MISSION, OR – The Board of Trustees of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) formally condemned Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation for the invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing genocide of the Ukrainian people that this vicious and unprovoked attacked is causing. The CTUIR supports the sovereign authority of the government of Ukraine and the protection of human and civil rights of the Ukrainian people.
Today, millions of Ukrainians are bring forcibly removed, killed, or are fleeing their homelands. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse experienced similar assaults on our people, our land and our sovereign rights in the 1850’s. Our homelands were invaded and many of our people killed during that time. The CTUIR ultimately ceded 6.4 million acres of our lands and resources to the United States in the Treaty of 1855, and some of these lands were illegally entered by non-Indian settlers prior to the ratification of the Treaty by the United States Congress in 1859. The Umatilla Indian Reservation was further reduced by faulty surveying.
For these reasons the Board of Trustees felt strongly that it must express support for the incredibly courageous efforts of the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian people to stand their ground in defense of their homeland. This blatant violation of their sovereignty is something that resonates with the CTUIR and likely many Indian tribes across the United States.
Kathryn “Kat” Brigham, Chair of the Board of Trustees, stated “The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation stands with Ukraine and their freedom as a democratic nation.”
The CTUIR will donate $5,000 to Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is stepping up its medical humanitarian response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in neighboring countries, where more than 2.5 million refugees have fled.
