Ojibwe aboriginals in Cass Lake/Leech Lake Minnesota Including their History Treaties Essay

I. Introduction The Ojibwe (Plural: Ojibweg) are people who belong to the First Nation and of a big Native American language group. They are on top in terms of prevalence among the North American native language tribes. Scholars and Elders of Ojibwe perceive that the group has historical relations with several other bands that share some language points. The Ojibwe oral tradition gives light to such speculations as it indicates the Ojibwe to be part of the â€Å"Three Fires of Anishinabe,† along with the Ottawa and the Potawatomi (Turtle Island Productions, 2003). In the Ojibwe language, â€Å"Anishinabe† pertains to â€Å"original people,† â€Å"original man,† or â€Å"one of the people.† This is how the Ojibwe people prefer to be called. The word â€Å"Ojibwe† is spelled in many forms, owing to how the Euroepans of early times heard and spelled it. Some of the forms include â€Å"Ojibewa,† â€Å"Ojibwe,† â€Å"Otchipwe,† â€Å"Chippewa,† or â€Å"Chippeway† (Turtle Island Productions, 2003). For the purposes of this paper, the term â€Å"Ojibwe† will be used. The Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag, or the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, houses the Ojibwe people in the north-central parts of Minnesota. According to the census of 2000, it is the largest Indian reservation in the state, with its population amounting to 10,205 in that year (â€Å"Leech Lake Indian Reservation†, 2007). The most dominant community within it is the Cass Lake. Ten other communities within the reservation include Bena, Pennington, Sugar Point, Ball Club, Onigum, Smokey Point, Inger, Squaw Lake, Mission and Oak Point (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). How the Ojibwe people came to live in this area of Minnesota and how their settlement was established throughout histories of treaties will be the subject of this paper. Contemporary issues that face the Ojibwe people of Leech Lake will also be discussed. II. The Leech Lake Ojibwe and their History According to history shared through oral tradition, the Ojibwe people originally lived along the bays of North America, speculated to be either in Hudson Bay or in St. Lawrence gulf. By the 1400s, the climate in the North America became way cold so that in effect, the first Ojibwe bands decided to move towards Lake Huron, and later further north to occupy the shores of Michigan. Their movement continued westward until they reached Lake Superior in the 1500s (Sultzman, 2000). Pushed by war and fur trade, the Ojibwe people made an expansion towards the west, east and south until they had control over a vast portion of southern Ontario and lower Michigan in 1701, and won over the northern portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota in 1737. Movements continued until the Ojibwe people had settlements in so many areas by the 1800s, Minnesota to include. However, eventual takeover of the whites forced the Ojibwe onto reservation (Sultzman, 2000). Another way to view the Ojibwe migration is to take after what their oral tradition discusses: that one of their â€Å"miigis† or â€Å"radiant beings† related a prophesy that the Ojibwe people should move further west if they desire to maintain their traditions amidst the arrival of European immigrants. Thus the Ojibwe people made the movements discussed above, some of them finally settling in Minnesota (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). It was on the small islands of Leech Lake where the Ojibwe in Minnesota first settled in the 1700s. The area became home to the Pillager Ojibwe and Mississippi bands, but southwest portions of it were taken by 1847 treaties to be allotted for the tribes that were moved from Wisconsin. (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). The rest of the Leech Lake Ojibwe lands were relinquished to the United States government by the treaty of 1885, leaving the Ojibwe with the establishment of the 670,000-acre Leech Lake Indian Reservation (Oakes, February, 2005). The first treaties that were set in place were usually termed as â€Å"Peace and Friendship Treaties.† The aim of such treaties is to build healthy ties among the Ojibwe people and the Europeans. Such treaties provided the foundation for resource sharing to be made possible between the aborigines and the settlers (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). The treaties that followed, however, entailed cessions of lands. These were perceived to serve as advantageous for the territorial interests of the U.S. However, such cessions were not accompanied by clear terms that were understood entirely by the Ojibwe people. The reason behind this is the disparate cultural perspectives of the Ojibwe and the government regarding the land. The government sees the land as a commodity, and something of worth at that. Thus, for them, land could be purchased, entitled for exclusion, and traded without restraint (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). The Ojibwe people, on the other hand, perceive land to be non-exclusive. For them, land should be shared completely to everyone, in the same way that water, air and sunlight should be treated. During the period of treaty conferences, the Ojibwe did not know anything about exclusive land ownership or entitlement, moreover of selling land. Thus, modern time legal debates on treaties and of interpreting them usually expound on the disparity among cultural understanding of terms in such treaties. Only with cultural sensitivity and comprehension could obligations and rights based on such treaties could be understood (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). One such treaty where cultural sensitivity could be applied would be that of 1864. With the intention of transferring other Ojibwe bands in Minnesota to Leech Lake, the 1864 Treaty was made to expand and fortify the reservation. Changes in plans were made however so that in 1967, the White Earth Reservation was established to house all of the Ojibwe. 