Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Reaffirmation Act
This bill reaffirms federal recognition and the rights and privileges of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Cheboygan County, Michigan. The band is eligible for all federal services and benefits available to other federally recognized Indian tribes. This bill designates the service area for the delivery of federal services to the band and to other Indians nearby.
The Department of the Interior must acquire land in Cheboygan County, Michigan, and other geographic areas and must hold these lands in trust for the benefit of the band.
This bill sets forth criteria and evidentiary requirements for determining the initial membership of the band. The band must provide a copy of its base roll to the Bureau of Indian Affairs within one year.
The initial constitution of the band shall be the constitution submitted by the band to the Office of Federal Acknowledgment on May 2, 2005.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3848 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3848
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt Lake Band
as a distinct federally recognized Indian Tribe, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 28, 2015
Mr. Benishek (for himself and Mrs. Dingell) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt Lake Band
as a distinct federally recognized Indian Tribe, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians Reaffirmation Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) The members of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians, whose historic name is the Cheboigan (or
Cheboygan) Band, are descendants and a political successor to
signatories of the 1836 Treaty of Washington and the 1855
Treaty of Detroit. The treaty signatories were twice recognized
by the United States, on a government-to-government
relationship basis, through the execution and ratification of
those treaties.
(2) The 1836 Treaty of Washington provided that the
Cheboigan Band would receive a reservation of 1,000 acres on
the Cheboigan, within its aboriginal territory, for a period of
5 years after ratification of that treaty but the United States
failed to provide that reservation. The 1855 Treaty of Detroit
provided that Ottawa and Chippewa Indians could select
individual allotments of land within designated reserves, and 2
townships were set aside for selection by the ``Cheboygan
Band'' in Cheboygan County. Those members who selected
allotments within that area were not awarded those individual
land holdings until 3 years after a special Act of Congress was
passed in 1872.
(3) Between 1845 and 1850 the Band's members used treaty
annuity payments to purchase land for the Band in Burt
Township, Cheboygan County, Michigan. That land, called
Colonial Point, was placed in trust with the Governor of
Michigan on the advice of Federal Indian agents.
(4) During the next 50 years, questions arose regarding the
taxability of the property, and the acreage was ultimately sold
for back taxes in 1900.
(5) After the Band was forcibly evicted from Colonial Point
and its village was burned to the ground by its new owner, John
McGinn, the majority of the Band's families took up residency
on nearby Indian Road on lands which other Band members had
purchased or received as treaty allotments or homesteads.
(6) In 1911, the United States filed suit in the United
States Federal District Court for Eastern Michigan seeking to
regain possession of the Colonial Point Lands (United States v.
McGinn, Equity No. 94, filed June 11, 1911). In its complaint,
the United States advised the Court that it was suing on behalf
of the ``Cheboygan band of Indians [which] is now and was at
all the times mentioned in this bill of complaint a tribe of
indians [sic] under the care, control, and guardianship of the
plaintiff and said band is now and was at all times mentioned
in this bill of complaint recognized by the plaintiff through
its chiefs or head men which it annually elects.''.
(7) In 1917, the Federal District Court decided the McGinn
case against the United States finding that the language in the
Colonial Point deeds did not prevent the Colonial Point land
from being taxed.
(8) Over the next 20 years, Acting Chief Enos Cabinaw,
acting on behalf of the Cheboygan Band, asked the United States
to appeal or otherwise rectify the District Court's decision,
but no Federal action was taken. Throughout this period, the
United States continued to provide the Band and its members
with many of the same Federal services that were being provided
to other Indian tribes in Michigan.
(9) The Act of June 18, 1934 (hereafter in this Act
referred to as the ``Indian Reorganization Act''), authorized
and directed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide technical
assistance and Federal funds to petitioning tribes to assist
them in reorganizing their governments and improving their
economies. Members of the Cheboigan Band, as well as members of
other landless treaty Tribes in Michigan, submitted petitions
to receive that assistance. Similar petitions were also
submitted by 4 Michigan bands that still held communal lands.
Possession of a tribal land base was a prerequisite to the
receipt of most of the Federal funds and services provided for
in the Indian Reorganization Act.
(10) While the Indian Reorganization Act directed the
Secretary to assist landless bands, like Burt Lake, and
authorized Federal funds to acquire land, no Federal funds were
appropriated to acquire new tribal lands for any of the
landless bands in Michigan. After struggling with this dilemma,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs extended the benefits of the
Indian Reorganization Act to only those 4 Michigan tribes that
had an existing land base on the date of the enactment of the
Indian Reorganization Act. Of the Ottawa and Chippewa Tribes
who signed the 1836 and 1855 Treaties, only 1 group, the Bay
Mills Indian Community, was organized under the Indian
Reorganization Act.
(11) The failure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to grant
Indian Reorganization Act benefits to the Cheboigan Band did
not terminate the band's government-to-government relationship
with the United States, and Congress has never taken any action
to terminate Federal acknowledgment of the Burt Lake Band.
(12) The Bureau of Indian Affairs does not have the legal
authority to terminate a tribe that has been acknowledged by an
Act of Congress.
