Join us in Celebrating our 25th Anniversary!
Serving American Indian/Alaska Native communities since 1996
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
This webinar celebrated the journeys involved in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which was a significant victory for Native women and the tribal nations that seek to protect them; the implementation of VAWA 2013’s landmark Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ) provision (see NCAI’s 2018 Five-Year Report); and VAWA reauthorization efforts to strengthen this initial limited restoration of tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.
10 am AKT / 11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET
Commemorating the first 25 Years of
Tribal Law and Policy Institute (TLPI):
Celebrating our Journey; Honoring our Relatives;
Building a Vision for the Future
November 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of establishment of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute (TLPI). TLPI was officially incorporated on November 4, 1996 with an initial three member Board of Directors (Abby Abinanti, Margrett Kelley, and Pat Sekaquaptewa) and one paid staff member (Jerry Gardner). All three initial board members are still on the TLPI Board of Directors and Jerry Gardner has been TLPI Executive Director throughout TLPI’s 25-year history. TLPI began with a series of small consulting contracts with Indian Tribes (including Grand Traverse Band and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo) and with the National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Association. TLPI’s first direct federal funding was a 1998 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Courts Program Office, to provide training and technical assistance to Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts.
Since then, TLPI has grown to 35 employees, conducted over 500 onsite technical assistance visits, worked with 100s of tribes, established a series of resource websites (beginning with the Tribal Court Clearinghouse www.TLPI.org in 1998), conducted 9 national Indian Nations Conferences www.OVCINC.org starting in 2002, trained 1,000s of Indian country service providers, and produced numerous resources to improve safety, justice and healing in Indian country.
To commemorate the past 25 years, TLPI board and staff chose to shine a light on some of the incredible work being done in Indian country. We centered our work around the theme: Celebrating our Journey; Honoring our Relatives; and Building a Vision for the Future.
Here are a few ways that we celebrated:
Honored Our Relatives
The board and staff of TLPI celebrated their 25th anniversary by being good relatives to our sister organizations and those focusing their efforts on core issues central to TLPI’s mission: the safety and wellbeing of Native women, children, and LGBTQ relatives, and the uplifting and preserving culture. The board and staff identified 5 tribal organizations doing incredible work in Indian country that we highlighted. In honor of TLPI’s 25th anniversary, we hope that you will consider giving generously to one or more of these important organizations:
Emmonak Women's Shelter
Emmonak Women’s Shelter (EWS), a nonprofit organization in the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Emmonak, was founded to provide emergency shelter and assistance to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and is committed to developing culturally relevant prevention education and counseling.
Celebratory Webinar Series
Celebrating our Journey focused on the first part of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary theme of Celebrating our Journey; Honoring our Relatives; and Building a Vision for the Future. This webinar celebrated the journeys involved in the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which was a significant victory for Native women and the tribal nations that seek to protect them; the implementation of VAWA 2013’s landmark Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ) provision (see NCAI’s 2018 Five-Year Report); and VAWA reauthorization efforts to strengthen this initial limited restoration of tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians. American Indian and Alaska Native women face rates of abuse, murder, and sexual assault higher than any other population in the United States. Statistics gathered by the U.S. Department of Justice and tribal governments demonstrate that non-Indians commit a majority of these violent crimes. Thus, the restoration of tribal criminal jurisdiction over non- Indians is a critical sovereign right that tribal governments can exercise to ensure safety for Native women.
Lawyer and Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle and a special panel joined us on this webinar to discuss her important play, Sliver of a Full Moon, which documents this victory (including the stories of the women who made this journey possible) along with ongoing implementation and expansion efforts. Sliver of a Full Moon documents the legal and jurisdictional issues raised in the wake of Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, a 1978 Supreme Court decision that stripped Indian nations of the ability to exercise their inherent criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who come onto tribal lands and commit crimes. Oliphant left Native women and children at a higher risk of domestic violence than any other group in the United States. The play then follows the bipartisan legislative battle to reauthorize VAWA in 2013 with a tribal jurisdiction provision that restored a portion of tribes’ jurisdiction to protect Native women and children from non- Indian perpetrated violence. Sliver of a Full Moon is about the power of sharing our own stories. In the words of survivor Lisa Brunner, “The partial restoration of tribal jurisdiction in VAWA 2013 is just a sliver of the full moon we need to ensure all of our women are safe. Until all of our tribes’ jurisdiction is fully restored, no one is safe.”
