MPR: The Changing Tribal Governments

The Changing Tribal Governments
By Dan Gunderson
July 22, 1999
Part One of Two Parts

In coming months the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, the umbrella organization of six Ojibwe bands in the state, is considering adoption of a new constitution. With at least one of the bands threatening to withdraw from the MCT, the process is likely to be lengthy, and tense. And at the same time, that band - White Earth - is debating a new constitution of it's own.

In this series, Minnesota Public Radio will consider how tribal governments have developed in Minnesota, and how a new constitution might change that.

In this report, we look at the history. The government structure most Indian tribes now operate under was put in place by the federal government in 1934. The Indian Reorganization Act imposed a constitutions on tribes, effectively destroying a system of tribal governance that had been in place for hundreds of years.

For More Information

Visit these Web Sites:

Fact Sheets:
Bois Fort/ Nett Lake Band
Fond du Lac Band
Grand Portage Band
Leech Lake Band
Mille Lacs Band
White Earth Band

Official Web Sites:
Mille Lacs Band
Minnesota Indians Affairs Council

THE INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT was passed by Congress in 1934, ostensibly aimed at improving relations between Indian tribes and the federal government. The Act set up tribal-business committees to be responsible for handling all tribal finances. Tribes were given 30 days to ratify the measure. White Earth Tribal Historian Andy Favorite says thousands of tribal members never had a chance to vote. He says the practical effect was to further restrict tribes still reeling in the aftermath of the westward expansion by European settlers decades before.

Favorite: They concentrated us and put us on reservations to get us out of the hair of the developing nation. We were in the way of Manifest Destiny. Now we have reservations, we have enrollment numbers and we have a system of government essentially forced on us.

The tribal-business committee, by controlling tribal finances, quickly superceded the traditional tribal structure, and Andy Favorite contends it also effectively subjugated tribes to the federal government.

Favorite: Want to flex your muscle on sovereign people? We'll cut your funding off; no more state and federal funding. Go on, flex your muscle. That's the tightrope we walk even today.

The tribal constitution imposed as part of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 addressed the fiscal operation of tribes. But it included no separation of powers, and little protection for the civil rights of Indian people. Minnesota tribes hope the current effort to write a new constitution will correct those weaknesses.

White Earth tribal member Lowell Bellanger has long agitated for a new form of tribal government. He sees the 1934 tribal constitution as part of the federal government's attempt to destroy Indian tribes.

Bellanger: When a tribal chief was in charge of his reservation, he looked out for all his people; not only just himself or his brother-in-law, he looked out for the entire membership. And the government has seen fit to do away with the tribal-chief system and put in representative government. And by doing that, they split us up and the Indian people are easier to control.

You'll get a slightly different view from White Earth tribal attorney Zenas Baer. He says bureaucratic indifference, rather than a conspiracy, left tribal government in an unfinished state which led to decades of turmoil.

Baer: I'm not convinced the federal government had in mind to destroy traditional tribal leadership, but the effect was to do that. It destroyed any traditional leadership that was there, because all the power and the need for services was shifted to this business committee.

It's difficult to put the traditional system of tribal government in a neat box, defined by a single word. Some say tribal chiefs were essentially dictators. Others say it was governance by consensus, with a strong emphasis on spirituality. White Earth historian Andy Favorite says it's important to remember, before hundreds of tribes were forced together on reservations, Indian tribes were essentially large extended families who looked out for each other.

Favorite: You've got to understand, in the old days if you were a chief and you were materially wealthy, you were considered stingy and hoarding things. If you had a lot of blankets, you were obligated to give them to those that didn't have any. So actually, he or she that gave away most, that's a high tribal value.

Favorite says under federal government control, those tribal values - based in traditional Indian spirituality - were lost. But, a new generation of leaders is embracing traditional ways as they attempt to reform the old system of government. At White Earth , a proposed new tribal constitution incorporates spiritual traditions.

Leech Lake tribal chair Eli Hunt says while it's not practical to return to the tribal structure of bygone days, the spiritual beliefs that often guided past leaders would still serve Indian people well.

Hunt: I mean, that's not the same scenario today. Money motivates people now and I think that's the number-one problem in government nationwide, worldwide. And it's no different in tribal government. Money motivates people for the wrong reasons.

Hunt says money also motivates people to stay in power. He says that makes it difficult to root out corruption and implement change.

White Earth tribal historian Andy Favorite says Minnesota Indian tribes are at a pivotal point in their history. He says Indian people have clearly not been well served by the government structure that's guided them most of this century. He's hoping the present constitutional reform movement will result in a new form of government, blending traditional Indian beliefs, and democracy, to better serve future generations.

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