What really happened at meeting
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
3 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
This is to clarify statements made in the Char-Koosta newspaper regarding the Quarterly meeting of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Oct. 4, 2013.
The meeting began, and departments gave their reports with a time limit imposed upon them.
Pat Pierre took the floor and started to inform the audience on several subjects, but soon his speech appeared to chastise the audience by saying five times “you people,” pointing his finger and slowly scanning the audience, “everything we do should be done with respect.”
Char-Koosta stated that members of The People’s Voice interrupted Pierre’s speech. This is not an exact statement written by Char-Koosta.
What actually happened: Pat Pierre asked the audience if he should shut up. His speech was longer than other individuals before him. There were a couple of people in the audience who agreed with him by saying “yes.” There were whisperings in the audience agreeing that he should end his speech.
Pat Pierre then said, “Who said that?” One person said, “I did … I thought this was supposed to be a business meeting.”
Stephen Small Salmon stood up and told the elder who spoke to “shut up.”
This was absolutely inappropriate because he was telling another tribal elder to shut up. Stephen also interrupted Pat Pierre.
Small Salmon said remember the old days when everyone spoke Salish. He said in those days people would be punished for talking to elders in a bad manner. Definitely, his saying “shut up” to a tribal elder is very much in bad manner.
The Tribal Chairman singled out two individuals by their first names and admonished those individuals, saying they will be escorted from meeting. This action taken by the Tribal Chairman was clearly inappropriate; calling individuals by name like they were friends, and then threatening them to be removed from the meeting. The Tribal Chairman did not stop Pat Pierre from pointing his finger at the audience and chastising Tribal members. Nor did he admonish Stephen Small Salmon for interrupting the meeting.
During the quarterly meeting there was no mention of any individuals belonging to The People’s Voice.
Phyllis Benoist
Pablo
