Jan 2017 Vol. 51 No. 1
Special Issue
General Council & General Election 2017 ELECTION CANDIDATES LETTERS OF INTENT | PG 8-10
C
NTENTS INSIDE
03 05 06 07 08 11 Tyee Joe
ON THE COVER
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2017 Election Candidates Letters of Intent
Swadabs Park, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
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Editor’s Note The Chairman’s Message Notice of General Election Community Happenings The Election Candidates Letters of Intent 2017 Provisional Members For Adoption
editor’s NOTE Every year the tribe generously gives its employees a holiday break in December. During my holiday break I had plenty of time to regroup myself. As I slowly open the curtains to 2017, I mentally, emotionally, and, physically feel ready for what’s to come this year. Thank you, Swinomish, for allowing me to align my inner self! What’s in store for this year? My team and I have been doing some editorial planning and I cannot wait to unravel the newest additions to the 51st Volume of the qyuuqs News. This month’s qyuuqs focuses primarily on the General Elections. Mark your calendars! The General Council and General Election will take place on: Sunday, February 26, 2017 Make sure you check out this year’s Provisional Members for Adoption on PAGE 11 that lists the provisional members and their family trees.
Why should you attend the General Council?
1. You’re participating in and witnessing a community gathering where the focus is on the current and future state of the Tribe; a gathering that our elders set forth for future generations and the members of today. 2. Listen and learn. 3. Publicly express your ideas and concerns to the Senate, but most importantly, to your own people. 4. Gather information. 5. To participate and cast your vote in the Tribal Election. I encourage my Swinomish people to attend the General Council. Even if you don’t feel you are being heard, someone is always listening. Happy New Year! goliahlitza Caroline Edwards
pedXa?Xa? (pud-HA-HA)
Moon of the Sacred Time
The late December/January Moon is the “moon of the sacred time.” Both the final moon of one yearly cycle and the beginning moon of the next cycle, it is a time for renewal and rebirth. Thus, it is also the perfect time for learning spiritual and cultural traditions from elders around the longhouse fire. Sea-run cutthroat trout, blackmouth salmon and steelhead are fished during this winter moons; ducks, geese, deer and elk are hunted; and tools, baskets, and other items are constructed. Shellfish are collected during the nighttime low tides. Excerpt from ‘13 Moons: The 13 Lunar Phases, and How They Guide the Swinomish People’. By swelitub (Todd A. Mitchell) and Jamie L. Donatuto sw d bš qyuuqs News
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The official news publicat ion
of t he Swinomish Indian Tribal Communit y
T R I B A L S E N AT E
spee pots Brian Cladoosby, Chairman (360) 708-7533 | bcladoosby@
ya qua leouse Brian Porter, Vice Chair (360) 840-4186 | bporter@
sapelia Sophie Bailey, Secretary (360) 853-6458 | sbailey@
taleq tale II Barbara James, Treasurer (360) 391-3958 | bjames@
The mission of qyuuqs News is to provide monthly communication to Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Members near and far. We are committed to serving as an apolitical forum for the Swinomish governing officials and all Community Members. qyuuqs News is not intended to reflect the official position of the governing body at Swinomish Indian Tribal Community but rather reflects the ideas, events, and thoughts of individual Community Members and Tribal staff. As such, the Swinomish Tribe makes no claim as to the accuracy or content of any of the articles contained therein. qyuuqs News 17337 Reservation Road, La Conner, WA 98257 Phone (360) 466.7258 Fax (360) 466.1632 *SUBMISSIONS Send your news tips, stories, and photos to qyuuqs@swinomish.nsn.us Submission deadline: 10th day of the month
pay a huxton Chester Cayou, Jr. (360) 770-3378 | ccayou@
EDITORIAL Caroline Edwards, Editor | cedwards@swinomish.nsn.us
cha das cud II
SWINOMISH COMMUNICATIONS Heather Mills, Communications Manager | hmills@swinomish.nsn.us Emma Fox, Communications Specialist | efox@swinomish.nsn.us
Glen Edwards (360) 708-3113 | gedwards@
yal le ka but Steve Edwards (360) 840-5768 | sedwards@
ADVISORY COMMITTEE Allan Olson, John Stephens, Tracy James, Kevin Paul
SM OK O LO
This issue is available online at swinomish-nsn.gov/qyuuqs
Leon John (360) 421-0406 | ljohn@
Photos credits: qyuuqs News Staff or as credited. All rights reserved.
