‘His heart was with his Tribe’: Former Colville Chairman Michael Finley dies at 44

Michael Finley, a leader in the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, steadfast advocate for tribal sovereignty and renowned historian, died Wednesday. He was 44.

From 2008 to 2013, Finley served as chairman of the Colville Business Council. He also served as vice chairman for two years.

He spent decades of his life dedicated to the education and defense of Indigenous culture and land.

Friends remembered Finley as a man who was easy to talk to, who liked to laugh and who always had his tribe’s best interest in mind. Loved ones called him a good guy who was a “historian at heart” and “famous in Indian country.”

Jarred-Michael Erickson, a friend of Finley and the chairman of the Colville Business Council, said Finley’s tireless work on and off the Tribal Council paved the way for the next generation of Colville leaders.

“We’re trying to look at how we can celebrate Mike and all that he’s done to help our tribe,” Erickson said. “No matter where he went, Mike made friends. That’s why he was so well-known. He’s going to be missed here in the Tribal Council tremendously.”

Erickson said in his eyes, one of Finley’s greatest feats on the council was making tough financial investments and decisions – “not always the easy ones, but the right ones.”

“I really believe he put our name on the map,” the chairman said. “His heart was with his tribe and he definitely helped build those relationships with the state, the feds and with other tribes. Those helped us get to where we are today and where we’ll be in the future.”

Among the countless people who mourned Finley’s death was Gov. Jay Inslee, who described him as one of the state’s “most enterprising Tribal leaders.”

“Michael was a thoughtful leader with unwavering passion for his community,” Inslee wrote in a statement Thursday. “We’re thinking of his family and the Colville today.”

Finley, who was born Aug. 23, 1978, earned a bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and history in 2003, and a master’s in history in 2005, from Eastern Washington University. He went on to serve on the EWU board of trustees.

Finley served as tribal liaison for the Washington state Historical Society. In 2008, he co-authored the book “Finding Chief Kamiakin: The Life and Legacy of a Northwest Patriot.”

In 2008, Finley oversaw an agreement between the Colville Reservation and Bonneville Power Administration that granted the tribes land management rights to protect the habitats of river-dwelling fish.

In 2010, Finley was a recipient of the “Native American 40 under 40” award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. And in 2011, he received the Cecil Dryden Alumni Award from EWU’s department of history in recognition for his outstanding accomplishments in both scholarship and service.

Finley used his historical expertise to help with documentation supporting the 2021 Desautel case ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada, which confirmed that residents of tribal lands in the United States may legally exercise their “Aboriginal rights” – such as hunting – in their traditional territory in Canada.

Last year, Finley was featured on a state historical society podcast in which he spoke about the Northwest’s wrought and centurieslong history with federal Indigenous residential schools designed to assimilate Indigenous children. Finley said his father was one of thousands of survivors across the continent who endured abuse at Indigenous residential schools.

“It’s very much deeply ingrained in the historical trauma that I have received as a Native person to this day,” Finley said on the podcast. “A lot of it is indicative of what we’ve always known as Native people, what we’ve been told. It’s a very traumatizing era in our history that isn’t well known to the general public, but it should be.”

Mel Tonasket, a friend of Finley and the Omak District Representative on the Colville Business Council, said he always admired Finley’s work ethic.

His record “proved the kind of a person that he was and the worker that he had to be to be asked to be on the EWU board of trustees, and then lately to be working with the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs,” Tonasket said. “Those appointments don’t come lightly.”

Tonasket said he never saw Finley get mad or flustered, something he found to be a rarity in political circles.

He remembers Finley as a man who stayed busy – with a smile and a desire to share stories with friends and family.

“There are some leaders that stand out in the world,” Tonasket said. “He fits in that category – as a higher-echelon leader. He was a smart man. When he spoke, he spoke well. To me, there’s not a whole lot of people who can really do that well. Mike was one of them.

“I always respect people who are willing to stand up for Indian rights, treaty rights and sovereignty. That’s how I looked at Mike.”

A celebration of life and vigil for Finley will be held 7 p.m. Monday at Inchelium School.

A “final farewell” ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, also at Inchelium school. The public is invited to both.