Non-Indians Become Tribal Issue Forum For Coeur D’Alenes Turns To Leadership Ratio

Members of many tribes live on the Coeur d’Alene Indian reservation.

The Spokanes, for example. The Colvilles. And the Flatheads.

There also are the suyapis.

Thirty-five Coeur d’Alenes met this week at the Worley Community Building. Several wondered aloud if too many suyapis hold leadership positions within tribal government.

“Suyapi” is the Spokane Indian word for white man.

The three-hour meeting Tuesday night, which started with a prayer against mudslinging, was a forum for Tribal Council candidates. Much of the discussion was over the balance between Coeur d’Alenes and nonIndians in the tribe’s management and advisory posts.

Take the committee that buys land for the tribe, for example. Of five members, only two are Indians. Of those, only one is a Coeur d’Alene.

“I can’t sleep at night, wondering if they’re buying land in the best interests of my daughter or my son,” said tribal member Frenchy SiJohn.

Council candidate Peter Frank SiJohn has made the issue a campaign plank, saying the Coeur d’Alenes need more say over their land.

Incumbent councilwoman Norma Peone, however, said the tribe needs the expertise of its non-Indian managers, such as those in forestry and logging. The tribe could expand the committees to add Coeur d’Alenes, she suggested.

Part of the problem, said candidate Alfred Nomee, is that few tribal members apply for the positions.

“Every one of you, as a tribal member, has the opportunity to sit on a committee you’re interested in,” he said. “Take your committees back.”

Another topic was schools. Children scampered in the back of the room while tribal members urged the candidates to build a new tribal school.

“I have a dream, and I see that dream starting to happen with (National Indian) Lottery,” said Adrianna Miramontez of Plummer. “I really ache for our young people.”

The Coeur d’Alenes also called for more jobs, preservation of natural resources and more social services for tribal youths and elders.

Miramontez said she worries that traditional berry-picking spots are becoming overgrown and lost to the tribe. Tribal workers must cut trails and re-establish old campsites, she said.

“The elders want to take younger people up into the mountains and show them where the old places are,” she said.

The candidates promised accountability, hard work and open doors.

Some voters, like Rose Goddard of DeSmet, were skeptical.

“How many times has each person running for council said ‘I want to do something for the youth’?” said the grandmother of 13. “Look how long it took us to get the bingo parlor or the clinic or the service station.”

One of the biggest problems on the reservation, she said, is that tribal parents don’t take charge of their children’s cultural education.

“How many times have we held powwows and we haven’t seen anybody?” she said. “I fault the parents.”

Incumbent councilwoman Marjorie Matheson Zarate also urged tribal members to help preserve their culture, language and spirituality.

“If we weren’t to hang on to it, what would make us different from the suyapis?” she said.

Support appeared to be unanimous for the tribe’s effort to buy back its reservation, most of which is owned by non-Indians. The tribe has allotted a percentage of its gaming profits to buy land.

“If we get together and try to hold on to the land, then we’re going to be here for eternity,” said Peone.