John Coleman (colemanj@calshp.cals.wisc.edu

The Ojibwe (Chippewa) treaty controversy has now spread to Minnesota. On
Saturday night, April 24, 1993, ten Ojibwe had their spearing poles
confiscated, and were issued citations by the Minnesota DNR on Lake Mille
Lacs, between the Twin Cities and Duluth. Their action sets up a court test
case on the 1837 and 1855 treaties. These treaties guaranteed the Ojibwe's
right to hunt and fish in what is now northern Wisconsin, western Michigan,
and north-eastern Minnesota.

The attempted spearfishing involved Ojibwe tribal members from Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Michigan. The two treaties were signed before the states or
reservations were created, so the ceded territories transcend state
boundaries. According to many traditional Ojibwe, the treaties are also not
the exclusive domain of the tribal governments formed by the U.S. in the 1930s, but protect the rights of all individual Ojibwe.

Last year, the DNR signed an agreement with the Mille Lacs Reservation tribal
government, exchanging money for limitations on the spear-fishing and
gillnetting allowed under the treaties. The limitation include the exclusion
of non-Mille Lacs Ojibwe, lower harvest numbers, and the de facto
de-recognition of the 1855 Treaty. Two reservation enclaves within the 1855
territory, Sandy Lake and East Lake, are trying to secede to form their own
reservation.

Meanwhile, anti-treaty protests have also spread to Minnesota. While no
organized protests met the spearers, members of the Hunting and Angling Clu
have rallied at the State Capitol to oppose treaty rights. The group is led by
Howard Hansen and former Vikings football coach Bud Grant. They oppose the DNR-Mille Lacs agreement for allowing any tribal fishing at all. Their
position reflects the opposition of PARR and STA to similar but unsuccessful
deals in Wisconsin.

Tribal members, and leaders of the newly formed Anishinabe Liberation Front, invited supporters to witness the spearing. Among the spearers penalized were the elders Bea Swanson (White Earth, Minn.), Mike Chosa (Lac du Flambeau, Wisc.), and George Cardinal (Keweenaw Bay, Mich.). They were charged with possession of a spearing pole, recalling the state repression of spearers in Wisconsin before a 1974-90 federal court case recognized the treaties. The Ojibwe are attempting to get similar recognition for their sovereign rights in Minnesota.