Indianz.com is reporting that Sen. Jim Webb backs the bill that would provide federal recognition to six Virginia tribes: “H.R.1294 recognizes the Chickahominy Tribe, the Chickahominy Tribe-Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, the Monacan Nation and the Monacan Nation. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House in May.”
Jim Webb’s letter to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is here.
The Burt Lake Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians is petitioning for federal recognition. The BIA has proposed to deny their recognition. Last year, the BIA finalized that proposal to deny, but these documents are not online yet.
Documents here:
Notice of Proposed Finding Against — dated April 15, 2004
Documents in Support of the Proposed Finding — dated March 25, 2004
A copy of the bill to recognize the Burt Lake Band via Act of Congress is here.
The Burt Lake Band are the descendants of the people subjected to the “Burt Lake Burnout” near the turn of the century. We’re written about this disaster here.
The federal recognition process is broke and the case of the petition of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation in Connecticut is the perfect example.
Here are the proposed finding documents dated December 5, 2002.
Here is the notice of proposed finding against the Nation dated December 11, 2002.
Here are the final determination documents dated January 29, 2004.
Here is the notice of final determination dated February 5, 2004 favoring federal recognition of STN.
Here is the appeal to to IBIA, dated May 12, 2005, reversing the decision.
Here is an editorial in the (normally) hostile Hartford Courant decrying the blatant anti-Indian politics played by powerful figures that have corrupted the recognition process in this matter, and as reported in Indianz.com. From the editorial:
We know about all the press conferences, the showboat congressional hearings and the charges of corruption that dominated the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation’s long, unsuccessful fight for federal recognition.
Now, as the Schaghticokes, whose reservation is in Kent, make a final pitch to revive their case in federal court, it’s clear powerful forces were at work behind the scenes. Led by our congressional delegation, opponents went straight to the top in their effort to undo the tribe’s federal recognition.
Interlocutory opinions in the ongoing federal case in the US District Court in Connecticut are here:
June 14, 2006 opinion
June 26, 2006 opinion
Other opinions will be added as we find them.
My own work on federal recognition can be found here.
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