May 1977: Gros Ventre Treaty Committee
- Sandy Siegel
- 5 days ago
- 53 min read
And Tongue River Canyon, Wyoming
I am going to present the entire treaty committee meeting because it offers an important reflection of dynamics that were prevalent in the community. There were different factions involved in resolving the treaty claims. There were now two treaty committees, so that complicated situation had to be resolved. Elmer Main attended the meeting to be a mediator. The BIA superintendent attended, as did a representative from the BIA area office in Billings.
Each of the different factions possessed their own interests in how they wanted the treaty claims resolved. The different factions cut across single families. Siblings might adhere to different factions and have opposing interests. This might also be the case between parents and children.
The reservation residents belonged to one group, and urban Indians (off-reservation Gros Ventre) belonged to another. Those who lived on the reservation were open to having the money spent on projects that would improve the quality of life for those Gros Ventre on Ft. Belknap. These projects included such things as a museum of traditional cultural items, as well as a resting place for the sacred pipes. Those living on the reservation supported the treaty committee’s contributions toward building the mission gym. The gym served a critical role in the community; pow wows, sporting events, weddings, wakes, feeds and giveaways were all held in the mission gym. The urban Gros Ventre resented spending money on the gym because they do not benefit from it. That was their position on reservation spending. They wanted the money. That was the only way for them to benefit. And this was their position even though the amount of the per capita payment was fairly small (between $50-$100).
What was particularly sad about this situation is that the reservation was really the only place where Gros Ventre culture could be practiced, and where there might be a possibility for the renewal of the Gros Ventre language. Almost none of the off-reservation residents had been away from Ft. Belknap for longer than a generation or two. That they had left these concerns in the dust was demoralizing for me to observe.
Another set of factions involved the definition of tribal membership. For as long as Gros Ventre tribal membership was based on blood quantum, it required one-quarter degree blood to be enrolled. This was the same for the Assiniboine on the reservation. A person could only be enrolled in one of the tribes. If an individual had equal amounts of blood, they had to make a choice of which tribe they would enroll. Thus, there were some siblings who belonged to different tribes. Additionally, as the amount of intermarriage was significant, it was sometimes the case that parents might be enrolled in the tribe while children did not have enough blood to qualify. It was absolutely the case that intermarriage was complicating tribal membership. And to my knowledge, when people were deciding to get married, they weren’t considering how much Gros Ventre blood their future spouse would contribute to their children. It might be a post facto regret on the part of some people, but it sure didn’t look like an issue while people in the community were pairing off.
Enrollment was a significant matter. If you belonged to the tribe, you were eligible to receive any per capita payments. If you were not a member, you were not eligible. A large group of people who were 1/8th degree blood sued the tribe to receive benefits. This suit remained unresolved during my time on the reservation. It was a confusing issue for me as the rules were clear about membership requiring 1/4 degree blood. But it was an issue and until it would be resolved, the tribe has set aside money in the event they had to pay out money to the 1/8ths.
This would be a good place to review the meaning of this blood quantum thing. When the federal government decided to create allotments on the reservation, hand out plots of land to tribal members and make ‘white farmers and ranchers’ out of these people, they had to create a comprehensive list of people who belonged to the tribe. They were dealing with people who only recently adopted last names (as forced by the government) and sure didn’t have any kind of birth certificates proving parents and lineage. Preceding the specific time all of these decisions were being made, there had already been considerable intermarriage between different tribes and there was also intermarriage with whites. All of this is evident from the historical record. I wasn’t there when this was all being done (early 1900s), so I can’t say how the government was collecting this information from individuals. Were they just accepting what they were being told? I have no idea. I know that Edith is 1/8th Seminole, and there’s no way that was accurate.
So, what I’m saying is that there was absolutely nothing sacred or possibly accurate about the degree blood that was defined during allotment. But that’s what we got. And while I am being critical about the way tribal membership was being defined, I can also say that I have no idea how else you would do it. Most people are defined as a member of a group from their way of life and their language. In the case of the Gros Ventre, this would have been a difficult set of criteria to use as their way of life was changing drastically and rapidly, and their language was disappearing. And because there was real money (land) involved, self-definition would have been difficult. So, while there is more magic than science in this approach, I have no great suggestions about how the situation might have been improved.
Fast forward to the 1970s, with the Gros Ventre sharing a reservation with both Metis and Assiniboine, there was a large amount of intermarriage and with each new generation, degree blood was being diluted. Consequently, there are more and more Gros Ventre who are 1/8ths and not eligible for tribal membership. There was also an increase in the intermarriage with whites as more Gros Ventre served in the military and also moved to live and work in urban areas across the country.
The next complicated and challenging set of opposing dynamics derived from those of the Tribes and those of the Tribe. I know. It is really complicated. Ft. Belknap was established for the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes; two entirely distinct groups of people with different cultures and different languages (Gros Ventre is Algonquian and Assiniboine is Siouxan). Leave it to the government to invent a shitstorm. I have previously described how the Metis or French-Chippewa-Cree fit into this reservation puzzle. For the purpose of the treaty committees, they were invisible.
Thus, on the reservation, there were three distinct political units. There was a Gros Ventre Treaty Committee to handle the affairs resulting from treaties with this tribe. There was an Assiniboine Treaty Committee to manage their treaty claims. And there was the Ft. Belknap Tribal or Community Council, which encompassed both the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes. The Council had it’s origins in the work the government engaged in during the 1930s to establish constitutions and business entities in the tribes across the country. This was a part of the Indian Reorganization Act.
The Treaty Committees not only managed the business of these claims between the government and the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine. The Committess also reflected the two very different cultures, languages and identities of these two tribes. There was strong ideological pressure against any forces that might muddle these unique cultures and identities.
For those on the Tribal Council and for the BIA superintendent on the reservation and those officials in the area office in Billings, the Treaty Committees represented a barrier to accomplishing reservation-wide strategies, policies and projects. These broader interests wanted for all of these activities to be done in the name of the council and the entire reservation and not by each individual tribe. By relying on individual tribal activity, the chasm between these tribes was being maintained and reinforced. The activities of each tribe were, by definition, not in the interest of the other tribe. The Council and the BIA were interested in eliminating these barriers. For the tribes, getting rid of the treaty committees represented an erosion of tribal identity.
One of the more challenging and insidious factions was represented by those on the reservation who wanted to engage in the more traditional mode of politics versus those people who had been influenced by the American Indian Movement. During the 1970s, Urban Indians, particularly in the San Francisco and Oakland areas were influenced by the Black Power Movement. They observed their tactics and goals and believed that this approach was applicable to the issues they faced with the federal government. There were families on Ft. Belknap who had an affinity with this movement. From my observation, they were a small minority … but they were most evident in their approach. I hesitate to refer to them as militant, but as compared to the traditional ways of resolving conflict, they were far more confrontational and aggressive. Their presence and approach was evident during the treaty committee decisions and activities.
Finally, layered on the chaos described, there was just unbounding distrust, suspicion and animosity surrounding everything that was being done by the Treaty Committee. Distrust of any kind of authority was rampant, strong and destructive. Any group managing money or resources was distrusted. There was always a suspicion that people were helping themselves and not the people they are charged with serving. These feelings and beliefs emanated from the decades of experience being regularly ripped off by BIA agents or any representatives of the federal government. This attitude was ingrained into the contemporary culture from the very real experiences the people had with anyone involved in leadership positions that managed money and resources. Even people who meant well, played by the rules and were motivated by a love of their people and wanting for their lives to be improved were NOT given the benefit of the doubt. They, too, were doubted.
The Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting at the Senior Citizen Center in Hays, May 23, 1977
The Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting was held tonight at the Senior Citizen Center. The meeting was supposed to begin at 7:30 this evening, but it was late in starting. Elmer Main came to the meeting to act as a moderator. And he was going to run the meeting. Lyman Young is the chairman of the Gros Ventre on Treaty Committee, but he wasn't at the meeting and he didn't come to the entire meeting. The meeting started late because they were waiting for Rusty Farmer before they started. He's the BIA Superintendent at Fort Belknap. He's a Blackfoot. Elmer Main, the BIA educational specialist at Fort Belknap, is a Gros Ventre. Rusty Farmer and Joe Fox from the BIA Area Office in Billings sat at the head table. The entire Gros Ventre Treaty Committee sat in with the rest of the crowd. The whole Committee was there, except for Lyman Young. He's the chairman of the Committee.
The meeting was finally called to order at 8:35 PM. Elmer Main took a hammer and pounded it on the table until it was quiet in the room. It took a couple minutes to quiet everyone down. There were about 60 people at the meeting. Most of the people were middle-aged and senior citizens from Hays. There were very few people from the Agency. A few people came from People's Creek and 3 Buttes. There were almost no young people there. The youngest attending were in their early or middle 20s and only about 3 to 5 people were in this age group. Most others at the meeting were older. Everyone sat around the room facing the main table. They sat on benches around the outside of the room and on chairs at tables around the room. Coffee was available behind the main table, which people took before the meeting and during short breaks during voting, but not during the meeting. And people smoked a lot of cigarettes. The room was filled with smoke within a half hour. There were a few off reservation Gros Ventre at the meeting, two from Seattle, and a few from Great Falls and Havre. With only sixty people at the meeting, very few of the Gros Ventre on the reservation were represented at the meeting and for all practical purposes, no off-reservation Gros Ventre were represented with only about five off reservation Gros Ventre there. But this was a fairly normal attendance for Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meetings.
Elmer Main: Before we start the meeting, I want you to sign this list. He sent around a piece of paper for people to sign. This is very important for the voting here tonight. We want people who are eligible to vote to sign this. Only those people who are 18 years old and older and 1/4 Gros Ventre and more. These are the only people who can vote, so only these people should sign the list. The purpose of this meeting is to decide who are the six members of the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee. But before we get to this business, I'd like to give you some background. Since I've come back to the reservation, I have been affiliated with the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee, I have been a technical adviser for the Treaty Committee, and I have also served as a clerk. But I've never been a member of the Treaty Committee. The Blackfeet and the Gros Ventre were treated by the government together in the Treaty. This is how the whole per capita payment got started here. According to the docket 279-A, the Blackfeet and the Gros Ventre were supposed to split $8 million. That's why this Treaty Committee was formed to take care of this money. That was its main purpose. The Treaty Committee was formed to handle this Treaty money. Since the Treaty Committee was formed, some of the members have resigned like John Capture. We have one of the members tonight here from the old Treaty Committee, Bob Mount. We had a per capita payment in 1973, but we have some money left over. We were supposed to program this money. This order came from Congress. To get this per capita payment, the tribe had to agree to program this money. This money that's left over is the interest money from the money used in the per capita payment. It comes to over $400,000. I think it's $436,000. We have this money in CD's now and it's accruing interest. Some of this money has been taken out though, for some expenses. The new gym at St. Paul's Mission. The proposed Gros Ventre Museum. The museum account had $80,000. Joe Fox is here from Billings, the area office, and he can explain this to you better than I can. He'll do it later. The interest money was supposed to be programmed, but it was never done. The Treaty Committee tried to program it, but technicalities got in the way every time they tried. They tried to build a tribal office at the Agency, and they got an agreement from the BIA that they would rent office space in the building. They were going to pay $40,000 a year to rent this space. It would have paid itself off in a few years. It would have been a good deal, but it fell through. The Assiniboine were going to be affiliated with the tribal office and the building was going to be on tribal land, both Gros Ventre and Assiniboine. Since only Gros Ventre money was going to be used to put up the building, they ruled it out. Each proposal that was made by the Treaty Committee was ruled out and so no program was implemented. The $436,000 of interest money is still uncommitted. From the interest money $25,000 was used to pay for the tribal complex at the Agency. Then $100,000 was withdrawn for the museum fund. Of this money, $25,000 was withdrawn from the account and was used to buy artifacts and books for the Gros Ventre. These things are now with the College of Great Falls. We have $75,000 in an account in Billings. At the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting on November 22nd, 1976, it was decided that the museum project would be ended. So now there are $80,000 that can be used for other plans. There was a Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting at the Mission on November 22nd, 1976 and at that meeting there was a vote and people decided on a per capita payment from the interest funds. Of about $400,000. It's not going to be easy to spring this money loose for a per capita payment, but it can be done. I have the minutes from that meeting and I'll read some of those minutes.
Benny Stiffarm was there and was representing the urban Indians from Seattle. There was a discussion of the 1/4 and 1/8 degree blood issue and it was voted again that only one quarter degree blood should be eligible for the per capita payment. Then the six people on the Treaty Committee Lyman Young, who was chairman, Madeline Cauliflower who was the secretary treasurer, Davey Hawley, Bertha Snow, Ed Filesteele and JJ Mount were put up for a vote and the Committee was voted in. It passed. Then there was a vote on whether the Committee should set up guidelines for handling Treaty Committee business and this passed. Finally, there was a vote on whether this Committee should have a lifetime membership with a provision for removal under certain circumstances, and this was also passed. At this meeting, $30,000 was programmed for handling the pipes and a final resting place for these pipes, and $50,000 was programmed for a burial and wake fund for each Gros Ventre member. The interest money on the $50,000 would be used for the burial funds. Then there were certain instructions given to the Committee to carry out: The Committee was to set up guidelines for operation and to handle Treaty Committee business, the Treaty. Committee was to contact members of Congress and find out the procedure for getting a per capita payment from the remaining funds and the Treaty Committee was to contact Albert Willow, an Arapahoe medicine man from Wyoming about getting the sacred pipes to a final resting place. And the Treaty Committee was supposed to set up a meeting in January. On April 3rd, 1977, there was a meeting here in the Hays Hall, but only about 12 to 15 people were here. There wasn't a quorum and so they called for a new meeting. Another meeting was called for April 5th. There were only 35 people at the meeting. Only two members from the old Treaty Committee were at the meeting. It wasn't a quorum, so it wasn't an official meeting. There was no agenda and the meeting was not recognized by the officials on the Fort Belknap Reservation as an official meeting. At this April 5th meeting, action was taken to dismiss the six old Treaty Committee members who had been elected at the November 22nd Treaty Committee meeting and new members were elected.
Jimmy Main: You're wrong about that. Davey Hawley resigned and Ed Filesteele was kept on the Treaty Committee. They were the only members from the old Treaty Committee at this meeting.
Elmer Main: OK, but four of the old members were left out. They weren't present at the meeting, and they couldn't defend their actions or express their views. You'll have a chance to express your opinions later. Let me finish this background.
There was a meeting on December 15th, 1976 with the Treaty Committee and agency officials. At this meeting, guidelines were set up for the Treaty Committee, how to handle the business of the Treaty Committee and how to handle the remaining funds. We sent letters to Congressmen about the per capita payment, but we haven't had an answer from them. So, we contacted the BIA officials in Billings. We always got the same answer from them. Mr. Fox is here from the area office, and he'll explain everything later. So now we have two separate Treaty Committees. There was a meeting on April 24th, 1977 at the agency and all the members of both Treaty Committees were present. We had a discussion up there about the Treaty Committees, but nothing was accomplished, both the old and new Treaty Committee members were there, but an impasse developed. Nothing was accomplished and there was no agreement on anything. The only agreement made was that there would be a meeting on May 23rd, 1977 at the Hays Senior Citizen Center. They also agreed to have me chair the meeting. Until you get a new chairman, they have agreed to have me be a mediator. That's why I'm here tonight. I have to be impartial. The meeting on April 24th was held at a house and there was another meeting at a home last night. At this meeting we will only recognize 1/4 degree blood Indians, Gros Ventre, on the allotment roll. The tribe also recognizes that you must be at least 18 years or older. These are the requirements for voting. There will be secret ballots, and the count will be double checked. Guests at the meeting may be excused during the voting. It's up to you. The Gros Ventre Treaty Committee checkbook is going to be returned, and all of the financial documents will be returned. This whole issue of the Treaty Committee and the Treaty money is causing a cleavage in the Gros Ventre tribe. We should get this whole thing settled once and for all. There have been a lot of questions raised about the expenditure of funds by the Treaty Committee since 1968. $61,000 was spent for Treaty Committee expenses, clerks, trips, meetings and incidental expenses. The BIA asked the Treaty Committee to prepare a breakdown of the expenditures. They turned one in, but the BIA says that the breakdown is still not sufficient for their final acceptance. There is a moratorium on Treaty Committee business until you people settle on a Treaty Committee. The old Treaty Committee is Lymon Young, chairman, Madeline Cauliflower, secretary treasurer. Bertha Snow, JJ Mount, Davey Hawley and Ed Filesteel. The new Treaty Committee is William Main or Snuffy Main, chairman, Willie Bradley, secretary treasurer, Fiddles Blackcrow, Jimmy Main, Ruby Brockie and Ed Filesteel. I will run this meeting, conduct it as orderly as I possibly can. Are there any questions?
Woman: His name is Joe. We call him Fiddles.
Prince Brockie: At the November 22nd meeting there was $7400 refunded from George Horse Capture. This should be added to the $61,000. So, the Treaty Committee spent $68,000 since 1968.
Jimmy Main: At the November meeting they voted to let the Treaty Committee use $17,000 for a one-year operating budget.
Elmer Main: The Treaty Committee submitted their request to Billings, but they have to give them an accounting of the $61,000 before they can get the $17,000. Billings would go along with the Treaty Committee until November 1977.
Jimmy Main: Did they come up with any procedure for removal of Treaty Committee members?
Elmer Main: At the December meeting, the Treaty Committee established some guidelines. Four of the Treaty Committee members were present at the meeting. Maybe I should review some of these guidelines.
1. All Treaty Committee meetings will be open meetings.
2. General Treaty Committee meetings will be held two times a year.
3. Treaty Committee members will be paid the same as all other tribal groups, and they'll get a per diem and mileage.
4. The Treaty Committee must submit and make public a monthly report of all expenditures.
5. The Treaty Committee checkbook and records should be made available for inspection in their office.
6. The Treaty Committee clerk will keep in contact with the Urban Indians about Treaty Committee business.
7. If a Treaty Committee member misses two or three meetings, this would be caused for their removal.
8. Voting by the Treaty Committee will be a roll call vote.
9. Minutes from the Treaty Committee meeting will be sent to the Urban Indians.
10. The tenure of office for the Treaty Committee members would be up to the people to decide.
This is what I think about the future. There is some business left for the Treaty Committee. They have to do something with the remaining funds. The money that's left, just wipe it out with a per capita payment. If you want a burial fund and want to make some plans for the pipes, that's fine. Let's get rid of this money as quickly as possible and Gros Ventre dispense with the Treaty Committee. Any new claims will be joint. They'll be handled by the Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine tribes together. It'll be handled by the Tribal Council, so you should wipe out the money that's left and then end the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee. That's my feelings about it. We should get rid of the money that's left. It's causing a split among members and between relatives and others. Get rid of the money and then get rid of the Treaty Committee.
Quentin.: (He stood up and took off his hat). The Treaty Committee has been holding these meetings regular for the past three years, a lot of money has been spent for these meetings. We should use it for the education of our kids, for the Gros Ventre kids who are going to college. It's expensive for them. They need the money. I have two kids who finished at Haskell. It's serious for these kids. They need the money. It should be given to these students. But our money has been used for these Treaty Committee members to buy new cars and to have good times. This is our money. Then the Treaty Committee has tried to set up a Gros Ventre museum. I don't know why they want a museum. There are no relics left. I know about these things. Collecting Gros Ventre relics is my hobby and there's nothing left. There's a Museum of relics at Wolf. Point. They have some things over there. They robbed it from Hays. There's no more old bead work left. There were people who were even robbing Gros Ventre graves. Four Gros Ventres have died in four months. They never got the rest of the Treaty money. This was their money too. It's just pitiful the way our money has been spent. It's our money. They should give it to us. There's been so much intermarrying now that pretty soon there won't be any Gros Ventre that are even 1/8 or 1/16th. They should give the money to the people. Bob Mount and Andrew Lambull will outlive the Treaty Committee. Maybe. We people have to work for our money. I had to work for mine. The VA takes good care of me, but not the BIA. The BIA doesn't take care of me. They take care of themselves though. They have nice cars and they drive around in and they sure live in nice homes. Our two pipes should be taken care of. This is our culture. This was our way of life years ago. That's what kept us together.
Then Quentin put on his hat and sat down. There was a loud applause for Quentin from everyone in the room.
Elmer Main: You've said some good things, Quentin. The museum project has been abandoned. If you people want the per capita payment, then that's what we'll do.
Jimmy Main: We had an informal meeting (the new Treaty Committee). We’re not radicals. We didn't have any quorum. These meetings are costing a lot of money. It's hard on the people. In six years there were Treaty Committee meetings, and all this money wasn't spent. Why do they need $17,000 for one year?
Elmer Main: There is a reason for this $17,000. There will be 10 Treaty Committee meetings during the year. They have to pay utilities. They're in the office of the ONAP building. They have to pay postage. They have a secretary that gets paid $7,000 a year and they owe her money she hasn't been paid yet. Attorney’s fees came to $2,500 and they had to buy supplies and the audit of the books cost $1,500. The $17,000 budget has never been acted on by the BIA.
Rusty Farmer: If the accounting comes through on the $61,000, then the $17,000 budget will be OK’d. There was a resolution passed at the November meeting. That passed this $17,000 budget. This resolution was passed by the people. It's not from the Committee, but I never got the minutes from this meeting. No one ever sent them to me, and I need these minutes to verify this resolution. It's the people who must approve this money. No one else, not the Committee. You must have minutes and records. I'd like to see the minutes from the meetings and all the records. We depend too much on our memories. Too many times we depend on our memories instead of going to the minutes and records. I must see these money reports. We all need to see them, and I must identify expenditures. We all should, otherwise there are too many accusations. I'm sure that all the Treaty Committee expenses are legal and can be explained, but without records or reports it causes a lot of problems. It's when we depend on our memories that the accusations start. There's been too many criticisms against each other. When I go to Harlem, I hear criticism about the Indian people and when I'm here on the reservation, I hear it. As long as I'm here, I won't stand for it. We're going to bust tail for this per capita payment and finally get rid of it. Then when we get rid of this money, we can restore the good feelings back in this community. Both the Assiniboine and the Gros Ventre are pushing for this per capita payment. There's enough intermarriage that to identify the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine will become less and less. This money is destroying us. We have to pay it out and get rid of it and then get back to our business. I'm working with the Assiniboine Treaty Committee too. They're either going to pay out a per capita payment or program all of it. But we should get rid of it, get rid of this money and get back to being one people. We’re letting the dollar sign keep us apart, and we've got to stop this. The dollar sign is not going to keep us apart.
Jimmy Main: The money is not all of it. We're talking about Treaty rights. Also, about living here without being molested.
Woman from Seattle: we were paid once. We need the Treaty Committee, the Urban Indians to support us from the on the reservation; to represent us here. We're off the reservation. And we need some kind of representation.
Rusty Farmer: There's so much more. We're struggling with basic rights. We're fighting hard to get back the Little Rockies and for water rights. If we are not together, we'll lose these fights. There are a lot of groups against us on these issues and they're not going to fight in court, they'll go straight to Congress. If we lose these basic rights, it'll be worse than termination. If they win on these things, our treaties will fall fast. They'll fall apart. This MOD group is vicious, and we better be united against this group.
