Blackfeet Nation continues work to revise constitution
The Blackfeet Nation of Montana hopes to vote this summer on a new tribal constitution.

The 75-year-old constitution was adopted after the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Critics says it lacks checks and balances and places too much power in the tribal council.

Tribal members voted in favor of reform but the actual referendum on a constitution hasn't happened so far. The tribal council extended work on the project and more meetings are being held to help develop a new governing document.

"The more people we can get to participate and feel ownership, the more success we will have," Lona Burns, the spokesperson for the Blackfeet Constitutional Reform Committee, told The Great Falls Tribune.

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Blackfeet members to meet in hopes of writing new constitution (The Great Falls Tribune 1/26)