1987-04-07 Char-Koosta News

              Swimmer's 'consultation' amounts to force-feeding, say Tribal leaders
Representatives from seven northwest tribes walked out on a meeting with the BIA in Spokane on March 30.
The meeting had been called by the Portland Area Office to further discuss Ross Swimmer's "privatization initiatives", whereby the BIA would contract out its responsibilities for a number of housing, education, forestry, welfare and trust-fund management programs.
"We're not opposed to change," Tribal Chairman Mickey Pablo said. "It's just that both Congress and the president are committed to Indian self-determination, and that means the changes should be initiated by the tribes -- not forced upon us by the Assistant Secretary" of the Interior Dept.
"This meeting wasn't set up for consultation; it was set up to force the initiatives down our throats," he charged.
Colville Tribal Chairman Mel Tonasket said, "We came to Spokane with the understanding that we would have the opportunity to work with the appropriate BIA policymakers to make these [new] programs work for our people. . . but those policymakers weren't in attendance.
"We couldn't afford to stay in that [March 30] meeting when we couldn't get answers, couldn't get responses to our suggestions, and then at the end be told that we had just had our consultation," Tonasket lamented.
Immediately after the walk-out, the Tribal leaders convened their own meeting to develop strategies aimed at bridging what was termed as "Swimmer's consultation gap".
The seven tribes in attendance were the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, Colville, Kalispel, Nez Perce, Coeur d'Alene, and Spokane, who met as an emergency caucus of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
Affiliated Tribes president Allen Pinkham said Swimmer's privatization programs would merely transfer the (Continues on page two)
'Wholistic development' sessions scheduled
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