The Nooksack Indian Tribe in Whatcom County has asked the United Nations High Commission to issue an immediate retraction after human rights experts earlier this week called on the U.S. to halt the eviction of former citizens from the Tribe.
The Tribe said it was not contacted by two U.N. special rapporteurs, in a news release Friday, Feb. 4, and said they erroneously accepted allegations from a Seattle attorney representing those who were being evicted as fact and released an investigation with misinformation as reasons for its request to stop the eviction.
"All sovereign nations have rules for who is a citizen, and the most common is to be descended from a citizen," the release stated. "You cannot simply move to another country, declare yourself a citizen, and take government housing or health care away from citizens. Whether it is Germany, the United States, or the Nooksack Indian Tribe, it is widely understood that those are benefits governments reserve for its citizens."
On Thursday, Feb. 3, the U.N. called on the United States to halt the eviction of 21 families (63 former citizens), who it said faced eviction from their homes while at various stages of acquiring ownership, with some due to take full ownership this year. The homes were constructed by the Tribe on land owned by the U.S. government with funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development's Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act.
"We appeal to the U.S. Government to respect the right to adequate housing, which is enshrined under article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 21 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to ensure that it abides by its international obligations, including with respect to the rights of indigenous peoples," the experts said.
Friday's response by the Tribe stated that there were only eight people in question, not 63, and disputed that they were not facing sudden eviction from their homes. The Tribe said that the low-income, rental housing in question requires tenants re-certify every year, a process that requires every person on the lease is a Tribal member.
According to the Nooksack Tribe, notices to re-qualify were sent to those who had failed to do so between July and November of 2021. Nine were sent notices of termination in October, though one was able to qualify, according to the release.
"We have 60 Nooksack families on a waiting list for housing, and some are homeless," Nooksack Chairman Ross Cline Sr. said in Friday's release. "Like most governments, we don't have extra housing for non-citizens. We have homeless people, including elders, who need a place to live and we need those who aren't Nooksack to move.
"Under the rules, they don't qualify for housing. We believe that sufficient time has passed for them to make other arrangements. I encourage them to ignore their attorney's ill-advised recommendation to fight eviction and to work to find new housing We cannot wait forever while our people need housing."
The Nooksack Indian Tribe said it welcomed a U.S. Department of Interior investigation, which was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which stated, "Nooksack Indian Housing Authority has followed its procedures and the process for removal of individuals from tribal housing."
The Nooksack release said many of the people in question are enrolled in the Skway First Nation in British Columbia and some are elected leaders there.
"Nooksack wishes them well at Skway. But we cannot grant citizenship, or the benefits of citizenship, to people who aren't descended from Nooksack ancestors. Those are the rules for citizenship in our Tribal constitution and we follow those rules," Friday's release stated.
The team of U.N. experts includes Francisco Cali Tzay, special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, and Balakrishnan Rajagopal, special rapporteur on adequate housing.
Special rapporteurs work on a voluntary basis as part of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council independent from any government or organization. They are not U.N. staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Evictions were due to begin Dec. 28, 2021, but stalled due to severe snow and ice storms in the region. Tribal leaders had announced the evictions would resume in early February.
