Professor Richotte at Turtle Mountain Community College Seminar

TMCC hosts seminar for Tribal Officials

By Dave DeCoteau Jr., Turtle Mountain Times
March 2, 2009

BELCOURT - The Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) Legal Studies Program held a seminar last Monday and Tuesday for recently elected Tribal officials as well as other Tribal Government officials. The main focus of the seminar was to strengthen the Turtle Mountain Tribal government systems and provide training on the Tribal Constitution and Tribal Codes, including the Tribal Code of Ethics. 

Some of the different tribal programs that attended the two-day seminar included Turtle Mountain Tribal Chairman Richard Marcellais and some other members of the Tribal Council. The Tribal Court staff that included the tribal judges and clerks, as well as the entire Judicial Board was also present. Other tribal programs that were in attendance included the Tribal Probation Office, the Tribal Prosecutor and the Public Defenders Office.   Local attorney Bernice Delorme was in attendance and made reference regarding the matter on the second day of the seminar. 

TMCC Legal Studies Program director Terri Martin-Parisien was impressed with the turnout of the seminar, but stated that there is always more training available for local government officials. 

"We had about forty people each day, so it was a good turn out," said Martin-Parisien. "This was basically an orientation for the new Judicial Board on learning more about tribal codes and the Tribal Constitution, as well as sharpen the skills of the already elected officials. This was a real good training and everybody seemed to respond well, but we still need more training. 

Keith Richotte, a University of North Dakota (UND) Associate Law Professor and newly appointed Appellate Court Justice for the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court, made a presentation during the first day of the seminar. Richotte covered the history of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Constitution and various treaties and codes of the Turtle Mountain Tribe. Martin-Parisien stated that
Richotte brought an important insight to the group. 

Day two of the seminar featured Tony Davis and Renee Allick of the Turtle Mountain Tribe, introducing and speaking about 638 Government Contracts. Tribal 638 Contracts are agreements between a tribe and the United State Government for the tribe to assume responsibilities for programs, functions, services, or activities that would otherwise be carried out by the federal government. 

Bernice Delorme presented the group on the Turtle Mountain Tribal Code of Ethics, which later went to panel discussion by prior councilmen on what they have learned and the biggest lessons learned during their time as tribal officials.  Turtle Mountain Tribal Drug and Alcohol Director Sean LaFountain addressed the group to close out the seminar. 

District 3 Tribal Council representative Vince McCloud, along with District 3 Judicial Board member Ed Falcon were among the many tribally elected officials that attended the seminar. 

"Learning the history of the Tribal Constitution was really beneficial," said McCloud. "I certainly thought that the seminar could have been longer. There is still much more we need to know as tribal government officials. Since I've been in office, I visit the TMCC website almost weekly for legal sources, as far as different tribal codes. Terri (Martin- Parisien) has the legal studies part of the TMCC web page ill up to date. 'Anything I look for, it's all there.  It would be nice to see TMCC eventually offer a person a chance to pursue a Political Science Degree." 

"This seminar gave us, as judicial board members, more clarity of where we stand as a board," said Falcon. "They gave us a good
understanding as far as where we stand between the judicial board and tribal council when it comes to the tribal government aspect.  "Keith (Richotte) gave us a good example of each (judicial and tribal council), saying that there is this set of twins - one is a mechanic and the other is a body man, if the mechanic starts doing the body man's work, or if the body man starts doing the mechanics work, things will most likely" get messed up. If the body man and mechanic just focus on the work that they know best, you're going to come out with a beautiful car. I thought that was a good analogy of how each the Judicial Board and the Tribal Council should work together in moving forward." 

The TMCC Legal Studies Program is an Indian Law Education Program developed to strengthen legal justice curricula at the tribal college level as well as increase the number of tribal members' knowledge about Indian law. In 2008, the Legal Studies Program, formerly Project Peacemaker, continues as a congressional earmark to TMCC.

Project Peacemaker began in 2000 with the intent to increase the number of tribal members' knowledge about Indian Law. This was possible through both academic and community forums. 

Through TMCC, an Associate of Applied Science in Tribal Advocacy/Paralegal was designed for students interested in becoming a certified Tribal advocates or paralegals. A nine-month certificate in legal studies was also designed and implemented.  At the community level, Project Peacemaker was instrumental in bringing tribal members together for the monumental task of the Turtle Mountain Constitutional Revision. Project Peacemaker has also provided training for the judicial branch (tribal court and judicial board) as well as newly elected tribal members in tribal government. In addition to training, Project Peacemaker has been active in consulting with tribal members to provide up to date tribal documents such as the Turtle Mountain Tribal Code and Tribal Court Manuals. 

In recent times, program analysis revealed the growth of depth of Project Peacemaker and has opened the door to the development of new goals. This leads the program to where it stands today with the transition to the TMCC Legal Studies Program.