Montana Indians

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Montana Indians

• Reservations, Tribes, and
• OPIs Essential Understandings

2
Montana has seven reservations Blackfeet, Crow,
Flathead, Fort Belknap, Fort Peck, Northern
Cheyenne, Rocky Boys
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What is a reservation?

• Essential Understanding 4
• Reservations are lands that have been reserved by
  the tribes for their own use through treaties and
  were not given to them. The principle that
  land should be acquired from Indians only through
  their consent with treaties was based on three
  assumptions
• a. that both parties to treaties were sovereign
  powers
• b. that Indian tribes had some form of
  transferable title to the land and
• c. that acquisition of Indian lands was solely
  a government matter not to be left to individual
  colonists.

4
Background

• Indian Nations located in Montana Territory prior
  to the passage of the Montana Constitution in
  1889, held large land bases as negotiated through
  their treaties with the U.S. The treaties
  assigned tribes to certain areas and obligated
  them to respect the land of their neighbors.
  However, the mining invasions of the 1860s
  disrupted these areas as miners and others rushed
  into the prime gold fields that often lay within
  or along the designated tribal lands. The new
  inhabitants demanded federal protection thus
  beginning the garrisoning of Montana and the
  eventual relocation of the tribes to smaller and
  smaller reserves.

Blackfeet lands in Montana 1855-74
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• The federal government and Montana citizens did
  not understand the lifestyles of Montanas Indian
  tribes and therefore dealt with them from the
  non-Indian point of view and expectations.
• However, the federal government did understand
  that these tribal groups were sovereign nations
  and they needed to enter into treaty negotiations
  with them.

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Reservation Date Established
Names of Tribes
Blackfeet (Browning) 1851 Blackfeet
Crow (Crow Agency) 1851 Crow
Flathead (Ronan) 1855 Confederated Salish, Kootenai, Pend d Oreille
Fort Belknap (Ft. Belknap Agency) 1888 Assiniboine and Gros Ventre
Fort Peck (Poplar) 1888 Assiniboine and Sioux
Northern Cheyenne (Lame Deer) 1884 Northern Cheyenne
Rocky Boys (Rocky Boy Agency) 1916 Chippewa and Cree
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Before we begin our tour

• well need some more background information
  about Montanas Indian Nations
• The following information is based on Montana
  OPIs Essential Understandings regarding Montana
  Indians and the OPI publications Indians 101
  Frequently Asked Questions and Montana Indians
  Their History and Location

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Tribal Sovereignty

• Essential Understanding 7
• Under the American legal system, Indian tribes
  have sovereign powers separate and independent
  from federal and state governments. However, the
  extent and breadth of tribal sovereignty is not
  the same for each tribe.

9
Background

• Tribal sovereignty does not arise out of the U.S.
  government, congressional acts, treaties, or any
  other source outside the tribe. Its important
  to remember that before colonization, Indian
  tribes possessed complete sovereignty.
• Tribes are now classified as domestic dependent
  nations. As such, they have the power to
  determine their own membership structure and
  operate their tribal governments regulate
  domestic relations settle disputes manage their
  property and resources raise tax revenues
  regulate businesses and conduct relations with
  other governments.

10
Tribal governments

• Tribes have the inherent right to operate under
  their own system of government, and the
  relationship between tribes and the U.S. is one
  of sovereign nation to sovereign nation.
• Tribal governments have diverse structures. Many
  have adopted constitutions, others operate under
  Articles of Association, and some still maintain
  traditional systems of government. The chief
  executive of a tribe is generally called the
  tribal chairperson, but may also be called
  principal chief, governor, or president.

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Essential Understanding 3

• The ideologies of Native traditional beliefs and
  spirituality persist into modern day life as
  tribal cultures, traditions and languages are
  still practiced by many American Indian people
  and are incorporated into how tribes govern and
  manage their affairs.

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Common Misunderstandings

• To clear up some common misunderstandings, OPI
  published American Indians 101 Frequently Asked
  Questions. The next slides are excerpted from
  that publication, the Essential Understandings
  and Montana Indians Their History and Location

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Citizenship

• Citizenship American Indians became citizens of
  the U.S. in 1924 and are also citizens of the
  state in which they reside.
• Terminology While the term Native Americans
  came into usage in the 1960s, most tribal groups
  in Montana refer to themselves as American
  Indian.

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Taxes

• Both tribes and individual American Indians pay
  taxes.
• Individual American Indians pay federal income
  taxes, fuel and tobacco taxes. American Indians
  who work on a reservation do not pay state income
  taxesbecause that right is reserved to the
  tribes. American Indians working off the
  reservation do pay state income taxes.

