Turtle Talk

From IPR:

The Saginaw-Chippewa Indian Tribe won a victory last month in an ongoing lawsuit over the boundaries of Indian land in Isabella County. The suit has yet to go to trial, but it’s been in court for years.

Should the tribe win, it would exert tribal sovereignty throughout five townships, and half the city of Mt. Pleasant.

Just what that would mean is still not clear to Mt. Pleasant’s Mayor, Jim Holton. “Well the city has several concerns, obviously, with this. And it’s still a lot of theory. It’s still a lot of ’What if’s.’”

Some of Holton’s big “What if’s” include questions of zoning, law enforcement, and taxation. “Who to tax, how can we tax. Can we collect on tax? It’s obviously vital to our survival as a city, with infrastructure, roads and all those things.”

Saginaw-Chippewa leaders do not want to comment on ongoing litigation. But Matthew Fletcher says – as he understands it – those last two are also some of the tribe’s biggest concerns: taxation and law enforcement. Fletcher runs the Indigenous Law Center at Michigan State University.

Fletcher says the tribe’s claims are fairly limited in this case. It’s not arguing that it should own the land, and it’s not looking for any type of cash settlement. “The arguments are about who has jurisdiction over tribal members.”

The Saginaw-Chippewa argue members of the tribe who own land within the boundaries of the larger, historical reservation should not have to pay state and local property taxes on it. That question would remain open for debate even if this case is won by the tribe.

But Fletcher says the suit would settle any question for the Saginaw-Chippewa over law enforcement and its members. If a tribal member gets in trouble with the law  it would be handled by tribal courts and tribal police, and sometimes the federal government. But the state courts would no longer be involved. “My understanding is there’s sort of a problem of double-jeopardy here and there. The tribe and the state are asserting jurisdiction over these issues. So this would settle it.”

But the lawsuit isn’t over these issues of, “What would happen if.”  The suit centers around whether or not the tribe has a right assert control over the historical reservation. The tribe is claiming control over the land under two mid-19th Century treaties.

Local governments and the state of Michigan have been arguing that, because today most of the land is in the hands of non-natives, allowing the tribe to assert control would not be practical. They also say the tribe should no longer have the rights it asserts under the treaties, because for more than a century it never took control.

This past month a federal judge struck a blow to the state’s argument, saying the treaties are not time-limited. They can only be changed by the tribe, or through an act of Congress. That means, as the case moves forward, the big question won’t be whether the treaties are valid, but how to interpret them.

And with that decision, some other tribes in Michigan may be heaving a small sigh of relief. The Saginaw-Chippewa are not the only peoples in the state whose historical land boundaries are much larger than they are today.

Fletcher’s tribe, for example, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, once owned all of the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas, and more. “The Ottawa tribes in Michigan signed a very similar treaty in 1855 and 1836. The precedent obviously would be helpful to the other Michigan tribes if it goes the way of the Saginaw-Chippewa Tribe.”

But, similarly, it could be bad news for those tribes if the Saginaw-Chippewa loose. And because of the risk, not everyone in Indian Country wants to duke the issue out it court – especially within tribes who generally have good relationships with surrounding municipal and county governments. Fletcher uses as examples the Grand Traverse Band, and also the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Petoskey/Harbor Springs.

“As a political matter, if the counties cooperate with the tribes, then these types of lawsuits are not necessary, because then the tribes and the local units of government, along with the state, will tend to agree just blur away the old reservation boundaries and come up with new boundaries – boundaries that everybody understands and knows and makes sense for the current demographics,” he says.

But back in Isabella County, there has a long-time acrimony between the Saginaw-Chippewa, and the county, and the City of Mt. Pleasant. A truth Mayor Jim Holton acknowledges. Holton says he sees the tribe’s point of view, and he’d like to think there’s a way to settle this government-to-government.

Despite the advice of lawyers, Holton says he’s in talks with Saginaw-Chippewa Chief Fred Cantu. “And I told the Chief, I said we have, our City Commission is a young, vibrant, energetic commission that we don’t want to dwell on the past. If there’s some way we can move forward, have both of our communities grow together in efficiencies and those type of items, it’s just a win-win for both of us. And he agreed 100%. And I hope as mayor, the leader of our town, I can do that, I can make it work. I don’t know if I can or not, but I’m going to give it the best shot I have.”

If not, there’s a good chance this case will be appealed through the ranks of the federal courts, and cost a great deal of money.