Jimmy Main: Tribal politics are also vicious. I can't do anything up here at the Agency. No one will listen to me. You and your white man's law. It's your process, not ours.
Rusty Farmer: The ballot box is the people's voice.
Jimmy Main: There will always be Gros Ventre and Assiniboines. We've lived together for over 100 years, but we've still kept our tribal identity. As long as we live, there will always be Gros Ventres and Assiniboines. We can't get rid of the Treaty Committees.
Rusty Farmer: But there are two Committees, and I won't sit between them. I'm not going to play this game. There can't be two Gros Ventre Treaty Committees. Who is conducting official business. Which group? I'm not going to play the games of figuring this out.
Jimmy Main: We're as serious as you are.
Rusty Farmer: There are more serious things than this. There are issues like this MOD business. This group really scares me, and I speak of that as an Indian, not as a Superintendent.
Quentin: We're Gros Ventre and we can't even talk Gros Ventre. We talk better Mexican.
Jimmy Main: We can pray in Latin, but we can't speak Gros Ventre.
Rusty Farmer: I'm going home. I don't want to intimidate you. Let's get a Treaty Committee that I can work with. I can work with whatever's decided. We'll put something together for you people. I'll just excuse myself. I know there's some intimidation from my presence.
Man: Is this a legal meeting? Who has the power?
Rusty Farmer: The People.
Man: What do you think should be done with the money?
Rusty Farmer: Well, what do you think?
Man: I think some culture classes should be started and some singing classes so that us younger people can learn to sing Gros Ventre songs. Are you a Gros Ventre?
Rusty Farmer: No, I'm a Blackfoot.
Man: We'll probably have all kinds of questions for you as soon as you walk out the door. Maybe you better stay here. There was a lot of agreement in the room, and Rusty Farmer went back to his chair and sat down. He stayed for the whole meeting.
Quentin: What's happening with our mineral rights? We have oil here. Why don't we have oil wells here? Why aren't we drilling? The money could be given to the people. Why not? This would be a good source of money for people. Why aren't we doing it?
Rusty Farmer: We're trying to get a bid out. We've had a few offers from oil companies. There was a study from the Geological Survey, but the companies won't come. They don't know the quality of the oil yet. There were four test drills this year. We know that there's gas, but we can't get the companies to come in.
Quentin: There's a lot of gold up in those mountains, too. I worked in those mines up there. I know these mountains like the back of my hand. I was a miner.
Rusty Farmer: We want to get the Little Rockies back first. We just completed a study, and we sent it to Washington. We have some other priorities, our trust responsibilities, the return of the Little Rockies, our water rights. The return of 2,500 acres in the Dodson area and the claims from Snake Butte.
Quentin: The water from the mountains was diverted. Now the pollution is down to old Hays. We should sue them because of this pollution. And find out the cyanide levels in our water.
Rusty Farmer: We're working on it. The Canadian company that destroyed the land and polluted the water was asked by the government to restore this land. The Geological Survey came out to check the land and they were satisfied with the job. But we want the land reforested for good use and the job they did isn't good enough. There is currently a claim on this land, but we don't want the money. We want the land restored the way it was. So, the tribe brought a suit.
Woman: What happened with the budget? It was presented but not accepted.
Rusty Farmer: Since 1968, the Treaty Committee has spent $61,000, but right now we can only account for $54,000. Now they only have a savings account. We want to account for all of this money that was spent. I'm concerned about it because I want to protect all these people. We need to see all the bank statements and the canceled checks. Then when we get this straightened out, we're going to publish this. We'll put all the expenditures in the Camp Crier. I'm sure all the money will be accounted for. And that there was no wrongdoing. We just need the records.
Woman: These people are getting paid not to work. The Treaty Committee members. You should just give this money out in a per capita payment. Don't program the money. The old people want their money too. They've had to wait so long for it, some died before they could even get it. It's time it was paid out.
Rusty Farmer: There should be a per capita payment and some of this money should be programmed. At Yankton (he must have been a Superintendent there), we set up a fund for the elderly. We programmed some of their money this way, and it worked out really well. I have mixed feelings about the per capita payment. It would come out to about $40.00 to $50.00 for each Gros Ventre.
Elmer Main: No, we figured it would be a little more than $100 apiece.
Quentin: Why can't we use this money to help out college students? We need some good Indian teachers in our schools. We should be educating our people.
Elmer Main: Some of you are getting money for education. We have a program for education here. Now the BIA appropriates educational monies in one lump sum. It's given out by population size. We get the bare minimum, but we do get money. For education and we're helping out college students. We do have higher education funds in the BIA.
Rusty Farmer: We're working on an education program with the College of Great Falls, teachers can be certified through the Hays Urban Rural program.
Quentin: We have free enterprise. Why can't we start businesses here on the reservation and hire our own people and give them jobs? We can be qualified. We should get some training programs. We need to have loans for people who want to start businesses.
Rusty Farmer: We do have grants for businesses, grants for people to go into business. The grants can be up to 40% and not to exceed $50,000. (The rest might be a loan).
Quentin: Forget about these grants. We should get our potentials from here. We could be sued and lose our reservation.
Man: I make a motion that the Superintendent stay for this meeting and keep it all legal. Now let's get on with our business.
Quentin: The taxpayers are getting tired of giving free tickets to the Indian. They're belly aching about it. They're tired of it. It's our country, but they're still belly aching. Why can't we use our own money? Our own money can be used for this ticket.
Elmer Main: Well, we have six old Treaty Committee members and six new Treaty Committee members. There was a blanket dismissal of the whole Treaty Committee, and this wasn't fair. People are opposed to a few of the old members, but there are still some of these old members who are worthy of being on this Treaty Committee. So, we have to decide tonight. Do we want 1, 2 or 3 of the old Treaty Committee or do we keep all of them or none of them? My suggestion is that we have a secret ballot with voting by each Gros Ventre member who is eligible to vote, will vote on the six old members and the six new members. Or to take new nominations.
Woman: You've given us your opinion of the old Treaty Committee. Some of the old Treaty Committee members requested to be off the Treaty Committee. Since you took your time to give your opinions about the old Treaty Committee, I'd like you to give your reasons for the new Treaty Committee. It would help in the voting if you did this.
Elmer Main: There was a meeting on April 5th. There were 35 Gros Ventre members present at this meeting. People were getting tired of coming to these meetings with no quorum of the old Treaty Committee members. No business gets conducted this way. They can't conduct business without a quorum of the Treaty Committee. There were two or three meetings like this. So, with this meeting, a new set of Treaty Committee members was elected. It was done at this meeting. There was a lot of dissatisfaction with the old Treaty Committee. There were recommendations made at the November meeting, but these are not carried out.
Woman: Are these valid reasons for dismissing the old Treaty Committee and voting in a new Treaty Committee, in your opinion? If you told us it might dispose with some of the confusion.
Ed Filesteel: Another reason was the expenditure of money like that $75,000. From the new gym at St. Paul's Mission.
Elmer Main: The $75,000 from the Treaty Committee was made matching funds for the school, the Kresky Company gave $75,000. There is a feeling that the Gros Ventre needed better accounting of expenditure of funds.
Jimmy Main: On October 12th, John Capture resigned. He was the chairman of the Treaty Committee. He said he wanted to get out of politics, but since then he's more into politics than he was before. He had some other reasons for resigning (alluding to money).
Davey Hawley: There were rumors of nitpicking over expenditures. I couldn't agree with this. Any expenditures of the Treaty Committee were through people. It's like Mr. Farmer said, we went through Scurlock, the temporary Superintendent. That any planning went through the Treaty Committee. We went ahead with the planning on our own.
Elmer Main: Some of the old Treaty Committee members tried to do their job, but they couldn't. Maybe they could get something done if they got 100% support with what takes place. It's up to you.
