FISHING AND HUNTING RIGHTS
Hunting, fishing and gathering are ways of life and integral traditions
of the Anishinabe, aka Ojibwe or Chippewa. The Anishinabe have always held
the practices of hunting, fishing and gathering as spiritual and sacred,
not only for survival, but as the observance of a way of life which the Creator,
Gichi Manitou, bestowed upon the people.
There is always an offering of tobacco when Anishinabe take something from Creation. Through this offering, the people give thanks for the many blessings that the Creator has provided.
When Gichi Manitou made the Anishinabe, he had already instructed the rest of Creation on how they were to take care of us. When we were created, we were instructed about the many sacrifices made on our behalf by our brothers and sisters in the animal, fish and plant worlds. We are to hold all Creation as sacred.
In brief, as this way of life became endangered, our ancestors were forced to sign treaties with the U.S. government. These treaties did not give rights to the Anishinabe but are in place to protect their inherent rights. The land and resources outlined in the treaties are what our ancestors struggled and died to preserve for us today.
The 1837 Treaty with the Chippewa reserved the right for the Chippewa to hunt, fish and gather on ceded territory. This view has been affirmed in federal district court in Wisconsin in the 1983 Voight decision, LCO vs. WI (LCO I), 700 F 2nd 341 (7th Cir. 1983). A 1990 ruling on this case has left the Lake Superior Bands of Chippewa with the right to one-half of all the harvested natural resources in the ceded territory, LCO vs. WI (LCO VII), 740 F Supp. 1400 (W.D. Wis 1990). The May, 1991 deadline has passed for either party to appeal. The six bands of Lake Superior Chippewa announced their decision not to appeal with the following message:
"The six bands of Lake Superior Chippewa, allied for many years in litigation against the state of Wisconsin in order to confirm and uphold their treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather, and now secure in the conviction that they have preserved these rights for the future generations to come, have this day forgone their right to further their appeal and dispute adverse rulings in this case, including a district court ruling barring them from damages. They do this knowing that the subject of the later ruling is before the U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals and other federal courts, They do this as a gesture of peace and friendship toward the people of Wisconsin, in a spirit they hope may someday be reciprocated on the part of the general citizenry and officials of the state".
This decision and concessions came on the heels of years of violent and extremely racist anti-treaty protest by northern Wisconsin sports fishing groups. The tactics used by the groups were derived from contact with the Klu Klux Klan.
In Minnesota, the same Treaty of 1837 is in federal district court in that state. This case stems from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe filing suit against the state of Minnesota in 1990 to allow the bands to hunt, fish and gather in ceded territory without state regulation. The case, as of July 6, 1994, is nearing final arguments. The state is contending that the rights to hunt, fish and gather were revoked by a presidential order of 1850 by Zachary Taylor and by the signing of later treaties.
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WE URGE THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM OF THE US UPHOLD, AFFIRM AND ENFORCE ALL
TREATY RIGHTS WITH NATIVE PEOPLE TO HUNT, FISH AND GATHER ON CEDED TERRITORY,
INCLUDING THE RIGHTS TO CLEAN AIR, LAND AND WATER. TO UPHOLD TREATY RIGHTS
MEANS TO IMPLEMENT AND ENFORCE THE STRICTEST ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS. tHROUGH
THE ENFORCEMENT OF TREATY THE FEDERAL COURT MUST HALT ANY AND ALL MINING
ON RESERVATION AND CEDED TERRITORY. MINING INTERESTS HAVE CAUSED AND THREATEN
TO CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE CHIPPEWA PEOPLE AND THE NATURAL RESOURCES
THEY DEPEND ON TO HAVE THEIR WAY OF LIFE REMAIN AS INTACT AS POSSIBLE.
BECAUSE THE STRUGGLE OF THE ANISHINABE IS BUT ONE EXAMPLE OF A LONG LASTING DISPUTE BETWEEN NATIVE PEOPLE AND STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS, WE URGE THAT THE U.S. RECOGNIZE THE PRIOR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS OF ALL NATIVE PEOPLE IN ALL HUNTING, FISHING AND GATHERING DISPUTES. |
