Tribal Nations summit aimed at strengthening Government to Government relations

WASHINGTON—Last week, the Biden Administration hosted the third annual Tribal Nations Summit with hundreds of tribal leaders and senior Cabinet officials to discuss efforts to strengthen tribal sovereignty. The two day summit was hosted at the U.S. Department of Interior headquarters, and focused heavily on praising the historic federal investments in Indian Country by the Biden Administration as well as steps to promote the next era of Tribal self-determination.

The summit was opened by Sizzortail, a world-champion southern drum group from Oklahoma while the Native American Women Warriors posted the colors to a flag song. Crystal Williams, Vice Chair of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, offered the opening prayer. “I pray that Tribal leaders have peace and prosperity for this year’s summit,” she said during the opening prayer.

Deb Haaland tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, and participated in the summit virtually. She made opening remarks for the summit, its format, what to expect at this year’s two-day event. “We are excited to host President Biden, Vice President Harris, Cabinet Members, and Tribal leaders from across the country this week,” Haaland said while opening the 2023 Tribal Nations Summit on Wednesday, Dec. 6. “The summit is a unique and important opportunity to discuss ways in which the federal government invests in and strengthens nation-to-nation relationships, as well as ensuring that progress in Indian Country endures for years to come.”

Secretary of Agriculture Tim Vilsack joined the stage with six Indigenous chefs and announced ways the Biden-Harris Administration has fulfilled long-standing Tribal requests for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to support Tribal food sovereignty and co-stewardship of federal lands and waters. Vilsack introduced the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program, including the program’s first grant recipients as well as advances in the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) co-stewardship with Tribes. The first recipients of the program are four Tribal Nations including, the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor in Alaska, the Tribal Government of St. Paul Island in Alaska, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation in southern Oregon and northern California, and the Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. Although each grant is slightly different, they will assist Tribes to utilize traditional Indigenous methods to process meat and fish for their communities.

In addition to other panels and discussions at the summit, other highlights included a lunch prepared by Indigenous chefs from the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) and students from the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

The afternoon session featured appearances by both President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, one of the first events where both have presented at during their Administration. President Biden shared his Administration’s support for tribal sovereignty and self-determination by saying, “we are ushering a new era of relationship between our government and nation-to-nation relationships. We made progress, but we know this community still lives in the shadows of the failed policies of the past.”

Biden also shared his support for the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois people, in competing internationally in across at the 2028 Olympics under their own charter and said his Adminstration would support their efforts to compete as their own Tribal Nation—the Haudensaunee Confederacy. The audience applauded that announcement.

After Biden presented his Adminstration’s support for Indian Country, he then invited six tribal leaders to the stage including Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairwoman Janet Alkire and National Congress of American Indians President Mark Macarro to sign a new Executive Order (EO). The new Executive Order is titled, “Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations to Better Embrace Our Trust Responsibilities and Promote the Next Era of Tribal Self Determination”. It affirms that Tribal governments must be treated as permanent, equal, and vital parts of America’s government.

The Executive Order, signed on Dec. 6, requires federal agencies to take action to ensure federal funding for Tribes is accessible, flexible, and equitable. It moves federal funding programs closer to the mode of the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act, which has paved the way for many Tribal Nations to build and run their own hospitals, schools and police forces to meet their unique needs of their communities while using federal dollars. The Executive Order also creates a one-stop shop for federal funding available for Tribes. Coined the Tribal Access to Capital Clearinghouse, it provides a central location for Tribes and Native-owned businesses to find federal funding.

It is Biden’s third Executive Order aimed at strengthening nation-to-nation relationships, strengthen Tribal consultation, and deepen the federal government’s respect for Tribal sovereignty. In addition to the Executive Orders, Biden builds on historic financial investments in Indian Country including $32 billion in the American Rescue Plan, $13 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and $700 million in the Inflation Reduction Act. The funds will be used in a variety of ways in Tribal communities aimed to build high-speed internet, roads, bridges, public transit, clean water, improve sanitation, fight climate change, and rebuild traditional food systems.

“Tribes have hundreds of millions of dollars available for energy development, that weren’t available before” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during her panel discussion on protecting tribal homelands on Wednesday. “Strengthening our Tribal partners is absolutely key.”

Why wouldn’t we want added expertise of the land,” said Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland of new investments in land conservations programs in Indian Country. “The preservation of lands benefits the entire country.

Other federal agency leaders who attended the summit included White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Director of the Office of Indian Energy Policy & Programs Wahleah Johns, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, White House Domestic Policy Council Senior Policy Advisor for Native Affairs Elizabeth H. Reese, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Tribal Affairs Rose Petoskey, White House Office of Management & Budget Tribal Advisor to the Director Liz Carr, White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Assistant Director for Indigenous Engagement & Native American Affairs Ira Matt, Executive Assistant Director of the of the Criminal, Cyber, Response & Services Branch of the FBI Timothy Langan, Jr., Director of the Office of Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice Rosie Hidalgo, United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota Alison J. Ramsdell, and many others.

Vice President Kamala Harris also addressed the Tribal Nations Summit by highlighting the history of relationship between the federal government and Native tribes. “That history includes broken treaties, harmful assimilation policies, displacement, dispossession, and violence,” she said. “For too long our country did not fully acknowledge or reckon with this history and that was particularly true on the issue of Native boarding schools. For generations, Native children were torn from their families and their communities forced to change their names and cut their hair, forbidden to speak their language or practice their religion.”

“President Biden and I are committed to speaking truth about these horrors and to work on healing intergenerational trauma,” Harris said.

Other issues discussed at the summit included substance use and mental health in Tribal communities including input by the White House, Health and Human Services, and other Tribal communities. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Secretary of Health & Human Services Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Director of Indian Health Services Roselyn Tao, and many others also presented the vast information of work being done on behalf of Tribal communities. More information on the 2023 Tribal Nations Summit is available online on the White House’s official website, www.whitehouse.gov.

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