Montana Indian Legislative Caucus not detoured by Republican majority

HELENA, MT—The Montana State Legislature, now in bi-annual session has the highest number of tribal elected officials in the Nation. They are about seven percent of the Legislature, slightly higher than the census count of Indians in Montana which is slightly over six percent. Yet in the 2023 legislative session they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by an extremely conservative Republican majority, including the “John Birchers” a movement which is notably antagonistic to tribal and other liberal agendas.

Eleven of the hundred-member State Legislature are Native Americans, organized into the Montana Indian Caucus. Though primarily Democrats, the caucus is chaired by the lone Republican Senator, Jason Small, Northern Cheyenne, known to be a voice of moderation in his party. Rhonda Knutsen Turtle-Mountain Chippewa is the other tribal Republican.

Nonetheless, the tribal legislators are known for “working across the aisle for tribal interests and we have support from many other members of the Legislature,” Small said.  “Jonathon Windy Boy, Chippewa Cree, a 20 year veteran legislator on the House side is my counterpart. We do not look at the issues from a partisan point of view. We look from a tribal point of view. How can we help our people?”

“In this political climate, we are often lucky to hold our ground, let alone pursue new initiatives,” he concluded.

Windy Boy concurred. “We always have ideas about so many initiatives that could help both our people and the State,” he said. “But we face limits. Sometimes, I wonder when or if, this vicious racism will ever end. Here we go again…but this is the worst atmosphere I’ve seen in over twenty years of public service in the Montana Legislature.”

Yet, the Montana Indian Caucus has not let the current abrasive political climate detour them. First, they were able to beat back a proposed Resolution authored by ultra-conservative Republican interests which would have encouraged the Federal Government to develop an alternative solution to the Reservation system.

This movement, according to sources such as Arvol Looking Horse, Pipe Carrier for the Sioux Nation(s) is also being considered in other areas. Looking Horse told Native Sun News Today that he recently spoke at a tribal gathering in Montreal, Canada, to deflect similar initiatives. And on February 4 and 5, several delegates from Sioux Tribes gathered at Sisseton-Wahpeton to develop defensive strategies against such movement in South Dakota. Looking Horse was also a keynote speaker there.

“I don’t think the Indian wars will ever be over,” he noted. “We will always have to defend and justify treaty rights, the land that is left to us, religious freedom, the right to keep our children and to live as we need to live as tribal peoples.”

The ’watch list” of legislation for the Montana Indian Caucus includes several bills with varying prognosis.

A first bill killed by the Republican majority was a rather simple matter of respect and reconciliation in the State of Montana – naming a stretch of state highway near Glacier Park after the late esteemed Blackfeet tribal Chief and Tribal Chairman Earl Person, a man who had been recognized and honored by several U.S. Presidents. Throughout his stellar career, Person was a world-renowned spokesman for peace and tribal rights. The effort to kill that legislation indicates the mindset of the ultra-conservative majority in the current Montana Legislature.

Several bills related to the MILLP problems, such a continued State-funded task force most likely will go forward, Small predicted.

Windy Boy has sponsored and is championing an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) developed over two years with the assistance of the Montana Indian Law Clinic. This bill would adopt federal ICWA standards in Montana, where implementation of that federal statute has not been always perfectly followed.

Another proposed bill would provide college tuition fee waivers to descendants of enrolled tribal members. “I think that one might fly,” Small predicted. “But you never know.”

The Montana Indian Caucus also follows other bills which may impact tribal communities and people. For example, a Democratic proposal to increase funding for suicide prevention, a prevalent problem across the State, including the Reservations, was recently derided by the Republican majority in favor of more funding to keep nuclear families intact (the husband being the wage earner and the good wife staying at home, etc., according to recorded testimony).

“Every session, we have to deal with misconceptions,” remarked Senator Susan Weber, Blackfeet.

To that end Representative Sean Morigeau, Salish Kootenai, has introduced a bill which would require a mandatory brief educational course on Native issues at the beginning of each Legislative session. That bill has survived first reading, still pending a long haul of legislative steps to be enacted into law.

The State of Montana has long led the battle for tribal language preservation, both by enacting stature and providing funding. HB 287 would refine and enlarge those commitments, and is predicted to pass.

The bi-annual session of the Montana Legislature will continue until late spring. Between now and then, the fate of bills friendly to tribal interests could change from minute-to-minute. That will keep the Montana Indian Caucus hopping.

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennevoice@gmail.com)

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