Maria Valandra, Blackfeet, is Vice President for
Community Development for Montanas First
Interstate Bank system.
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• Tribal lands held in trust by the federal
  government are not subject to property tax, just
  as U.S. forest service land is not, because
  states cannot tax federal lands.
• This lack of a tax base is made up by the federal
  government. Counties in Montana are given
  Payment in Lieu of Taxes money to offset the
  tribal tax exempt lands within their boundaries.
  K-12 public schools within reservation boundaries
  are provided additional Impact Aid. (Impact aid
  is also provided to schools on military bases and
  other federal properties.)

16
Federal income

• American Indians do not receive payments from the
  federal government simply because they have
  American Indian blood.
• An American Indian person may receive
  distribution funds based on
• mineral or agricultural lease income on property
  that is held in trust by the United States
• for compensation for lands taken in connection
  with government projects.
• Some tribes receive benefits from the federal
  government in fulfillment of treaty obligations
  or for the extraction of tribal natural
  resources, a percentage of which may be
  distributed as per capita among the tribes
  membership.

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Federal Indian Trust Responsibility

• The Federal Indian Trust Responsibility is a
  legal obligation, upheld in numerous Supreme
  Court cases, under which the U.S. has charged
  itself with moral obligations of the highest
  responsibility and trust toward American Indian
  tribes.
• The federal government is obligated to protect
  tribal lands and resources protect tribes
  rights to self-government and provide social,
  medical, educational and economic development
  services necessary for the survival and
  advancement of tribes.

Snake Butte, Fort Belknap Reservation
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Treaty Rights

• From 1777 to 1871, U.S. relations with individual
  American Indian nations were conducted through
  treaty negotiations. These contracts created
  unique sets of rights for the benefit of each of
  the treaty-making tribes and the U.S. government.
  Those rights represent the supreme law of the
  land under the U.S. Constitution. Treaties
  exchanged tribal land for certain protections and
  benefits, commonly including, among other things
  
• hunting and fishing rights that may extend beyond
  reservation boundaries
• education of tribal children
• protection from the state by the federal
  government
• first priority water rights.

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Education College

• Tribal colleges exist on each of the
  reservations in Montana.
• American Indians do not receive a free college
  education. Montana has a fee waiver for American
  Indian students, but it is based upon financial
  need and only covers certain costs. College
  bound American Indian students fill out financial
  aid forms just like any other student.

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Public Schools

• Public schools began to operate on Indian
  reservations in Montana in the early 1900s, and
  Indian students began to enroll almost from the
  beginning. The curriculum offered limited
  information on the local Indian culture, history
  and traditions of the local tribal groups, and it
  did not encourage participation from local tribal
  government officials in its decision-making.
  This trend is now beginning to change.

Elementary School at Rocky Boy Agency
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Essential Understanding 5

• There were many federal policies put into place
  throughout American history that have impacted
  Indian people and shape who they are today. Much
  of Indian history can be related through several
  major federal policy periods, such as
• Colonization Period Tribal Reorganization
• Treaty Period Termination
• Allotment Period
  Self-Determination
• Boarding School Period

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Essential Understanding 6

• History is a story and most often related through
  the subjective experience of the teller.
  Histories are being rediscovered and revised.
  History told from an Indian perspective conflicts
  with what most of mainstream history tells us.
• Background Much of our history has been told
  from one perspective. It has been only recently
  that American Indians have begun to write about
  and retell history from an Indigenous perspective.

Ledger art at the Bighorn Battlefield offers
another perspective on the history of the battle
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Reservations in Montana A Tour
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There are twelve tribal Nations in Montana

• Assiniboine (Nakoda)
• Blackfeet (Pikuni)
• Chippewa (Anishinaabe)
• Cree
• Crow (Apsaalooke)
• Gros Ventre (White Clay)

• Kootenai (Kutanaxa)
• Little Shell Chippewa
• Pend d Oreille (Qaeispe)
• Northern Cheyenne
• Salish (Selin)
• Sioux (Dakota)

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Essential Understanding 1

• and there is great diversity among them, in
  their languages, cultures, histories, and
  governments. Each Nation has a distinct and
  unique cultural heritage that contributes to
  modern Montana.

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Essential Understanding 2

• There is a great diversity among individual
  American Indians, as identity is developed,
  defined and redefined by many entities,
  organizations, and people. There is a continuum
  of Indian identity ranging from assimilated to
  traditional and is unique to each individual.
  There is no generic American Indian.

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• So, its important to remember that not only is
  there a great diversity among tribes but that
  there is also great diversity within tribes.