wa lee hub
Kevin Paul (360) 540-3906 | tribalsenator@yahoo.com
sOladated Brian Wilbur (360) 588-2812 | bwilbur@
squi qui Joey Williams (360) 853.5629 | jwilliams@ All Swinomish staff emails: FirstInitialLastName@swinomish.nsn.us
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Facebook: Swinomish qyuuqs News Linkedin: Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
*qyuuqs News is made available for viewing on the Internet When submitting information, stories, and/or photos, please be aware everything published in the print version of qyuuqs News is also published on the Internet and is available to the world. Please consider carefully whether your submissions contain anything you feel may not be suitable or appropriate for the Internet. By submitting your information, stories, and/or photos to qyuuqs News, you agree to publishing your submission in both the print and online versions of qyuuqs News. qyuuqs News is a publication of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community produced by Swinomish Communications.
the chairman’s MESSAGE
Tribal elections are right around the corner and candidates are campaigning. I encourage you to take some time to talk with them before it’s time to vote in February. Our General Council, which is comprised of all voting-age Swinomish members, meets annually to address issues facing Swinomish. General Council is Sunday, February 26th this year. It is our time to cast our votes, communicate important issues, and set goals for the coming year. Your attendance is important to us, and I look forward to seeing you all there! As a Swinomish Tribal government refresher, here is an excerpt from our website (swinomish-nsn.gov) that provides a nuts and bolts description as to how we operate. Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is federally recognized and operates under the Constitution and Bylaws adopted in 1936 pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The governmental and business affairs of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community are conducted by the Swinomish Senate, the duly-elected governing body of the Tribe. The Senate governs the affairs of the Tribe through Senate committees, boards, and commissions established by Tribal ordinance and interagency boards and commissions that the Tribe participates in with other tribes and organizations. Senate committees and several more limited and ad hoc committees oversee the administration of Tribal affairs. Each Senator serves as the chair and vicechair of at least one board or committee. The Senate reappoints the members of Swinomish boards and committees annually.
It is amazing to see how much our Tribe has grown in the past 32 years. We’ve grown to 970 members and have more and more young people coming of age to vote. I encourage you all to take advantage of the opportunity to vote in our tribal elections, as it is your inherit right. January 4, 2017 is an exceptional day for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community as we celebrated the one-year anniversary of being the first tribe in the country outside of Alaska to hire a dental therapist, Daniel Kennedy. The choice to implement the DHAT program is a sovereign decision, and a notable demonstration of how committed we are to providing the very best and safest services to our people. This is just one success story of how we exercise our sovereignty to make positive change for the health of our community. I’ll close this message by thanking each and every one of you for your strength and resilience, as we are a community that stands strong together, succeeds together, and builds our future together. I am honored to serve you as your Senator and Chairman, and I am even more honored to stand by you as family, friend, fisherman, and member of the Great Swinomish Tribe. May the Creator bless you this during the coming year. spee pots Brian Cladoosby
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Happy New Year! I am excited and thankful for the opportunity to embrace 2017 alongside my Swinomish family.
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NOTICE OF GENERAL ELECTION Location: Social Services Building Election Date & Time: Sunday, February 26, 2017 8:00AM-1:00PM General Council To Follow The Election Senate Seat 6: Steve Edwards, Incumbent Eric Day Senate Seat 7: Leon John, Incumbent GENERAL ELECTION DETERMINED PURSUANT TO STC 2-01.100(B) sw d bš qyuuqs News e e
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COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS JANUARY 16 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
Join the crowd! Cast your vote! Attend the General Council and General Elections next month!
JANUARY 18 Education Dinner 5PM Youth Center JANUARY 19 30-Minute Meals Cooking Workshop 11AM-1PM NWIC-Swinomish Campus JANUARY 20 Inauguration Day! FEBRUARY 2 Groundhog Day! FEBRUARY 14 Valentine’s Day!
