The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa joined with Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, Fond du Lac, Bois Forte, and White Earth to form a Tribal Wild Rice Task Force.
Grand Portage appointees are John Morrin and Margaret Watkins.
Resolution 107-18 states that “it is in the Tribe’s best interest to decline/ reject the governor’s offer to participate in the Governors Task Force on Wild Rice and instead will form a task force of its own expertise by inviting the other federally recognized Indian tribes in Minnesota to participate in gathering and reviewing information, preparing comments, and recommendations…”
The tribes are calling for stricter laws to protect manoomin—wild rice—from industrial pollution, as well as the tribes’ rights to harvest the rice in the territory covered in the 1855 treaty, and earlier agreements.
The Minnesota Chippewa Tribal Executive Committee passed the resolution calling for the formation of the wild rice task force on August 21, 2018, in Onamia, Minnesota.
In conjunction with that declaration, on December 5, 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the 1855 Treaty Authority passed Resolution 2018-05, establishing the Rights of Manoomin, citing treaty rights between Chippewa Indians and prior Chippewa treaties with the United States with regard to the territory that became what is now known as Minnesota.
Part of resolution 2018-05 states, manooomin, “is considered by the Anishinaabe people to be a gift from the creator or Great Spirit and continues to be an important staple in the diets of native peoples for generation, is a central element of the culture, heritage and history of the Anishinaabe people, and is an integral part of the wetland ecosystems and natural communities of our traditional lands.”
Much of this was done in response to Gov. Mark Dayton’s June 28, 2018, executive order that changed the composition of the state’s wild rice task force, which deleted the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council representative.
The Rights of Manoomin calls for on- and off-reservation protection of wild rice and the clean, fresh water resources and security of the habitats in which it thrives.
The Rights of Manoomin was adopted because “it has become necessary to provide a legal basis to protect wild rice and freshwater resources as part of our primary treaty foods for future generations” according to resolutions.
“Even Governor Dayton recognized that wild rice is culturally essential and spiritually sacred to Minnesota’s Tribal Nations and the health of wild rice is dependent on water quality and other habitat conditions, noting the restoration and protection of wild rice habitat requires collaboration, in his call for a wild rice task force,” said Frank Bibeau, executive director of the 1855 Treaty Authority.
“Unfortunately, Governor Dayton stacked his task force with industry interests while cutting short tribal seats,” added Bibeau, “and fortunately, treaties are the supreme law of the land, and we Chippewa have (U.S.) constitutionally protected, usufructuary property rights to hunt, fish, trap and gather wild rice.”
The Rights of Manoomin, modeled after the Rights of Nature, codifies the right of manoomin to the right to pure water and freshwater habitat; the right to a healthy climate system and a natural environment free from human-caused global warming impacts and emissions and more.
The White Earth Band of Ojibwe and 1855 Treaty Authority worked with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), with its International Center for the Rights of Nature, in the development of the draft law.
“This is a very important step forward in the Rights of Nature movement. This would be the first law to recognize the legal rights of plant species,” explains Mari Margil, CELDF’s associate director.
“We understand that it is the individual tribal members’ usufructuary rights to gather food and earn a modest living that is essential to our lives and important for the success of future generations’ ability to maintain our culture and traditions,” said Bibeau, adding, “we understand ‘water is life’ for all living creatures and protecting abundant, clean, fresh water is essential for our ecosystems and wildlife habitats to sustain all of us and the manoomin.”
White Earth Reservation Business Committee passed resolution 001- 19-009 on Dec. 31, 2018, saying in part, “We recognize that to protect manoomin and our people, we must secure their highest protection through the recognition of legal rights of the protection of manoomin.”
As far as the timeline of the resolutions that were passed, Bibeau said, “There was a tribal executive committee meeting last month where the MCT wild rice task force report had been prepared. It was treated like a secret report because the state had not released its report, targeted for December 15 I believe. So the MCT was going to hold their report until the state produced theirs.”
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