The proposed sacred site legislation, within the Grand Canyon, may appear on an agenda of the Navajo Nation Council’s Special Session soon.
Naa’bik’iyati’, the council’s standing committee, on Thursday approved and forwarded the Tooh Ahidilini Sacrd Site Legislation to the full Navajo Nation Council for consideration at the special session, said Larry Foster, advisor to Save the Confluence, an activist group, The group had previously planned to place the legislation before the council’s summer session in July, but the budget and primary elections were priority for the Nation’s lawmakers.
While the special session has not been scheduled, Foster he believes the meeting could happen later this month or second week of September.
“This is a monumental occasion and designation of our spirituality to the Confluence,” Foster said.
Once the council gives its approval, Navajo President Buu Nygren greenlights or rejects the legislation.
That Confluence abuts Grand Canyon National Park, on the western Navajo Nation. Navajos know the area as Tooahidiliih, the place where the Little Colorado River meets the Colorado River meet the Little Colorado River Gorge and nearby related cultural, religious and spiritual sites on the Navajo Nation East Rim. The area is within the Bodaway/Gap Chapter in Western Navajo.