Davey Hawley: In all fairness to Lyman Young, (who wasn't at the meeting), there's some confusion about who would call these Treaty Committee meetings. I thought it was the secretary and the chairman. If we have these Treaty Committees meetings, who calls them? Who called the meeting when the new Committee was voted in? He came to all the meetings, but when John resigned. Lyman Young did call this meeting tonight, but he's not here. This is a valid miss. So, you can complain about this one. But the other meetings where some of the Treaty Committee members missed who called these meetings, if the chairman or secretary didn't call the meeting, the Treaty Committee members may not have heard about the meetings. That’s probably why they didn't come to these other meetings.
Prince Brockie: Well, what are the guidelines on this? Who's supposed to call these meetings, the people or the Treaty Committee?
Davey Hawley: We tried to stick to Roberts Rules. We stayed as close to them as we could. If we miss so many meetings, it's not fair to Lymon. If he's not here to defend himself, he should be able to. We should be able to defend ourselves. But who called this meeting? We got word that there was a group that wanted to shoot down the Treaty Committee. Since this was their plans, I decided to beat them to the point, so I resigned.
Prince Brockie: What went on at that meeting wasn't planned. We didn't plan it out before the meeting. We just decided at the meeting to vote in a new Treaty Committee.
Quentin: What's with all this? Pro or con? Let's just get on with it.
Woman: Yeah, let's just get on with the business at hand.
Elmer Main: Well, should we take six Treaty Committee members out of the 12 we have now or what?
Woman from Seattle: The new members are voted. They're already in. The Superintendent said that it was for the people to decide. These new boys are in, we should give them a chance. The new Treaty Committee members are in legally already.
Rusty Farmer: But half of the people aren't backing them. The new Treaty Committee, it's not resolved. It's split down the middle. Some of the Gros Ventre recognized the old Treaty Committee, and some recognized the new Treaty Committee.
Snuffy Main: I agree with Elmer. I think we should elect the Treaty Committee from all 12, the new and the old Treaty Committees. We should decide and we should include the old Treaty Committee. I'm young. If we lose the old Treaty Committee, we're going to lose a lot of knowledge. I don't know about the Treaty matters. These older people have been working on it for years. They know about the treaties.
Quentin: We have to get our heads together on this thing. Let's just get on with the business.
Woman: That's what we're doing.
Prince Brockie: What will stop any criticism against this new Treaty Committee?
Rusty Farmer: We will get along with this new Treaty Committee.
Jimmy Main: How does the Tribal Council feel about it?
Rusty Farmer: The Council doesn't want to split, but if nothing's done, they will back the old Treaty Committee.
Jimmy Main: If the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Treaty Committees are found illegal, then so is the audit Committee.
Rusty Farmer: The resolution for the Treaty Committee has passed.
Jimmy Main: The handwriting is on the wall. In one more year, there won't be a BIA.
Rusty Farmer: The pressures coming from above, the tribes are taking on more business of their own.
Elmer Main: Maybe they will keep these Treaty Committees so we can run our business. They said, so long as the grass grows and the river flows.
Jimmy Main: In the Constitution it says that the Fort Belknap Community Council can't file suits. Only the Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine must file alone, each Treaty Committee. They're the only ones who can file suits for land claims if we based all our claims on the 1855 treaty, we would all be Blackfeet and Piegans. It's confusing. Our children will all have to be lawyers to understand it and to know the right questions to ask.
Elmer Main: We have to decide on a Treaty Committee tonight.
Man: We have some options: We can go with the last meeting and accept the new Treaty Committee, or we can accept the old Treaty Committee. We have a few options.
Elmer Main: I agree with Snuffy. If we get rid of the old Treaty Committee, we'll be getting rid of a lot of knowledge. It's up to you, though. What I say doesn't mean much.
Man: Maybe we should choose an executive member of a chairman, vice chairman and secretary and 50 people should be a quorum.
Elmer Main: That's too high for a quorum. We only have 53 people here now.
Quentin: President Carter is working hard. He's looking into the BIA. Maybe he'll weed out those who don't know how to work.
Elmer Main: Let’s just get on with voting in the Treaty Committee. Bob and Estelle Mount left because it was taking too long for the voting. (They did return, however, after 15 or 20 minutes).
Elmer Main: I'm going to pass out some paper. You'll use these as ballots. There will be four options.
1. Keep the new Treaty Committee members
2. Keep the old Treaty Committee members
3. Vote for six new members from the 12 on the new and old Treaty Committees
4. Call for new nominations.
Woman from Seattle: We're broad minded. Let's get off this voting and let's get on with the new Committee.
JJ asked the options for voting again and Elmer Main reread the options.
Young man: How long has this old Treaty Committee been in?
Elmer Main: There's never been a turnover.
Young man: and how much was the last per capita payment?
Elmer Main: The per capita payment was a little more than $900.
Young man: If they were only able to come up with that much, maybe we should give these new guys a crack at it. You know how competition is with politics. We should try these new members.
Woman: There's a motion on the floor to vote on these four options by a secret ballot.
Elmer Main: Everyone is going to vote but me, but we have to go by the old tribal constitution. We have a new constitution, but it hasn't been ratified yet. So, you have to be 21 years or older to vote. We must still go by the new constitution. First it has to go to the Tribal council for review and then it will go to all the members of the Fort Belknap community. The new constitution lowers the voting age to 18 years, but for this vote you have to be 21 to be eligible to vote and you have to be 1/4 Gros Ventre or more. We'll have a hand vote first on whether to vote on these four options.
The motion carried. Then the ballots were issued. One was given to each person who was eligible to vote. Two people were asked to collect the ballots after the voting, and they were put in a box. Two women counted the ballots and then Mr. Farmer and another woman checked the ballots. They were tallied and the vote was read by Elmer Main. It went as follows.:
1. For the new Treaty Committee members, 14.
2. For the old Treaty Committee members, 17.
3. For voting for six new Treaty Committee members from the old and the new Treaty Committees, 12.
4. For new nominations, 1.
Two of the ballots were disqualified because they didn't make any sense. The people voting didn't understand the balloting. During the voting Estelle asked me twice to tell her the options. She voted for the old Treaty Committee members. JJ is her stepson, and she asked me to check her ballot to make sure that that's what she voted for. Her husband, Bob, has a hearing problem and she voted for him on his ballot. The old Treaty Committee members were voted in again.
Janice Hawley: In November we voted on this Treaty Committee and we put them into office for one year. When did we vote on them again? (She was being sarcastic). Are we going to vote whenever someone wants a vote again? How long is this Treaty Committee for?
Elmer Main: This Treaty Committee will be in office till November 1977. This was the recommendation. We have established some guidelines for the Treaty Committee, and they should be followed strictly:
1. All Treaty Committee meetings will be open meetings.
2. General Treaty Committee meetings will be held two times a year.
3. Treaty Committee members will be paid the same as all other tribal groups, and they'll get a per diem and mileage.
4. The Treaty Committee must submit and make public a monthly report of all expenditures.
5. The Treaty Committee checkbook and records should be made available for inspection in their office.
6. The Treaty Committee clerk will keep in contact with the Urban Indians about Treaty Committee business.
7. If a Treaty Committee member misses two or three meetings, this would be caused for their removal.
8. Voting by the Treaty Committee will be a roll call vote.
9. Minutes from the Treaty Committee meeting will be sent to the Urban Indians.
The tenure of office for the Treaty Committee members would be up to the people to decide.
Davey Hawley: That new Treaty Committee had several meetings. We should get the minutes from their meetings, and those Treaty Committee members should get compensation for the meetings they had. Also, we, the old Treaty Committee, took out a clerk who worked for us. Without pay, we have to give her back pay. She quit finally last week.
Elmer Main: We will try to have the Gros Ventre tribe advance some funds to pay off the clerk.
