The two-day conference brings together tribal leaders and elders, state agency leaders and staff, statewide elected officials, local leaders, federal officials and legislators and is hosted by the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission office, led by Executive Director Brad Hawk. Gov. Doug Burgum and First Lady Kathryn Burgum are expected to deliver remarks June 25 starting at around 9:15 a.m.

Topics for this year’s conference will include tribal tourism, food sovereignty, autonomy and AI, workforce, tribal health, cybersecurity, behavioral health, law enforcement, missing and murdered indigenous persons, and youth leadership.

Tribal leaders also will give updates from the five tribal nations with whom North Dakota shares geography: the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Spirit Lake Nation and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. 

The conference is free and open to the public. To register, visit the Indian Affairs Commission website.