(13) Since 1972, the following Michigan tribes that were
not organized under the Indian Reorganization Act, have been
recognized or reaffirmed as federally recognized Indian tribes:
(A) The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa was
reaffirmed by a Memorandum of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs on September 7, 1972.
(B) The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians was acknowledged by the Assistant Secretary of
Indian Affairs on May 27, 1980.
(C) The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian
and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians each had
its Federal status reaffirmed by an Act of Congress on
September 21, 1994.
(D) The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians had its Federal status as a separate
Indian tribe reaffirmed by an Act of Congress at the
request of the Administration on September 8, 1988.
(E) The Pokagon Indian Nation had its Federal
status reaffirmed by an Act of Congress on September
21, 1994.
(F) The Huron Potawatomi Nation had its Federal
status acknowledged by the Assistant Secretary of
Indian Affairs on March 17, 1996.
(G) The Gun Lake Tribe (Match-She-Be-Nash-She-Wish)
had its Federal status acknowledged by the Assistant
Secretary of Indian Affairs on August 23, 1999.
(14) The Burt Lake Band has been consistently recognized by
third parties as a distinct Indian community since well before
1900.
(15) The Burt Lake Band consists of members who are the
children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren of Indian
persons who resided on or near Colonial Point or Indian Road
prior to 1910. The majority of the Band's adult members grew up
on or near Indian Road or had an immediate family member who
did. As the result, the Band's members have maintained very
close social and political ties. The Band has its own, well-
defined membership criteria, which requires the maintenance of
tribal relations.
(16) The Burt Lake Band consists of families who have and
continue to provide mutual aid to each other, visit each other
regularly, mobilize to assist each other in times of need,
practice traditional arts and crafts, gather for Ghost Suppers,
decorate the graves of their ancestors, and participate in
other traditional tribal ceremonies and events.
(17) Since 1829 the Burt Lake Band's members have attended
and consistently mobilized to maintain the Indian Mission
Church of St. Mary's, first on Colonial Point and later on
Indian Road. The Burt Lake Band's members have also worked
together to maintain the Tribe's 2 Indian cemeteries. They have
also dug the graves and buried their relatives in those 2
Indian cemeteries for almost 200 years.
(18) The Burt Lake Band's members have throughout time made
formal and informal decisions for the community. The Burt Lake
Band has also organized its own modern tribal government
without the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(19) The majority of the Band's elders have a high degree
of Indian blood and continue to speak the Ottawa language when
they gather with each other. Before World War II, more than 50
percent of the Burt Lake families were still speaking the
traditional language in their homes, and more than 50 percent
of those tribal members who were married were married to other
Ottawa and Chippewa individuals.
(20) There is no evidence that the Band has willfully
abandoned tribal relations and there is no evidence that the
Congress has taken any legal action to terminate its
government-to-government relations with the Burt Lake Band.
(21) Because the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to review
the Band's petition for over 20 years, a percentage of the
Band's members enrolled in other Tribes in order to obtain the
Federal services, most notably health care and prescription
drug assistance, that they were legally entitled to, but denied
as members of Burt Lake. This step was often taken on the
advice of one or more employees of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. This dual enrollment situation has now created a new
problem for the Band's reaffirmation, because the Bureau of
Indian Affairs' current regulations prohibit it from
recognizing a tribe when a part of the tribe's community is or
was enrolled in another federally recognized tribe.
(22) In September 2006, the Assistant Secretary of Indian
Affairs denied the Burt Lake Band's petition for recognition
even though it found that the Burt Lake Band has been
identified as an Indian entity by scholars, local and State
officials, and other tribes, and even though it found that the
members of the Burt Lake Band maintain a strong Indian
community. In its letter denying the Burt Lake Band's petition,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs stated that ``Congress may
consider taking legislative action to recognize petitioners
that do not meet the specific requirements of the
acknowledgment regulations but may have merit.''.
(23) The Burt Lake Band has exhausted its administrative
remedies, therefore this Act is both necessary and appropriate.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
(1) The term ``Burt Lake Band'' means the Burt Lake Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a continuously existing historical
tribe of Indians descending from the Cheboygan band which was
included in treaties with the United States in 1836 and 1855
and descending from the Indian Village at Burt Lake in 1900.
(2) The term ``Indian Reorganization Act'' means the Act of
June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
(3) The term ``OFA'' means the Office of Federal
Acknowledgment, a branch of the United States Department of the
Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(4) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the
Interior.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.
(a) Federal Recognition.--The Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians is hereby reaffirmed as a federally recognized Indian tribe.
All laws and regulations of the United States of general application to
Indians or nations, tribes, or bands of Indians, including the Indian
Reorganization Act, which are inconsistent with any specific provision
of this Act shall not be applicable to the Burt Lake Band and its
members.
(b) Federal Services and Benefits.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Burt Lake
Band and its members shall be eligible for all services and
benefits provided by the Federal Government to Indians because
of their status as federally recognized Indians without regard
to the existence of a reservation or the location of the
residence of any member on or near any Indian reservation.
