Tribes without U.S. recognition locked out of pandemic aid

Rachel Lynne Cushman is used to getting calls from Chi- nook Nation members worried about losing housing or having their power shut off. Since COVID-19 hit, they come in daily.

Cushman is secretary-trea- surer for the group of tribes whose ancestral lands are based in one of Washington state’s poorest counties. While they mostly have been spared from the health effects of the coronavirus, the pandemic has taken an economic toll.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Cushman said. “But the reality is we don’t have the resources to help.”

Unlike federally recognized tribes, the Chinook Nation — consisting of the Lower Chi- nook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum and Kathlamet tribes — doesn’t have a political relationship with the United States, which would make it eligible for coronavirus relief fund- ing. Hundreds of tribes lack the designation, which they say leaves them struggling to help their members and less equipped to combat a pan- demic that’s disproportion- ately affected Native Americans and other people of color.

The 574 federally recognized tribes shared $8 billion from a coronavirus relief pack- age approved last March. They have used the money to provide meals, personal protec- tive equipment, cleaning supplies, COVID-19 testing, business support, housing relief and more. Another bill that passed in December gives those tribes another year to spend the money and includes funding for vaccines, testing and housing assistance for federally recognized tribes.

The path to federal recognition is complicated, requir- ing extensive documentation proving that the tribe is distinct from others and has continuously operated since the 1900s.

Tribes have received the designation through treaties, acts of Congress or by applying to the Interior Department. With it, tribal land is protected from being sold, their governments are recognized as sovereign, and they share in federal funding for things like public safety, education and health.

The Chi n ook Nation’s quest for recognition started with hiring lawyers to fight for land rights in 1899. The tribe was recognized in 2001, but the status was revoked 18 months later after the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled that it failed to prove it had consistently existed as a tribe through history.

They’re still battling for the status and got a boost from a U.S. judge who ruled about a year ago that a ban on the tribe reapplying for federal recognition was unjustified.