Obama: Efforts to strengthen Native American communities progressing

Gale Three Feathers, left, and Mark Bruishead celebrate Congress's passage last month of the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act.

 

Leaders of 565 tribes were invited to the conference, the White House said.

Alaska Native tribal leaders are gathering Thursday in Washington for the Tribal Nation’s Conference with President Obama. Each of the country’s 565 federally recognized tribes was invited to send a representative.  This is the second time the Obama White House has hosted such an event – the first was one year ago.  And it’s the first administration to hold them on such a scale. Marvin Kelly, on the Emmonak Tribal Council, says he hopes this year

The president said his administration has tackled some of the largest issues faced by American Indian communities, helping to create infrastructure, eliminate bureaucratic barriers and boost public health on reservations, where tribal members face rates of diseases like tuberculosis at a far higher rate than the rest of the nation.

The Justice Department, he said, is working to reform the criminal justice system on reservations. The Tribal Law and Order Act, signed by the president in July, contains measures to help fight drug and alcohol abuse on reservations, gives authorities better access to databases and improves opportunities for at-risk Native American youth.

American Indians' history has been "too often marred by broken promises and grave injustices against the first Americans," Obama said. While he acknowledged that no words can undo the damage, he said his administration aims for action to match those words.