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RESOLUTION NO. 11

NCAI Procedures and Committee Appointments

WHEREAS, the present officials of the National Congress of American Indians are to be commended for their job in the past years, and

WHEREAS, we must be constantly working toward the improvement of our national efforts to protect the Indian people and their assets, and

WHEREAS, it is the expressed opinion of many of the delegates convened here that there are lacking ways and means of informing each other on the major problems that confront us from time to time, as well as other information that would enable the many tribes to coordinate their efforts to improve the general standard and health conditions on the respective reservations,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American Indians assembled this 27th day of September, 1956 at Salt Lake City, Utah does hereby adopt these procedures to carry out the needs and wants of our Indian people:

1. The Executive Council shall appoint the following committees, according to need, to be responsible for the major issues that affect us as Indians:
Development of National Resources
Public Health
Welfare
Bureau of Indian Affairs Rules and Regulations and Policy
Finance
Fund-Raising
Public Relations
and such other committees as the Executive Council may see fit to appoint.

2. Each of the committeemen or committee women shall make a study of the subject that they are assigned to throughout the year and shall report at the next annual convention.

3. That 2 days of each following convention shall be utilized for group discussions concerning each of the major problems and for the review of the appointed committee's reports.

RESOLUTION NO. 12

Bureau of Indian Affairs Policy

WHEREAS, it has been reported to the National Congress of American Indians, in convention assembled, September 24 to 28, 1956, Salt Lake City, Utah, that in recent weeks the Commissioner of Indian Affairs has been meeting with various tribal groups from various Indian reservations in the United States with respect to the relationships to the Federal Government, including the administration of Federal, State and Tribal laws within reservation areas, the business and economic development of reservation resources, and other problems besetting American Indians; and

WHEREAS, the tribal representatives have been informed that these meetings were confidential, and that they might bring only the top officials of the tribe concerned, and some on inquiry have been specifically informed they might not be accompanied by their tribal attorneys; and

WHEREAS, in dealing with the Federal Government many tribes have found it necessary, at considerable cost in terms of tribal income, to employ attorneys who can understand and advise the tribes on their rights, powers, duties and limitations, and have not always found that the administrative officials of the Government are unfailing in their interpretations of those legal relationships; and