We’ll see you there! SOCIAL SERVICES AND COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER GENERATORS STATUS Jim Sande, Emergency Manager
• Both generators were shipped and have arrived at Swinomish • Initial site work occurred over Christmas break
FEBRUARY 15 Community Dinner* 6PM Youth Center FEBRUARY 20 Presidents’ Day FEBRUARY 26 General Council & General Election *Community Dinners are subject to change Swinomish events are listed in bold
• Contractor scheduled to begin generator installation by February 2017 sw d bš qyuuqs News
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General Election Candidates THE CANDIDATE INFORMATION WAS SUBMITTED BY THE SWINOMISH ELECTION BOARD CANDIDATES WERE CERTIFIED PURSUANT TO STC 02-1.120(F) GENERAL ELECTION WILL OCCUR ON 2/26/17 PURSUANT TO STC 02-1.100(B)
Senate Seat 6 Incumbent
Steve Edwards
Dear Swinomish Tribal Members, My name is Steve (Rudy) Edwards. My parents are the late Alfreda Edge and Russell Edwards. I am the grandson of the late Elizabeth Day, Jim Edge and Laura Squi-qui, Alfred Edwards. I have 4 daughters, Melinda, Amy (deceased), Alice and Hilary. I have one granddaughter Savanna Edwards. I was born in Skagit County and have lived in Swinomish all of my life. I have worked with the Swinomish Recreation program for 26 years. I have served as your tribal senator for 13 years. I am an experienced and committed tribal leader and I want to continue working for my tribe and people. With your vote, I can serve you as a tribal senator for 5 more years. Our elders are our teachers, we must take care of them in the best way we can. We must teach our children to respect our elders. “We must have respect and care for them.” We need to continue supporting our existing Elders programs and provide for our most honored leaders. We must continue working and guiding our youth because they are very valuable to this community, “they are our future tribal leaders, directors, police officers, fisherman, doctors, dentists, teachers, lawyers, accountants, business women and men.” Our children have a choice to be whatever they choose to be, so we must continue to work with and support them. As adults, we must be good role models, guiding and encouraging them to get a good education. We must teach them to be positive role models for the next generation. As tribal membership grows, we must design a housing plan that would continue to provide affordable housing to all tribal members. The Swinomish resources, such as clams, salmon, crab, urchins, halibut, shrimp, etc. are valuable to this tribe and have been for many generations. They continue to provide an income to our community, as well as provide food for our table. As a tribe, we have been very successful at managing our elk and deer herds. Our hunters have had great success harvesting animals for themselves and our community. We need to continue to be good managers of our resources and work effectively with our tribal and state officials. I believe as a community we must continue working together as one. We have been through the best and some of the worst times but we continue to bounce back and move on. This happens only with the help of all of our people in our community. We must continue this tradition of “helping each other in any way we can” to survive and encouraging each other to be respectful, seek to be educated, drug and alcohol free, so that we can live in a healthy and happy community. We must believe and love one another. God bless you all and I love you, yal-le-ka-but Steve Edwards sw d bš qyuuqs News e e
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Running For Senate Seat 6
Eric Day
Swinomish Tribal Community, There are many reasons why I would run for Senate, and being part of a winning team is my driving force. I have always said that I am happy with the decisions the Senate makes to move the tribe forward in the direction that stresses education of our youth; takes care of our elders; and provides necessary services for all members. As a Senator, I would like to continue improving the graduation success rate for our youth. There is a lot of work going on now that helps with that process, such as providing supplies, and having Para-Pros assist them in their studies. I would like to find alternative ways to engage our youth, including movie making, script writing, camera operation, and still photography. I would also like to be involved with developing programs that engage the community in food security solutions, including teaching our youth how to grow and cultivate their own food, and advocating for food sovereignty. It is important to find real world solutions to engage our youth, and prepare them for the future. I would like to organize discussions with the community focused on creating a school here in the village, where we decide who teaches our children, and what they teach to them. I appreciate how the tribe is leading the way in environmental protection; and protecting our fish, and educating the communities around us on how important the fish is to our environment. We need to continue this effort. I would also like to see the water quality testing that we do on Tribal Journey expand to cover more of the waterways that we all depend on for our livlihood and