Incredibly stupid is the only accurate description I can give to the tribal council's management of water compact negotiations with the state of Montana and the United States Government. Nobody is going to save us from council stupidity this time as water attorneys warn "COMPACTS ARE FOREVER.!" A recent Supreme Court opinion issued by Justice Ginsberg says no longer will the federal government be responsible for tribal government mistakes in getting beat by business or state governments. The tribal council is sailing it's tribal ship forevermore and if they screw up, too bad! In addition, we, the Blackfeet allotted landowners were tossed from the tribal council meetings on the water compact by Chairman Old Person. I was pushed to the wall by tribal council security when I tried to bring up our unresolved forced fee patents cases of 1,200 Blackfeet trust land allotments robbed by Glacier County commissioners, county attorney, Blackfeet Agents, and border-whites who are the white ranchers and farmers who own grazing lands and irrigated farm lands covering 312,250 acres of prime reservation land and water rights. We have the winning hand in land claims and water compact negotiations but we never played it, instead being duped by state officials offer of $150 million dollars to be paid in 10 annual installments of $15 million to the tribal council. In the end it costs the state of Montana zero dollars for taking Blackfeet water for over a century because in 2013 the Montana Legislature set aside $150 million to draw interest to pay off the Blackfeet Tribe for a century of robbery of Blackfeet water rights in the Diversion of the St. Mary and Milk River to Canada and north central Montana farmers and towns. By contrast the Crow Tribe got $500 million for 6,000 acres of Crow land taken by the Reclamation Service to build Yellow Tail Dam in the 1950's. The Blackfeet Tribe was paid less than $10,000 for the diversion of St. Mary-Milk Rivers in 1904. Is that justice? More to the point, we, the Blackfeet landowners claims to recover our stolen allotted lands are extinguished forever by the water compact, therefore our claims to 1,200 allotments and water rights get nothing! In addition the valuable water rights of the remaining Blackfeet allotted lands cannot be developed without a "First Right of Refusal" to be offered to white men for any water marketing deal that we develop to sell bottled water to global water markets, a billion dollar giveaway. Chinese Government purchasers were in the tribal office a few years ago offering to purchase Blackfeet beef, water, oil, or any other product owned by Blackfeet Indians, and they called us their "relatives." White men murdered hundreds of Blackfeet landowners for fortunes made in the allotment period of 1919-1922 when Glacier and Pondera County incorporated county government on stolen Blackfeet allotments. That is "white-apartheid" on the reservation! Today the method of murdering Indians is defined as "Slow Death Measures" genocide by the United Nations whereby depriving people of the means of living and inducing poverty causes early deaths of victims. The past century of poverty of the Blackfeet Indians is the result of the forced patents robbery of the prime Blackfeet allotted lands, water rights, and the successful Blackfeet cattle industry. Chairman Old Person called us a "bureau problem" and refused to help us until 2001 when we forced him to sign tribal resolution 224-2001 which requested the return of all allotted lands and taxes to the Blackfeet landowners and Blackfeet Tribe. He refused to testify before Congress for our claims as directed by the tribal resolution passed in 2001,and our claims are not a part of the water negotiations although the compact reads that all past claims of tribal and allotted landowners are extinguished by the compact. Do the tribal council and chief Old Person see us Blackfeet Indians as important as saving the Badger-Two Medicine. What about saving our allotted land and water rights? Our people are slowly dying in tribal housing slums while the council lives in luxury on our money. The least they could do is to protect our land claims and water rights since we pay their huge salaries and travel vacations and they stab us in the back in the compact. Does anyone care that Babb and cabins on St. Mary Lake will be flooded as soon as the compact is approved? And, there will be state game wardens on St. Mary Lake to kick off the Indian recreation. I will not vote for the water compact because there is nothing for us to vote for except white rule over us and the end of our treaty rights,
Bob Juneau Sr.
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