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MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2003

Tribal leaders will meet in Washington, D.C., this week to continue efforts to reform the Indian trust despite a lack of commitment from the Bush administration.

After government officials ended their relationship with the tribes last month, the National Congress of American Indians on December 17 asked the Department of Interior to keep the trust reform task force alive. "We haven't heard back yet," said NCAI President Tex Hall.

Nonetheless, Hall said it was critical for tribes to meet. "We gotta roll," he said. "We gotta really be aggressive."

The main goal of the two-day meeting will be to review trust reform plans -- one for an historical accounting and the other to administer more than 300,000 trust fund accounting -- being submitted to a federal judge today. Hall said the tribes will submit their own proposals later this month.

The meeting will take place January 10 and 11 at the Wyndham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Contact NCAI for details. All tribes are invited to attend, said Hall.

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

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