Little Traverse Bay Bands lose lawsuit over status of reservation

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians do not have a treaty-established reservation in Michigan, a federal judge ruled earlier this month.

The 1855 Treaty of Detroit established a 336 square-mile reservation for the tribe, the lawsuit asserted. But Judge Paul Maloney said the government-to-government agreement only promised allotments to Odawa families.

"Accordingly, the most basic treaty terms relating to land are clear and unambiguous from the face of the treaty," Maloney wrote in the decision issued August 15. "The United States obligated itself to withdraw from public sale swaths of land, as had been designated by the various bands at the Treaty Council. The purpose of the withdrawal was to ensure that adequate land was available to give every head of a family 80 acres of land (with smaller parcels for orphans and other eligible Indians)."

The tribe is evaluating its next steps, Chair Regina Gasco-Bentley said in a statement quoted by the local media. Taking the case to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the federal courts in Michigan, is one possibility.

“We are looking at our legal options and have no further comment,” Gasco-Bentley said in the statement.

The ruling comes as the tribe prepares for its 25th annual Sovereignty Day on September 21. The event commemorates the affirmation of the tribe's federal recognition through an act of Congress in 1994.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians v. Whitmer.