D. Sean Rowly
Cherokee Phoenix
TAHLEQUAH – A time-honored tradition of Cherokee National Holiday, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. delivered an impassioned State of the Nation address on Aug. 31 that included the administration’s priorities for the coming year.
He also briefly discussed the intention of the Cherokee Nation to continue issuing vehicle tags even if no compact agreement is renewed between the tribe and the state of Oklahoma.
“Our tag compact agreement shares real time tag data with the state,” Hoskin said. “Everyone is safe and accountable during a traffic stop. It is the agreement that allows us to provide car tags to our at-large brothers and sisters across the state of Oklahoma. At the end of the year, we’ll either have a car tag compact or we won’t. But no matter what happens with our compact, come Jan. 1, 2025, we will continue issuing car tags and titles to Cherokee citizens within the reservation.”
Hoskin said the tribe will negotiate a contract with Gov. Kevin Stitt if able, but he stressed the compact must be “fair” and that it “depends on Gov. Stitt” if the Cherokee Nation continues sharing its compact revenue with the state after 2024.
“We are a nation that has in recent years stared down the foes of tribal sovereignty, asserted our treaty rights and built stronger alliances with our friends and neighbors,” Hoskin said.
In his speech, Hoskin said his administration would also introduce a $65 million Sequoyah Schools capital improvement project, an additional $86 million in loan support to help Cherokee-owned small businesses, and a proposal that the Cherokee Nation take over the Claremore Indian Hospital, which is currently operated within the federal Indian Health Service, by the end of 2025.
“We are a Nation committing historic resources to help the education and welfare of our people,” Hoskin said. “This means the generation of Cherokees coming up can be a generation of Cherokees that are healthier, better educated and better positioned to seize the great opportunities of this great Cherokee century than any generation before it. It means that Cherokees in their twilight can live with greater security and greater dignity. For all of us, it means our communities keep improving.”
Hoskin further stated that Sequoyah is “a 21st century campus” because “we don’t ban books and we don’t ban students because of who they see when they look in the mirror.”
Hoskin also discussed an assessment of housing security in the region, which suggests there will be a $1.75 billion gap in housing for the region over the next 10 years.
“It is a crisis that commands our attention,” Hoskin said. “We are not a people who sit back and wait for others to come to the rescue. We are a people meant to lead and we must lead on housing.”
To help meet anticipated housing needs, Hoskin suggested bringing to the Tribal Council a permanent version of the Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act that would allocate $40 million to housing and community structures every three years.
Health care will remain a top priority for his administration, Hoskin said. He pointed to an anticipated two million patient visits in 2024 for CN Health Services.
“Staffing is up, access is up, and quality continues to rise,” he said. “Since 2019 we finished some amazing projects that we inherited, and we have just kept moving forward. We expanded four health centers. We began construction on the Carson Wellness Center in Stilwell, and in 2026 we will break ground on a wellness center to replace Markoma here in Tahlequah. The construction of our $450-million hospital in Tahlequah, which will double our in-patient capacity, is right on track. The $85 million Salina Health Center, which will triple our capacity and includes a wellness center, is on track.”
To watch Hoskin’s full state of the nation address, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVmGyyLY7iE.
This article was first published by the Cherokee Phoenix
