Sovereign Nations
“The people you see here in their traditional dress, that’s who we are,” declares a jubilant Jefferson Keel. “We are Indian people. We are sovereign nations and we’ll be here forever.”
Keel is surrounded by representatives of Indian tribes from all over the United States of America. Men on horseback, some wearing dramatic feathered headdresses, and women in beaded jewellery and fluttering fringed jackets have just arrived to the beat of tribal drums from a procession through Portland, Oregon. They are being welcomed by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.
It’s the beginning of November and although spring has delivered warmer weather in Aotearoa, the climate in Portland is a crisp 6°C indicating just how far the United States of America is from the South Pacific.
This is 68th annual meeting of National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), America’s oldest and largest Indian organisation.
Compared with anything in New Zealand, Portland Convention Centre is a titan. But this is America, where everything is larger and that includes the number of indigenous people. According to the US 2010 Census, American Indians and Alaska Natives number 5.2 million, so a venue to host 3000 Indian leaders for a general assembly and week of almost 100 workshops and cultural events needs to be of Olympian proportions.
NCAI President Jefferson Keel says the organisation is Indian country’s most effective lobby group representing 70 per cent of the American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Those who are not full members of NCAI tend to be represented by regional organisations, but Keel says the benefits NCAI gain are for all Indians.
This year the congress has invited an international delegation comprising Myrna Cunningham Kain, president of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; Roger Jones from the Assembly of First Nations (Canada); and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon and Waikato-Tainui chairman Tukoroirangi Morgan in their joint roles leading the Iwi Chairs Forum. Jody Broun from the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples was also part of the panel until the untimely Qantas airline strike stranded him down under.
Inside the main foyer a gathering of Indians drink coffee in front of a large canvas tepee. Many of the men have long hair tied in a single ponytail – some shiny black and others silvered with age. There is a spattering of colourful tribal patterns on jackets and shirts. Outside, flutters the stars and stripes against a backdrop of the trees that Oregon is famed for.
Having flown more than 16 hours to attend the conference, Solomon anxiously awaits his turn at the podium. He remarks he can’t understand some of what is being said. Others agree.
Everyone speaks English but the ripe mix of accents from Alaska and Canada to New York and California means some moments are lost in translation. Later, other attendees make the same remark, emphasising how vast the continent is and offering some consolation to the visitors.
When Solomon takes the podium, he explains the Ngāi Tahu 13-year journey towards re-establishing itself after seven generations of seeking justice for the fraudulent taking of ancestral territories.
“We here, with our indigenous relations globally, are the architects of our future. Our success is leading the regeneration of our identities and communities,” he tells the audience.
“For Ngāi Tahu, we are still learning how to be a uniquely indigenous business… We are also learning how to grow a truly intergenerational business in a global market defined by short-term thinking.”
Solomon also talks about the Iwi Chairs Forum in New Zealand, which represents a similar, albeit much smaller and younger, organisation to the NCAI.
The forum represents more than two-thirds of the Māori population in New Zealand. Formed four years ago after an initial meeting at Takahanga Marae in Kaikōura, it meets regularly to discuss social, economic, environmental and political development.
Solomon finishes his speech with the whakataukī: Nākū te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi (With your basket and my basket the people will live.)
NCAI annual meetings are also a chance to learn and share at the many workshops and seminars throughout the week.
In one of the workshops TE KARAKA attends, the topic of Iroquois passports is discussed. The passports became the subject of international headlines when the Iroquois national lacrosse team was denied entry to England. The English said they were concerned because the passports lacked modern security features and the team would not be able to re-enter the US on their passports. The team eventually gained entry after the US State Department issued a re-entry waiver.
At the workshop, Chief Oren Lyons of the Onondaga Nation, one of the six nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy, shows his passport, which boasts many international stamps including some from South Africa and Australia.
During the week Tukoroirangi Morgan speaks on the Investing for Future Generations panel discussing long-term and socially responsible investment strategies. Morgan gives a powerful presentation on the Waikato River Treaty Settlement and the Tainui journey to self-determination through using its investments to generate the capital needed to fund educational, social and environmental programmes for the tribe.
His message is simple and strong: Do not wait for government to take care of you, to develop health and education programmes for you, to feed you. You must use everything that you have to create your own destiny.
Morgan attends the conference with Dr Sarah-Jane Tiakiwai (Te Rarawa, Waikato, Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Pikiao by whangai) who heads the Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development at Hopuhopu, Hamilton.
As well as the speaking engagements, the conference is a chance to meet and develop relationships.
Solomon says indigenous people have similar issues around the world. “It is the sharing of information and experiences that can help us achieve our goals.”
A quick walk around the NCAI marketplace of retail and information stalls reaps many resources that can be useful in Te Waipounamu: a kanakana (lamprey eel) restoration project in the Colombia River that may help a similar project in Southland, New Zealand; financial literacy programmes similar to Ngāi Tahu Whai Rawa programmes and American Indian universities that are interested in partnering tertiary institutions in New Zealand.
For TE KARAKA there is the added boon of meeting Valerie Taliman (Navajo), the West Coast editor of the weekly magazine Indian Country Today. Taliman offers a content swap with TE KARAKA that will result in the magazines syndicating stories in each other’s publications.
Indigenous co-investment is an area that both Solomon and Morgan are interested in.
They are sought out by the Carl Marrs (Alutiiq), CEO of Old Harbor Native Corporation from Kodiak Island in Alaska, which has telecommunication, fishing and tourism interests.
After discussions, lunch and a flurry of emails, Marrs invites Solomon and Morgan to Alaska to look at investment opportunities.
By the end of the week, important new relationships have been forged with Solomon extending a reciprocal invitation to NCAI president Keel and his vice president to attend the Iwi Chairs Forum in 2012.
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