U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland vowed on her first day on the job to ensure Native American tribes have opportunities to speak with her and the agencies she oversees.
FILE - Interior Secretary Deb Haaland waves after speaking to a crowd during a totem pole delivery ceremony by Native American tribal leaders and Indigenous activists, on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 29, 2021. Secretary Haaland vowed on her first day on the job to ensure Native American tribes have opportunities to speak with her and the agencies she oversees. Native American and Alaska Native groups are seeing change under Haaland but some remain frustrated with the pace of action.
Haaland’s selection as the first Native American to serve in the position opened a door for tribes who pointed to a history fraught with broken promises. Haaland's department has developed a plan for improving formal consultations with tribes and established an advisory committee that will aid with communication once it's up and running. In an effort to make consultation a hallmark of her tenure, Haaland has said she wants integration of tribal input to become second nature for her employees.
The tribe's Business Committee has spent hours in meetings and preparing formal comments and says it's tired of having to reiterate its position that the federal government must protect the tribe's water rights or support development of water infrastructure to serve the reservation. The Interior Department said more meetings with the Navajo Nation and other tribes are planned in April and that Navajo-language translators will be present.
Another top complaint from tribes is that they are brought in when a course of action already has been set, instead of including them in the earliest phases of planning.
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