My name is Lloyd David Irvine
I am Treasurer of the Tribal Council. I have been on the Tribal Council for 17 Years.
I ran for Tribal Council because of the kids. [A summer camp] would take 20 kids from each Tribe in Montana. They would pick fake names and give them money to start a Reservation like the government did to the Indians. [One] was a consultant for one of the Tribes [and was] surprised that a Tribe could be made from scratch. At the end of seven days, they had to pay back the government what they had received to make their reservation in this intertribal youth practice.
I grew up on the entire Reservation but mostly in Elmo, and I graduated from high school in Arlee. Before I was on Tribal Council, I used to work for the Tribes every summer. I worked for forestry through high school. After high school, I went into the military for four years then onto Northern Montana College; I got a teaching degree in Industrial Arts.
My Tribal affiliation is half and half. My mom was Kootenai and my dad was Salish.
Changes I have made for the Tribes: number one is land acquisition. Before I was on Council, I put Two Eagle River School in place with the first superintendent Jerry Slater. We started the cultural committee in 1973. I have supported everything involved with economic development and negotiating [with] the gaming team. You can’t prioritize work on the local, state and city level. You can’t forget the local people because if you forget them, you’re out. When you go to DC, you’ve got to impact local life, or they will vote someone else in.
In my spare time I bowl, golf, hunt, fish, and ride horses. I like to eat and I like little kids.
One of my fondest memories was meeting the president of the United Stated and getting invited to his inauguration. I met Billy Mills and Notah Begay and lots of other Tribal Council people from all over the nation.
I am not really from a political party, I am an independent person. My family status: I’m with Kathy, have five grandchildren, one kid and two step-kids.
I respected Tom P. and Mickey Pablo. I knew his dad, and everybody who was older then me knew he and Tom. They were the real troop, leaders because they filled the traditions for today.
For advice, I got my elders; if I’m looking for anything culturally relevant, the elders. In interdepartmental business, I go to the department heads and legal staff.
There are good ways to preserve this Reservation. In the future, maybe in 50 years we’re going to own everything.
Important issues facing us are water rights; we have to take our water rights, and we have to quantify these water rights; we own all the water sublevel and surface level and our natural resources, air quality, water quality. Culture is really important; that’s why we have culture committees because the culture was very important and still is.
I think all the Northwest Tribes are our allies; they work together pretty good. We work together on the issues like in Kalispell; they all have issues but we work together.
The biggest issues for me as a Tribal Council member? At the local level: the enrollment issue that non-Tribal members brought up. At the staff level it’s water rights.
My biggest personal achievements outside of the Council: I could bowl back in the day and receiving my teaching degree because when I was in school, they told me I had no business being there.
Things I would want people to know: for one thing, I’m not as ornery as people think. I’ve actually got a good sense of humor. I am a diabetic and watch my health and want others to. I haven’t drank in 25 years and don’t miss it. Haven’t smoked in almost a year.
My future goal is to retire healthy, and make sure I always have the big picture in hand when I am dealing with the Tribe.
In 20 years, I would like to be remembered as a Council member who was serious about the Council and though I couldn’t satisfy everyone that I was here for the younger people. I hope all cultural things supercede me.
A future leader should know about the Tribe they are from, about this Reservation. They should know what they are getting into. They push for you and have to convince other people. To me, you’ve got to know what type of government there is, if it’s not on track it’s going to be kicked out. Everybody thinks that the Council just sits here twice a week and gets paid; there’s much more to it. There are things that I think are important, but you’ve got to be able to get along with everybody. You don’t have to go and tell people you don’t like them, personality is a big thing.
I have supported Tribal youth and their education. I sit on the Montana Advisory Council for Youth Education. I used to be the Chairman of the subcommittee of Affiliated Tribes and used to be on the Two Eagle River School board for 12 years. I have been involved with legislative Indian Education for everything in education. I’ve been there; that’s my forte on council.
Advice for kids, I am going to say one thing: any trouble you get into, you’re not alone; a lot of kids don’t go to far because they get caught up in a lot, but they are not alone. If you get into these holes and ruts, there’s the sweat lodges you can go into, and if you don’t know anything about this ask someone about it.