Reported from Oklahoma City -- The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) mid-year meeting concluded Thursday.
Perhaps the most important of all the nationally-focused organizations dedicated to advancing the varied interests and goals of Native American tribes, NCAI is the longest-existing “umbrella” group for American Indian tribes.
Among the many moments drawing attentive news reporting and comments online was held on the next-to-last day of the Congress. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack first spoke in the early morning session held Wednesday, June 5, during the NCAI gathering.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the session with the Secretary was styled as an “Update and Fireside Chat.” It was a featured aspect of the NCAI General Assembly.
In a prepared speech, Vilsack listed areas in which he believes the agency is better serving agricultural issues attendant to tribal interests.
In a question period, he responded with general sympathy to questioners, while detailing budgetary and other pressures he believes have slowed progress toward return of tribal homelands and other matters.
The current president of NCAI -- Mark Macarro, (Pechanga Band of Indians, with tribal homelands in California) -- hosted that session, and moderated questions which were posed from the audience – a role he carried out frequently throughout the NCAI mid-year gathering.
Macarro explained that organizers had identified a total of eight questions, arranging them in priority order. As reported yesterday, it was question from Cheyenne & Arapaho Governor Reggie Wassana that garnered great attention in western Oklahoma and among small-tribe leadership nationwide.
During that exchange, Secretary Vilsack announced he opposes a U.S. House provision in the evolving Farm Bill that would permanently ban return of lands at and around Fort Reno to the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.
In fact, concerning his agency, Vilsack promised he is pushing “back on the notion that we should be restricted” from negotiating a return of the Cheyenne & Arapaho homeland, located at and around historic Fort Reno in western Oklahoma.
(https://www.citynewsokc.com/tribal/u-s-agriculture-secretary-tom-vilsack-opposes-block-on-return-of-fort-reno/article_7ff44ef6-2413-11ef-a3e4-1f1885c31b44.html )
Right after the session with Secretary Vilsack, attendees followed a discussion on Tribal Language Preservation. That juxtaposition is illustrative of every such event for NACI.
The organization’s gathering range rather comprehensively across such matters as cultural traditions (in that language focus) and explicitly practical economic development concerns, as in the Vilsack-Wassana exchange.
Characterized as “The 2024 Mid Year Convention & Marketplace,” the NACI gathered on Saturday, June 1, and concluded Thursday (June 6) in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Most first-day sessions last Saturday were devoted to the executive and governance level of NCAI. On Sunday, the tradition of an annual Golf Tournament continued, and a "climate-conscious" ice cream social was held, as well as a field trip to the nearby Oconaluftee Watershed.
Featured speakers at the NCAI meeting included Elizabeth Carr from the Office of Management and Budget and other White House officers whose work focuses on Native and Tribal Affairs.
Carr (of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is the first person to serve as White House Tribal Policy Advisor (now categorized as a permanent position). Formerly a high-ranking advisor for the Indian Health Service, Carr hails from Michigan, the historic home of the Chippewa.
Monday included a recorded address from Deb Haaland, secretary of the Interior. A Laguna Pueblo woman, Haaland is a former member of Congress from New Mexico.
Also featured were updates from varied federal officials from the U.S. Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), the Social Security Administration, and other agencies.
Organized "Caucus" groups met, including those for the Midwest, Pacific, Southern Plains, Northeast, Rocky Mountain, Southwest, Great Plains, Southeast, Western, Alaska and Eastern Oklahoma.
Official NCAI subcommittees focused on varied issues held sessions, including Housing, Education, Technology & Telecommunications, Economic Development, Finance and Employment, Energy and Mineral Policy, Environmental and Mineral Policy, Natural Resources & Agriculture, Human, Religious and Cultural Concerns, Jurisdiction & Tribal Government, Public Safety & Justice, Transportation & Infrastructure, Health, Disabilities, Indian Child and Welfare, Elders, Tribal Gaming, and Taxation, and the Veterans Committee.
Wednesday afternoon was devoted to a diverse range of "concurrent sessions" including one on "Tribal Digital Sovereignty."
The last day meeting of the General Assembly continued with a Supreme Court update, U.S. Congressional updates (from members of both political parties) and a Resolutions Report.
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