Suquamish Tribal Council’s statement on Resumption of Government-to-Government Relations with the City of Poulsbo

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Two and a half years ago, the Suquamish Tribe suspended our close relationship with the City of Poulsbo. Our decision came some months after the police shooting death of Stonechild Chiefstick and follow-on events that left our community reeling.

We are pleased to announce we are taking the first steps towards normalizing relations with the City as a result of a series of actions that have helped to alleviate tensions.

Background 

Since 2005, representatives of the City’s and Tribe’s councils have met regularly to discuss issues of mutual concern, including the environment, treaty fishing rights, growth management, education, and public safety. The Tribe suspended this relationship some months following the July 3, 2019, fatal shooting of Chiefstick after police responded to a 911 call and confronted him in a crowd gathered along Poulsbo’s waterfront to watch fireworks. Chiefstick, a father of five, was a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe and the Suquamish community. His death left the community shaken and angry. As the elected representatives of the Tribe, we had to ask ourselves whether there was sufficient safety for Tribal members who live, work or visit Poulsbo, and whether there was sufficient understanding to resume meeting with city officials.

Later events added salt to the wound. Chiefstick’s makeshift memorial at Poulsbo’s waterfront park was repeatedly desecrated, once by a Port of Poulsbo Commissioner, who was arrested (but not charged) for a drunken tirade against Native Americans.  The officer who shot and killed Chiefstick was not criminally charged by the Kitsap County Prosecutor nor disciplined by the City of Poulsbo, and remains on the force. Tribal community members and others who brought concerns to City leaders felt unheard and dismissed.

Since that time, the City of Poulsbo has taken the following important steps:

  • The City hired new Police Chief Ron Harding, who has taken significant action to reshape community policing culture. His policies now require extra hours of in-depth officer training (funded by the City), emphasizing de-escalation, crisis intervention, implicit bias, cultural awareness, compassion for those struggling with mental health and/or addiction, less lethal tools, and using force only as a last resort. He and the City increased their previous halftime Behavioral Navigator, social worker Jamie Young, to fulltime. She works with officers to understand and respond effectively during encounters with those affected by trauma, poverty, mental illness, and substance addiction; she coordinates closely with the CARES program (below).
  • In partnership with the Poulsbo Fire Department (and others), the City launched CARES, a proactive multi-disciplinary intervention program that responds to individuals struggling with behavioral health issues. It helps them obtain care for medical, mental health, substance abuse disorders, and other needs.  The City’s Housing, Health, and Human Services director, Kim Hendrickson, has been instrumental in coordinating with the Police Department and CARES to enhance first responders’ abilities to prevent their encounters with the public from turning deadly.
  • The City responded positively to calls for the public art at the Highway 305-Johnson Parkway roundabout to include visual acknowledgements of the Suquamish presence in this region with original Native art and language.
  • The City settled a civil lawsuit brought by Chiefstick’s family.
  • The City has issued statements acknowledging the suffering endured by Chiefstick’s family and the community at large.
  • The City has become an active member of the Government Alliance for Racial Equity (GARE), which comprises government leaders nationwide striving to combat racial injustice and to make their governments more diverse and equitable.

Next steps 

We have followed these developments within Poulsbo’s city government, aided by our Tribal Council’s Emissary, retired Judge Robin Hunt; she has acted as a go-between while formal Tribal communications with the City were suspended.  We are now ready to re-engage government-to-government relations.

We hope to re-establish our shared work, and discuss ways that first responders (including law enforcement) and mental health and social work professionals from our respective communities might collaborate to address mental health and substance abuse emergencies. We also want to renew elected leader discussions on growth management, water quality, and marine habitat protection.

We are encouraged that a continued focus on mutual respect, appropriate law enforcement, and accomplishing shared goals will provide a foundation for productive collaboration for years to come.

 

Signed,

Suquamish Tribal Council Chairman Leonard Forsman
Vice Chairman Joshua Bagley
Secretary Windy Anderson
Treasurer Denita Holmes
Sammy Mabe
Luther “Jay” Mills Jr.
Rich Purser

Suquamish Tribe seeks input on hazard planning

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BIA Secretarial Election Results

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Amending the Suquamish Tribe’s Constitution to Remove the Secretary of Interior and BIA Oversight

RESULTS

Posted on April 8, 2022

 

The Secretarial Election Board, whose members include Puget Sound BIA Superintendent Janine Van Dusen and Suquamish Tribal Members Martha George-Sachava and Charlene Renquist certify that the results of the election are to adopt the proposed Constitutional amendment.

