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- By Native News Online Staff
WASHINGTON — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other news released from Washington, D.C. that impacts Indian Country during the past week.
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Hosts “Public Safety in Native Communities” Roundtable
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosted a roundtable on safety in Native communities. The main topic of discussion was understanding how effectively the Departments of the Interior and Justice and representatives from tribes and Native organizations are working together to strengthen public safety.
In particular, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2022, the Not Invisible Act and Savannah's Act, and the necessary aid to fully implement these pieces of legislation were discussed. These were all created to help provide the tools and resources needed for Native communities to keep people safe and provide justice for victims and their families.
The roundtable panelists included many prominent figures in Indian Country:
- Tracy Canard Goodluck, Senior Advisor, Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
- Jason O’Neal, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs - Office of Justice Services, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
- Robert E. Chapman, Acting Director, Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
- The Honorable Eugena Charles-Newton, Chairwoman, Law and Order Committee, Navajo Nation Council, Shiprock, NM
- Mark Kawika Patterson, Chair, Hawai‘i State Correctional Systems Oversight Commission and Administrator, Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, Honolulu, HI
- Michael Ford, Chief of Police, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Reno, NV
- Lucy Rain Simpson, Executive Director, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Lame Deer, MT
- Nikki Borchardt Campbell, Executive Director, National American Indian Court Judges Association, Boulder, CO
- Alex Cleghorn, Sr. Legal and Policy Director, Alaska Native Justice Center, Anchorage, AK
Click here to watch Vice Chairman Murkowski’s opening remarks and questions to panelists.
Boundary Waters and Joint Hearing on the Bureau of Indian Education to be held on Tuesday
The Natural Resources Committee is holding two live streamed events next week. Both events will be held Tuesday, May 24, 2022
The first live stream, held by the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, will start at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Led by Chair Teresa Leger Fernández, a joint oversight hearing led with the Committee on Education on Labor, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. It is titled “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Bureau of Indian Education”.
Watch the livestream live here.
The second live stream will be held at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is to hold a legislative hearing on H.R. 2794. It will be led by Chair Alan Lowenthal.
H.R.2794, or the Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act, would provide for the protection fo the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal lands and waters, including Voyageurs National Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in Minnesota.
Watch this livestream here.
Neely Bardwell (descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), a Michigan State University student who is interning with Native News Online, contributed to these briefs.
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