THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF
AMERICAN INDIANS
RESOLUTION # JUN-00-034
Title: Support Lummi Nation's efforts to rectify the
desecration of its traditional area and ancestral remains
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, all rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution:
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest and largest national organization established in 1944 and comprised of representatives of and advocates for national, regional, and local Tribal concerns; and
WHEREAS, the health, safety, welfare, education, economic and employment opportunity, and preservation of cultural and natural resources are primary goals and objectives of NCAI.
WHEREAS, First Nations Peoples throughout the world recognize that the Lummi Nation had multiple ancestral remains disturbed through a public wastewater and treatment plant expansion project and had identified over forty-four ancestral remains during this project and forty-one previous disturbances within the last three decades at the same site; and
WHEREAS, Traditional cultural values exist within the Lummi People and constitute their unique and historic cultural identity which is vitally important to future Lummi Generations; and
WHEREAS, the Lummi Indian Business Council has determined that to preserve this sacred identity of past, present, and future generations, the oral language, oral history, and "traditional area" where the treatment plant disturbed the ancestral remains must all be properly maintained; and
WHEREAS, like many First Nations People, the Lummi Nation recognizes that existing federal, state, and local government legislation or statutes do not provide the necessary and essential laws for protection, preservation, and proper respect which their ancestors deserve and have a right to receive; and
WHEREAS, the Lummi Nation maintains the sovereign powers, rights, and responsibilities to impose its own cultural standards for maintaining such sovereign properties as their unique and historic cultural identity and values which they have not relinquished to the federal, state, or local governments in any historic preservation, planning, or other related efforts; and
WHEREAS, the Lummi Nation advocates the preservation of such sovereign properties from the impacts of land use through development projects under provisions in all federal, state, and local government legislation and actions that shall include both identification and protection of Lummi spiritually significant cultural standards or practices; and
WHEREAS, the National Antiquities do not adequately require projects that remove or desecrate Indian graves, cairns, traditional properties to clearly access, identify and equally view such properties; and
WHEREAS, such undermining legislation, regulations, and policies adversely affect the unique lifeways, heritage, and sovereign powers and rights that sustain the basic cultural identity and beliefs concerning burials, burial areas, Indian cemeteries, and the associated spiritual customs of all Tribal people; and
WHEREAS, the traditional laws of the Lummi Indian Nation and many tribes of the National Congress of American Indians teaches that the places where loved ones are laid to rest becomes "sacred ground" never to be disturbed, and therefore protection of archaeological resources, especially ancestral remains, is a sacred and solemn obligation of the Lummi Nation; and
WHEREAS, the disrespectful and unlawful treatment of the ancestral remains at the traditional burial grounds at Semiahmoo of the Lummi Indian Nations has caused immeasurable grief, sorrow, and anger;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NCAI does hereby agree that it is the Lummi Nation’s sacred and solemn obligation to provide culturally appropriate re-internment for all ancestral remains back to the Semiahmoo site from where they were removed, and to see that the excavated site is restored to its original condition; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI fully encourages all sources of funding to assist the Lummi Nation with financial support for its efforts to remedy the Semiahmoo grave desecration; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that NCAI does hereby support the Lummi Indian Nation in their efforts to enforce the civil and criminal laws that have been broken.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted at the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall, in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000 with a quorum present.
_______________________________
Susan Masten, President
ATTEST:
Juana Majel, Recording Secretary
Adopted by the General Assembly during the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall, in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000.