The total vote is 137 in favor of adopting the Constitutional change and 59 opposed. A total of 280 Tribal members registered to vote in this election.

 

CHALLENGES

You are entitled to challenge the results of the election pursuant to 25 CFR §81.43 if you are a Registered Voter for this Election. Your written challenge must be received by April 13 at 4pm by Superintendent Janine Van Dusen. Superintendent Van Dusen can be reached via email at Janine.vandusen@bia.gov or at (425) 622-9158.

The following is the statute that defines this process:

§ 81.43 How are the results of the Election challenged?

Any person who was listed on the Eligible Voters List and who submitted a voter registration form may challenge the results of the Secretarial election. The written challenge, with substantiating evidence, must be received by the Chairman of the Secretarial Election Board within 5 days after the Certificate of Results of Election is posted, not including the day the Certificate of Results of Election is posted. Challenges received after the deadline for filing challenges will not be considered. If the third day falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the challenge must be received by close of business on the next business day.

The Northwest Regional Office Director, Bryan Mercier, will receive the election results and any challenges that the Election Board receives. The Regional Director will rule on the challenges and approve or disapprove the election results on or before June 1, 2022.

General Council 2022 Handbook Submissions

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Kraken Tickets Raffle — Enter Here

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The Seattle Kraken is giving the Suquamish Tribe 10 upper bowl tickets to Indigenous Peoples Night at the Kraken game on Dec. 6, 2021, at 7pm. Enter to win a pair of tickets below. We’ll choose the five Tribal members whose numbers come closest to a pre-selected random number to each receive two tickets.

One entry per Tribal member, please.

Note: All who attend must wear a mask, and all who are age 12 or older must bring proof of vaccination.

 

Kraken Raffle

Answer questions below by Dec. 1, 2021, for a chance to win a pair of tickets to Dec. 6, 2021 Kraken game against the Pittsburg Penguins at Climate Pledge Arena. For Tribal members -- one response per person, please.

Please enter a number from 10 to 99.
Two tickets will go to the five Tribal members who guess the closest to a random pre-selected number.
I learned about this raffle ...(Required)
How should we reach you if you win? Enter phone number or email address.

Healing of the Canoe Survey

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Healing of the Canoe is working on an adult version of the Youth Curriculum. This survey will help us better understand what adults in the Tribe want to see included. These questions come from initial focus groups with Suquamish Elders, Cultural Committee, and Suquamish leaders.

We appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete this survey.

 

Suquamish Tribe Distribution Survey

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As the Suquamish Tribe continues with drive-thru distributions, we would like to better understand dates, times, and distribution items that work best for you and your family. We appreciate you taking 5 minutes to fill out this survey to help us improve future tribal distributions.

 

Tribal Distribution Survey

When Suquamish Tribal Government departments schedule a distribution, what day of the week works best for you to pick up items? (please choose all that apply)
What time of the day works best for you to pick up distribution items? (please check all that apply)
Which forms of communication do you use to find out about upcoming distributions? (please check all that apply)
Name
Optional
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Update your SUN contact info

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IMPORTANT: If you are trying to sign up for SUN for the FIRST TIME, please click here.

If you want to change an email address or cell phone number, or adjust which communities you receive texts and emails on, updating your SUN info is easy.  There’s no need to fill out the entire form below, just enter the parts you want to change.

NOTE: If you stopped receiving SUN texts, you can usually turn them back on by simply texting the word “ALERT” to 22300. 

If you have any questions or are unsure what to do, send an email to communications@suquamish.nsn.us and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.

Update Your SUN Contact Info

  • What info would you like to change?

    Fill in only the sections you want to change.
  • If you want to change your cell phone number, enter your new number here:

  • If you would like to add a new email address, enter it here.

