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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2006
Defense Department Kicks Off Tribal Policy in Alaska
Tlingit Haida Central Council President, Edward Thomas, recently
accepted an invitation to give a "Tribal Perspective"
presentation at the Department of Defense Tribal Policy in Alaska
conference in Anchorage March 7 - 9, 2006. This conference was sponsored
by the 611th Air Support Group - Pacific Air Force (PACAF) in support
of implementation of government-to-government relations with tribes
under the DoD American Indian and Alaska Native Policy.
President Thomas began his presentation by giving a detailed explanation
on how the Tlingit and Haida people have always been in Southeast
Alaska. He explained how our tribe was the first tribe in Alaska
to get involved in contracting of federal programs back in 1971
under the Buy Indian Act. He also explained the progression in Indian
law that made it a requirement for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
to enter into contracts and then later into compacts with tribes
to manage programs that were designed to benefit our tribal citizens.
The participants were very responsive and asked sincere questions
on how the military can be more responsive in ensuring better cooperation
between the military and tribes in Alaska. President Thomas pointed
out that even though Department of Defense contracting with minorities
and especially Native Americans is extremely small in comparison
to the large contracts issued to Boeing, Halliberton, and other
large companies, it is the Native American 8(a) contracts that get
most of the attention by the press. It is critical that the Department
of Defense see through the negative media coverage and aggressively
move forward in contracting with Native American tribes and tribal
organizations.
It is gratifying to see the Department of Defense meeting with
tribes in a meaningful manner by asking for input and by offering
technical assistance to those who need it. The Department of Defense
Tribal Policy and an outline of this policy may be downloaded for
your review by clicking on the links below.
DoD Tribal Policy
(PDF 141KB)
Outline
of Policy (MSWord 25KB)
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Media Contact:
Jodi Wolf – CCTHITA Publications
320 W. Willoughby Ave., Ste. 300
Juneau, AK 99801
Tel. 907/463-7123
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