MPR: Family accuses Red Lake Nation of stealing land for a casino

Friday, November 5, 2010  

"Some members of an Ojibwe family in Warroad say the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe is evicting them from land they've lived on for generations, so the tribe can use the property for its casino.

The way Warroad resident Donald Kakaygeesick explains things, it's a case of David versus Goliath.

Kakaygeesick said Red Lake leaders have told him and his mother to be off the Lake of the Woods lakeshore property by Oct 15. But he refuses to leave, claiming the land is being stolen from them.

"I think there's fraud committed here," he said. "I think there's something really wrong here, and a crime has been committed."

That's one opinion of a complicated story that began more than 100 years ago. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt granted about 100 acres to Kakaygeesick's great-grandfather, a locally renowned Ojibwe chief named Everlasting Sky."

Get the Story:
Ojibwe family fights land sale for tribal casino (MPR 11/4)