Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that Mille Lacs Ojibwe leaders called for cooperation and friendship after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of treaty rights. The decision affirmed an 1837 agreement allowing eight tribes to fish and hunt without state regulation in east-central Minnesota.
The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe sued for treaty rights in 1990. The court case made for fractious relations between Indians and non-Indians around Lake Mille Lacs.
LEIF ENGER: Since the Ojibwe sued for treaty rights in 1990, Chief Executive Marge Anderson has sounded at times defensive, at times frustrated. But stepping to the microphones Wednesday under a cold March sun, her manner was gracious and relieved.
MARGE ANDERSON: Today, the United States has kept a promise. A promise that our rights are not just words on paper. A promise that agreements are made to be honored, not broken.
LEIF ENGER: Anderson addressed about 200 band members, including a few dozen elders hunched in overcoats against the wind. She thanked the elders for supporting her during the long court battle. She thanked Ojibwe ancestors, who she said also struggled against great odds. Then, closing her short statement, Anderson offered a traditional Ojibwe prayer as an olive branch to those who spent the 1990s opposing treaty rights.
MARGE ANDERSON: Great Spirit, teach us love, compassion, and honor that we may heal the Earth and heal each other. Miigwech.
[APPLAUSE]
LEIF ENGER: The Supreme Court's ruling means the eight signatory bands to the 1837 treaty will spearfish and gillnet this spring as planned. 55,000 pounds of walleye will be divided among the tribes. The decision affirms the joint management of the lake by the band and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Business owner Paul Moline, whose restaurant and gas station cater to sport fishers, says the ruling means the Ojibwe will have to live up to their promises of maintaining a healthy lake.
PAUL MOLINE: And I will tell you this from this community, they will have lots of people watching closely. And if they do mess up, they're going to get caught. They've now put themselves in a position where they will be held accountable.
LEIF ENGER: Other treaty opponents sounded more conciliatory. In fact, they sounded like former treaty opponents. Judy Cain, representing the Mille Lacs Tourism Council, spoke at the band's press conference.
JUDY CAIN: It is now over. We're going to move on. And the healing that's talked about is that we all will adjust to whatever our personal feelings might have been and work together as a community. And the band has proven to us, in the past, that they're willing to do that, and so are we and the rest of the resorts that I represent around the entire lake.
LEIF ENGER: Cain noted the absence of violent protests last year, when the tribes went fishing, and predicted none again this year. Another resorter insisted treaty rights are no longer a problem, but simply the law. And a tribal spokesman called Wednesday's event the death and burial of the issue and said Mille Lacs leadership has spoken its last word on the matter. Leif Enger, Minnesota Public Radio.
In 2008, Minnesota's voters passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution: to protect drinking water sources; to protect, enhance, and restore wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; to preserve arts and cultural heritage; to support parks and trails; and to protect, enhance, and restore lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater.
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