Volume 16 Number 2
January 1977

Task Force No. 5—The American Indian Policy Review Commission’s selected group on Indian education—will present its findings and views to the Commission in a nationally important conference on Thursday, April 14 in Tempe, Arizona.

The review is part of the 18th annual Indian Education Conference, sponsored this year by the National Education Association in collaboration with the Center for Indian Education at Arizona State University. The annual conference has been expanded to two-and-a-half days to accommodate this important part of the Indian education program.

The conference begins at noon on Wednesday, April 13, with registration in the Memorial Union on the ASU campus. A workshop will be conducted that afternoon by the National Indian Education Association on the development of Project Media.

On Thursday, April 14, the AIPRC’s Task Force No. 5 will present its findings to the Commission. Individuals, tribes and organizations are invited to present their reactions to the Task Force’s findings on the following day.

On January 2, 1975, S.J.Res. 133, a bill to provide for the establishment of the American Indian Policy Review Commission, became Public Law 93-580. The Commission was to undertake a sweeping, two-year review of the Federal-Indian relationship and of government programs and policies affecting the American Indian people.

Senators Metcalf, Abourezk and Hatfield and Congressmen Meeds, Yates and Steiger were appointed to the Commission as were five Indian members from specific categories: Ada Deer, Menominee (Wisconsin), Jake Whitecrow, Quapaw-Seneca (Oklahoma), John Borbridge, Tlinget (Alaska)—all from Federally recognized tribes; Adolph Dial, Lumbee (North Carolina)—non-Federally recognized tribe; and Louis Bruce, Mohawk-Sioux (New York)—representing the urban Indians.

While the Commission itself is to make the final decision on the nature of its report, the actual investigation and recommendations are to be made by various task forces which were appointed. These appointees are Indian people who are experts in their fields and who reflect the credibility of Indian tribes.

The review of the United States’ historical and legal relationship with American Indians calls for the work of the Commission to be completed no later than June 30 of this year (1977). Each task force appointed by the Commission must submit its report within one year from the date it was established. The final report of the Commission must be submitted within six months after the task force reports are completed.

The AIPRC selected two staff members to operate the Commission. Ernie Stevens, former Director of Economic Development for the BIA, and an Oneida, Wisconsin, is Commission Director. Counsel for the Commission is Kirke Kickingbird, a Kiowa, formerly Executive Director of the Institute for the Development of Indian Law.

The Conference directors feel honored to have this nationally important review as the main part of the program for the annual meeting.