Compact part of reclaiming land plan
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Editor,
The Twentieth Circuit Judicial Court has held the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes’ water compact to be illegal as being in violation of our Montana State Constitution.
Having practiced law for some 50 years, I cannot reconcile the Montana Legislature approving the compact until that court’s decision has been reversed by the Montana Supreme Court.
Certainly the Legislature has not taken over the court system of our state?
I have the same question arising when I read in the Valley Journal that our Lake County Commissioners have approved the compact.
They had to know that the compact, if approved, would turn ownership of all waters in Western Montana over to the Confederated Tribe.
They also had to know that the Tribal Council chairman with the approval of the council, emphatically stated that non-tribal land owners starting in 2010 would be forced to sell their reservation lands on the terms set forth by the Tribe and I quote excerpts from his letter:
“… this is to advise you that our long-term plan to repurchase the Flathead Reservation is going smoothly and quietly … By the year 2010 (we will) demand that Congress … return complete control of the reservation to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Those whites which cannot be bought or taxed out will have to be encouraged to leave by other means.”
Couple the above long-term goal with the ultimate tribal goal set forth in the “Mission” adopted by the Tribal Council in 1996 to regain ownership of all lands and one cannot ignore the water compact as a part of the “other means” set forth above.
The compact makes it very clear that it is not an agreement with the landowners but rather “an agreement between the Confederated Tribe, the United States and the State of Montana with a further provision:
“The Tribe adopts this code and the state adopts its parallel legislation only after concluding its provisions are lawful …
“Should the legality of State Legislation or any provision thereof be challenged in any courts, the parties shall use their best efforts to defend …”
The matter is now at this last stage.
Lloyd Ingraham
Ronan
