Stewart Huntington
ICT

ALONG THE SHORE OF UPPER RED LAKE, Minn. – Red Lake Nation citizen Migizi Spears stands in the tall grasses along the northeastern shore of Red Lake in northern Minnesota, looking out over the vast body of water his tribe holds sacred.

“This is the stolen part of the lake and stolen pieces of our land here,” he said.

Spears has joined direct actions along the disputed shoreline since 2011, asserting tribal fishing rights and stewardship of the territory.

“This is Red Lake Nation’s land,” said the activist and educator. “Over the time we’ve proven our points here.”

On five different occasions, Spears and colleagues have fished the waters outside of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fishing season – and without a state fishing license. He said each time they took the actions, they notified DNR officials and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office about what they planned to do. So far, they haven’t been arrested or cited for their purposeful breaches of state laws and regulations. Spears said if they ever do get formal challenges from state authorities they would seek redress in federal court.

“We’re in charge of this lake here,” he said.

Credit: A sign announcing tribal ownership is planted on a parcel of land along the northeastern shoreline of Red Lake in northern Minnesota. The Red Lake Nation has formally notified the U.S. Department of Interior that it wants to restore the full sovereignty over the lake that tribal leaders negotiated in 1889. (Stewart Huntington, ICT)

At issue is the boundary of the Red Lake Nation established in the Treaty of 1889. In that year, foresighted leaders of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians rebuffed federal efforts to divide, or alot, tribally owned territory into individually owned parcels. That allotment policy carved up U.S. reservations across the country and eased the way for non-Natives to swindle Indian land.

But that 1889 Red Lake victory came at a price. Tribal negotiators left concurrent talks about shrinking reservation boundaries confident they had secured at minimum a one-mile buffer zone around both the lower and upper stretches of Red Lake, the largest body of freshwater solely within the boundaries of a single U.S. state.

Credit: Red Lake Nation citizen Migizi Spears stands in the tall grasses along the northeastern shore of Red Lake in northern Minnesota. “This is the stolen part of the lake and stolen pieces of our land here,” he said. (Stewart Huntington, ICT)

To make their intentions abundantly clear, the Red Lake negotiators drew a line around the entire lake on an 1888 Rand McNally map. The map is referenced in contemporaneous documents.

But when the outlines of the new reservation were made final, somehow the upper reaches of the lake shore were not included in the tribe’s territory, and the map mysteriously disappeared.

Spears and his compatriots want that sleight-of-hand reversed and demand the boundaries their ancestors negotiated restored. This spring, the Red Lake Tribal Council joined the fight.

Credit: Red Lake Nation Chairman Darrell Seki displays a copy of a speech he delivered to his tribe this spring. “We own the whole lake and we're going after the part that was stolen from us by fraud and deceit by the United States government negotiators,” he said. (Stewart Huntington, ICT)

In his office overlooking the southern portion of Red Lake, tribal Chairman Darrell Seki shared with ICT a speech he gave to the tribe this spring that threw the weight of his government behind efforts to restore the late 19th Century reservation boundaries.

“In the 1889 Agreement, there is no question that the chiefs intended to retain the entire Upper and Lower Lakes together with the land on the east of the Lakes,” Seki said. “Despite the chiefs clear intent that the boundaries of the reservation would encompass the entirety of both upper and lower (portions of) Red Lake, approximately 30 percent of the lake is presently excluded for the boundaries of the reservation because Red Lake leaders had been deceived by negotiators acting on behalf of the United States.”

The tribe and its attorneys have presented their argument – in writing and in person – to Interior Department officials. They hope to avoid litigation but say they won’t shy from it if necessary.

“We own the whole lake, and we’re going after the part that was stolen from us by fraud and deceit by the United States government negotiators,” Seki said.

Watch: ICT’s Stewart Huntington interviews Red Lake Nation tribal leaders about their efforts to reclaim the northern shore of Red Lake.

Much of the land along the northeastern shore of the lake remains in a natural state and some of it is checkerboarded with tribally owned parcels abutting non-Native tracts.

The one non-Native hamlet, Washkish, has just a few dozen property owners and businesses that cater to summer boating and winter ice-fishing excursions.

Chief Seki stresses that the tribe’s quarrel is not with those citizens.

“The United States government should take care of the people that live on this side of the lake,” he said. “We’re not going after them. We’re going after the United States government, who defrauded and deceived our chiefs under the 1889 negotiations.”

Credit: Red lake Nation Tribal Secretary Samuel Strong sits in his office in Red Lake, Minnesota. “We've always seen the lake as one of our relatives,” he said. “The lake has always been a part of our reservation. And it was stolen through the broken treaties. It was stolen through the fraud of the federal government.” (Stewart Huntington, ICT)

Tribal Council Secretary Samuel Strong says the lake is much more than a place for recreation.

“We’ve always seen the lake as one of our relatives,” he said. “And as such, we have to protect our lake. When we think of the lake, we think, how do we make sure that the fish are strong and vibrant? How do we make sure that there are no invasive species coming on to the lake? How do we ensure that water quality is of the highest standards and that there is no pollution that could potentially harm our lake? And how do we protect this natural resource so it can be here forever and we can find that balance that our ancestors had within nature and bring that balance to our lake and to our entire region?

“The lake has always been a part of our reservation. And it was stolen through the broken treaties. It was stolen through the fraud of the federal government,” he said.

Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.

Stewart Huntington is an ICT producer/reporter based in central Colorado.