New Mexico

Albuquerque, N.M. – Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs John Tahsuda delivered remarks at Interior Days during the 2018 Annual Tribal Self-Governance Consultation Conference, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Tribal Self-Governance, held at the Albuquerque Convention Center. This year’s conference registration peaked around 900 attendees.

Secretary Zinke welcomed conference attendees via videoconference:

“For Tribal Nations across America, the road to prosperity is paved with the stones of sovereignty,” said Secretary Zinke. “When we promise economic empowerment to every American, that promise must extend to every tribal nation. As we look to the next 30 years of Self-Governance, the relationship between Indian Country and the Department of the Interior must be strong if we are going to accomplish our mission. President Trump and I are committed to the future of Indian Country and we look forward to working with Self-Governance Tribes on initiatives that promote the prosperity of Indian Country like putting an end the opioid epidemic.”

“Self-Governance has made great strides over the last 30 years. One of our main goals in the Administration is streamlining the federal bureaucracy and cutting red tape, so we can better support tribes in their pursuit to promote economic prosperity in their communities,” said PDAS Tahsuda. “Ultimately, the self-governance program serves not just as a funding vehicle, but also as a diplomatic exchange between sovereigns. I believe positive results are in store as tribes continue to be innovative and seek more ways they can take the core tenets and purposes of self-governance and expand it into more opportunities to administer services and programs to your citizens.”

The Tribal Self-Governance Conference is an annual event attended by officials of federally recognized tribes that operate federally funded programs under self-governance compacts and representatives of the federal agencies they do business with. The Indian Affairs Office of Self-Governance (OSG) conducts training sessions at the conference for tribal officials and program managers on all aspects of finance, reporting requirements, and administering Bureau of Indian Affairs programs under self-governance compacts.

OSG held a session on Thursday, April 26, on the Department’s proposed Federal Register notice of the “List of Programs Eligible for Inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2019 Funding Agreements to be Negotiated with the Self-Governance Tribe by Interior Bureaus Other than the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” For the first year, self-governance tribes with such agreements are invited to share their experiences in negotiating with non-BIA bureaus within DOI.

This year’s conference celebrates 30 years of Self-Governance in Action, with the special acknowledgement of the seven tribal nations who entered into the first self-governance agreements with the Interior Department – Absentee-Shawnee Tribe, Cherokee Nation, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Lummi Tribe, Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and the Quinault Indian Nation – as the Tribes that pioneered the movement away from 638 contacting as the sole means by which tribes could operate BIA-funded programs when they participated in the Bureau’s Self-Governance Demonstration Project. The project was created following Congressional enactment that same year of the Tribal Self-Governance Act.

WASHINGTON –Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Director Thomas J. Walters, Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety Director Jesse Delmar and the Department of the Interior-Office of Law Enforcement and Security Director Darren Cruzan, are among federal and Indian Country representatives slated to speak at the 27 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service honors tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty while serving on federal Indian lands and in the tribal communities. It is also during this occasion when the names of the officers who will be added to the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial monument at the academy are formally announced.

The 27th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service will be live-streamed. To view the event, visit https://livestream.com/accounts/85948/BIAmemorial and type in the password “biamemorial”

WHO: Charles Addington, Deputy Bureau Director, BIA-Office of Justice Services, Master of Ceremony John Tahsuda, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, DOI Thomas J. Walters, Director, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glencoe, GA Jesse Delmar, Director, Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety, Window Rock, AZ Darren Cruzan, Director, Department of the Interior-Office of Law Enforcement and Security, Washington, DC .

WHAT: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda will deliver remarks and Deputy Bureau Director of the BIA - Office of Justice Services Charles Addington will serve as master of ceremony at the 27th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service where the names of two fallen law enforcement officers will be added to the memorial.

WHEN: Thursday, May 3, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. MDT.

WHERE: BIA Indian Police Academy, DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, 1300 West Richey Avenue, Artesia, N.M. Phone (505) 748-8151 for directions. CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event. Press seating will be provided. Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 9:45 a.m. for the program beginning at 10:00 a.m.

To view an image of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and a list of the officers’ names inscribed on it, visit https://www.fletc.gov/indian-country-law-enforcement-officers-memorial

The event is held annually on the first Thursday in May, BIA-OJS conducts the memorial service in conjunction with International Chiefs of Police’s Indian Country Law Enforcement Section and other law enforcement organizations and agencies, including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Artesia, where the monument, academy and memorial service are located. The Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers and representatives of the Chickasaw Nation and Navajo Nation, whose officers are being added to the memorial this year, will be in attendance. The names of two officers added at this year’s ceremony will bring the total number listed on the memorial to 116:

• Navajo Nation Police Officer Houston Largo who was killed on April 12, 2017 while conducting a traffic stop of two individuals suspected in a reported domestic violence incident on Navajo Nation Reservation.
• Nelson Onepennee, Game Warden with Yakama Nation Police Department who was on April 11, 1980 while on patrol along the Columbia River when his vehicle left the roadway and plunged down a steep embankment.