The Anishinabe Nation’s “Right to a Modest Living” From the Exercise of Off-Reservation Usufructuary Treaty Rights …. in All of Northern Minnesota Prof. Peter Erlinder Wm. Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul. MN
[email protected]. INTRODUCTION……….…………………………………………………………………………1 I. The Treaties, Executive Orders, and Congressional Enactments Relevant to the Continuing Exercise of Usufructuary Rights in all of Northern Minnesota by the Anishinabe Nation:1825 to the Present. ……………………..…………………..…………7 II Modern Litigation Upholding Anishinabe Usufructuary Rights, under the Treaties of 1837, 1854 and 1855 ...…………………………………….……………...15 Lac Courte Oreilles v. Wisconsin (I-VIII): the Right to a “Modest Living” from Off -Reservation Usufructuary Rights in Wisconsin and Minnesota………………….......18 Minnesota v. Mille Lacs: The U.S. Supreme Court Confirms Continuing Validity of Off-reservation Anishinabe Usufructuary Rights……………………...............................….21 III. The Exercise of Traditional Usufructuary Rights in Modern Society………….............................24 IV. The Consequences of the State’s Failure to Apply the Lac Courte Oreilles and Mille Lacs Judgments to All Minnesota Anishinabe ................................………..…..……………………....27 The Fiscal Consequences of Minnesota’s Continuing Failure to Recognize Anishinabe Off-Reservation Usufructuary Rights………………..................……………..……………29 The Political-Economy of the Minnesota Anishinabe Nation’s “Right to a modest living” from Off-Reservation Usufructuary Rights………..…..………30 CONCLUSION…….……………………………………………………………………………...35 INTRODUCTION In 1837, the United States entered into a Treaty with several Bands of Chippewa Indians. Under terms of this Treaty, the Indians ceded land in present-day Wisconsin and Minnesota to the United States, and the United States guaranteed to the Indians certain hunting, fishing and gathering rights on the ceded land. We must decide whether the Chippewa Indians retain these usufructuary rights1 today.