SUQUAMISH — Muckleshoot Tribal Councilwoman Virginia Cross received recognition from Gov. Jay Inslee and Tribal leaders from around the state at the Centennial Accord meeting this year. Cross was an original signatory of the 1989 Centennial Accord, which was a formal commitment to implement government-to-government relations between Washington’s Federally Recognized Tribes and the State.

Governor Gary Locke and Christine Gregoire, who was Washington State Attorney General at the time, joined Tribal chairs from throughout the state in 1999, on the eve of the new Millennium, to reaffirm the Accord and agreed to implement the terms of the Accord on a day-to-day basis.

"It is critical for people to realize that the establishment and continued function of the state of Washington is based on contracts, or treaties, with the Native American nations. As we enter the new millennium, we must all understand that these contracts are the law of the land, as defined in the Constitution of the United States," Gregoire said.

The intent of the 1989 Accord continues today in no small part because Tribal leaders such as Cross, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s longest serving Council member, have been unrelenting in holding the state accountable to its promises.