Meet Jair; your candidate for Turtle Mountain Chair
–M.A. in Human Rights – Catholic University of America
-Delegate to the 42nd United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business Forum
-Delegate to the Intersessional Meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council
-Delegate to the 17th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council / Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Boozhoo Aniin, my name is Jair Peltier, of the Bear Clan. I was born in Belcourt, Turtle Mountain in 1997 to Geraldine and Patrick Peltier. As a kid, my family always called me Jair “Bear” or Jair “the Bear,” many of my friends and relatives still call me this today.
My family has a long history of service to the community. On my mom’s side, my great-grandmother Elise Marion-LaFromboise, served our tribe as a social worker before social work was a formalized field of study or profession. My grandma Geraldine LaFromboise and my papa Jack Marcavage were both veterans of the U.S. army, working as a secretary and chemist respectively. My great-uncle Jiggers LaFromboise served as tribal chairman for five non-consecutive terms, bringing various advancements to Turtle Mountain including the Belcourt hospital, Sky Dancer Casino, and Uniband. My mother today serves as the assistant principal at Dunseith Indian Day School.
On my dad’s side my grandpa Joe Peltier served on the tribal council for several terms, advancing constitutional reform and the preservation of our civil rights and civil liberties. My grandma Delores served as a school cook in Dunseith, making sure our tribal children were well fed everyday. My uncle Gaillord Peltier has served as a superintendent of schools as well as a tribal council member, advocating for transparency and stable administration. My father today is a retired masonry contractor and veteran of the U.S. Navy.
And of course, I have various aunties and uncles, on both sides, who have served our community as nurses, tribal administrators, teachers, law enforcement, firefighters, military members, as well as parents and mentors. This is the context in which I was raised, that service to our people is the most important duty we have as Turtle Mountain Chippewa. This is the most fundamental inspiration I have carried with me throughout my life. We are all the prayers of our ancestors made flesh and I walk in their footsteps, in the path of service that they have made before me.
I spent the first few years of my life in Henryville, north of Dunseith before moving to Burnsville, Minnesota where I spent most of my childhood, regularly returning to the Turtle Mountain area for holidays and breaks from school. In middle school, during the financial crisis of 2008, my family moved to Bottineau, where I would attend Bottineau junior/senior high school until my graduation in 2015.
My undergraduate career started at the Catholic University of America, where I studied history and anthropology. I transferred to Turtle Mountain Community College in my second year to finish up my general education requirements. I completed my undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota, Morris; the only liberal arts university in the U of M system, an American Indian serving non-tribal institution. I received my Bachelor of Arts in political science, history, and anthropology in 2019.
While at TMCC, I took a course in Les LaFountain’s Turtle Mountain history class. I, like many other students who continue to take this course, had my eyes opened to the rich history of our people, our tribal nation and our traditional teachings. Upon learning about concepts such as Indigenous Sovereignty and our Tribal Constitution, I saw my path open up before me. I knew from that day that I wanted to use my education to serve our people, solve our historical issues, and rebuild our tribe. To this day I continue to give back to Turtle Mountain Community College as an adjunct professor in American government and politics since 2020.
In 2019, I began my doctoral education in political science and international relations at the University of Southern California. I received formal training in American politics, international political economy, and comparative politics but my individual research predominantly involves Indigenous sovereignty and tribal constitutional development. I attended USC for four years, serving as a teaching assistant and the graduate cultural ambassador for the Native American and Pasifika student lounge on campus. While I was unable to complete my degree due to administrative hostilities towards Indigenous research topics, I cherish my time there as a profound learning experience in western academia. To supplement my doctoral studies, I received a Master of Arts in Human Rights from the Catholic University of America’s Institute for Human Ecology. I hope to use my skills developed here to advance the rights of our people in the broader international sphere.
As a student, I have been recognized as a McNair Scholar, Cobell Scholar, and APSA Diversity Fellow. As a researcher, I have presented academic papers in various fora including the International Political Science Association world congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the American Political Science Association annual conference in Los Angeles, and the American Indian College Fund faculty convening in Denver. I have also attended conferences at the World Trade Organization and United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland as well as the Digital Cooperation Organization in Brussels, Belgium, to represent Indigenous perspectives on trade and global partnership.
All of my lived experiences have contributed to my desire to serve Turtle Mountain. I truly believe our people are capable and ready to reach their full potential. I believe I can bring the reforms necessary to straighten out our tribal government, increase meaningful investment opportunities, and build a better home community for all our relatives. With my academic training and advocacy experience, I believe that I am uniquely equipped to address the challenging circumstances facing our tribal nation. For the last 10 years, lack of honest leadership has left our people wanting for change. Covid-19 highlighted many of the gaps in our service infrastructure as well as a disturbing lack of transparency or accountability. The current tribal council stands accused of mismanaging $30,000,000 in covid relief funds. Therefore, I am running for Chairman to clean house and provide for our people to restore decent governance and competent leadership. We are fighting against corruption like we’ve never seen before and your support is greatly appreciated. If you believe in this mission, tell your friends, vote for Jair “the Bear” for Chair