SHARED: SUE WALLIS WANTS TO FEED THE NATIVES /AMERICAN PEOPLE HORSE MEAT !! July 22, 2013 at 10:23am N A T I O N A L C O N G R E S S OF A M E R I C A N I N D I A N S The National Congress of American Indians Resolution #REN-13-056 TITLE: Opposition To Any/All Horse Anti Slaughter Acts WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and WHEREAS, the Tribes of the United States have for many years spent countless man hours and funding protecting and re-establishing the ecosystem from degradation; and WHEREAS, the Tribes of the United Stated are home to over 90,000 head of unclaimed/feral horses that are overgrazing the destroying the rangeland of many of the reservations and that are damaging natural spring developments, efforts at stream bank restoration, and culturally significant plants; and WHEREAS, the tribes of NCAI have previously adopted NCAI resolution # NFG-09-017 in June 2009, “Opposition to Any/All Horse Slaughter Acts, Also Supporting a Tribal Amendment Allowing Tribes of Establish Horse Slaughter Facilities within Their Jurisdiction; and WHEREAS, the Federal Government has a clear fiduciary trust responsibility to protect the interests of Tribal Nations as well as a duty to implement laws passed to benefit those Tribes, yet it the Administration failed to consult or communicate with any Tribes prior to taking a position to propose appropriations language reinstating the ban on funding USDA inspectors of horse meat for human consumption; and WHEREAS, various Members of Congress have sponsored legislation into the House of Representatives (H.R. 1094) and the Senate (S.541) entitled the Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2013, to restrict or prohibit the sale or transport of equines and equine parts raised in the United State in interstate or foreign commerce for human consumption; and NCAI 2013 Mid-Year Session Resolution 000-13-### Page 2 of 3 WHEREAS, the Economic Development/Natural Resources committee agrees the horse market represents the only economically viable means of reducing the size of feral herds damaging reservation environments and would further assist reservation horse producers who need to sustain their livestock operations, in the productive utilization of tribal and allotted lands; and WHEREAS, there are ample safeguards utilized by the USDA to ensure no drug residue makes it way into horsemeat exported as well as the fact that horsemeat has been successfully tested by overseas countries and importers for many years and consumed safely and without incident by millions of residents in the countries of some of our country’s largest and closest trading partners; and WHEREAS, The National Tribal Horse Coalition (NTHC) is a sub-committee of Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) and requests that the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs provide a funding source for horse management practices on trust lands. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NCAI opposes any legislation restricting horse slaughter for human consumption or legislation that removes funding of USDA inspectors of horse meat for human consumption; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI opposes any legislation to restrict or prohibit the sale or transport of equines and equine parts raised in the United in interstate of foreign commerce for human consumption; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI supports authorizing Tribes to establish horse slaughter facilities within their jurisdiction; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI supports a request for development of a BIA line item specific for management of overpopulation of horses from the Department of Interior; and BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI calls on the Department of Interior/Federal Government to support the Tribes’ position opposing legislation that bans the slaughter of horses for human consumption. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution. NCAI 2013 Mid-Year Session Resolution 000-13-### Page 3 of 3 CERTIFICATION The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2013 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held in Reno, Nevada on June 24-27, 2013, with a quorum present. President ATTEST: Recording Secretary
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 16:08:06 +0000