DOCUMENT RESUME ED 042 524 RC 004 558 TITLE Federal-State Indian Affairs Conference. INSTITUTION National Council on Indian Opportunity, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 21 Aug 69 NOTE 115p.; Proceedings of Federal-State Indian Affairs Conference (Lake Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada, August 19-21, 1969) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.50 HC-$5.85 DESCRIPTORS Agency Role, *American Indians, Communications, Community, *Conference Reports, Education, Educational Administration, *Federal Prpgrams, Health, Management, Program Planning, *Socioecouomic Status, *State Programs, Vocational Education ABSTRACT Governors of 30 states having significant Indian populations were invited to this conference to create better intergovernmental relations in Indian affairs. State involvement was stressed in formulating Federal policy and services, as was allowing the Indians to participate in planning programs affecting them. At the conference, officials from the Bureau of Indian affairs explained various successful and unsuccessful programs. Special reports on Indian Affairs in Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Minnesota were given, as well as individual reports from the other 26 states. A summary of the conferente is included along with complete conference proceedings and a list of all participants. (EL) 111 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION CD THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECES Le ./ SA RILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU CATION POSITION OR POLICY FEDERAL-STATE INDIAN AFFAIRS CONFERENCE Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Lake Tahoe Stateline, Nevada August 19-21, 1969 National Council on Indian Opportunity Office of the Vice President Washington, D. C. 00 Vice Pkezident Spiro T. Agnew invited the Govetnou oti thikty Atates having 4igni6i- cant Indian poputation4 to 4end detegate4 to thi4 coniekence. In catting San the con6ekence, he sacked c to impoktance in ckeating better intekgoveknmentat ketation4 in Indian aS6ain4: "...4tate4 mu4t be invotved in the liokmu- tating pkoce44 oic Fedekat policy we are to make maximum u4e o6 our ke4oukce4 to 4otve the4e ckiticat pkobtem4." "...tekmination oi Fedekat 4ekvice4 witt not be a policy oi the Nixon AdminiAtution." "Fukthekmone, the /Light oi 4eZi-detekmination o6 .the Indian peopte wig be ke4pected and theit pakticipation in ptanning their own de4tiny witt be encouraged by Suet conout- tation on pkogkam4 a6tiecting them." Rabat Robekt6on Acting Executive Vikectak Nationat Councit on Indian Oppoktunity September 1, 1969 Wa4hington, D. C. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FIRST DAY OF THE CONFERENCE BEGINS Welcome for the Vice President 2 Welcome for Governor Paul Laxalt Keynote address 7 SECOND DAY OF THE CONFERENCE BEGINS 20 Federal Indian desk officials explain their programs Special Report for the State of Arizona 20 THIRD DAY OF THE CONFERENCE BEGINS 27 Table topics reports from state delegates (six tables, consisting of state representatives, arranged geograph- ically, by reservation or off-reservation concentrations, and by population, responded to the question: "What can the states do to get more involved in helping to solve the problems of interest to Indians; what can the states do to make better use of all available re- sources in helping Indians to help themselves?") 28 Special report for the State of Oklahoma 40 Special report for the State of Nevada 45 Special report for the State of Minnesota 46 Individual reports from all states begin 48 Conference summary 103 APPENDIX: Complete list of all persons attending the Conference SPECIAL NOTES 1. Most of the second day of the conference, with the exception of the special report given for the State of Arizona by Mr. Stan Womer, was taken up by the Federal officials (listed in the Appendix) who gave presentations on their respective departments and the programs being offered. Most of the Federal officials handed out or made available materials pertaining to their respective departments; they also answered questions from the floor. Since the principle purpose of this conference was to learn from the states in attendance how cooperation between the Indians and the states and Federal government can be bettered, we have not attempted to record in this document the comments of the "Indian desk" officials. 2. During the morning session of the third day, Thursday, August 21, the newly appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Honorable Louis R. Bruce, Jr., was introduced to all present at the conference. MR. ROBERTSON: Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our two and one half day Indian Affairs Conference at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. My name Bob Robertson, I am Acting Executive Director of the NatidWal Council on Indian Opportunity and I extend to you a welcome to Lake Tahoe. I leave the proper welcomes to the dignitaries at the head table who will follow me. It is good to have all of you with us at this first-time-ever conference and we certainly hope, all of us, that we'll be able to learn from you what we on the Federal level can do better to assist you in the big Jobs that you have in your respective states. I'd like at this time, skipping the head table, to introduce a few of the dignitaries here I'd like you to meet and get to know over the next two and a half days. If I may, I'll save the introductions of the Indian desk professionals from the departments and agencies until near the end of the program. I want to identify them so that during the conference you'll be able to get to know them personally and so you'll have access to them to have any questions you might have answered. At this time I would like to introduce. first, Mr. Lewis A. Sigler, Counsel to the Interior Committee and Staff Assistant to the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Sigler. (Applause) Next, as I come down the list, and it is not in alphabetical order or anything, my apologies gentlemen, Mr. Charles Leppert, Jr., Assistant Council, the Interior Committee, United States House of Representatives. (Applause). Moving over to the United States Senate, Mr. James H. Gamble, Staff Assistant, Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the United States Senate. (Applause). Mr. Charles F. Cook, Jr., Minority Council, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, United States Senate. (Applause). Due to a change in the roster, I take great pleasure in introducing at this time a gentleman we met several months ago on a very interesting, eye- opening trip to the State of Maine, Governor John Stevens of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Peter Dana Point, State of Maine. Governor. (Applause). And to all of the rest of you dignitaries, a warm welcome to Lake Tahoe. At this time I take great pleasure in introducing a gentleman who is playing an ever increasingly important role in the activities of the Council. On behalf of the Vice President of the United States, Mr. C. D. Ward. MR. WARD: Thank you Bob. First of allI want to extend the greengs of the Vice President to the governor's representatives attending this meeting and to thank all of you for coming to this "hardship outpost." I look forward to being here with you for the next two and a half days. I'm sure all of you know, but for the benefit of some of the observers here in the room, the Vice President is Chairman of the National Council on Indian Opportunity which is sponsoring this meeting and one of the techniques and philosophies the Vice Presi- dent has in approaching any problem which involves intergovern- mental relations or interaction between any Federal agency and state or private group is more of a partnership role. I'll give you an example of that. When he became Governor of Maryland, one of the first things he did was to assemble his Cabinet and to visit the twenty-one counties of Maryland, which is the more important form of local government within that state, and the city of Baltimore, to find out what the local officials felt the State of Maryland should be doing to better improve the working relationship between the two, find out what the state was doing right and what it was doing wrong, and to get an input from the local officials on how to face the problems which were confronting both the state and local officials. So, as he took over his responsibilities in the Indian Council he determined that one of the things he wanted to do was to call a meeting of the chief representatives of the Governors of those states which had significant Indian populations and to have them meet with the key staff officials in the various Federal departments and the key staff officials of the Congressional committees to find out what the states felt that we should be doing in this field. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?What are your experiences which could be of benefit to the Federal Government in approaching this very serious problem? Consequently, the reason for this meeting today. Bill Carmack will be talking more about the Council in the future, but the prime thrust for us is to gather recommendations from you gentlemen to take back to the Council itself for their considera- tion. Of course, this will be only one aspect of the overall approach of the Council. There will be meetings with Indian leaders and other types of private and public officials who have a concern and responsibility in this area. So, with that brief bit of background I want you to know how pleased I am to be here with you. I am not an expert on Indians at all.