Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 2, 1 February 1992 — OHA trustees hear sovereignty experts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA trustees hear sovereignty experts

by Christina Zarobe The path to gaining sovereignty and, with it, eeonomie freedom begins with an inventory, according to the Native American director of the Aboriginal Public Policy Institute.

"Make sure you know what you have, the eondition of what you have, and how you ean improve what you have so it ean sustain you 20, 30, 40 years into the future," said Deni Leonard, a member of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. Leonard and S. James Anaya, an associate law professor at the University of lowa College

S. James Anava

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Deni Leonard

of Law, spoke at a two-day sovereignty workshop last month sponsored by the Office of

Hawaiian Affairs. Among the topics discussed were the elements of a sovereign government, recent successes internationally of indigenous people and how to plan for eeonomie self-suffi-ciency .

Chronicling the efforts of the Warm Springs Reservation to achieve sovereignty, Leonard told the gathering of OHA trustees and staff, state legislators and other Native Hawaiian representatives of the tribe's dramatic rise from poverty in the '50s and '60s to today's standard of less than 10 percent dependence on federal funding.

"Eeonomie development is something proactive. You're empowering yourself to have a mueh greater resource base," said Leonard who continued page 8

i JS 2 e •C -e -Q O O i

An archaeologist excavates at the Nimitz, Bethel, Merchant and Fort street site of what could be Kamehameha the Great's compound.

Sovereignty

from page 1

has worked with indigenous groups in Canada, Mexico, American and Western Samoa, Truk, Palau, New Zealand and Australia.

Without eeonomie development you will not have sovereignty because you will be relying on other people's appropriations." In comparison, Leonard categorized demonstrations and protests as "reactive" activities in the fight to "stop the erosion of sovereignty." "You have to have reactiveness to ensure your sovereignty is alive," explained Leonard but added that indigenous groups need to also be "pro-active" and develop the elements of sovereignty such as eeonomie independence.

On the international front, Anaya, who received a law degree from Harvard Law School, said the struggle to gain rights for indigenous people has reached a logjam involving terminology. "I don't think that states (governments) disagree with the proposition that indigenous people should eonhnue to survive," said Anaya, who has taught courses in constitutional law and selfdetermination in international law. "The difficulty arises in articulating those rights in languages."

Progress, however, has been made in achieving a universal declaration of the rights of indigenous people whieh will eventually be affirmed by the United Nations. And he pointed to the International Labor Organization's Convention 169 of 1989, whieh he describes as "the most concrete development in recognition of indigenous people's rights." "Here we're talking about group or community rights rather than individual rights. There is no terminology, language to use," he said. "This

process is charting new ground. It's what I would categorize as a rhetorical problem." For indigenous people to develop sovereignty, several questions have to be answered. Among those considerations, Anaya said, are "What do you want in specific terms? You need to assess in realistic terms what honestly ean be achieved. Can a new Hawaiian nation arise...is there the political will to make that happen?"

L)espite years ot work, pouueal will remamed strong at Warm Springs reservation. Most of the reservation's 2,500 residents live in the town of Warm Springs approximately two miles north of the Deschutes River in Oregon. By developing, implementing and regularly reviewing their eomprehensive plan, the three tribes of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation have nurtured the economy to where they own and operate a resort, a saw mill, and a $30 million hydro-electric damn, the first power project licensed by the federal government to an Indian tribe. In designing the comprehensive plan, whieh is now used as a model for other reservations, tribal members were careful to establish a program that would not conflict with their customs or beliefs.

"Our whole idea was that we couldn't build something that wasn't related to our lifestyle," said Leonard. "Architects, soil samplers, biologists ... we have all the specialists we need on the reservation so we ean do all our own plans. It took us 20 years." Hunting and fishing seasons are regulated by the tribe, its fish hatchery is one of the state's largest and the reservation itself is one of the largest corporations and employers in Oregon, said Leonard. "The goal for the reservation was to think of education, commitment and success when you think of Warm Springs," he said. "Now you go to Oregon and you mention Warm Springs and

everyone knows Warm Springs and it has a very positive aspect." Stringent about education, the reservation has instituted a youth employment program. Young people are required to attend mountain camps where they ehop firewood and elean trails while elders teach them about the culture. Young people receive a tribal eheek but must deposit all except 20 percent of the payment into a savings account. The savings are later used to pay for new school clothes.

And, onee a year, the tribe s educahon eommittee visits students from the reservation attending college. "They're reminded this is not just a bureaucracy. There are people who care about your future," said Leonard, a graduate of Harvard University's Kennedy Graduate School of Government. Among the various business enterprises created by the tribe is smoked salmon, packaged and widely sold including in the upscale Neiman Marcus holiday catalog. Tribe members have traveled throughout the world to leam ways to market reservation products.

Among the skills and expertise Native Hawaiians could market to the Mainland and internationally are aquaculture, marine biology, fisheries, and ecotourism, Leonard suggested. But he cautioned that any product will be seen as a representation, a reflection of the values of the indigenous people who produce it. Accordingly, marketing should be handled with sensitivity and pride. Although a declaration recognizing the rights of indigenous people is still more than a year away, Anaya said that indigenous groups should remain optimistic. "If you look at the trends, you ean see where things are going. There is room for hope. There certainly is a long way to go by states... but we should not lose sight of what has been aeeomplished."