(2) Service area.--For purposes of the delivery of Federal
services to the enrolled members of the Burt Lake Band and to
other Indians, all of Cheboygan County Michigan, and any area
in the State of Michigan that is outside of Cheboygan County,
but located within 25 miles of the Burt Lake Band's Cemetery at
the St. Mary's Indian Mission Church, shall be deemed to be
within the Service Area of the Burt Lake Band. Nothing
contained herein shall prohibit the Federal Government from
providing services to members of the Burt Lake Band who reside
or are domiciled outside this Service Area, or from otherwise
expanding the Burt Lake Band's Service Area in compliance with
applicable Federal law and policy. Nothing in this subsection
is intended to diminish or alter the service area of another
federally recognized Indian tribe. If any part of the Burt Lake
Band's service area overlaps with the service area of another
federally recognized Indian tribe, that overlap shall be
addressed in compliance with existing Federal policies and
regulations.
SEC. 5. REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHTS.
(a) In General.--All rights and privileges of the Burt Lake Band
and its members, which may have been abrogated or diminished before the
date of the enactment of this Act are hereby reaffirmed.
(b) Existing Rights of Burt Lake Band.--Nothing in this Act shall
be construed to diminish any right or privilege of the Burt Lake Band
or of its members that existed before the date of the enactment of this
Act. Except as otherwise specifically provided in any other provision
of this Act, nothing in this Act shall be construed as altering or
affecting any legal or equitable claim the Burt Lake Band may have to
enforce any right or privilege reserved by or granted to the Burt Lake
Band which was wrongfully denied to or taken from the Burt Lake Band
before the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 6. TRIBAL LANDS.
The Secretary shall acquire real property in Cheboygan County in
trust for the benefit of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians, if at the time of such acceptance by the Secretary, there are
no adverse legal claims on such property, including outstanding liens,
mortgages or taxes owed, and the Secretary has confirmed that the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 has been complied with
regarding the trust acquisition of the property. After being taken into
trust, such lands shall become part of the initial reservation of the
Burt Lake Band at the request of the Burt Lake Band. The Secretary is
also authorized to acquire and accept real property in other geographic
areas into trust for the benefit of the Burt Lake Band and to declare
those lands to be a part of the Burt Lake Band's Reservation consistent
with applicable law.
SEC. 7. MEMBERSHIP.
(a) In General.--The initial membership of the Burt Lake Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians shall consist of persons who can present
evidence, acceptable to the Burt Lake Band, showing that they meet the
requirements of subsection (b), and persons who meet such other
requirements as are specified by the Burt Lake Band in its Burt Lake
Band's Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance as the same may be from
time-to-time amended.
(b) Membership Criteria.--
(1) To qualify for membership in the Burt Lake Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a person must be able to
demonstrate through evidence acceptable to the Burt Lake Band
that the person meets at least one of the following
requirements:
(A) The person descends from a tribal member who
was domiciled at Colonial Point, Burt Township,
Cheboygan County, Michigan, before or at the time that
the Burt Lake Band's village was burned in October
1900, as the tribal members are identified as Colonial
Point residents in the case files of the litigation
initiated by John W. McGinn to evict former residents
from that land, or in the list prepared in or about
1950 as the Albert Shananaquet list of pre-1900 village
residents, or both.
(B) The person descends from a tribal member who is
listed on the 1900 or 1910 Burt Lake Township Federal
Census, Indian Enumeration Schedule.
(C) The person has an Indian ancestor who was,
prior to 1910, living in tribal relations with the Burt
Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians as the Burt
Lake Band is defined in this Act.
(2) In addition to the requirements under paragraph (1), to
qualify for membership in the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians, a person must be able to demonstrate through
evidence acceptable to the Burt Lake Band that the person meets
all of the following criteria:
(A) That the person is in tribal relations with
other Burt Lake Band members.
(B) That the person's ancestors have lived in
tribal relations with other Burt Lake Band members on a
substantially continuous basis from 1910 to the
present.
(C) That the person has a completed tribal
membership enrollment file as prescribed by the Tribal
Enrollment Ordinance.
(D) That the person's membership application has
been processed and that the person has been approved
for membership in the Burt Lake Band in the manner
prescribed by the Tribal Enrollment Ordinance.
(c) Base Roll.--The Burt Lake Band shall provide a copy of the base
roll of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to the
Assistant Secretary for Indians Affairs not later than 12 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act. The base roll shall consist of
the 320 persons whose names were listed on the official roll of the
Burt Lake Band which were members submitted by the Burt Lake Band to
the OFA on May 2, 2005, and shall also include the biological sons and
daughters who were born to those members between the submission of that
list and the enactment of this Act. The Base Roll shall also include
those descendants of Burt Lake members who--
(1) meet the enrollment criteria established by this
section;
(2) seek enrollment in the Burt Lake Band not later than 12
months after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(3) are accepted for enrollment in the Burt Lake Band in
the manner prescribed by the Burt Lake Band's Constitution.
SEC. 8. CONSTITUTION.
The initial constitution of the Burt Lake Band shall be the
constitution that the Burt Lake Band submitted to the OFA on May 2,
2005.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs.
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