force. Lewis and other activists set up an encampment outside the gate. "We laid siege. We would not give up, and the military would not surrender. Sometimes there were 20 of us, sometimes there were 300." He remembered one night he was encamped alone when a car full of opponents drove by, throwing bottles. He retaliated with a shovel full of hot coals from his campfire, setting the interior of their car aflame. "That's the way it was back then," Lewis said.

The protest ultimately led to the creation of the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center , which opened in 1977. Today the center provides a range of services for people of any ethnicity, including Head Start and day care. Marty Bluewater, executive director of the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation,  sees a special mission to serve the more than 85,000 Native Americans living in the King County metro area — about 20 percent of them below the poverty line. Asked how the struggle 40 years ago ended, Lewis answered, "It hasn't. It still goes on every day."
 

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Finding Tribal Court decisions can be challenging. There is no comprehensive source for all Tribal Courts, and many Tribes' decisions are not published at all.  This presents a significant research problem for legal practitioners and those with general interest in the decisions of Tribal Courts.

To address this information gap, the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington has created a Tribal Court Decisions website that provides data and links to Tribal Court decisions throughout the country.  This first-of-its-kind resource gives an overview of the published decsions that are available for review, and directions on how to access them -- an invaluable tool for everyone looking to keep current on Tribal Cort decisions.

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Wednesday, 24 March 2010 is the date for a full-day seminar on developing and operating non-profit organizations in Native communities. Presented in partnership by the Washington State Bar Association’s Indian Law Section, Washington Attorneys Assisting Community Organizations, the Native American Unit of the Northwest Justice Project, and Foster Pepper PLLC, the seminar will cover numerous topics to assist those interested in forming charitable and other non-profit organizations, including: 

• Incorporation and Other State Law Issues
  
• Application for Tax Exempt Status
  
• Compliance Issues for Public Charities
  
• Fostering Non-Profits In Indian Country
  
• Cultural Awareness In Dispute Resolution

Program and registration forms are available HERE, and podcasts of the seminar presentations will be available on this website after the program.
 

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U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has announced a $84 million Recovery Act investment to help the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) deliver new and enhanced broadband capabilities to some of the more remote regions of Washington state. The grant will finance the addition of 830 miles of fiber optic cable and eight new microwave sites to NoaNet’s existing high-speed network. Among other benefits, the project plans to directly connect the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center, library, and clinic, and the Shoalwater Tribal center and clinic, as well as provide connection opportunities for the Makah Tribal center and clinic.

“This critical investment will expand high-speed Internet service access to Washington libraries and hospitals, and eventually homes and businesses, helping to make them full participants in today’s 21st century information economy,” Locke said. “Having access to the Internet’s economic, health and educational benefits will help to improve the quality of life in these communities.”

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), funded by the Recovery Act, provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, to enhance and expand public computer centers and to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service.

“This grant will help NoaNet take a major step forward in extending its broadband network to rural and underserved areas in Washington, including tribal centers for the Makah, Jamestown S’Klallam and Shoalwater Bay Tribes on the Olympic Peninsula,” U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said. “This was the goal of our effort 10 years ago to make available excess BPA fiber capacity for this publicly-operated, non-profit project to drive broadband access beyond the major cities in the Northwest.”

Another Tribal broadband project currently awaiting NTIA funding is the Washington Rural Broadband Cooperative (WA-RBC), a non-profit agency started by the Tulalip Tribes. The WA-RBC project is an extremely high bandwidth initiative which delivers 10 Gb/s service to community anchor points (schools, tribal centers, libraries, and chambers of commerce), and leverages significant investments already made by the Tulalip Tribes in a data center and fiber optic infrastructure that can extend to other tribes and rural communities.
 

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When the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake began presenting eviction notices this month to 25 non-natives living on their 13,000-acre reserve just south of Montreal, it sparked an outcry from non-Native human rights activists. The Mohawk Council’s priority is to protect their language, culture, and sovereignty, but outsiders have decried the action as a racist and illegal denial of Canada’s constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A fundamental difference in view comes from perceptions of identity: the Mohawks do not see themselves as Canadians. The Council’s laws require a person to have at least four Mohawk great grandparents to live or own property in the Mohawk reserve. Any Mohawk who marries a non-native must leave. “Everyone knows the law: if you marry out, you stay out,” says Joe Delaronde, a spokesman for the Council. “If we don’t protect who we are, we will become Canadian citizens.”

The basic philosophy is embodied in the legal terms of the Kahnawá:Ke Membership Law:

We have consistently and historically exercised the right to determine our own membership. In recent times, we have been compelled to adopt measures that were necessary to ensure our continued survival as a Kanien'kehá:ka community.

This Law is another link in the unbroken chain of our historic struggle to survive as Kanien'kehá:ka of Kahnawá:ke. This Law is the result of a lengthy period of discussion and consultation within our community. It is an expression of the will of the Kanien'kehá:ka of Kahnawá:ke and is intended to reflect the values and principles described by the Elders of our community in their statement on membership: Entsitehwahahárahne.

This Law is an affirmation of our Indigenous and Treaty rights. This Law is essential if we are to survive and to thrive as Indigenous Peoples and as Kanien'kehá:ka of Kahnawá:ke.

The Kahnawake reserve was originally set up by the French in 1716, when the Mohawks were their allies against the British. Shortly afterwards, some French traders were asked by the Tribe to leave. In the modern context, evictions of non-Natives have been spurred by the fact that First Nations receive federal money for social services only for officially registered Natives. Canada’s minister of Indian affairs has stated the evictions make him “uncomfortable”, but says he can do nothing because First Nations have the right to say who lives on reserves. The Mohawk Chiefs deny the relevance of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, stating that their relations with non-Natives are actually governed by the Two-Row Wampum Treaty, agreed with Dutch traders in the 17th century. The Treaty called for mutual non-interference, or as the Mohawk Council spokesman stated: “We stay in our canoe and you steer yours.”
 

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