November 22, 2024 11:00 a.m.
Officials with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians said the Biden Administration has turned its back on Tribes, with what they believe is the wrong decision on a Medford casino.
A Cow Creek release said they have learned that the application for the Coquille Tribe to build a casino in Medford will move into the next step, paving the way for Oregon’s first urban and off-reservation casino, more than 165 miles from the Coquille ancestral lands in North Bend.
The Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs was published Friday, setting off a 30-day public comment period in which all arguments against the decision will be entered into the record.
Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal Chairman Carla Keene said, “Today, my heart feels what our ancestors felt years ago with the stealing of our lands. We have continually reached out and tried to work with the government, and we’ve been a sister Tribe to others, but the government continues to take from our Tribe and give it away”.
Keene said, “Interior Secretary Deb Haaland repeatedly deflected or ignored us, not treating us with respect as sovereign nations but as a nuisance and that she could not be bothered. We will not stop fighting for what is right for our people and for policies that honor Tribal sovereignty and protect ancestral homeland integrity that our ancestors lost their lives over”.
The release said the Tribe has continually argued that the basis of Coquille’s application is legally flawed and allows Tribes to play by a different set of rules, circumventing the process that all federally recognized Tribes in the nation must follow when citing a casino.
Cow Creek Umpqua CEO Michael Rondeau said, “The Coquille are creating a false narrative of ties to ancestral lands that do not exist and cannot be proven”. Rondeau said, “This is a disgrace to Tribal sovereignty and undermines the generations of work of our ancestors who sacrificed to restore lands that were taken from our families years ago”.
The release said the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and more than 30 other Tribes have been fighting to be heard by the Biden Administration and Secretary Haaland about the “devastating impacts” that mass off-reservation casino approvals will have on Indian Country, only to be dismissed and ignored.
Keene said, “The Biden Administration and Secretary Haaland’s legacy for Indian Country will be cast with this cloud if they continue to allow some Tribes to play by their own rules while other Tribes are left behind struggling to survive”.