They assist with all our duties and goals of the Salish
- Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee. They are very giving
and dedicated elders. They continue to share their
wisdom, strength and support with us all in our work to
reserve, perpetuate and protect the traditions,
languages and lifeways of our people. The Committee
staff continues to record new interviews with
knowledgeable elders, as this is essential for the
preservation of the language and culture.
The Elders Council gather monthly throughout the year to
share their knowledge. They assist in teaching Salish
Language Classes and Cultural Awareness Classes. They
have received awards and recognition for their dedicated
work in preserving the language and culture of the
Tribes. They are irreplaceable, the backbones of our
traditions and survival of native languages, they are
true treasures.
The traditional elders continue to lead and guide the
committee and all tribal people in the gathering of
traditional foods and medicinal plants. The committee
and Elders Advisory Council assist with the Jump Dances
at the beginning of every year. These are held at the
Longhouse (Longhouse is located in St. Ignatius, Montana
on Blind Barnaby St.). They guide us with our annual
Bitterroot Feast and Ceremony in the spring, where we
give thanks for the bitterroot and other foods and we
pray for good sustenance for our people all year. The
Committee Staff and Elders Advisory Council then begin
the year of gathering our plants for food and medicines
to share and teach the tribal people about. The
committee and elders organize annual trips to the
Medicine Tree in the Bitterroot Valley, and continue to
work to protect the tree form highway expansion, we also
make an annual fall pilgrimage to the Bitterroot Valley
and Stevensville to honor our ancestors and visit the
homeland of the Salish. The Elders Advisory Council are
currently and have been assisting with the Salish-Pend
d'Oreille History Project which will produce a book on
history, place names, Swan Massacre.
Within the Tribal Government, the Committee Staff and
Elders Advisory Council also perform a number of tasks
to ensure the presence of a cultural perspective. The
Committee and elders giver presentations and cultural
orientation workshops to various departments and outside
entities when called upon. Various elders from the
Advisory Council are called upon regularly by various
Tribal Departments and Tribal Council to attend meetings
on things like water rights negotiations, treaty rights
celebrations, timber sales, tobacco conferences, hi-way
expansions, cutting meat, beading, story telling,
preservations of sites to name a few.
The responsibilities have grown considerably since the
establishment of the Culture Committee in 1974-75. We
have began as a small group and grew to as many as 12
employees, presently we have seven full time and one
contract employee. We consider the Committee and Elders
Advisory Council as a resource to all, tribal and non.
The Culture Committee provides an annual Christmas
dinner to honor all our elders of the Confederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Its just a small thank you
for all they do.
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