  • If you want to change your postal code, enter your new zip code here:

  • Please check ALL the communities you are a part of and would like to receive updates on. If you don't want to make any changes to your subscriptions, leave this blank.
  • Anything else you want to tell us to get your information up to date?
  • This information is used to verify Tribal enrollment in order to send exclusive information meant for Suquamish Tribal members only.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

For WA State Tribal Fishers: NOAA Cares Act Relief Payments Coming Friday

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Relief Payments from NOAA Cares Act State Funds coming Friday for Washington state ceremonial/subsistence fishers as well as for commercial fishers.

Note: this is NOT part of the COVID-19 Hardship Assistance program recently announced by Suquamish Tribal Council. This is a completely separate program.

Payments will be issued Friday, July 30, for all Tribal members 18 years old and above as part of NOAA Cares Act STATE  funds earmarked for subsistence and/or ceremonial fishers. Because all Tribal members are subsistence fishers, this payment will go out to all Tribal members residing in the state.

Payments will be made to those who were at least 18 years old prior to June 30, 2020, as that was the deadline for harvestable species dates required within Jan. 1, 2020 to June 31, 2020 window.

Payment will also be made to commercial fishers as part of Cares Act STATE Funds paid out by species catch. Each species payout will be per species for clams, halibut, and geoduck.

Payments will be made by mail or direct deposit. If you’ve had an address change, please be sure to update your records with enrollment by Sept. 20, 2021 to receive your payment. We encourage everyone to make sure their address is current.

Suquamish Tribe COVID-19 Hardship Assistance Policy and Application

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UPDATE August 4, 2021:

Because of last week’s technical issues with the Online form, we are resending links via SUN to new online application forms. The links already went to Elders. The new ones will go to several different identical DocuSign forms.

You also have the option of filling in hard copy forms at the Tribal Administration Building, or downloading the form linked to below and returning it via email or mail (see #2 and #3 below).

Payments will be deposited and mailed beginning on August 13, and will roll out from there.

Deadline for applications is October 31, 2021.

Purpose:

The current COVID-19 pandemic continues to place unprecedented hardships on tribal families. The Suquamish Tribe believes that providing tribal households with COVID-19 hardship assistance will help alleviate some of the hardships families are currently facing in these challenging times and will assist in improving individual welfare and the welfare of his or her family. The COVID-19 hardship assistance is to assist Suquamish Tribal Members for uses, including, but not limited to the following:

  • Covering housing or living expenses (ex. groceries, utilities, internet, etc.).
  • Paying rent or mortgage.
  • Covering unforeseen costs for emergency individual/family needs.
  • Covering unforeseen expenses in obtaining hygiene/PPE (ex. Masks, disinfectants, clean water, toilet paper, etc.)
  • Covering costs related to remote work/student remote learning.
  • Covering unforeseen costs for medical expenses, including mental health counseling, due to COVID-19.
  • Covering unforeseen childcare expenses, including loss of childcare.
  • Other COVID-related economic hardships.

Eligibility: 

  1. Applicants must be enrolled Suquamish Tribal Members at least 18 years of age.
  2. The amount of COVID-19 hardship assistance will be determined by the Suquamish Tribal Council on an as-needed basis and will be distributed to each eligible individual Tribal Member.

Application Requirement:

Enrolled Suquamish Tribal Members at least 18 years of age are required to complete, sign and submit the COVID-19 Hardship Assistance Application under this policy to receive the one-time COVID-19 Hardship Assistance Distribution.

How to Apply

There are three ways to apply:

  1. Online Form: SPECIAL NOTICE(7/29/21): We are experiencing technical difficulties with the online form. We’re working hard to fix the problem. We will have a new link posted as soon as possible. In the meantime, please do NOT use the link that was previously provided. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
  2. Via email:
    Download and fill out this form and send via email to:  assistance@suquamish.nsn.us
  3. Via regular mail:
    Print this form, or pick up a hard copy at Tribal Government front lobby, and mail to:
    Suquamish Tribe
    (Attn: Shenowah Purser)
    P.O. Box 498
    Suquamish, WA 98392

Note on Direct Deposit

Direct Deposit is not required to receive payment, but it is the fastest and safest way to receive relief funds.

If you have not already signed up for Direct Deposit and would like to, you can now sign-up for Suquamish Tribe Direct Deposit completely online with this easy DocuSign form.

You can also download Suquamish Tribe’s Direct Deposit form here. Just return the filled-out form to the Finance Department.