P
or wish to acquire.” Instead, its authors state that
Indian communities need more control over gov-
ernment trust funds and revenues from land leases
and mineral rights. Well received by most Cana-
dian Indian leaders, the Hawthorne Report also
introduces the concept of a “citizens plus” status
for Indians, explaining that “in addition to the nor-
mal rights and duties of citizenship, Indians possess
certain additional rights as charter members of the
Canadian community.”
1967The Omnibus Bill is defeated in the wake of
Indian opposition.
The Indian Resources Development Act, popularly
known as the Omnibus Bill, fails to pass Congress
after pan-Indian groups speak out against it. The
proposed law would have given the federal gov-
ernment more control over transactions involving
Indian land and resources. In addition to their
opposition to the bill’s provisions, Indian activists
were also infuriated by their treatment by the fed-
eral government while the bill was being drafted.
Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert Bennett
(see entry for APRIL 27, 1966) and several other of-
ficials were sent to Indian communities throughout
the nation, supposedly to discuss with Indian lead-
ers what they would like to see in the legislation.
The Indians soon discovered, to their ire, that the
bill had already been written and that the officials’
“consultations” with them were merely a ruse to
help win Indian support for the bill.
The American Indian Law Center is
established.
Located at the University of New Mexico Law
School, the American Indian Law Center is created
to sponsor courses in Native American law and pro-
vide tribal governments with legal assistance. In the
years to come, one of the center’s most successful
programs will be the Pre-Law Summer Institute,
which encourages and helps prepare Indian stu-
dents to attend law school.
Inuit artist Kenojuak is awarded the Order
of Canada.
In the late 1950s, the Inuit of the Canadian settle-
ment of Cape Dorset began making prints for sale to
non-Indians (see entry for SPRING 1959). Among the
most accomplished of the Cape Dorset printmakers
is Kenojuak, who, in recognition of her contribu-
tions to art, becomes the first Native to receive the
Order of Canada, the highest honor given to civil-
ians by the Canadian government. The government
will later honor Kenojuak by reproducing two of her
most famous works—The Enchanted Owl (1960)
and Return of the Sun (1961)—on postage stamps.“I may start off at one end of
a form not even knowing what
the entirety of the form is going
to be; just drawing as I am think-
ing, thinking as I am drawing....
And rather what I do is I try to
make things which satisfy my eye,
which satisfy my sense of form
and colour. It’s more an inter-
play of form and colour which
I enjoy performing and I do it
until it satisfies my eye and then I
am on to something else.”
—Inuit printmaker Kenojuak in
1980 on her working methodsThe Seminole elect the first female
tribal chief.
After serving several years on the Seminole Tribal
Council, Betty Mae Jumper is elected tribal chief of
the Seminole. She is the first woman to hold such a
high position in any modern tribal government. As
chief, Jumper will focus her energy on improving
the Seminole’s economy, health care, educational
opportunities, and housing. She is also one of the
founders of the United South and Eastern Tribes,