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Red Lake Chairman/Treasurer Travel to DC

Met with Congressmen Peterson and Nolan, Senators Klobuchar and Franken

Red Lake Tribal Chairman Darrell G. Seki, Sr., and Tribal Treasurer Annette Johnson along with others met with members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation on January 28, 2015, in Washington DC to discuss a number of issues of concern to the Red Lake Band.

According to a tribal spokesperson, Seki and Johnson met with Minnesota's two US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, and Congressman Collin Peterson, 7th Congressional District, Detroit Lakes, and 8th Congressional District Congressman Rick Nolan of Crosby.

Red Lake's lack of criminal jurisdiction over non-band members was the primary focus of the visits with Congressmen. Tribal officials would like to have jurisdiction to prosecute non-members who bring drugs onto the Red Lake Reservation.

"All Congressmen were shocked to hear of our troubles with drug dealers and were very responsive to the Band's issues that were raised," said the Tribal spokesperson. "Senator Amy Klobuchar even suggested that a tribal summit - to include all of Minnesota's eleven tribes - would be in order, to discuss this and other topics of mutual concern to Indian Nations."

Seki and Johnson also met with Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (BIA) for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Kevin K. Washburn, (Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma) regarding the BIA's push to move funding from "one time funding" to a grant-based approach, a move that the Red Lake Band strongly opposes.

Other issues addressed by the Red Lake delegation included Red Lake's concern regarding insufficient funding for tribal roads, specifically the calculation formulas used by the Feds that allow tribes with smaller land bases to receive equal or even more funding. The Enbridge Pipeline was also discussed.

 

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