Spokane people

The morning activities include a blessing, time to recognize the veterans in the native community, and speeches about what it means to be native.

The Spokane Tribe and our indigenous people have lived here for tens of thousands of years.

We've lived on this location for more than 14 or 15,000 years.

That's Margo Hill Ferguson.

I didn't have the opportunity to engage in my culture, and that was due to some of the hardships my parents had experienced.

He says this is why all of his children go to the Salish school and are near fluent in the language.

Devonnica Brown Eagle is a member of the Spokane Tribe and one of the MCs for the day.

It shows, like, how strong our Indian community is in the Spokane area, and, uh, how we can all come together and celebrate together.

Mm-hmm.

So those tribes, the Colville Tribe, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the Spokane Tribe, and their organization, the Upper Columbia United Tribes have worked for a long, long time to try and right, candidly, what is a historic wrong, the fact that they lost access to sustenance through fish, the cultural significance of salmon.

And for years, they have been working to get a commitment on how to solve that problem.

And in 2023, just before I took on this job, the Bonneville Power Administration committed $200 million, $200 million from ratepayers to study solutions on what is known as the Phase 2 Implementation Plan.