MISSOULA –
Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the Cobell v. Salazar lawsuit, and Julie Cajune, executive director of the Center for American Indian Policy and Applied Research at Salish Kootenai College, will give the final two presentations of the “Lessons of Our Land” speaker series at The University of Montana.
Cobell will speak at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 23. The series wraps up with a presentation by Cajune at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 30. Both events will take place in Payne Family Native American Center Room 105. A reception will follow each presentation at 5:30 p.m. in the center’s Bonnie HeavyRunner Gathering Place. All events are free and open to the public.
Cobell, executive director of the Native American Community Development Corp., will talk about her 15-year journey, which started in 1996 with a class-action lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Interior. Her David and Goliath chronicle is rooted in a claim for justice on behalf of 500,000 American Indian landowners across the country.
Through dozens of courtroom victories, as well as legislative setbacks, Cobell and a team of determined attorneys prevailed. Last December, federal lawmakers approved the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. It was signed into law in January by President Barack Obama.
As part of the legislation, Congress approved a $3.4 billion settlement, the largest class-action award in U.S. history, as well as the largest Indian land claim in U.S. history. The settlement resolves claims that the federal government violated its trust duties to individual Indian trust beneficiaries.
Historical Accounting Claims state that the federal government violated its trust duties by not providing a proper historical accounting relating to Individual Indian Money accounts and other trust assets. Trust Administration Claims that include fund and land administration claims state that the federal government violated its trust duties, mismanaged individual Indian trust funds and violated its trust responsibilities for management of land, oil, natural gas, mineral, timber, grazing and other resources.
The Cobell legal team has been traveling across the country to meet with Indian landowners. They are answering questions about $1.4 billion that will be paid directly to Native people determined to be a part of the historical and trust administration claims. The team also is answering questions about the nearly $2 billion award for land consolidation included in the Claims Resolution Act. More information about the settlement is online at http://www.indiantrust.com .
Cajune, who was profiled in Utne magazine in 2009 as one of 50 visionaries who are changing the world, will talk about a statewide Indian land curriculum she developed that aligns with Montana state education standards. The lesson plans were created as specific matches to Montana tribes and can be used with the existing Indian Land Tenure Foundation’s land tenure curriculum titled “Lessons of Our Land.”
Cajune has worked in education for nearly two decades. She earned a master’s degree in bilingual education and served as the curriculum specialist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes before returning to public education and administration. She has developed culturally responsive material for the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Montana Historical Society and numerous other entities. In addition, she completed a three-year tribal history project funded by the Montana Legislature.
Cajune received the Milken National Educator Award in 2002. As a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, she worked at Nkwusm, the Salish Language Revitalization Institute, as director of development and teacher supervisor. She was awarded a $1.4 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to continue work on the development and publication of tribal history materials. The grant is based at Salish Kootenai College.
The speaker series is sponsored by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a community-based, nonprofit organization focused on the recovery, management and control of American Indian lands by Indian people. For more information, visit http://iltf.org , call Jodi Rave at 406-396-8537 or e-mail jodi.rave@umontana.edu . 
