Colville Tribe Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

50 Years Ago, An Election For The Colville Ushered In A New Era For U.S. Tribes

By NWPB News May 10, 2021

Colville Tribes reservation welcome sign

Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington. Termination was a policy that was designed to end the United State government’s role in Indian affairs. It would have abrogated treaties, eliminated federal funding, and “freed the Indians” from Read More

Some Good 2020 News: Salmon Spawning In Upper Columbia River After 80 Years

By Courtney Flatt December 13, 2020

Grand Coulee Dam File Photo - CREDIT Bureau of Reclamation

Bringing salmon back to the Upper Columbia has been a goal since the habitat was blocked by the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams more than eight decades ago. Tribal members held a Ceremony of Tears 80 years ago when the final run of salmon returned.Read More

Window Opens For Tribes To Seek Federal Licenses For Rural Broadband Access

By NWPB News February 3, 2020

Mariel Triggs, chief executive of MuralNet, tests broadband internet equipment in Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. CREDIT: Patrick Lawson via AP

The Federal Communications Commission opened a window Monday for federally recognized tribes to apply for licenses that could help establish or expand internet access on their lands. The FCC estimates that about one-third of people living on tribal lands don’t have access to high-speed internet, but others say the figure is twice as high.Read More

New Energy Storage Project On Upper Columbia Brings Jobs — And Concerns From Colville Tribes

By Courtney Flatt December 23, 2019

Chief Joseph Dam is on the Columbia River in eastern Washington at Bridgeport. CREDIT: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

A new energy storage project is in the works near eastern Washington’s Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River. The project is expected to bring construction jobs to the region. But the nearby Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation worry it would harm important cultural areas.Read More

Tribes Release 1st Salmon Into Upper Columbia Since Dam Construction

By Courtney Flatt August 11, 2019

Colville Tribal member Crystal Conant releases the final salmon into the upper Columbia River on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019. Conant said salmon’s reintroduction to the upper Columbia will help heal the tribe and the ecosystem. CREDIT: COURTNEY FLATT/NWPB

Salmon are now swimming in the upper Columbia River for the first time in decades. For regional Native tribes, Friday’s ceremonial fish release is a big step toward catching fish in traditional waters. Cheers erupted from the crowd as the first salmon was released since 1955 into the Columbia River above Chief Joseph Dam.Read More

‘We’re Still Here:’ Washington’s Sinixt Tribe Defends Hunting Rights And Fight For Canadian Recognition

By Emily Schwing September 20, 2018

For nearly a decade, Desautel, who is a U.S. citizen living in Washington, has been making his way through British Columbia’s court system. He’s trying to reinstate his indigenous rights north of the border. His is a case about tribal sovereignty, recognition and reconciliation in Canada.Read More

Canada And U.S. To Open Renegotiations Of Columbia River Treaty

By Emily Schwing May 23, 2018

Mica Dam in British Columbia is one of three Canadian projects under the terms of the 1964 Columbia River Treaty. CREDIT: DAR56 - TINYURL.COM/YC4K2DTJ

The United States and Canada next week will begin the official process of renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty, which expires in 2024. The 1964 agreement governs the upper reaches of the 1,200-mile Columbia River.Read More

Washington Supreme Court Visits Colville Tribal Land For Outreach, Hear Cases

By Emily Schwing May 8, 2018

File photo. Washington Supreme Court Justices, 2018.

Washington Supreme Court justices will be in northeastern Washington May 8 to hear three cases in Nespelem, where the Confederated Tribes of the Colville are headquartered. Legally, this land is sovereign— which means it’s a separate nation. It may be the first known time state Supreme Court proceedings have happened on sovereign tribal land.Read More

Colville Tribes Granted Rights To Manage Tribal Water Resources

By Emily Schwing May 4, 2018

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville are celebrating an expansion of their sovereign rights. The federal government has granted them jurisdiction over water resources on tribal lands in northeastern Washington state.Read More

Northwest Tribes Noticeably Left Off U.S. Panel Renegotiating Columbia River Treaty With Canada

By Emily Schwing April 26, 2018

Norma Sanchez, a Colville Tribal Council member, gave public testimony during a meeting on Columbia River Treaty negotiations hosted by the U.S. State Department.

Federal officials were in Spokane this week to talk about the future of the Columbia River Treaty, an agreement between the U.S. and Canada that dates back to 1964. A six-member panel will represent the U.S. in negotiations to update the treaty. Noticeably absent were members of any of the numerous Native American tribes along the Columbia, which have been pushing to Read More

After Six Decades Of ‘Extinction’ In Canada, Sinixt Tribal Members Celebrate Their Homecoming

By Emily Schwing March 30, 2018

Artwork to commemorate the day a trial judge acquitted Sinixt descendant and Washington resident Rick Desautel of illegal hunting was created by Chief Rice, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville.

Over the past decade, surviving Sinixt tribal members who live in Washington have waged a legal battle to get their rights and access to traditional territory back. They recently celebrated their victories at an honor ceremony in British Columbia.Read More

After 70 Years, Salmon Could Return To Columbia River Above Grand Coulee Dam

By Emily Schwing March 16, 2018

If all goes according to plan, there could soon be salmon above the Grand Coulee Dam again. That’s according to Cody Desautel, director of Natural Resources for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville.Read More

In Referendum, Tribal Members Vote To Keep The Name ‘Colville’

By Emily Schwing February 9, 2018

Colville Tribes sign in Nespelem, Washington

It looks like the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will be keeping their name -- for now. Tribal members have rejected a referendum that would have kicked off a name-change process. Read More

Northwest Museums Revive Native American Artifacts To Tell Richer Stories

By Emily Schwing February 2, 2018

Sven Haakanson, the curator of North American Anthropology at the Burke Museum, says he wants exhibits at the new museum to speak to the resiliency of North America's Native people.

Museum curators in the Northwest are now working to update exhibits that focus on the region’s indigenous people. They are trying to do that in a way that both modernizes stories of indigenous people and tells them more truthfully. Read More

British Columbia Files Second Appeal Of Washington Man’s Tribal Sovereignty Case

By Emily Schwing January 29, 2018

File photo of the roof of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria, BC.File photo of the roof of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria, BC.

British Columbia is taking the next step in a decade-long battle over native tribal rights. The province has filed paperwork to appeal a decision that granted Washington state tribal members rights to their ancestral lands in Canada.Read More

Fight Over Sovereign Tribal Rights Spanning U.S. – Canada Border Could Be Nearing End

By Emily Schwing January 12, 2018

Tribal members are waiting for the next move from British Columbia’s provincial government in a long-running battle over sovereign rights. Rick Desautel is one of roughly 4,000 Sinixt tribal members who live on the Colville Reservation in northeastern Washington state.Read More