Man: We should start discussing the guidelines and get these settled.
Elmer Main: OK, let's work on these guidelines, the conduct of the Treaty Committee.
Jimmy Main: On that paper we should distinguish between the Treaty Committee and the Council meetings. We don't need a quorum for the Treaty Committee, for a general council meeting. That's the people. That's my suggestion for the guidelines. We should get some other suggestions.
Janice Hawley: We should talk about conduct during these meetings too. Maybe we need a sergeant at arms.
Jimmy Main: The Crows are under the IRA. (The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine are). They need a hundred members of the Crow community for a quorum at their meetings. They have an executive Committee that sets up an agenda. The Gros Ventre should have one. The people should be able to call the general Council meetings, not just the Treaty Committee. Maybe we should have an executive Committee for the people too.
Janice Hawley: We should have at least 2/3 of the Treaty Committee present at any meetings for a quorum, both the Treaty Committee meetings and the general meetings. Why have a Treaty Committee if they don't have to be present at the meetings? There should be at least 2/3 of the Treaty Committee for a quorum at both kinds of meetings.
Elmer Main: Well in the guidelines any of the Treaty Committee members who missed two consecutive meetings, this is due cause for their removal from the Treaty Committee. So, they'll be at all these meetings anyway, both the Treaty Committee and the General Council meetings.
Snuffy: Why do we need the Treaty Committee at these General Council meetings? It's the people who will be making all the decisions at these general meetings. The Treaty Committee doesn't have to be there.
Elmer Main: We have to decide what is a duly called meeting. If the people can call a meeting as well as the Treaty Committee, how many people should there be to call a general meeting? Should it be 5 or 10? How many Gros Ventres are needed to call an official general council meeting? I think that 20 people would be too high.
Jimmy Main: The people should be able to get together and call a special meeting.
Man: How often will there be a new Treaty Committee? Every five years. It's been almost five years since we got the per capita payment, from about 1972 to 1977. When will we get our money?
Elmer Main: This Treaty Committee we have here has until November 1977. Anytime a member does not perform their duties as set down by the guidelines, this will be grounds for dismissal. They must come to all these Treaty Committee meetings. If they miss two meetings in a row, they can be removed. They have to provide an audit each month and make their checkbook available for inspection. They also have to complete the audit to get any more money. Audit of the expenditure of $61,000 since 1968. After they get an audit turned in that is satisfactory to the BIA, there will be an advance of the Treaty Committee’s operating expenses. Talking as a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, we should have no further misunderstandings of where money is being spent. A monthly statement of expenditures will be put in the Camp Crier and the minutes from these meetings will be sent out to the urban Indian communities. There was a resolution passed at the November meeting that called for the operating expenses of the Treaty Committee. This came to $17,000 and was broken down into nine items. This resolution was passed. Some of these items were:
Ten Treaty Committee meetings, $4,000.
General expenses $1,500.
Secretary, Clerk $7,000.
Taxes. Withholding Social Security. Utilities. $500.
Attorneys’ contracts. $500.
Supplies $300
Audit. $1,500.
Any of this resolution can be changed if you want, it's up to you people.
Jimmy Main: Is there enough business for a full-time clerk?
Davey Hawley: We hired her to catch up with all these odds and ends and to get our records organized and filed. We put together a file at our office in the CAP building. She did this work. After she got all this work done, we plan to turn all this work back over to the secretary treasurer. We hired her for a full year because we didn't know how long this work would take to get done. But when this work is done, I guess we won't need a full-time clerk.
Elmer Main: We should discuss any additions you want to make to these guidelines. One suggestion was that we distinguish between the Treaty Committee meetings and the General Council meetings. Another was that we should decide how many people are needed before they can call a general meeting. We have in the guidelines that all Treaty Committee meetings will be open to the Community. I think this is understood and we can just leave this in. There will be two general meetings held during the year.
JJ: We should leave this in and the Treaty Committee members will show up to these meetings.
Jimmy Main: They weren't coming to the these meetings this winter.
Elmer Main: Besides the two general meetings held during the year, a special meeting can be called during the year. But we have to decide how many people are needed who want to call a special meeting.
JJ: Why don't we make it ten people? Ten Gros Ventre members can call this special meeting and it'll be an official meeting if the ten people get a notice signed by one of the officers of the Treaty Committee.
Davey Hawley: It would be hard to get more than that. We only had seven people before.
Woman: One of the reasons was that people didn't know about these meetings, but with notices and if the meetings are published, people will come to the meetings.
Quentin: Maybe we should hire a Treaty Committee. Then we'll get something done.
Woman from Seattle: I want the $400.00 I'm supposed to get for coming to the last meeting and for this meeting. This is for my travel expenses. I'm from the Fort Belknap Indian Association and we want input at these meetings. At these meetings you remember that? There are lots of Gros Ventre off the reservation, don't forget about that.
Elmer Main: In these guidelines, maybe we should request a person to represent the urban Indians. They have as much right to the Gros Ventre affairs as anyone else. They don't live here, but they do have a lot of ties with the reservation. They just chose not to live here and this is their right.
Jimmy Main: (stood up and said very defiantly with a smile on his face). I'm going to go now, but before I go, I just wanted to say that this is the first time I ever saw a policeman at a Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting. Did you expect some trouble here tonight from an individual or from a group?
Davey Hawley: He wasn't asked to come here. He came here on his own for the meeting.
Woman from Seattle: I have to go back to Seattle now. She got up to leave. This meeting should be adjourned. I'm spending my own money for travel here to these meetings.
Man: Lots of people left from the meeting. Why should we adjourn because you're leaving? We should decide on a certain number of people who have to call a meeting where money matters are going to be handled.
Woman from Seattle: These guidelines shouldn't be adopted tonight. There's no input from off the reservation.
Rusty Farmer: The Treaty Committee should review these guidelines and make them more comprehensive. We can vote on these guidelines at the next meeting, and we'll pass out a list of these guidelines to everyone at that meeting. We'll get copies to everyone.
Man: How come you waited for Jimmy Main to leave before you said that?
Woman from Seattle: I want you to mail me a check for my travel expenses tomorrow.
Davey Hawley: We can't do that. We don't have any money to give you. The Treaty Committee can't spend any money until we get the general accounting turned into the BIA. And until they accept it, you're going to have to wait for the general accounting. We don't have our operating budget.
Woman: Your trips are getting expensive.
Elmer Main: Joe Fox is here tonight to talk to us about the per capita distribution. He’s from the area office in Billings.
Joe Fox: The federal government has authorized us at the area office to do certain things, but a per capita payment must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The secretary, though, has delegated this responsibility through the area director in Billings. So now the Area Director can approve or disapprove any of these requests for either a per capita payment or for other programming of Treaty monies. The Area Director will make the decisions on these matters. The feeling in this office now is that he'd rather not see a per capita payment. He'd like to see the treaty money put to some other use. Programming in the communities. I personally don't feel that way and I know Mr. Farmer doesn't feel that way. They would support a per capita payment over program. I think we can convince him, the area director, of the per capita payment. Whatever you people finally decide, we will try to convince him that way. We'll support your decision, what's best for the Gros Ventre people.
JJ: Hasn't the per capita payment resolution been put in ,submitted to the BIA, a Superintendent and the area office in Billings.
Rusty Farmer: We need the resolution for the programming of the entire amount and the resolution for the per capita payment. So far, only the per capita payment request was put in. No programming resolution ever came in. We want it all, all the resolutions, programming and per capita payment in one shot. We want the per capita payment and on the programming resolution, you have to identify all the programs. Only two resolutions were submitted, the budget request of $17,000 and the per capita payment.
Elmer Main: We do have programs, the sacred pipes and the burial funds.
The woman from Seattle left, and most of the people left the meeting. Only 19 of the 53 people attending the meeting still remained.
Man: People are dissatisfied with the Treaty Committee programming the money on their own. I would argue for the per capita payment and so would a lot of other people.
