Hatfield Fellow Chrissa Wilkie meets with Tribal Council

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

Writing a memo for House Rep. Andrea Salinas about the efforts by the Chinook Indian Nation to achieve federal recognition is one of the priorities for 2025-26 Hatfield Fellow Chrissa Wilkie (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians).

Wilkie, who had been living in Portland before she was selected for the fellowship, has spent much of the past year in Washington, D.C., working as an aide to Salinas. On Wednesday, April 8, she visited Tribal Council, along with Community Fund Executive Director Angie Sears and Program Coordinator Angela Schlappie.

Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy, Secretary Jon A. George and council members Matthew Haller, Tonya Gleason-Shepek, Kathleen George and Lisa Leno were on hand to meet with Wilkie and talk about her experiences.

The Community Fund is currently accepting applications for the next Hatfield Fellowship. Every year, the Community Fund selects a Native American to serve as the Hatfield Fellow and intern in the Washington, D.C., office of one of Oregon’s Congressional delegates. The Tribe established the Mark O. Hatfield Fellowship in 1998, as a living tribute to Sen. Mark Hatfield. It lasts nine months.

The Chinook Indian Nation has been fighting for federal recognition since 2002. Its efforts are supported by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. Some neighboring Tribes oppose the effort.

“It’s scarcity mindset, I feel like is kind of driving that, which I feel is what the federal government wants, is for Tribes to be against each other and have that scarcity mindset and you know, not support each other,” Wilkie said.

She said she is pointing out that the lack of recognition also means no health care dollars and other federal aid.

It is one of several political issues Wilkie has had the chance to work on. Tribal issues and natural resources are her priorities, she told Tribal Council, but she has also had the opportunity to work on other matters of importance.

Those have included a report on the United States-Mexico trade agreement.

“(That) taught me a lot, because I did not know a lot about it before,” Wilkie said. “But my office has been pretty great about kind of bringing me into the fold and keeping me involved in everything so far. They’ve been including me a lot on meetings with Tribes that come to visit, which has been amazing, and kind of just asking questions about different Tribal issues, which I really appreciated. Recently, they’ve kind of mapped out what the end of my fellowship is going to look like with a few capstone projects, (one of) which is coming up with a bill idea, which is quite a bit but I’m very excited about it. And so, lately I’ve been doing a lot of research on what federal recognition bills look like, because I know that the Chinook Indian Nation has been fighting for recognition for quite some time now, so that’s something I’ve been raising in the office, especially because a lot of my colleagues don’t know much about it. So, I’ve been working on a memo for the congresswoman regarding that issue.”

Wilkie told the council that, “I’ve also been doing a lot of research on prediction markets and online gambling because I know that that is a pretty big issue right now. I know that Tribes have reached out and have been concerned about all of that, so that’s something I’ve kind of been dipping my toe into lately.”

Kathleen George told Wilkie that even if Congress is unlikely to pass legislation to regulate predictions markets, holding hearings on the issue to educate Americans about the problems can be helpful.

The Tribe hopes these experiences will train the next generation of young Tribal members about political activism, as well as raising more awareness of Tribal issues among Oregon’s congressional representatives. Wilkie said she has met several former Hatfield recipients working in various fields related to their fellowship experiences.