The National American Indian Court Judge’s Association will hold its 39th Annual Meeting and Tribal Judicial Conference. The conference will be held at the Oneida Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Green Bay, WI. Our conference is the only conference of its kind dedicated to enhancing tribal courts and judges.

This year's NAICJA conference will be special as our traditional systems of justice will be featured. This year the conference theme is “Strengthening Tribal Justice Systems by Making Peace”. Many tribal courts have adopted the style and form of mainstream courts but retained their unique tribal law and traditions based on each tribe's unique culture. This year’s conference is being held in conjunction with the 2d Annual Peacemaking Conference. Indigenous justice, restorative justice and traditional peacemaking will be our thematic cores as we search for pathways to bridge modern and traditional justice systems. National and prominent experts will be presenting on these core themes as well as technical assistance providers that will present models of establishing or re-establishing pathways to traditional justice principles including methodologies and models of indigenous justice systems.

In conjunction with the Annual Conference, NAICJA will also be hosting sessions for tribal court clerks as well (Click here to view the agenda). Tribal court clerks are a vital part of the tribal justice system. It is important for clerks to remain informed of developments in judicial decisions, ethics, and be highly trained and professional. NAICJA welcomes the tribal court clerks to our Annual Conference for the third year in a row. We strongly encourage our member tribal judges to bring along their court clerks.

The NAICJA conference will also be hosting a vendor exposition to allow NAICJA members the opportunity to learn about the latest in court technology and spend time meeting with vendors to explore possible courtroom solutions. Our Resource Center is sponsoring this part of the conference and it has become very popular with our attendees.

NAICJA chose Green Bay as this year’s conference site for your enjoyment and pleasure. The Oneida nation is a strong supporter of NAICJA and a tremendous and gracious host for our conference. The hotel and entertain accommodations are top rated and when combined with the hospitality of the Oneida Nation, makes for an unbeatable combination. As such our hosts have planned an exciting and full entertainment each night that you do not want to miss.

There are many organizations helping us this year and we want to acknowledge and thank them. North Dakota Tribal Justice Institute, Fox Valley Technical College, Native American Rights Fund, National Tribal Justice Resource Center, National Tribal Judicial College, and our host Tribe the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. We hope to see you all there.

The 2nd annual gathering of peacemakers is dedicated to demonstrating peacemaking strategies that will strengthen tribal justice. It is an information-sharing forum for Peacemakers, those who are interested in learning about peacemaking, and those who want to be Peacemakers. This event will be of interest to: tribal and non-tribal judges and judicial personnel; law enforcement officers and administrators; prosecutors, attorneys, and advocates. BJA grantees may be eligible to use their grant funds for travel/lodging expenses. Please verify eligibility with your BJA program manager. A limited number of scholarships may be available for travel and lodging to attend both the NAICJA Conference and the Gathering of Peacemakers. Scholarship application forms are available at www.fvtc.edu/peace. For more information you may contact Melissa Johnson at (701) 777-6306 or mjohnson@law.und.edu.