Rusty Farmer: When you add up all the expenditures of the Treaty Committee, it has caused a lot of ill feelings among people. This is one of the justifications for the per capita payment to get rid of this money so that good feelings can be restored in the community.
Man: We'd get a lot of complaints from the urban Indians if we tried to program this money. The urban Indians will fight against any programs because it's their share of the money that would be used here too. They want their share of the money.
Rusty Farmer: I disagree with paying them, the urban Indians, for their trips here.
Man: If we try to program the money, the urban Indians are going to fight it.
Elmer Main: There are many justifications for the per capita payment. If that's what the people want to do, we'll submit a modified resolution for the operating expenses.
Henry Brockie: The $17,000 is too much. It used to be just $,6000 a year.
Ed Filesteel: Too many people have left. We should adjourn this meeting.
JJ: The $17,000 was passed at the November meeting and it was the people who brought it up.
Henry Brockie: The people accepted it. They didn't bring it up. The Treaty Committee brought it up.
Rusty Farmer: They're going to need small amounts for pursuing claims, it'll cost for trips to Washington, DC. Everyone will get a monthly statement of expenses and that way there won't be so many questions. Everyone will be aware of what's going on and that's important. And we'll publicize all the meetings. Also, any special meetings will be publicized so that everyone knows about them.
Elmer Main: We will also get the guidelines printed in the Camp Crier.
Ed Filesteel to Elmer Main: Will you be conducting any more of these meetings?
Elmer Main: You have a Treaty Committee now. We are going to contact the medicine man in Wyoming about the pipes. He and a group of Arapahoe will come up here and help with the transporting of the pipes to their final resting place. They'll help with the ceremonies and what we need to do for it to be in a respectful fashion, we will get in touch with him. Albert Willow and three or four other Arapahoe members, Mrs. Lamebull and Mrs. Stiffarm have already met with him.
Henry Brockie: Before we advance any more money, we should get a satisfactory account of the money that's already been spent.
Rosie Connors: What are we going to do with the pipes?
Elmer Main: The plans we have for the pipes are to move them to another place, a good final resting spot. One family has one of the pipes and they said we could move it if we found a good place for the pipe. It depends on what the people want to do. We'll have to pay the way for those Arapahoe to come up here.
Henry Brockie: No one ever knows what's supposed to be in those pipe bundles.
Elmer Main: I know what’s in the flat pipe bundle. The guidelines will be presented when the Treaty Committee has worked on them. Everyone will see them. Well, we got a late start tonight and I'll be the first to admit that I don't conduct a good meeting. The Treaty Committee will conduct all of these meetings now. I will be present at all the Treaty Committee and general meetings, and I'll act as a liaison between the Treaty Committee and the BIA. I'll be working on what will happen to the funds. The per capita payment will be our first priority.
Henry Brockie to Elmer Main: What do you think about having officers on the Treaty Committee?
Elmer Main: It works for other tribes. We should let the Treaty Committee members elect their own officers. We had a good chairman for years, John Capture. He knew what took place with all of the Treaty business and he did a good job for us. The Treaty Committee now should have an in-house clean up. They should see what has to be done now to take care of our Treaty business.
Woman: What happens if the BIA doesn't allow us to take the per capita payment?
Rusty Farmer: If the people want it, the per capita payment, I'll go to the hilt to see that it gets done. I'll do my best to convince them of the per capita payment. The Assiniboines are going the same way. There are some good justifications for the per capita payment. I'm going to report the history of this thing to the BIA. I'll tell them about the problems the Treaty Committee has had in trying to program this money, and I'll tell them about the ill feelings that have arisen here that are destroying this community with this money around.
Man: How much will the per capita payment come to?
Elmer Main: It's about $346,000 with interest. This money will be divided among the 2000 tribal members. Those with one quarter degree blood or more. We're going to have the same problem that we had with the per capita payment in 1972. These protests have to be resolved. The 1/8ths will have to set aside money for all those people on the protest list.
Man: How much money was set aside for the 1/8 protests? Not in the 1972 per capita payment.
JJ: All of the people who were on the protest list had their share of the per capita payment set aside. There were also 400 slots for latecomers. These people were 1/4 Gros Ventre or more who were late in putting in for their per capita payment.
Joe Fox: There were about 115 people on the list. For latecomers, the cutoff date was October 1972. It's the same as the protest list. They had to prove their degree blood and were added to the list the same as the late comers, but they couldn't get on after October 1972.
Man: It should be at 1/4 and just kept there. Those of 1/4 degree blood Gros Ventre who are eligible for the per capita payment that are enrolled in the Gros Ventre tribe. If all the 1/8ths are going to get this money, the list isn't complete. There are hundreds more. If they got this money, there's not enough money set aside for them. Who would be responsible for paying them?
Rusty Farmer: We've taken this into account. All those who could get in are already on the list.
Elmer Main: The cutoff date is October 19th, 1972. They had to be enrolled before that date to get the per capita payment.
JJ: At first, the cutoff date for enrollment was August 8th, 1968, but the BIA recommended that we pushed the back the date to October 19, 1972.
Man: But this does not include the protesters. Are the Gros Ventre responsible or is it the BIA for these protesters? The 1/8 Gros Ventre? It should be in litigation with the government, not with the Gros Ventre tribe. There's a list of 178 Gros Ventre protesters. And there may be more.
Rusty Farmer: The decision will be made in the courts in California if these 1/8 Gros Ventre become eligible for enrollment in the per capita payment. Those who aren't on the list will be eligible for future claims, but not this present claim. They have to be on this list of protesters already. They had to be on before this cutoff date and the money for those on the protest list is being held in reserve. If we can get this list cleaned up then we'll deal with the 1/8ths.
Bertha Snow: To get on the protest list. There were certain number of days after the bill was presented and accepted by the tribe. They had only so many days to sign up for the protest and after that date, they forfeited their right to be on the protest list.
Man: What about the guidelines? When will the approval be?
Elmer Main: The Gros Ventre Treaty Committee will have to work on it. We wanted to get the guidelines approved tonight. The Treaty Committee will put the stuff in the guidelines together soon. The Treaty Committee will be working on the guidelines, the resolutions, for programming and the per capita payment and the budget, they'll see that the per capita payment is taken care of and that the resolution gets turned in. We’ll also work on the BIA and see if we can get them to push it through. The Treaty Committee should move ahead as rapidly as possible. They should get the business done that needs to be done in the least amount of time possible. The Gros Ventre Treaty Committee should call a general meeting tonight and give us the date, time and place tonight.
Man: At the meeting in November there were about 80 people. At this meeting it was decided to pay the urban Indians for coming to the Treaty Committee meetings.
JJ: But we said they'd get paid on that one time and that one time only.
Rusty Farmer: That's right, One time and one time only.
Man: At the meeting at the agency, they agreed to pay them again.
Bertha Snow: They are not going to be getting paid again.
JJ: The only payment we agreed on was the medicine man in Wyoming.
Rusty Farmer: You'll just have to check the minutes from the meeting. That's why these minutes. and records are so important. Once an issue has been passed or turned down, you don't bring up the issue again. That's what it says in Roberts Rules of Order.
JJ: The Treaty Committee tries to follow Roberts Rules of Order.
Elmer Main: The Treaty Committee should just get the business done as soon as possible.
Man: There are some arguments about the mission gym, about its use.
JJ: A request came in from the mission. They had a grant of $80,000 to erect a building, a gym at the mission. They couldn't get any matching funds from the government, so they came to the tribe. We have a written agreement with the mission about the use of the gym. There's no regulation gym in the area and that's why we went with it. Usually, the dates don't conflict for its use. There are basketball games, boxing, pow wows and all those sorts of things held in that gym.
Bertha Snow: The Assiniboine Treaty Committee donated $15,000.
Man: Well, that's the gym. What about the mission land?