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Blackfeet Reservation

• Home to the Blackfeet
• Total number of enrolled tribal members 15,118
• 8, 485 live on the reservation
• Lands
• Total acres 1,525,712
• 311,174.98 tribally owned the rest individually
  allotted, government, fee title or state lands
• Communities
• Browning, East Glacier, Babb, St. Mary, Starr
  School and Heart Butte
• College Blackfeet Community
  College

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Crow Reservation

• Home to the Crow
• Total number of enrolled members 10,333
• 7,153 live on the reservation
• Lands
• Total acres 2,464,914
• Tribally owned lands 404,272 the rest
  individually allotted, government, fee title or
  state lands
• Government and Cultural Districts
• Reno, Ledge Grass, Pryor, St. Xavier, Wyola, and
  Black Lodge
• College Little Bighorn College

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Flathead Reservation

• Home to the Salish, Kootenai and Pend dOreille
• Total number of enrolled members 6,961
• 4,244 live on the reservation
• Land
• Total acres 1,243,000 acres
• 613,273 are tribal trust lands the rest are
  tribal fee, individual trust, water, federal,
  state, town sites or fee land
• The Salish,Kootenai and
• Pend dOreille people are the minority
  population on their own reservation, although
  they now own 56 of their land.
• College Salish Kootenai College

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Fort Belknap Reservation

• Home to the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine
• Total number of enrolled members 7,303
• 5,771 live on the reservation
• Land
• Total acres 645,576
• 210,954 acres are tribally owned, the rest are
  individual allotments, fee title or state lands
  or government lands.
• 9,000 acres are non-Indian owned
• College Fort Belknap Community College

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Fort Peck Reservation

• Home to Nakoda (Assiniboine), Dakota and Lakota
  (Sioux)
• Enrolled Sioux members 6,969
• Enrolled Assiniboine 4,209
• Close to 1,000 members of other tribes
• Land
• Total acres 2,093,124
• 413,020 is tribal acreage, the rest is
  individually allotted, fee simple or state
  acreage
• College Ft Peck Community College

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Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa

• No reservation, but Morony Dam site pending
• Total number of enrolled members 3,850
• Many unenrolled Little Shell people in Montana
• The Metis number thousands in the U.S. and south
  central Canada
• Still waiting a ruling on federal recognition
• Populations concentrations in Great Falls, Havre,
  Lewistown, Helena, Butte, Chinook, Hays, Wolf
  Point, Hamilton, and Billings.

Morony Dam site, outside Great Falls
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Northern Cheyenne

• Home to Northern Cheyenne
• Total number of enrolled members approx. 7,374
• 4,199 live on the reservation
• Land
• Total acres 444,774.50 acres
• 326,546.81 acres are tribally owned, the rest are
  individual allotments, or fee title or state
  lands
• Non-Indians own about 30 percent of the fee or
  state lands on the reservation the tribe is
  looking to purchase more land.
• Five Districts Busby, Lame Deer, Ashland,
  Birney, and Muddy

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Rocky Boys Reservation

• Home to the Chippewa and Cree
• Reservation established by executive order in
  April of 1916, the smallest and last reservation
  to be established in Montana
• Total population of reservation
• approx. 5,000
• number of enrolled Chippewa Cree members 3,750
• Land
• Total acres 122,259
• All of the acreage is held in trust for the
  entire tribe it is unallotted
• College Stone Child College

Rocky Boy Agency
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Montana Urban Indians

• The term Urban Indian is sometimes confusing and
  complex, even among Indian people themselves.
  Because of the divisions and disenfranchisement,
  Indian people in Montana have been split into
  many communities, social structures, cultural
  groups and economic strata. This has resulted in
  reservation and off-reservation Indians, enrolled
  and non-enrolled Indians, treaty and non-treaty
  Indians, Indian reservations and Indian country,
  trust and non-trust lands, etc. This condition
  has sometimes caused strained relationships
  between the various groups and has led to
  confusion for young people.

Montana Wyoming Tribal Leadership Council

• Most of the urban Indian populations were created
  after W.W.II, when the federal government
  embarked on a policy to terminate federal
  recognition and services to reservations, and
  then later, during the 40s and 50s, to relocate
  them to cities. This policy moved several hundred
  thousand Indian people from reservations to
  cities.

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Indian Education for All

• Montana 1972 Constitution The state recognizes
  the distinct and unique cultural heritage of
  American Indians and is committed in its
  educational goals to the preservation of their
  cultural integrity.
• In 1999, House Bill 528 became law Every
  Montananwhether Indian or non-Indian, shall be
  encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique
  heritage of American Indians in a culturally
  responsive mannerall school personnel should
  have an understanding and awareness of American
  Indian tribes to help them relate effectively
  with American Indian students and parentsEvery
  educational agency and all educational personnel
  will work cooperatively with Montana tribeswhen
  providing instruction and implementing an
  educational goal.