News

Brothertown Indian Nation Petition for Federal Recognition Denied

Kate Fort2 Comments

Press release here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure today issued a final determination on a petition for federal acknowledgment, declining to acknowledge the Brothertown Indian Nation (Brothertown) as an Indian tribe under federal law. Brothertown is located in Wisconsin and first submitted its petition in 1980.
In the final determination on the Brothertown petition, the acting Assistant Secretary determined that the group previously had a relationship with the United States, but had its tribal status terminated by an 1839 Act of Congress. The Department’s regulations prohibit the Assistant Secretary from acknowledging a petitioning group where Congress previously terminated the tribal status of that group. Only Congress may restore the tribal status of Brothertown and its government-to-government relationship with the United States.

IPR on Tribal Treaty Rights and Wolf Hunts

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

An animal that’s a symbol of the wild, and once nearly exterminated, has repopulated the upper Great Lakes region. In fact, the gray wolf exceeded recovery goals, times ten, over the last decade.

And now wolves are doing so well, states that manage them are opening hunting seasons on them. Some say there are just too many to coexist with people.

But a few Indian tribes argue that their treaty rights call for wolves to fill every niche in the landscape.

Wolf Brother
In the upper Great Lakes, Indian tribes still have rights to hunt, fish and gather plants in wide swaths of territory that go back to treaties signed in the mid-1800’s. Usually it’s pretty straightforward for the tribes and the states to agree on how many fish or deer to take.

But with wolves, tribal officials say, it’s different. Their creation stories tell how the wolf was sent as a companion for the people. Tribes of the Great Lakes consider the wolf as kin. And the Creator told them the fate of wolves and the people are intertwined, as one goes, so goes the other.

“As we see the wolf returning or gaining strength, just as we Ojibway, Anishinaabe people have, we see that relationship,” says Kurt Perron, chair of the Bay Mills Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. “So that’s what concerns us with the hunt.  It’s almost like you’re hunting our brothers.”

Now maybe that’s mostly symbolic, but not entirely. Because Perrin thinks if top predators are removed from the ecosystem, the effects will cascade through other species. And eventually humans may be affected.

White Earth Requests Concurrent Federal Jurisdiction Under Tribal Law & Order Act

Ann Tweedy

Here’s the news article.

Breaking: Michigan SCT Tosses Casino Proposal — UPDATED

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Ok, the incredible saga is over (?). There will be no ballot measure in November proposing to add eight new casinos. More details when we get them.

UPDATE: News coverage here and here.

The opinion is here.

Gov. Brown Concurs in Two 2-Part Determinations

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Governor Brown Concurs with U.S. Department of the Interior Decision, Signs Compact with North Fork Rancheria http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17700
Governor Brown Concurs with U.S. Department of the Interior Decision, Signs Compact with Enterprise Rancheria http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17699

NYTs: Interior to Allow Oil Well Drilling in Arctic Sea

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Article on Pokagon Band’s Development in Northern Indiana

Kate Fort

Here.

The plan submitted to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs also proposes a casino, hotel, meeting space and parking garage, although Pokagon Band chairman Matt Wesaw said the tribe’s focus was on providing services for about 500 members living in the area.

“There’s no time frame for the casino yet. It’s not really on the burner,” Wesaw told the South Bend Tribune for a story Wednesday.

The tribe opened its Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich., about 30 miles from South Bend, five years ago. It has since opened a smaller satellite casino in Hartford, Mich., and is preparing to open another in Dowagiac, Mich.

“We’ve accomplished a fair amount of stuff for our citizens who live in the state of Michigan,” Wesaw told WNDU-TV. “It is now time to be in a position to provide those services for our citizens who live in the service area in Indiana.”

Michigan Board of Canvassers Votes Insufficient to Put Casino Proposal on Ballot

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. back to court.

Here’s a summary of the proposal from the Board staff.

Crosscut: “Revictimizing Native Women for Political Purposes”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here.

An excerpt:

Early this week, two U.S. House Representatives members and the Tacoma News Tribune took clear stands against protecting women from sexual assault.  Representatives Todd Akin, R-Missouri, and Steve King, R-Iowa, did so by promoting the concept of “legitimate rape.”  The News Tribune did so by attacking the only real hope for combating the national pandemic of violence against Native women.

As originally passed by the U.S. Senate, the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization legislation would allow tribes to exercise limited criminal jurisdiction over certain non-Indians who violate Native American women on Indian reservations. Tribes would be required to provide all rights accorded to defendants in state and federal court, and federal courts would have authority to review tribal court decisions that result in incarceration. The legislation would not raise the one-year maximum sentence that tribal courts can impose. The GOP-controlled House, however, omitted the protections for Indian women in its version of the bill.

Among those voting to omit the tribal protections were vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate candidate Akin, and House Republican King. In an interview originally broadcast on Sunday, Akin suggested that an abortion would be unnecessary in the instance of a “legitimate rape” because apparently only non-legitimate rape leads to pregnancy — whatever that means. Chiming in agreement, fellow House Rep. King said that he’s never heard of a girl getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest. While Akin and King quickly recanted, they cannot as simply withdraw their votes against the Senate’s proposed protections for abused Native women.

MLive on the Bay Mills Vanderbilt Casino Case & Proposed Lansing Casino

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here.

An excerpt:

Bay Mills has a reservation located on tribal land in the Upper Peninsula’s Chippewa County on the eastern end of Lake Superior.

In 2010, the tribe used earnings from a land settlement trust to purchase 40 acres of land in Vanderbilt, a tiny town just north of Gaylord that’s located more than 100 miles south of the tribe’s main reservation.

The Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act says that land acquired with funds from a land trust “shall be held as Indian lands are held.” So Bay Mills used that language as legal authority to open a small casino in November 2010 in Vanderbilt. Continue reading →