Introduction/Overview: Jerry Gardner, Executive Director, Tribal Law and Policy Institute
Facilitator: Mary Kathryn Nagle, Attorney/Playwright, and Partner at Pipestem and Nagle, a firm dedicated to the preservation and restoration of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction
Panelists:
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Billie Jo Rich, Domestic Violence Advocate, Survivor in Sliver of a Full Moon
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Glen Gobin, Vice Chair - Tulalip Tribes
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Michelle Demmert, Law and Policy Director, Alaska Native Women's Resource Center; former Chief Justice for Tlingit and Haida and Co-Chair for the National Congress of American Indians VAWA Task Force
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Kerri Colfer, Senior Native Affairs Advisor, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
Celebrating our Journey
The 1st in a series of 3 webinars celebrating
the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary
November 2, 2021
Content warning: This recording includes readings, media, and discussion around topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, physical violence, and identity-based discrimination and harassment. We encourage you to care for your safety and well-being.
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Honoring our Relatives
The 2nd in a series of 3 webinars celebrating
the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary
November 9, 2021
In honor of TLPI’s 25th anniversary, we hope that you will consider giving generously to one or more of these important organizations.
Honoring our Relatives focused on the second part of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary theme of Celebrating our Journey; Honoring our Relatives; and Building a Vision for the Future. This webinar highlighted and honored several Native grassroots organizations doing important work that focus on some of the core issues central to TLPI's mission: uplifting and preserving culture, and the safety and wellbeing of Native women, children, and LGBTQ relatives. TLPI is honored to work alongside these organizations to improve safety, justice, and healing in Indian country and shine a light on the incredible work they continue to do every day. Representatives from these organizations discussed their work.
Honorees:
Emmonak Women's Shelter (EWS), a nonprofit organization in the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Emmonak, was founded to provide emergency shelter and assistance to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and is committed to developing culturally relevant prevention education and counseling. EWS faces unique challenges in providing comprehensive services to victims of violence in the Lower Yukon Delta of Alaska.
Gabrielino Tongva Springs Foundation, a non-profit community organization dedicated to preserving the grounds of the heritage site Kuruvungna Village Springs (located at University High School in Los Angeles) and educating the public about the history, as well as preserving the natural and cultural resources of the area.
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, was created to develop and implement a national strategy to increase public awareness and cultivate healing for the profound trauma experienced by individuals, families, communities of American Indian and Alaska Native Nations resulting from the U.S. adoption and implementation of the Boarding School Policy of 1869.
Pine Ridge Girls School, is committed to a strategic educational model that balances rigorous college-prep academics, a girls’ school approach, and the power of Lakota history, language, and values. Pine Ridge Girls School reinforces that Native girls come from and are part of something beautiful, powerful, and sacred.
Pojoaque Healing to Wellness Court, brings together community members, services providers, tribal court, probation, and law enforcement to supervise, treat, educate, and heal individuals with substance abuse. The entire team is dedicated to recovery.
Facilitator: Bonnie Clairmont, Victim Advocacy Specialist, Tribal Law and Policy Institute
Honor song by: Lakota Clairmont of The Boyz
The Boyz were established in 1989 and are a championship Northern-style drum group from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Building a Vision for the Future
The 3rd in a series of 3 webinars celebrating
the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary
November 16, 2021
Building a Vision for the Future focused on the third part of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s 25th Anniversary theme of Celebrating our Journey; Honoring our Relatives; and Building a Vision for the Future. What does it mean to seriously envision decolonized tribal justice systems? As young Native people enter the fields of tribal and federal Indian law and policy, many are questioning the colonized foundations of these fields. Tensions between individual and collective rights, federal laws that force Tribal Nations to be reactive as opposed to proactive, and criminal justice systems that reward prison development are among the many issues being scrutinized by young Native scholars. This webinar featured a panel of Tribal scholars and justice system practitioners that dove into what a decolonized future might look like, including topics such as compliance with the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, possible expansion of current limited tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians under VAWA’s Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ), possible lessons learned through the Inter-Tribal Working Group (ITWG) process that has been used by tribes to assist with the implementation of VAWA SDVCJ, implementing meaningful restorative justice, and building a decolonized tribal justice system focused on tribal values.
Facilitator: Kelly Stoner, Victim Advocacy Legal Specialist, Tribal Law and Policy Institute
Panelists:
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Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge, Yurok Tribe
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Sarah Deer, University Distinguished Professor, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Kansas
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Pat Sekaquaptewa, Affiliated, University of Fairbanks
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Lauren van Schilfgaarde, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Director, Tribal Legal Development Clinic, UCLA School of Law
Thank you to our co-sponsor
TLPI Board and Staff
TLPI highlighted board and staff each week on its social media outlets. Please visit the TLPI Facebook Page to learn more about our incredible Board and Staff.