1,200 Attend NCAI’s Mid-Year Session in Anchorage
Tribal Leaders Meet on Local and National Indian Country Agenda
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Contact: Adam McMullin at 402-422-8416 or amcmullin@ncai.org
Kraynal Alfred at 202-466-7767 or kraynal_alfred@ncai.org
1,200 Attend NCAI’s Mid-Year Session in Anchorage
Tribal Leaders Meet on Local and National Indian Country Agenda
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—June 13, 2007—The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) concluded its Mid-Year Session, Strengthening Economies and Culture Under the Midnight Sun, wrapping up three days of meetings on the most important agenda items for Indian country including economic development, natural resources, education and the preservation of Native cultures.
“These three days have been instrumental in aligning Indian Country’s priorities so we can move them forward on the local level and in Washington,” said NCAI President Joe A. Garcia. “I am grateful to all who have come here to be a part of this process. Tribal leaders are talking and NCAI is listening.”
The 2007 Mid-Year session included over 1,200 participants who attended meetings and breakout session on topics ranging from climate change to border concerns and education.
“This is one of our highest turnouts for a mid-year session in the history of the organization,” said NCAI Executive Director. “As our membership grows, our meetings are becoming larger and our agenda and initiatives are broadening. This meeting is a promising precursor to our annual convention this fall in Denver and a testament to how engaged tribal leaders are in Indian Country’s agenda.”
Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, was one of many tribal leaders who addressed the plenary sessions on Indian Country’s environmental concerns, climate change and the federal government’s constitutional responsibility to Indian tribes.
“It’s good that the federal government is paying attention to the needs of tribes in Iraq. But it should first keep its promises to tribes here in this country. The credibility of the nation is at stake,” said Frank. “We’ve been ignored far too long, and we’re still being ignored today.”
Frank, a Nisqually tribal elder and natural resource spokesman for 20 tribes in western Washington said the environmental situation in Indian Country is of great concern.
“Our lands, waters and natural resources are being poisoned,” said Frank. “Here in Alaska, 30 percent of the Native people live without running water and electricity. Their villages are being washed away because of global warming. Their natural resources are dying as the permafrost melts and the glaciers disappear.”
Frank added that pollution and habitat destruction are killing our treaty-protected natural resources, and the federal government has got to do more to work with tribes to stop it.
NCAI will convene again in Denver for the organization’s 64th Annual Convention November 11-16.
