December 09, 2014 –
WASHINGTON, D.C. Last week the White House hosted the White House Tribal Nations Conference. Tribal Chairperson Liana Onnen was among the leaders from the 566 federally-recognized Native nations who engaged with the President, Cabinet Officials, and the White House Council on Native American Affairs on key issues facing tribes including, respecting tribal sovereignty and upholding treaty and trust responsibilities, lack of access to capital and credit, and protecting Native women and youth.
Last Wednesday morning, December 3, Vice President Biden delivered opening remarks to the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC and tribal leaders were given the opportunity to interact with the White House Council on Native American Affairs. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairperson Liana Onnen was one of the leaders that asked a question to the Council and a video of the conference is below. Onnen appears in the video near the 2.03.02 mark into the tape:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?323039-1/white-house-tribal-nations-conference
Washington dignitaries in the video included Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.
In its sixth year, the conference has been designed upon the President’s commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with Indian Country and to improve the lives of Native Americans.