wa123

Lawmaker wants Indian practices regulated Capitol Media Services January 19, 2010 - 5:57PM State Sen. Albert Hale, D-Window Rock, speaks after a news conference at which he proposed regulating so-called Native American ceremonies held off reservations. Hale said fatalities at a sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona last year illustrate the need to certify that such ceremonies are safe. Ryan Van Velzer, Cronkite News Service An American Indian lawmaker wants to regulate who can engage in traditional practices off the reservation for profit. The measure crafted by Sen. Albert Hale, D-Window Rock, would require the Arizona Department of Health Services to regulate individuals or businesses that charge people to participate in what are claimed to be traditional and authentic Native American practices. Violators would be subject to yet-to-be-determined civil penalties. Hale said the measure is a direct outgrowth of the incident last October in Sedona when three people died after participating in what was billed by its promoter as a traditional sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid up to $10,000 for the experience. The senator said SB 1164, if it becomes law, would preclude that. He called what happened in Sedona a perversion of our traditional ways. But Hale said the proposal would go farther, regulating what anyone could call a Native American practice, at least for pay. The dominant society has taken all that we have: our land, our water, our language, said Hale, a member of the Navajo Nation. Now they're trying to take our way of life. And I think it has to stop at some point. That also was the sentiment of Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo Nation. For too long, I believe, our ways of life, our ceremonies, even our sacred stories, our culture has been abused, misused, misunderstood, Shirley said. We need to be respected. Our ways cannot be abused. Hale's legislation directs the health department to craft rules in consultation with the Arizona Commission on Affairs on what outsiders - people who are not members of a tribe - can do or claim about their commercial practices. How broad those restrictions would be remains unclear. For example, Hale sidestepped questions of whether someone who is not an Indian could conduct a sweat for money, as long as there was no claim that it was being done exactly in line with traditional Indian practices. Those nuances will have to be worked out in the regulations, Hale said. But he said the measure is designed to deal with how an event is advertised to the public rather than how it actually is conducted. He was less clear, though, whether individuals could be charged with breaking state law for conducting their interpretation of American Indian ceremonies. That's a possibility, he said. Any time you develop state laws there has to be enforcement. He said what he wants is no different than saying only someone who is trained as a Catholic priest can conduct Mass. Hale said he envisions the rules to say that certain ceremonies can be conducted off the reservation only if the person has been cleared by the proper Indian religious leaders to be knowledgeable and certified in that area. And if you're not, then you run that contrary to law, he said. Hale's measure, though, would not restrict what American Indians can do, not only on reservation property but also off Indian lands. It would apply only to those who are not American Indian, a test Hale said exists under federal regulations of being at least one-quarter Indian. Hale, who is an attorney, acknowledged that the legislation could be seen as an effort to copyright American Indian practices, with the state as the ultimate enforcer. He said, though, that will all be sorted out as the measure goes through the process. One open question is whether new laws are needed - at least if the aim is simply to regulate how commercial events can be advertised. Assistant Attorney General Robert Zumoff said existing consumer fraud laws make it unlawful to make false and deceptive statement in connection with the sale or advertising of most goods or services. Zumoff said he could not comment on specific situations like the advertising for that Sedona sweat lodge event. But he said the fact of charging for an event - as opposed to something done for free - likely makes it subject to consumer fraud laws. For that reason, he said the example of someone pretending to be a Catholic priest probably would not be illegal, even if someone were to pass the plate during the ceremony for donations.