1974-04-15 Char-Koosta News

              THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND d ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
15 C
HAR-KOOSTA
Volume 3 - Number 2 4    Full Moon of Courtship    April 15,1974
JOE McDONALD RESIGNS TRIBAL COUNCIL SEAT (see page two for story]
Constitution Proposal To Attorney's For Final Draft
Con-con Bows Out, Constitution Accepted
Dixon: A new draft of the Tribe's 38 year old constitution will go to the resident voters of the tribes sometime this summer.
The new document will be based on a 12 page Revised Constitution and By-Laws recommendation submitted by the nine-member Constitutional Committee during the second quarterly meeting held in the Dixon Gym on April 5. After a day-long review of the change recommendations, the report was accepted by the Tribal Council and will be submitted to the tribal attorneys for final draft. On hand to hear the reading of the constitutional proposal were some 150 tribal members including Indian Studies students from Arlee, St. Ignatius and Poison.
Before reviewing the new document, Committee Chairman Doug Allard, St. Ignatius, explained how the committee determined what changes should be made in the old constitution. He said the committee made no revisions until after a reservation-wide series of district-: meetings were held. "This proposal (the new constitution draft) is the mandate of the people. They told us what they want and now we are telling you (the Tribal Council)".
Allard said that meetings held before the district sessions, which started in February, were organizational ....to plot the direction of the committee's work and background it with advice from the Bureau of Indian Affairs resource people and the tribal attorneys.
He said the real work of the committee began after the district meetings. "We covered a lot of ground with the people of the tribe and putting all the suggestions into the form of a constitutional recommendation was a difficult, time consuming task.
Allard noted that during the week prior to the committee's April 5 deadline, some three separate drafts of the proposal were composed along with "eight or nine" revisions.
"We felt obligated to complete our work before ...Con-Con Presentation (continued on page 6)
Proposed Constitution, Something Old and New
A time limit on new enrollments ... a bill of rights for the reservation lands...and a streamlined elections procedure are a few of the features of the proposed Revised Constitution and By-Laws of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
The 12 page proposal was submitted to the Tribal Council April 5 by the Constitutional Committee. It represents three months work by the committee and the desires and wishes of the people of the tribe and gleaned from six district meetings held in February.
The Council accepted the proposed draft but it must still undergo review and possible legal revision by the tribal attorneys before it can be submitted to the voters for final approval.   Char-Koosta will print the entire text of the proposed document when it has been hammered into its final form.
The proposed draft is a mixture of old and new. Although much of the flavor of the 1935 Tribal Constitution remains, there are several new ingredients.
Persons qualified to enroll with the tribes will have to do so within a specific time limit. The new draft calls for a three year limit from the time of birth, if the parents are to have the child enrolled, or a three year deadline from the age of 18 if a person wishes to enroll himself.
There would also be two methods of recording blood quantum. The first would be a "Membership Roll", which corresponds to the present method of enrollment. The second would be a "Census Roll" ... a record of all Indian blood for persons related to enrolled members but not qualifying for enrollment themselves. The purpose of the census roll will be to assist non-members in maintaining Indian identity. It would also mean that blood could be more accurately quantified in the offspring of marriages between enrolled members and non-members on the census rolls. Districting:
...Changes in Constitution (Continued on page 6)