Acting head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Aurene Martin attended the National Congress of American Indians’ mid-year conference on Monday in an attempt to mend the tattered relationship between the two bodies. Her attendance at the conference on the Gila River Reservation in Arizona ended the BIA’s unofficial boycott of the NCAI, which had lasted about six months. The NCAI - and many voices from throughout Indian Country – is critical of BIA policy and has voiced concern over the bureau’s latest reorganization. Tribal leaders are somewhat relieved that now the BIA at least acknowledges the existence of the nation’s largest inter-tribal organization.
