TVSHKAHOMMA, Okla. (September 1, 2025) –
As I get older, I find myself reflecting on the many blessings the good Lord has given me. One of those blessings is my family, including my wife Angie, our son David and his wife Taylor, our grandson Jeffrey, our granddaughter Kaylyn, and the newest member of the family, our great-granddaughter Mia. I’m also grateful for Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr., his wife Phylisha and their family.
Tribal Council and our leadership teams deserve a huge pat on the back for the work they have done over the past fiscal year. We have accomplished so much on behalf of the Choctaw people and their communities through their efforts. Finally, we have over 13,500 associates who come to work every day knowing they are making a difference in the lives of thousands of tribal members and communities across our reservation. They work tirelessly to make sure the Labor Day Festival is a success every year, and they do a great job. I owe them a huge yakoke!
Every person deserves to have safe and affordable housing. Unfortunately, it can be a challenge to find suitable housing nowadays, especially in our more rural communities.
To help with the housing shortage, the Choctaw Nation opened market rate apartment complexes and continued our LEAP, Affordable Rental, and Independent Elder housing programs. Our goal to build 600 new housing units by the end of FY25 is nearing completion. By the end of June, we had reached 91% of our goal. In addition to building brand new homes, the Housing Authority also completed nearly 1,900 home repairs and funded the installation of over 400 storm shelters.
The health and wellbeing of our tribal members is always a top priority for the Choctaw Nation. By focusing on access and prevention, we’ve raised the bar even more for rural healthcare on the reservation. The Health Services Authority had over 900,000 encounters this year, and that’s just through the end of June! With the opening of our new same-day urgent care facility in Antlers and the one coming soon to Wilburton, we can bring access to healthcare to the people in our rural communities. We have also entered into a partnership with Oklahoma State University’s Physician Assistant Program to provide virtual visits in these locations. With all the wonderful health resources we have in the Choctaw Nation, I really want to highlight the importance of preventative care. Catching a health problem like cancer early on saves lives. Our medical facilities performed over 6,000 screenings and preventative care tests this year. Another way you can keep serious health problems at bay is through our many wellness programs and services. We have Wellness Centers throughout the reservation where you can work with professionals to find the right exercise and nutrition program for you.
In addition to our progress in healthcare, we have also put a lot of effort into supporting tribal members who are working toward certificates and college degrees. Over 8,500 people received benefits from our Career Development program, and our Higher Education program awarded over 7,000 scholarships and grants this year. And let’s not forget our younger students. Our Success Through Academic Recognition Program, or STAR, rewarded over 7,000 students in grades 2 through 12 for their academic excellence. The Student School and Activity fund also helped over 18,000 students from age 3 to 18 with school supplies and clothes this year. The future is bright for the Choctaw Nation, and it is such a blessing to be able to provide these benefits to students as they pursue their educational goals.
And speaking of the future of the Choctaw Nation, I’m so excited about our new Aviation Technology Center that opened in June in Daisy. This facility will support research, development, testing and evaluation of emerging aviation technology, including manned and unmanned systems. We’ve been at the forefront of aviation research for a little while now, and our investment in this growing field will lead to groundbreaking discoveries that will improve the lives of tribal members. For instance, one area of research has been drone-delivered medical supplies, which has the potential to greatly improve healthcare access in our most remote communities.
The Choctaw Cultural Center has had a busy year! In addition to hosting events like the Choctaw-Irish Friendship Festival, Easter Eggstravaganza, and Choctaw Christmas, they also won several prestigious awards for excellence from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association and the Oklahoma Museum Association.
In May, the Cultural Center unveiled a brand new sculpture honoring the Choctaw Code Talkers who served in France in 1918, during WWI. The sculpture was designed by Choctaw artist Jane Semple Umstead and features three bronze Choctaw soldiers and several other cultural elements. I really hope you can all get to the Cultural Center to see this statue and participate in all the family-friendly activities going on.
Preserving and protecting the Choctaw language is another one of our top priorities. Not only is it important from a historical and cultural perspective, but speaking our language is an act of sovereignty. Each year, we lose more and more of our first language speakers, and with them goes the knowledge of our native language and culture. It is critical that we keep our language alive and thriving.Through our Chahta Anumpa Aiikhvna, or the Choctaw School of Language, we have served over 6,000 people this year. Whether it’s through classes, language nests, or our apprenticeship program, people are making a difference every day just by taking an interest.
Most recently, the Language Department received a grant to develop an online phrasebook, which launched in July. The website currently has about 300 commonly used phrases in Choctaw and English, but that number will grow to around 1,000 over the next couple of years. The grant will also be used to fund the development and publication of children’s books written in Choctaw, so even our youngest tribal members can be part of our language revitalization.
As you know, we held a very important election in July, and as a result, we have some new Tribal Council members. I look forward to working with each of them in the coming year. I also want to thank our outgoing District 12 Councilman, James Frazier, for his service to the Tribe. Councilman Frazier has been a wonderful mentor and a true friend to me personally but also to the Choctaw Nation as a whole. I know we all wish him a restful retirement. These elections are so important to the Choctaw Nation’s sovereignty. I love to see our tribal members participating in our government processes. It reaffirms our strength as a nation and ensures that everyone’s voice is heard. I challenge each one of you to exercise your right to vote in tribal elections. It would be wonderful to see more tribal members casting ballots in future elections.
2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the McGirt case. In that time, the Choctaw Nation strengthened its public safety and judicial systems to handle the increase in jurisdictional matters and case load. Our tribal courts saw over 4,200 cases in 2024.
We also have 78 cross-deputization agreements with local and state law enforcement agencies, and we have added more public safety officers across our Lighthorse Police, security, and emergency medical teams.
In August of 2024, we opened the Ahni Center to offer wraparound services to children and adults who are victims of abuse. This is the first tribal family justice center of its kind. If you or someone you know needs help accessing victim services or court preparation, please reach out to the Ahni Center. We also launched a public non-emergency dispatch line this year. Anyone, from tribal members to guests of Choctaw Nation properties, can call this number to have Lighthorse Police dispatched to their location in a non-life-threatening situation.
In addition to renewing compacts with the State of Oklahoma for car tags and tobacco, the Inter-Tribal Council approved a reciprocal agreement that allows members of the Five Civilized Tribes to hunt and fish on each other’s reservations. This is an important exercise in sovereignty for all of our tribal members. It also allows the Five Tribes to help each other with wildlife management and conservation efforts.
While the State of the Nation address focuses mostly on the here and now, nothing we have accomplished in the present could have happened without building on the legacy of our past. I want to say that I’m so thankful for our ancestors, who instilled in us their spirit and values like unity, perseverance, strength, and determination. Those values are the foundation of the Chahta Spirit. They have made us the tribe we are today, and they will guide us in the years to come.In the future, that Chahta spirit will drive us to develop a history book for public schools that tells the stories of our people. It will also help us expand our apprenticeship program to keep our language and other traditional practices alive. And it will help us grow our programs and services to help our people succeed!
As we wrap up another successful year in the Choctaw Nation, we will keep doing our best to live out the vision of making life better for our kids and grandkids and the communities where they live. I believe in the future of the Choctaw Nation, and I am excited to move forward in a unified approach with our team of dedicated employees, this Council, our Judicial branch and you, the wonderful people of the Choctaw Nation.
Yakoke and God bless you!
Gary Batton,
Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma