Ever since a 1969 clerical error, the Samish Nation - native people of the San Juan Islands and western Skagit County - has struggled to regain its status as a federally recognized tribe. Though their status was restored in 1996, the Samish are suing the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 27 years of refusal to recognize them and grant benefits to which they were entitled under U.S. law. These benefits, including health care, educational funding and housing assistance, were desperately needed but denied due to the error concerning their status. “Every program that went as a matter of course to other tribes, our people were deemed ineligible,” said Ken Hansen, chairman of the tribe. “The government had no right to do what it did to us.” The tribe also seeks to regain their rights to hunting and fishing through another lawsuit.
