This year’s Shawnee Tribe Annual General Council Meeting and Business Council Election took place at the Ottawa Powwow Grounds on Saturday, September 18, 2021. The agenda included: a welcome from Chief Ben Barnes, a Declaration of Quorum, Invocation, Introduction of Business Council, Introduction of Tribal Staff and Special Acknowledgements, a State of the Nation Address by Chief Ben Barnes, a Presentation of minutes of the 2020 Annual Meeting, Financial Overview report, Shawnee Development, LLC report, Shawnee Cultural and Historical Sites Committee report, Shawnee Tribe Language Program report and Open Discussion for General Council.
The voting polls were open from 8:00 am to 11:00 am. Business Council Election results were announced at General Council, have been posted on the Shawnee governmental building since the election and was announced to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The COVID-19 procedures set in place included, temperature checks of all attendees, family tents to enable households to sit together, masks, physically distanced seating, hand-washing stations and bottled beverages were provided. The Shawnee Tribe 2022 Annual General Council Meeting is set for Saturday, September 16, 2022. A special thank you goes out to Roberta for her dedicated years of service to Shawnee Tribe Business Council.
The 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will be harvested from Monongahela National Forest, which is part of the Shawnee ancestral homeland. The tribe’s THPO is teaming up with National Forest staff to ensure the Capitol Tree includes representation of the Shawnee Tribe. On Friday, September 15 at our General Council dinner & stomp festivities in […]
Early voting by absentee ballot (vote-by-mail) is offered in 2023. All voted ballots must be received by the Election Committee by 5:00 PM (Central) on the Thursday before the election, September 14. Voters may return their ballots by mail or deliver the ballot in person to the Election Committee. Any citizen participating in early or […]
CHIEF BEN BARNES As the celebration of Independence Day fades into the background, this is the time of year that the Business Council begins to look toward the next fiscal year and plan programming for Shawnee families. We generally have two sorts of programs: those that come from federal funding sources and those that are […]
In February of 2023, the Shawnee Tribe Business Council approved a revision to Title 6, The Shawnee Tribe Elections Act. This amendment of…
MORRIS BLUEJACKET HOMETOWN: BLUEJACKET, OK CURRENT CITY: BLUEJACKET, OK OCCUPATION: RETIRED Born in Vinita raised in BlueJacket. Graduate of BlueJacket High School. I am married to Pattie (McLain) BlueJacket for 46 years. We have One son Tab & wife Tiffany, 5 Grandchildren. I have worked in state & county government for the past 34 years, […]
HEIDI BIGKNIFE RANKIN HOMETOWN: DENVER, CO CURRENT CITY: TULSA, OK OCCUPATION: ARTIST Hatito or hello friends and fellow citizens, I am Heidi BigKnife. My Shawnee roots stretch from Vinita, Oklahoma to our tribal lands in Kansas and Ohio. I am an artist and live and work in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most of my art practice is […]
BEN BARNES (Incumbent) HOMETOWN: MIAMI, OK CURRENT CITY: MIAMI, OK OCCUPATION: CHIEF OF THE SHAWNEE TRIBE For over 25 years, I have served in leadership roles in Indian Country, professionally at director-level positions in Tribal Gaming. Since 2008, it has been a true honor and privilege to work for my own community, working to bring […]
Shawnee Tribe Behavioral and Mental Health invites you to join an upcoming trauma support group centered around the book The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk.