National Congress of American Indians
November 2000
The Tribal Leaders Workgroup on Government-to-Government Consultation, which was established at the NCAI Executive Winter Session in February 2000, has been very active over this past year at drafting a consultation policy for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Workgroup, which is co-chaired by W. Ron Allen, Chairman of Jamestown S'Klallam and NCAI First Vice President, and Robert Chicks, Chairman of Stockbridge Munsee, is comprised of twelve tribal leaders from the twelve BIA regions. A technical working group consisting of lawyers, BIA, and NCAI staff has also been established.Since February, the Workgroup has held four drafting meetings: one in Las Vegas and Seattle, and two in Washington, D.C. The draft consultation policy encourages the Bureau to communicate with tribes as early as possible on any federal action the Bureau may take which affects tribes. The draft policy terms this early informal notification and discussions as pre-decisional scoping. The scoping process varies depending on the gravity of the issue and number of tribes affected by the issue. It identifies agency and tribal participants, types of notification of proposed changes, and how to conduct a scoping meeting with tribes. Secondly, the policy describes how tribal comments will be handled, how work assignments will be allocated and schedules set, how the consultation process will be designed, and the length of the consultation process. Furthermore, the policy explains how a federal action will be implemented, how Bureau employees will be educated on the consultation process, and the procedure for monitoring the performance of the Bureau in regards to the consultation process.
During the NCAI Mid-year Session in Juneau, Alaska, the Workgroup distributed the draft policy for tribal comments. These comments were collected and incorporated into the draft policy and subsequently submitted to the Bureau for comment. October 18th, a meeting was held between the Bureau and the Workgroup to discuss the Bureau's changes to the draft policy. On October 24th, the Workgroup submitted comments and a memorandum to the Bureau expressing concern over the proposed changes. The Workgroup was informed that final comments from the Bureau will be received by the end of October and that the Bureau anticipates the policy to be implemented in time for a formal presentation at the NCAI 57th Annual Session in St. Paul, Minnesota. The draft policy can be viewed at the NCAI website at www.ncai.org.* * * * *