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Coyote
Commentary from Four Bears Segment
From the Desk of Marcus Wells, Jr., "Mo-zah",
Four Bears Council Representative of the Three
Affiliated Tribes
Indian
Preference in Employment and Training within the
Fort Berthold Reservation
As
the former TERO Director of the Three Affiliated
Tribes, I can state that Indian Preference is
a right of every enrolled member of the Three
Affiliated Tribes as duly passed by the Tribal
Business Council. However, I do not believe that
it is being provided to all the enrolled members
who are actively seeking such opportunity for
employment.
Why, I guess when Employers of the Tribes are
told by their superiors or in this case the Tribal
Business Council that this Law is no longer needed
to be followed and you then insert language into
your policies such as; "Indian Preference will
be adhered to the greatest extent feasible". This
basically gives the green light to hiring other
than enrolled members, even in the event that
the enrolled members are qualified whether with
the minimum qualification or the highest qualifications.
Thinking back to my TERO days If I did not have
the Indian Preference Provisions of the TERO Ordinance
which had the strict guidelines of:
- Enrolled
Members of the Three Affiliated Tribes Hired
first priority.
- Enrolled
Members of other Tribes second priority.
- Spouses
of Enrolled of enrolled members of the TAT as
third priority.
- Other
It would have been very difficult to maintain such
a high number of Indians employed.
The above criteria is what allowed for the strict
adherence of the Law of Indian Preference whether
that was the Casino, Construction, Oil and Gas,
it did not matter it was the law.
The trend today I believe is that it is ok to hire
who you will. This is not my believe, however
during the recent discussions with the management
of the Four Bears Casino and Lodge and Mr. Tom Dissellhorst,
Legal of TAT, I informed them and the Tribal Council
of theses issues. And the Tribal Business Council
took formal action to correct these deficiencies
within the FBC&L Hiring Procedures.
For if the Lien Management had it there way they
would have hired at will and would have
Coyote
Commentary--Page 7
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