Piikani join American tribal leaders’ council
A southern Alberta First Nation has become the first Canadian band to join a regional American tribal leaders’ council.
Chief Stanley Grier says the membership has implications for tribal sovereignty and Indigenous empowerment across North America.
“For the Piikani people, this is a momentous occasion,” he said in a recent news release. “We have waited since 1872 to once again have a voice in our traditional territory south of the border.”
Speaking in Billings at the annual Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, he said re-creating links with the south could assist in “confronting contemporary crises, from the murdered and missing Indigenous women tragedy through to economic hardships that burden many tribal nations.”
Issues created by the Canadian U.S. border are impeding progress in investigating the womens’ disappearance, said Grier, who also serves as president of the Blackfoot Confederacy Chiefs.
“A lack of effective co-operation exists not only between law enforcement agencies, but also between our tribal nations,” he said. “Jurisdictional differences must be overcome.”
More responsive support for victims’ families is also essential, he said — on both sides of the border.
Grier also called for action on the reported trafficking of women across the border.
“Billings and Minneapolis are two hubs through which native women and children are trafficked north,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Piikani representatives joined leaders of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in declaration opposing the Keystone XL pipeline project, along with any expansion of Alberta’s oilsands production.