Attorney General Holder Meets with Tribal Nations Leadership Council
Attorney General Holder Meets with Tribal Nations Leadership Council
February 27th, 2014 Posted by The Department Of Justice
Attorney General Eric Holder met this week with members of the Tribal Nations Leadership Council (TNLC) at the Justice Department. The council, which meets twice a year with the Attorney General and with numerous officials of the Justice Department, was created in 2010 and consists of tribal leaders from around the country. The TNLC advises the Attorney General on issues critical to tribal communities. On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the council heard about and discussed progress and challenges facing their communities in ensuring public safety, protecting tribal lands and natural resources, and civil rights, among others. One area of progress noted was the recently announced pilot project under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) (see below), as well as reflected on the first two public meetings of the Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence in Bismarck, N.D., (December 2013) and earlier this month in Phoenix. The group also discussed tribal grant making at the Department, which has resulted in more than $430 million in grants under the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation over the past four years.
As Attorney General Holder commented:
The Tribal Nations Leadership Council plays a critical role in fostering open dialogue between the Justice Department and tribal governments throughout the country. Especially in recent years, we have begun to take historic steps forward in tribal sovereignty and self-determination, including through the passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. In many areas, federal and tribal partnerships are strengthening public safety. And they are enabling us to invest in the future by focusing on the needs of children, finding ways to reduce the traumatic impact of violence on young lives, and nurture native youth leadership.
The TNLC is composed of tribal leaders selected by tribal governments to advise Justice Department leadership on an ongoing basis, and is the fulfillment of a pledge made by Attorney General Holder at the department’s Tribal Nations Listening Session in October 2009. The TNLC is composed of one tribal leader from each of the twelve regions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs:
Tribal Nations Leadership Council Members:
Michael J. Stickman, First Chief, Naluto Village, Alaska
Lynn Malerba, Chief, The Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, Connecticut
Ron Sparkman, Chairman, Shawnee Tribe, Oklahoma
Bryan Brewer, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe, South Dakota
Melanie Benjamin, Chief Executive, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Minnesota
Ben Shelly, President, Navajo Nation, Arizona
W. Ron Allen, Tribal Chairman/Executive Director, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Washington
Juana Majel Dixon, Councilwoman, Pauma-Yuima Band of Mission Indians, California
Merlin Sioux, Council Member, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Montana
John Barrett, Jr., Chairman, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma
Diane Enos, President, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
Gary Hayes, Council Member for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado/Utah
http://blogs.justice.gov/main/archives/3575
Justice Department Announces Three Tribes to Implement Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction Under VAWA 2013
“This is just the latest step forward in this administration’s historic efforts to address the public safety crisis in Indian country,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Every day, we’re working hard to strengthen partnerships with tribal leaders and confront shared challenges – particularly when it comes to protecting Indian women and girls from the shocking and unacceptably high rates of violence they too often face. With the important new tools provided by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, these critical pilot projects will facilitate the first tribal prosecutions of non-Indian perpetrators in recent times. This represents a significant victory for public safety and the rule of law, and a momentous step forward for tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”
Although the provisions authorizing the special jurisdiction take effect generally in March 2015, the law also gives the Attorney General discretion to grant a tribe’s request to exercise the jurisdiction earlier, through a voluntary pilot project. The authority to approve such requests has been delegated to Associate Attorney General Tony West. Associate Attorney General West today congratulated tribal leaders on this historic achievement in letters to the three tribes.
“The old jurisdictional scheme failed to adequately protect the public – particularly native women – with too many crimes going unprosecuted and unpunished amidst escalating violence in Indian Country,” stated Associate Attorney General West. “Our actions today mark a historic turning point. We believe that by certifying certain tribes to exercise jurisdiction over these crimes, we will help decrease domestic and dating violence in Indian Country, strengthen tribal capacity to administer justice and control crime, and ensure that perpetrators of sexual violence are held accountable for their criminal behavior.”
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/February/14-ag-126.html