Past News Items

The tribal plan for the distribution and use of more than $1.8 million awarded to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians by the Indian Claims Commission was published in the Federal Register March 13.

The award represents payment for two tracts of land that were lost to the Band as a result of erroneous surveys of boundaries of the Red Lake Reservation in the periods 1883 to 1903 and 1885 to 1907.

Before payment of any judgment funds can be made, it is required that a plan for distribution and use of the funds be prepared and submitted to Congress for approval.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown is enlisting Indian tribal leaders and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees as part of an intensive program to combat the sexual abuse of Indian children.

Distribution plans for judgment funds awarded to three western Washington Indian tribal groups are being published in the Federal Register. The awards, made by the Indian Claims Commission, are for additional compensation for land taken as a result of the point Elliot Treaty of 1885.

The tribes involved are the Lummi, Lower Skagit, and Kikiallus.

The first meeting of the Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economies will be held 1n Washington, D. C. October 19-20, Co- Chairmen Robert Robertson and Ross Swimmer announce d today.

Louise Perkins, Tribal Government Worker, is Buried: Louise Gilbault Perkins, of Michigan Ottawa who worked 36 years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, died November 22. Louise was administrative officer for the division of tribal government services. After attending Haskell Institute in 1941-42, Louise went to work for the BIA in Chicago as a Clerk-stenographer. She came to Washington in 1949 to work in the office of tribal relations under D'Arcy McNickle and has been since then part of the Washington scene for most tribal delegations.

WASHINGTON – A team comprised of Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) students won the grand prize of $5,000 and the a Gold Mars Trophy for the physical competition at the 2017 NASASwarmathon held at the Kennedy Space Center. The Swarmathon is a robotics programming challenge administered under a cooperative agreement between the NASA Minority University Research and Education Program and The University of New Mexico.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ken Smith announced that one hundred Indian Tribal leaders, Government Policy Officials and National/ International Travel Leaders will meet to discuss American Indian Tourism Thursday, January 27, 1983.

The meeting, co-sponsored by the Interior Department Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Commerce Department U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA), will be held at the Key Bridge Marriott in Rosslyn, Virginia.

Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard today announced that Deputy Assistant Secretary George V. Goodwin, Jr., will return to his native Minnesota to work with his Tribe.

"Mr. Goodwin has outstanding experience and leadership qualities" stated Gerard, "and he has been a vigorous advocate for the Indian interest. The focus of his work in our administration has been the improvement of the management systems and structure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in order that: the agency might be fully responsive to the unique and pressing needs of the Indian tribes."

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. “Larry” Roberts today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (OJS) is once again partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which will take place on Saturday, October 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time. OJS is working with tribal law enforcement agencies to implement Take-Back Day in their jurisdictions.