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 US 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 Wisconsinin 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 foregone 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 US 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 this state."

This decision and concession 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 Ku Klux Klan.

In Minnesota, the same Treaty of 1847 is in federal district court in that state. This case stems from the Mlle Lacs Band of Ojibwe filing suit against the state of Minnesota in 1990 to allow the band 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.

WE URGE THE FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM OF THE US TO 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 ANYAND 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 US RECOGNIZE THE PRIOR AND INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF ALL NATIVE PEOPLE IN ALL HUNTING, FISHING AND GATHERING DISPUTES WITH NATIVE PEOPLE.


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