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Blackfeet Constitution reform continues at BCC convention
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| A member of the Constitutional Reform Committee and emcee for the Constitutional Convention going on at BCC this week, Virgil “Puggy” Edwards helped name attendees to groups working on amending the various articles of the Blackfeet Constitution. Photo by John McGill |
By John McGill
The Student Commons at Blackfeet Community College was packed Thursday, Jan. 28, with more than a hundred interested tribal members, all working to revise and amend the Blackfeet Constitution. The effort is in midstream at this point, with some days left to run on the original Jan. 26 to Feb. 4 schedule, and more time to be added at the end, if needed.
After a meal of Indian tacos, Blackfeet Constitution Reform Committee member Virgil “Puggy” Edwards helped break the crowd into working groups. “What is unique about the recent movement is that we have the support of a sitting Tribal Council,” Edwards said of the process. “I was told by speakers at the symposium that it is unusual to have a Council support a movement to reform the Constitution. It says a lot about the current leadership.”
Edwards noted an earlier effort at reform undertaken between 1972 and 1974. “This is different from yesterday’s movement because that was not fully supported by the Tribal Council, and that meant the 1974 rewrite was stopped by the incoming Council.”
This presents a couple issues associated with the reform process that could potentially be troublesome, he said. First, any newly elected Tribal Council could legally abandon the work already done with a Tribal Resolution, a repeat of what became of the 1974 effort.
“We only have to look at 1974 to see it,” said Edwards. “In my opinion the committee is very well aware of what could happen with a new, unsupportive Council. Although we have a target date with the support of the Tribal Council, if it goes past that date we would squander a chance of a lifetime, an opportunity to see a new, fair and responsive government for the Blackfeet. If we don’t meet the target and have to work with a new tribal government, maybe the involvement with more than 100 people at the last two sessions, maybe that could put political pressure on them to work with us and it could happen into the early fall for an election.”
The election itself is also a matter of some difficulty because, while the Secretary of the Interior does not forbid having a Secretarial Election that would coincide with tribal elections, the Secretary does advise against it. This, said Edwards, is because voting requirements are different, with a Secretarial Election requiring all voters to register, on- or off-reservation, and the list of those who have registered being posted 20 days before the vote. Tribal elections, by contrast, do not have absentee ballots, and members simply show up at the polling places to vote, without registering in advance. Edwards said the committee is communicating with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to find a way that the Secretarial Election might “more closely simulate a tribal election policy,” he said.
A member of the 1972-74 committee, Darrell Norman said, “Some of the same issues are coming up about the powers of the Council, jurisdiction on the reservation and enrollment. They’re saying enrollment is out...but we brought it up anyway. Eighty-two percent want to vote on it. It came up in 1972, and it will come up again because the world is changing. We have to protect the land by enrolling our kids...why not go back to 1962 when members were full blood, mixed or descendants? We’re the only nation that throws away its children.”
Norman would also like to see absentee ballots return so the entire membership can participate in tribal government. “People can say they don’t live here, but we need and use them as head count for our programs,” he said.
“It was good to go to the first symposium,” Norman continued. “Nobody was trying to push anything on anybody, but we need facilitators for it, and they’re doing a great job. The ideas generated are great; some are new and some are not new. If they stay with it, a document will come out of it. It’s a great opportunity, and we can’t drop the ball.”
“It’s important to us and the future of the people,” said Debbie Whitegrass-Bullshoe, another participant. “But it’s emotional, and it’s scary. I’ve been really interested to hear people’s comments, their knowledge and interest and concern for change.”
However, said Whitegrass-Bullshoe, it’s too important for members to be left out. “It is important to reach out to all the people,” she said, “because this is going to affect the future, and everybody’s got to be involved. I still feel there is a long, long way to go because we need all the people involved. It might take longer, but if it means going from door-to-door, we need to do that because it is so important. All the people need to receive a copy so they know what the change is about.”
After a meal of Indian tacos, Blackfeet Constitution Reform Committee member Virgil “Puggy” Edwards helped break the crowd into working groups. “What is unique about the recent movement is that we have the support of a sitting Tribal Council,” Edwards said of the process. “I was told by speakers at the symposium that it is unusual to have a Council support a movement to reform the Constitution. It says a lot about the current leadership.”
Edwards noted an earlier effort at reform undertaken between 1972 and 1974. “This is different from yesterday’s movement because that was not fully supported by the Tribal Council, and that meant the 1974 rewrite was stopped by the incoming Council.”
This presents a couple issues associated with the reform process that could potentially be troublesome, he said. First, any newly elected Tribal Council could legally abandon the work already done with a Tribal Resolution, a repeat of what became of the 1974 effort.
“We only have to look at 1974 to see it,” said Edwards. “In my opinion the committee is very well aware of what could happen with a new, unsupportive Council. Although we have a target date with the support of the Tribal Council, if it goes past that date we would squander a chance of a lifetime, an opportunity to see a new, fair and responsive government for the Blackfeet. If we don’t meet the target and have to work with a new tribal government, maybe the involvement with more than 100 people at the last two sessions, maybe that could put political pressure on them to work with us and it could happen into the early fall for an election.”
The election itself is also a matter of some difficulty because, while the Secretary of the Interior does not forbid having a Secretarial Election that would coincide with tribal elections, the Secretary does advise against it. This, said Edwards, is because voting requirements are different, with a Secretarial Election requiring all voters to register, on- or off-reservation, and the list of those who have registered being posted 20 days before the vote. Tribal elections, by contrast, do not have absentee ballots, and members simply show up at the polling places to vote, without registering in advance. Edwards said the committee is communicating with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to find a way that the Secretarial Election might “more closely simulate a tribal election policy,” he said.
A member of the 1972-74 committee, Darrell Norman said, “Some of the same issues are coming up about the powers of the Council, jurisdiction on the reservation and enrollment. They’re saying enrollment is out...but we brought it up anyway. Eighty-two percent want to vote on it. It came up in 1972, and it will come up again because the world is changing. We have to protect the land by enrolling our kids...why not go back to 1962 when members were full blood, mixed or descendants? We’re the only nation that throws away its children.”
Norman would also like to see absentee ballots return so the entire membership can participate in tribal government. “People can say they don’t live here, but we need and use them as head count for our programs,” he said.
“It was good to go to the first symposium,” Norman continued. “Nobody was trying to push anything on anybody, but we need facilitators for it, and they’re doing a great job. The ideas generated are great; some are new and some are not new. If they stay with it, a document will come out of it. It’s a great opportunity, and we can’t drop the ball.”
“It’s important to us and the future of the people,” said Debbie Whitegrass-Bullshoe, another participant. “But it’s emotional, and it’s scary. I’ve been really interested to hear people’s comments, their knowledge and interest and concern for change.”
However, said Whitegrass-Bullshoe, it’s too important for members to be left out. “It is important to reach out to all the people,” she said, “because this is going to affect the future, and everybody’s got to be involved. I still feel there is a long, long way to go because we need all the people involved. It might take longer, but if it means going from door-to-door, we need to do that because it is so important. All the people need to receive a copy so they know what the change is about.”
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