1873 and 1874 executive orders reduced the lands of the Leech Lake Reservation (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). Tax forfeitures, allotments, and seizures for government forests and parks later reduced the remaining land until only approximately five to six percent of the original area was left to the Ojibwe people (Giese, 1997). The severe reduction of Ojibwe lands was the gravest that any tribe in Minnesota has experienced. This was made worse by the increasing valuation for the lakes and forests of the reservation as whites increasingly settled in Minnesota. It was only in recent years that the pattern of land loss was inverted (Oakes, February, 2005). III. Further Treaties and Relevant Events in Leech Lake Ojibwe History In 1881, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began to build dams at lake outlets including that of Cass and Leech Lake to provide a stable water power for Minneapolis. In the course of such activities, water levels rose seven feet such that Ojibwe homes, rice beds, food and burial grounds were destroyed (Oakes, February, 2005). Meanwhile, the Dawes Act of 1887, along with the Nelson Act of 1889, made it possible for individual Ojibweg to be allotted and sell parts of reservations lands to settlers, railroads, and timber companies. Because of land sales, fraud, and tax forfeitures, more Ojibweg lost their lands through these Acts (Oakes, February, 2005). By 1898, the Leech Lake Ojibwe’s anger over their loss of land and reckless logging activities in the area reached boiling point, resulting in gunfire exchange that lasted for three days and seven deaths among federal soldiers. The battle was recorded as the last between American soldiers and American-Indian natives. In gratitude to the stoppage of what could be a full-blast Ojibwe revolt, the government forgave the involved Ojibweg. In 1908, the concern of aggressive logging activities in the region pushed the United States government to form the Chippewa National Forest (Oakes, February, 2005). It was in 1912 when a white family started the pioneer fishing resort on Cass Lake. From there, several people followed suit until tourism became the reservation’s second major industry, though it was not the natives who drew much of the profit. On the other hand, 1925 saw to the decline of timber supply in Cass Lake and the fall of the great logging boom (Oakes, February, 2005). In 1933, the outpour of white settlers in the reservation ended as the US Government Land Office in the area closed. Yet to date, white settlers in the area remain to be more than half (Oakes, February, 2005). 1937 saw to the Leech Lake Ojibwe adopting its first ever constitution. Legal activities of the tribe developed as 1972 saw to the Ojibwe band settling a lawsuit for the reaffirmation of their right to hunt, fish, and gather within the bounds of the reservation beyond what is regulated by the state. This was the first of its kind and affirms the drive of the Ojibwe people to keep their traditions alive, beyond the restrictions of the government (Oakes, February, 2005). The year 1975 was witness to the growing determination of the Ojibwe people to fight for their rights as a people when 75 Ojibwe students walked out of their classes in protest against racism, cultural insensitivity, and discrimination in Cass Lake Junior-Senior High School. In response to this, the Ojibwe people started the culture-based school, Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig, for their youth (Oakes, February, 2005). To date, the school is showing great progress. Meanwhile, the Ojibwe started operating casinos in 1983 after the rule of the federal courts stated that Indian tribes must be given the liberty to gamble, as respect to their culture. In 1998, the Ojibwe created its own police force through a federal grant, by which it started to administer its own civil rules (Oakes, February, 2005). It was in 2002, however, that a major breakthrough in the political arena happened when Elaine Fleming became the first Ojibwe to be elected as mayor by the residents of Cass Lake (Oakes, February, 2005). IV. The Leech Lake Ojibwe Today Today, the Leech lake Ojibwe culture remains vibrant and developing. The Ojibwe in the reservation continue attending â€Å"jiingotamog† gatherings for their spiritual customs, and the â€Å"niimi’idimaa† for their social customs. Traditional methods of hunting, harvesting, and making medicines and sugar are still being maintained. Ojibwe people still participate in sun dance ceremonies. Even the sacred scrolls of old are being kept hidden for future interpretation (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). Ojibwe people also maintain their traditional burial methods of erecting â€Å"Spirit houses† over burial mounds and markers made of wood with the dead’s doodem written on it. These special burial grounds have been viewed with much value that they have become endangered to thieves. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was made to respond to such issues and have benefited the preservation of the Ojibwe’s burial traditions (â€Å"Ojibwa†, 2007). The Leech Lake Ojibwe band has also been pioneering in securing their rights to fish, hunt, and plant wild rice — practices which are embedded in their culture as a people (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). Another aspect that determines the maintenance of the Leech Lake Ojibwe’s cultural integrity is its continuation of its traditional extraction of medicine and food from plants, as well as other such activities bound by tradition (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). Meanwhile, the Leech Lake Ojibwe had organized community councils with the intent of airing their political concerns. They have also seen to it that they have their own means to health services, education, fire protection, and such community necessities. The band even started a burial insurance program in 1995 (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). As for the State, it pays the Leech lake Ojibwe tribe for controlling its use of resources within the reservation. Furthermore, the Ojibwe also deputizes the conservation officers of the State so that their own tribal natural resource codes will be enforced (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). Because the Ojibwe band was permitted to operate casinos, such casinos have made the band Cass County’s biggest employer (Indian Affairs Council, 2007). Through an Ojibwe currently residing in Oregon, the Leech Lake Ojibwe also markets their very own products of wild rice and locally-made craft baskets internationally (Giese, 1997). Today, the Leech Lake Ojibwe tribe decided that the reservation must keep its existence in line with the treaties and executive orders upon which it was founded. This is because even with the said treaties and orders at place, they could still exist as a people within the bounds of their cultures, traditions, and beliefs (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). For one, the tribe still holds its constitutional and natural sovereign power over the reservation and its people. Further, the tribe also holds power over the activities of outsiders in the reservation, for as long as such activities affect or threaten to affect the welfare, political integrity, heath, and economic security of the Leech Lake Ojibwe (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). The Ojibwe people, with the treaties in place, are also able to maintain regulatory authority over the water resources of the reservation. This is because having the inherent rights to the reservation’s waters, their intent is to ascertain that their water resources would remain viable for generations to come, the reservation being their permanent home. The Ojibwe people of Leech Lake also serve for the protection and preservation of its waters since with this comes the promotion of the tribe’s historic and religious values. By doing so, they are also able to maintain a suitable environment for the reservation’s wildlife, something which has been embedded in the values of the Ojibwe as a people (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). However, though the Ojibwe people of Leech Lake have been perceived to have maintained their culture and traditions, a sad fact looms over the band. The number of youths in the reservation who have been involved in drugs, alcohol, violence, and imprisonment is appalling. Murders have been common in the area. Statistics indicate that the Leech Lake Reservation is one of the worst places for children in all of Minnesota (Oakes, April, 2004). A 1999 government research found Cass County to be the poorest in terms of children’s safety and health. It was also determined in 2002 to have the most children who live in foster and care homes. Majority of these cases entail Ojibwe children who were abandoned by their parents or taken forcibly away from them on grounds of neglect, delinquency, or even abuse. The main thrust behind this seems to be alcoholism, which plague the Ojibwe people of whatever age and gender. Parents leave their children behind on accounts of being drunk, or imprisoned because of some crime they did while drunk (Oakes, April, 2004). Thus, death looms eight years earlier over the lives of the Ojibwe in the Leech Lake reservation (Oakes, April, 2004). And this fact is something to be bothered about, especially when considering the current status and welfare of the Leech Lake Ojibwe people. It is a threat that must be dealt with, if the centuries of battling with treaties, fighting for their rights, and maintaining their cultures and traditions will not be put into waste. The Ojibwe of Leech Lake are a beautiful people who have a great history behind them, and a great culture and tradition with them. It thus matters, more than the treaties, to make efforts to keep their welfare and their people alive, because if not, we know that something great will die.