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Blackfeet Council Backs Reform, New Constitution Goes to BIA For Approval

Chairman calls proposed changes ‘drastic’ and ‘historic’ for Blackfeet Nation

By Justin Franz
Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Beacon File Photo

The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council has backed an effort to rewrite its tribal constitution in a move that would drastically alter its government.

On June 15, the tribal council voted to submit a new Blackfeet constitution to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for review. If the new document passes muster it will be presented to the entire tribe for a vote.

The new constitution would replace the tribe’s current form of government with three branches, including executive, legislative and judicial branches.

“It is a drastic change from what we have right now,” Chairman Harry Barnes said. “It would be an historic change.”

The effort to overhaul the Blackfeet constitution comes three years after the tribal government fell into shambles. In 2012, the tribal council split into two separate factions and tribal employees were unpaid for weeks at a time. The government shut down multiple times. One of the biggest criticisms of the current tribal government, as established by the Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934, is that there is no separation of powers and the council has the ability to control everything, including what judges serve in tribal court.

A citizen group that met weekly for more than a year wrote the new 38-page constitution and bill of rights. The document calls for the creation of a three-pronged government to replace the nine-person tribal council. The executive branch would manage the tribe’s day-to-day operations and have a president and vice president that each serve three-year terms. In order to qualify to run for president or vice president, a tribal member would have to be 30 years of age or older, have been a resident of the reservation for at least five years and must have a high school degree or higher. There would be no term limits for the executive branch.

The legislative branch would have 13 representatives from around the reservation and meet twice a year to enact new laws. The reservation would be separated into districts, with six representatives from Browning, two from North Browning, two from Seville, one from Old Agency and two from Heart Butte.

Lastly, the new constitution would create an independent judicial branch with a tribal court and appellate court. An elected chief justice would oversee the judicial branch and appoint associate judges.

The new constitution was completed earlier this month and brought before the tribal council on June 15. The council supported sending it to the BIA for formal review in an eight-to-one vote.

The BIA will ensure the document does not violate federal law. Once it is reviewed by the agency, all tribal members will vote on the document. Barnes said a special election could be held this year.

If voters approve the new constitution, it would be implemented in 2018.

Barnes, a longtime supporter of constitutional reform, said the new constitution would be one of the biggest events in the reservation’s history. The Blackfeet first tried to rewrite its constitution in the 1940s and later in the 1970s and early 2000s, but those efforts failed.

“We want to give the people a chance to vote on these reforms,” he said. “(If they approve it) it would change the course of history for the Blackfeet Nation.”