JJ: It's Freeland. It's owned by the Diocese of Great Falls. There's an agreement about this land. If the mission ever closes or stops the education of Indian children, then the land returns to the tribe.
Rusty Farmer: That's the way it was for the Yankton. There at one time the mission there has 1,800 acres and if the mission ends the education of Indian children, then the land goes back to the tribe.
Henry Brockie: How is the money given to the mission for the gym? The Treaty Committee did it on their own. There were only a few people at that meeting when the Treaty Committee decided to give that money to the mission for the Gym.
JJ: That's not the main issue. I don't know why people are kicking about it. We had it cleared down in Billings. It was the idea of the Treaty Committee, but it was for the benefit of our children in the community.
Man: the Seattle group, has brought litigation about it. They say that their money was spent and they didn't have any input. They didn't even know about it.
JJ: Mr. Farmer and Madeline Cauliflower have a copy of the agreement with the local mission and with the Diocese of Great Falls.
Man: Would the land and the buildings be returned?
Woman. We should get possession of those documents.
JJ: I got my information from the old timers who were around before the allotments. I've never seen the documents. Also, I had this information verified by one of the superintendents. There was no chance of losing out on the gym. We knew that the younger people in the community could benefit from it. An agreement was made with the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Treaty Committees. If we put the money in at that time, we could get a gym in this area here.
Man: What about the Mission Sheep Ranch?
JJ: The Mission Sheep Ranch. This land is different from the school and church land. The sheep ranch was a homestead that was taken up by the priests. They bought this land from homesteaders. The Jesuits have this land now, not the Mission. The money is still justified for the gym or we would still be taking our kids up to Harlem.
Man: When's the next meeting?
Elmer Main: The Treaty Committee ought to reorganize. You'll have to get ahold of the chairman and set up the next meeting. We can be notified of the meeting in the Camp Crier, and the agenda should also be in the paper about the two issues. The guidelines and proposed budget will also have to talk about the tenure of office. At the next meeting, there should be a period of time for the off-reservation people to be notified of this meeting. You better give them about two weeks or twenty days.
Rusty Farmer: There should also be a time limit on the discussion of issues and maybe this would discourage people from leaving. We still had a lot of business left.
Elmer Main: I didn't want to be rude to Quentin and to some other people, but we had a lot to get done.
Man: What off reservation group is recognized?
Elmer Main: We will have to contact all the urban Indians.
Man: Are we going to pay them to come to the meetings?
Bertha Snow: They said that they wanted representation of the off-reservation people on the Treaty Committee.
Rusty Farmer: These people are represented on the Treaty Committee. They're represented by their relatives. It's the same for me. I'm a Blackfoot, my relatives informed me. I know what's going on. They might say they're not represented, but they are. There are people in Seattle, Los Angeles, Great Falls and many more places. They each can't be represented.
Madeline Cauliflower: There are two Seattle groups and they're split.
Rusty Farmer: I got a notarized statement from one of the Seattle groups that they don't want to be represented by the other group.
Elmer Main: There are two Seattle groups.
Rusty Farmer: We're getting worse than the white man. We're succumbing to that kind of behavior and attitude. No one says thank you to the Treaty Committee. If they're bad, say so. But when they do something good, compliment them.
Man: We should get a mailing list of all the off-reservation people so that we can get them information. And we should certify the correspondence because they'll say that they never got anything from us.
JJ: That's pretty expensive. On November 12th we made that decision. We would give them a one-time payment only to reimbursement for their travel expenses. And this vote came from the floor.
Rusty Farmer: And the off-reservation people agreed after that discussion.
Elmer Main: One reason we had dissatisfaction from the off-reservation group was that we held the meeting and I conducted it. This is the last time I will chair a meeting. The Treaty Committee should do it.
Rusty Farmer: Elmer Main has many assignments for the BIA. Getting here at these meetings is one of them. He acts as a liaison between the Gros Ventre tribe and the BIA, and he gives us some continuity by keeping us up on what's going on with the Treaty Committee.
JJ to Rusty Farmer: I'm glad you came. You took Elmer Main off the hook a little bit.
Davey Hawley: I think I have part of the answer to the accounting problem. The Treaty Committee can only account for $54,000 of the $61,000 since 1968. When the Treaty Committee got going, they didn't have a checking account, so we used counter checks, and we don't have any personal account of these expenses. But the bank has the transactions on microfilm and so we'll be able to clear this thing up.
Man: The Treaty Committee will have to work on the guidelines, make some correspondence with the urban Indians, and get the travel expense thing straightened out.
Rusty Farmer: The travel was one time only for the November 12 meeting and nothing more.
Man: Maybe we should pay the Treaty Committee members some money every month.
Elmer Main: The old timers worked on the Treaty Committee for nothing. No per diem, no travel, nothing.
JJ: Before we were on the Treaty Committee, the old timers on the Treaty Committee said that when we get the judgment, before we ever pay out anything, we should get some plans for the pipes. We brought it up in 1968 and 1969, but nothing ever happened with it. We have to take care of those pipes. The old timers wanted it that way.
Bertha Snow: Motion to adjourn. Passed at 12:15.
5-28-77 Gordon and Edith’s observation 623 829 837
Bertha came over to Gordon and Edith’s while I was there visiting with them. She said that she would like to look at my notes from the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting, because she wanted to check them for information before the minutes were written up. I asked her what her feelings were about the meeting. She said she was glad to see the old council get back in.
Roseann came over for a visit this evening. She said that she got mad at the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting when they were talking about the pipes.
The pipe in the shack by Happy’s is being taken care of. They said it might have been torn up by rats or something in there. That’s not true. My grandmother (Jessie Ironman) takes care of it. People still ask to pray with it. When someone’s sick, and they want to pray for the person, they will go to the pipe and tie a cloth on the bundle. The pipe bundle is on a tripod, and the pipe stays wrapped in the bundle. They don’t unwrap the pipe, because no one knows the right ceremony. They tied the cloth onto the bundle. The cloth has to be a solid color, but it can’t be red or black. Jessie has pictures of the pipe and all the things that are in the bundle with it. Ironman II was the keeper, my grandfather. When he died, the pipe went to my aunt, Pauline, and when she died, it went to my uncle, Joe Ironman.
I told Roseann that I heard that Curly Head was the last flat pipe keeper, and I asked her if he was related to her. She said that he was related, but didn’t know how.
I know he was a relation, because we have some of his land. I know the pipe is fine, because Charles and I used to live in that log house with the pipe. I even picked up the tripod when I would clean. I’d move it. We fixed up that place real nice. We were going to have electricity put in but then we moved.
Roseann said that she thought that the pipes shouldn’t be put in the same building.
5-30-77
Mike and I were visiting at Davey’s place. I asked him what he thought of the Gros Ventre Treaty Committee meeting. He said he was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
Davey said that Ft. Belknap was the poorest reservation in the United States. We don’t have any kind of income coming into the tribe. “I’ve been in politics all my life. I learned my politics from Tom Main. He got me started in politics. He was a very smart man. He fought the government his whole life and he died a poor man. He could have done well for himself and his family, but he just fought the government his whole life. I’m thinking about getting out of politics and letting these younger guys with the educations take over.” Davey is on the Treaty Committee, the Tribal Council and the mission school board.
Tongue River Canyon
Susie’s dad was on a trip to the west coast. He decided to stop in Billings on his way home to meet Susie and I. We spoke to Mike about our trip to Billings. Mike suggested that we make a trip to the Tongue River Canyon with Susie’s dad. Mike spoke to his good friend, Father Noel, who was a priest on the Crow Reservation. We made plans to stop on Crow to pick him up with Susie’s dad. We all made the trip on a Saturday in May to the Tongue River Canyon in Wyoming. It was beautiful and we had a great day hiking up in the canyon.
Lodgegrass, Crow Reservation and Father Noel
