The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are being asked to explain whether the Seneca Nation of New York can assert its Indian preference policy off the reservation.

The tribe says its Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance applies to hiring on the reservation and at sites near the reservation. That would appear to include the Hickory Stick Golf Course in Lewiston, which has been under construction since June 2007.

The tribe reportedly told construction firms to hire more Senecas to work at the site. "It didn’t start out that way,” a local labor leader said, The Niagara Gazette reported. "But part way through the job, they told the contractors they had to hire so many Senecas."

The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency agreed to ask the two federal agencies about the issue.

Get the Story:
SENECAS: Golf course issue heads to feds (The Niagara Gazette 8/14)

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Seneca Nation preference policy questioned (8/11)
Seneca Nation breaks ground on $20M golf course (6/17)