“We have a saying, there’s a reason that the creator kept us here this long. What’s that reason? And in some of the old people’s mind is to help this world, to help save the environment, to help educate the public on what a good steward of the land and nature is. That’s why we’re still here. Everything else is kind of side fights, right?”
“We’ve outlasted everything else, right? We’ve outlasted termination policy. We’ve outlasted all of the negative things that’s faced our people. We’ll outlast this.”
“I’m like the Indian Forrest Gump. If you name it, I was there.”
Mel Tonasket, former chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, reflected on 55 years in Indian Country, tracing his path from Lucy Covington’s protégé to a national voice on tribal sovereignty. Tonasket recalled the narrow fight to stop termination at Colville and the decades of work that followed to rebuild tribal power, shape state-tribal relations, and expand Native political influence in Washington. He said the stakes were clear from the start: “We’re a tribe. not a corporation.” Looking ahead, Tonasket said future leaders must know the struggles behind today’s gains. “There was a time when politicians wouldn’t talk to us,” he said.