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Box 2574 :: :: Olympia, Wa Fido Net 1:352/333 :: :: 98507-2574 206-786-9629 :: :: USA The Quarto Mundista BBS :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS Major Policy Resolution No. 2 TRIBAL GOVERNMENT Adopted October 21, 1976 WHEREAS, the Indian people of this continent have recognized and practiced the natural laws given by the Creator for centuries before the arrival of the immigrants; and WHEREAS, the Indian people have recognized the right of all people to live by their own system of laws and have not imposed their laws and beliefs u9on other people, except where other people allow themselves to come within the boundaries of the reservation and other Indian territory; and WHEREAS, the full exercise of our tribal governmental powers have been eroded and usurped through the Federal administrative process, judicial review by courts and legislative actions enacted by the United States Congress; and WHEREAS, the United States Government has taken less than a firm commitment to honor and respect the inherent right of the Indian people and tribes to live under tribal self- government, and this has resulted in the encroachment of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction by state and local governments; and WHEREAS, tribal governments and the people they represent expect the United States, as trustee, to exhibit a strong commitment to uphold and protect the trust responsibilities into which it has entered in the past, just as they expect the United States to uphold the present agreements, contracts and trust responsibilities entered into by the tribes and the United States; and WHEREAS, among those agreements, the one which tribal governments look today as most important, is the guarantee of unimpaired tribal sovereignty over lands, resources and people within reservation boundaries and outside reservation boundaries, as well as other Indian territories, where reserved for the present or past use of the tribes; THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED THAT: 1. The Federal government has no right or authority to limit the, manner in which Indian tribes organize their governments. 2. Federal law should ensure that the Federal trust responsibilities include primarily an obligation to protect the right of Indian tribes to continue to exist as sovereign independent self-governing bodies. 3. The Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs should have no authority over the actions of tribal governments except in the exercise of trust responsibility. 4. Those jurisdictional laws which limit, impede or impair tribal government powers, such as Public Law 83-280, Assimilative Crimes Act and others, must be repealed, amended or clarified. 5. Federal law be amended, repealed or clarified to ensure that the inherent right of Indian tribes to govern all lands and people within their jurisdiction include full authority to implement revenue raising (tax) programs on the reservations, including but not limited to the taxation of all commercial activity and appropriate systems of regulating land use and natural resources. 6. Those Federal statutes, regulations and policies which do not recognize Indian tribes as independent units of governments for purposes of full participation in all Federal programs must be amended, repealed or clarified in order to achieve tribal participation in such programs completely independent of the states and as truly independent governments. " 7. Federal funds must be given directly to Indian tribes for operating their governments, and such mechanisms for providing this funding as Public Law 93-638 grants must include minimum level of funding over five-to-ten years, and the level of funding shall be determined primarily on the basis of tribal needs. 8. All Federal economic development programs and aid to tribal governments should be designed to achieve financial independence without exploiting or exhausting limited natural resources of Indian tribes. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To have a current Center For World Indigenous Studies Publication Catalogue sent to you via e-mail, send a request to jburrows@halcyon.com Center For World Indigenous Studies P.O. Box 2574 Olympia, WA U.S.A. 98507-2574 Fax: 206-956-1087 BBS: 206-786-9629