歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI 鈥� Representatives of the and the Bemidji City Council held a joint meeting on Monday, which marked the formal beginning of relationships between the two government bodies.

The meeting, held at the Sanford Center, began with an exchange of gifts and an invocation. This was followed by brief presentations that introduced each body to the other through summaries of their history, structure and their future goals.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much that our governments don鈥檛 know about each other,鈥� said Irene Folstrom, the Governmental Relations Manager for Leech Lake.

Folstrom gave a presentation on the band鈥檚 history, highlighting its past relationships with outside bodies such as the state and federal governments. This history includes the breaking of treaties with Leech Lake and other Indigenous groups, along with the illegal seizing of tribal lands.

鈥淲e have a really complicated history,鈥� Folstrom said. 鈥淏ut we are all more than willing to sit down and have conversations with you to explain our history and why we are who we are today.鈥�

Another note that Folstrom made was recognizing the significance of having two Indigenous members sit on the Bemidji City Council. Ward 1 Councilmember Audrey Thayer is a White Earth Band member and Daniel Jourdain, council member at large , is a member of Red Lake Nation.

Following these introductory topics, representatives from both groups expressed their gratitude for the meeting and recognized the shared goals of their respective governing bodies.

Among these shared goals and the next topic of discussion was the issue of improving public safety. City Manager Nate Mathews brought up the Police Advisory Committee that has been created and is set to have its first meeting in February.

The goal of this committee will be to improve trust and communication between law enforcement and the community. The committee has nine seats, and its members were selected from 25 applicants with a goal in part to be a diverse representation of Bemidji.

鈥淲e know that there are a number of things happening in our community that are very difficult and very challenging,鈥� said Mayor Jorge Prince, who advocated for the committee鈥檚 creation. 鈥淎s mayor I definitely want every one of our citizens to go to bed at night and be and feel safe.鈥�

Within the topic of public safety, certain issues raised lay more specifically with the Native American community, such as the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, commonly referred to as MMIW, and the fact that Beltrami County has the highest rate of Native American juveniles in detention nationwide.

鈥淲e all have to feel safe and be safe and feel comfortable wherever we go and whatever we do as a citizen,鈥� said Arthur LaRose, Secretary-Treasurer of Leech Lake.

Another topic during the joint meeting was the possibility of hanging flags to represent Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth Reservations in the Bemidji City Hall meeting chambers. This has been brought up for discussion before , but no formal decision was made.

The representatives of Leech Lake were in favor of the idea, expressing the importance a visible sign of recognition can have for Indigenous community members.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a sense of pride in their nation being represented in the city of Bemidji,鈥� said Robert Budreau, Jr., executive director for Leech Lake. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a good step going forward for relationship building.鈥�

Also raised was the issue of some businesses in Bemidji not recognizing tribal IDs as a valid form of identification. This problem is in part a result of a lack of education about tribal IDs, which are comparable to state IDs but can also be used to travel between the U.S. and Canada.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about recognizing that we exist and that we are a sovereign nation,鈥� Budreau explained. 鈥淥ur people fought long and hard to be recognized and to say we鈥檙e still here.鈥�

The city council agreed to look into steps that would improve education about different forms of IDs in an effort to address this problem.

Both Leech Lake and the council noted topics that would need to be revisited in a later joint meeting, including future partnerships on issues of affordable housing and the possibility of creating a day labor program in Bemidji modeled off of the one in Leech Lake.

鈥淚 hope that we can continue to bring our leadership together, just like we're doing,鈥� Jourdain said. "And I hope that we can serve these people and serve everybody in the best way we can.鈥