Native tribe recognized by US government after long fight

Source: AP

By MATTHEW BROWN

An American Indian tribe whose members were scattered after being denied a homeland more than a century ago has been formally recognized by the U.S. government.

Recognition of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians was included in a defense spending bill signed into law Friday night by President Donald Trump. That ends a campaign for recognition as a sovereign nation that tribal leaders trace back to the 1860s. That’s when Chief Little Shell and his band in North Dakota refused to sign what they considered an unfair treaty. They ended up landless, and most eventually settled in Montana, often living on other tribes’ reservations or in poor areas of the state’s urban centers.

Members of Montana’s congressional delegation had sought the provision that was inserted into the defense bill. The Department of Interior had repeatedly delayed or denied the tribe’s petitions for recognition over the course of decades, putting a spotlight on what many lawmakers and tribal officials said were flaws in the recognition process.

The recognition provision requires the Department of Interior to grant the Little Shell 200 acres in central Montana as a tribal land base, with more land acquisitions possible in the future.



FILE - This April 27, 2009, file photo, shows Russell Boham, executive director of the Little Shell Tribe, holding a painting of Chief Little Shell on the banks of the Missouri River in Great Falls, Mont. Congress passed a measure recognizing the tribe after a decades-long struggle by its leaders. The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019, to federally recognize the Montana tribe. (Larry Beckner/The Great Falls Tribune via AP, File)

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