our traditional ways. We can do this with a joint effort with other tribes. Taking care of our elders is everyone’s responsibility. I would like to see an elder care facility in the village. Right now if there is not a family member that can provide full time care for their elder, then they are brought to an outside facility that has an understanding of how to care for our elders medical needs. But the difficulty comes when our elders want to see their family, or family wants to see them. If we have a facility in the village, then access would be easier. They would be able to attend community gatherings which are important part of who we are as native people; and we would be able to bring in staff more familiar with how to care for our elders. As a Senator, I would bring a new perspective to a winning scenario. I have a lot of respect for our leadership, I am proud to be Swinomish. I have the energy to keep us moving in a positive direction, a direction that will continue to provide and expand necessary services to all of our people. Much love and respect, STOLTSA Eric Day sw d bť qyuuqs News
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General Election Candidates Senate Seat 7 Incumbent
Leon John
I, Leon B. John, am running for reelection for Senate seat number Seven. I have numerous reasons why I am running for reelection onto the Swinomish Tribal Senate. I have held this seat for three terms, and have been a part of multiple different projects that have been good for our people. A few to name are the building and development of the Tallawhalt home project. As well as the expansion process of the Swinomish Casino & Lodge, including the current preliminary stages of the gaming expansion. I have been proud to be a part of the purchase of the Mona Lisa Estate, and the newest purchase of Bayside Fitness that will be renovated into a Rehabilitation Center. I was lucky enough to sit on the committee that worked to purchase Swinomish Golf Links and the neighboring tide lands. I take such pride, and feel so much honor for having an opportunity to work on so many great projects for the Swinomish people. If reelected, I would take everything I’ve learned, to continue working towards raising the quality of life for all of the tribal members. I would like the opportunity to continue working collaboratively with the ten other current senators. We have a strong team that not only works well together but with other tribal delegates. Swinomish has been growing and has been making moves on a national level. One of my goals, if reelected, is to keep our youth interested in tribal youth council. Teaching our children how important it is to network and create relationships with other tribal youth at a young age, is such a huge part in tribal growth. We need to encourage intertribal communication, and encourage our youth to travel as much as possible. Another important focus I will have, is to pursue and protect our inherent and sovereign rights. Protecting our right to fish, to provide for our families and communities. All of these goals continue raising the quality of life for all of our Swinomish people. Something else I’d like to continue working on, is diversifying the tribe’s business portfolio. Economic growth for our community is beneficial for a number of different reasons. It creates financial revenue, while also creating jobs for the tribal community. I have loved working for my people, and would enjoy continuing to serve our community by holding a seat on the senate. The most important thing is for our people to have a voice. I hope to see as many voters out as possible, regardless of who they vote for. Thank you to those who have supported me in the past. I hope to have another five years of serving the Swinomish people. Leon John
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2017 Provisional Members For Adoption The Enrollment Committee passed a provisional to include the names listed in the red bubbles below in the 2017 Election. The family trees show the relationship each Provisional Member has with a Swinomish Enrolled Member. Father- William Hart
Mother- Aline Sandy
Father- William Chagnon
No Tribal Affiliation
No Tribal Affiliation
No Tribal Affiliation
Father- Ian Hart
Mother- Sarah L. Chagnon
Mother- Julie A. Bobb Enrolled Swinomish
Enrolled Swinomish
No Tribal Affiliation
Junami Marisela Hart Provisional Member
Mother- Mary Bill
Father- Dennis Bill
Enrolled Swinomish
Father- Parry Moore
No Tribal Affiliation
Mother- Miriam Enick Enrolled Swinomish
No Tribal Affiliation
Corinne Marie Moore Provisional Member *No information was given for the father’s parents
Father- Phil Dan
Mother- Sharon Dutton
Father- Michael Cavanaugh
Mother- Dorothy Ratliff
Enrolled Swinomish
No Tribal Affiliation
No Tribal Affiliation
No Tribal Affiliation
Mother- Elizabeth Cavanaugh No Tribal Affiliation
Elena Delice Dan Provisional Member
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Father- Darryl Dan
Enrolled Swinomish
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I AM SWINOMISH. I WILL GRADUATE.
Joey Williams, Duron Clark, Chas James, Jimbo Bobb and Jaydin Clark. These youth introduced themselves at a recent dinner and were recognized for playing on the LC Braves Peewee football team.