by Paul W. Taylor, Washington State Standard
April 20, 2026
Mel Tonasket says the modern history of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is defined by a single turning point: the decision to reject federal termination, and the decades of work that followed to rebuild tribal sovereignty and influence.
In a wide-ranging interview with Austin Jenkins on TVW’s “Inside Olympia,” the former Colville chairman traced his path from a young activist to a national tribal leader, crediting mentor Lucy Covington — the tribe’s first woman chair — for setting him on that course. After observing inequities while working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tonasket began questioning local institutions, which caught Covington’s attention.
“She almost single-handedly saved our tribe,” he said. “I’m just lucky enough that I got to hang on to her apron strings and follow her and take her orders.”
That mentorship quickly put him at the center of a defining moment. On his first day on the tribal council in 1970, Tonasket made a motion to remove a BIA superintendent sent to strip the tribe of federal recognition and its sovereign status or, in the language of the day, terminate it. A second motion opposed termination outright, setting the stage for a narrow and strategic fight to preserve tribal status.
“We’re a tribe. Not a corporation,” he said.
Tonasket said rejecting termination was only the beginning. Leaders had to reopen access to housing, education and other federal programs, while also learning how to navigate state government. Covington sent him to Olympia to learn how state government worked, and he began building relationships that would later shape state-tribal policy.
The Centennial Accord, adopted in 1989, formalized a government-to-government relationship between Washington state and its federally recognized tribes, creating a framework for consultation, cooperation and recognition of tribal sovereignty.
The accord started as a “what if” conversation among tribal leaders, an effort to keep disagreements from overwhelming cooperation between tribes and the state, Tonasket said. “We spent like three hours just daydreaming about what if,” before the group memorialized the idea on an early personal computer, he said.
The next step happened almost immediately in the governor’s office. “We brought it over to Booth Gardner’s office and gave it to his chief of staff the next morning and said, here, here’s an idea on how we can work together.”
His work soon extended nationally. Despite his relative youth, Tonasket was elected president of the National Congress of American Indians during a period of intense debate over sovereignty. On a national TV appearance in 1977, he defined that concept in fundamental terms: “We had leaders. We controlled the actions of our people and our resources.”
Over time, he said, those efforts helped transform relationships with the state to a nation-to-nation footing. “There was a time when politicians wouldn’t talk to us,” he said. “And today they’re coming and knocking on our doors.”
But Tonasket warned that those gains could be misunderstood or taken for granted by younger leaders who did not experience those struggles firsthand.
“They better study their history because they’ve got handed what we got today, but they never had to fight the fight to get to it,” he said. “Understand the legal and the legislative history of how we got here because there’s strength in that understanding.”
From land claims and fishing and hunting rights to disputes over taxation and jurisdiction, Tonasket said future leaders risk losing sight of the legal foundations of sovereignty without that grounding.
Reflecting on his own career, Tonasket said simply: “I’m like the Indian Forrest Gump. If you name it, I was there.”
This article was first published by TVW, a media nonprofit that provides comprehensive coverage of state government. TVW broadcasts unedited gavel-to-gavel coverage on statewide cable and at tvw.org, and produces original current affairs and education shows, including “Inside Olympia” and “The Impact”. TVW’s mission is to give Washingtonians access to their state government, increase civic access and engagement, and foster an informed citizenry.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: [email protected].