I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 939
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Swan Creek Black
River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan as a distinct federally
recognized Indian tribe and to restore aboriginal rights, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 8, 2001
Mr. KNOLLENBERG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Swan
Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michi-
gan as a distinct federally recognized Indian tribe and
to restore aboriginal rights, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Swan Creek Black
River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan Act’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the Swan Creek
and Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of
Michigan;
(2) the term ‘‘member’’ means an individual
who is eligible for enrollment in the Tribe pursuant
to section 7;
(3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior; and
(4) the ‘‘Indian Reorganization Act’’ means the
Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Tribe is the political descendant of cer-
tain signatories of the 1785 Treaty of McIntosh (7
Stat. 16); the 1789 Treaty of Fort Harmar (7 Stat.
28); the 1795 Treaty of Greenville (7 Stat. 49); the
1805 Treaty with the Wyandot (7 Stat. 87); the
1807 Treaty of Detroit (7 Stat. 105); the 1808
Treaty of Detroit (7 Stat. 112); the Treaty of 1815
(7 Stat. 131); the Treaty of 1816 (7 Stat. 146); the
Treaty of 1817 (7 Stat. 160); the Treaty of 1833
(7 Stat. 431); the 1836 Treaty of Washington (7
Stat. 503); the 1855 Treaty of Detroit (11 Stat.
633); and the Treaty of 1864 (14 Stat. 657).
(2) The Tribe is the political successor to the
Swan Creek Black River leadership who signed 4 of
the forenamed treaties: the 1807 Treaty of Detroit
(7 Stat. 105); the 1836 Treaty of Washington (7
Stat. 503); the 1855 Treaty of Detroit (11 Stat.
633); and the Treaty of 1864 (14 Stat. 657).
(3) The aboriginal lands of the Tribe, as de-
fined in the aforementioned treaties, comprise the
area which is now located in the State of Michigan,
beginning at a point north of the mouth of the
Miami River at the present day western boundary of
Lenawee County where it intersects with the north-
ern boundary of the State of Ohio, and running due
north to a point in Shiawasee County that intersects
a parallel of latitude equal to the outlet of Lake
Huron which forms the mouth of the St. Clair River,
thence running northeast in a direct line to White
rock in Huron County, at the shoreline of Lake
Huron, thence east until it intersects the boundary
lines between the United States of America and
Canada at the midpoint of Lake Huron, and thence
due south along the centerline of Lake Huron
through the River St. Clair, Lake St. Clair, the De-
troit River, and into Lake Erie, to a point where the
boundary line of Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario cov-
erage and intersect, and thence due southwest along
said boundary of Michigan to the boundary line be-
tween Michigan and Ohio, and thence due west to
the point and place of beginning.
(4) As a result of the cession treaties, from the
1807 Treaty of Detroit through the 1836 Treaty of
Washington, the Tribe was compelled to withdraw
from most of its intrinsically valuable aboriginal
lands in southeastern lower Michigan. In return, the
Federal Government dedicated specific tracts of res-
ervation land in Macomb and St. Clair Counties in
Michigan, and nominal annuity payments by the
United States Government were available to tribal
members. These annuity payments resulted in 17
separate Swan Creek Black River annuities that sur-
vived from 1818 to 1867.
(5) The 1836 Treaty of Washington compelled
the Tribe to further withdraw from the small tracts
of land granted in southeastern lower Michigan by
the 1807 Treaty of Detroit, in return for future an-
nuity payments and land west of the Mississippi
River. The 1836 treaty did not require any member
of the Tribe to move to Kansas and only 51 mem-
bers actually relocated. According to the 1845
United States Richmond census, the vast majority of
the Tribe under the leadership of Ona Way Tuck
Quod Too, migrated north to Lapeer County, Michi-
gan, or remained on smaller tracts of land situated
within the boundaries of Macomb, western Wayne,
eastern Washtenaw, St. Clair, and southern Oakland
Counties.
(6) Pursuant to the 1855 Treaty of Detroit,
members of the Tribe withdrew and relocated from
their remaining lands in Lapeer, Macomb, Wayne,
Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Oakland Counties in
Michigan, to nonaboriginal, nonhistoric, reservation
lands further north in Isabella County, Michigan,
where tribal members were eligible for individual
land allotments. Many tribal members, however, con-
tinued to remain on land holdings in their aboriginal
lands in Lapeer, Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, and
St. Clair Counties. For administrative convenience,
the Federal Government placed multiple tribes on
these newly established reservation lands in Isabella
County.
(7) The stated purpose of the 1855 Treaty of
Detroit was to resolve the multiple outstanding legal
and equitable claims of all the tribes on the Isabella
Indian Reservation against the United States by
providing land, annuity payments, and other bene-
fits. The intent to maintain separate tribal identities
was reflected throughout the 1855 Treaty by ref-
erences to the distinct tribes as separate political en-
tities to the agreement. The Preamble text clearly
identified each of the tribes by reference to the sepa-
rate treaties previously signed by each chief or head-
men of their respective tribes. Article 2 of the treaty
makes an implied reference to separateness. In Arti-
cle 3, the tribes were expressly separated and indi-
vidually identified by the words ‘‘the said Chippewas
of Saginaw, and of Swan Creek and Black River’’.
Finally, Article 6 specifically dispels the notion that
the grouping of the Swan Creek and Black River
Tribes and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe should be
for anything more than the specific purpose of Fed-
eral administrative convenience. The temporary
counsel as a tribal organization, was without perma-
nent delegation by providing that: ‘‘The tribal orga-
nization of said Indians, except so far as may be
necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the
provisions of this agreement, is hereby dissolved.’’
The reference to the ‘‘Tribal Organization’’ dissolved
refers only to the entity that would provide distribu-
tion of land as required by the treaty of 1855.
(8) Over time and without justification, the
Federal Government unilaterally lapsed its relation-
ship with the Tribe through the treaties described
above. The Tribe brought suit against the Federal
Government for amounts past due under those trea-
ties. In 1910 and 1924, the Congress enacted juris-
dictional acts (36 Stat. 829 and 43 Stat. 137, re-
spectively) to enable both the Tribe and the Saginaw
Band of Chippewa, as distinct plaintiffs, to file their
respective claims against the United States. These
claims, filed in 1927, were later incorporated into a
combined cause of action for purposes of Federal ad-
ministrative convenience into Indian Claims Com-
mission Dockets 57, 59, 13–E, 13–H, and 13–1,
and United Claims Court Docket 13–F. However,
the 2 distinct tribes were retained in the distribution
judgment, and Congress ratified the same in 1986
through enactment of Public Law 99–346 (100 Stat.
674).
(9) In 1935, the Tribe petitioned for reorga-
nization and sought to reaffirm its sovereign status
by requesting assistance pursuant to the Indian Re-
organization Act.
(10) In 1939, without resolution of the Tribe’s
demand for recognition and reaffirmation, agents of
the Federal Government made an administrative de-
cision not to provide services or extend benefits pur-
suant to the Indian Reorganization Act to any addi-
tional Indian tribes located in Michigan’s lower pe-
ninsula. The Swan Creek Black River Ojibwa was a
signatory and recognized by the following treaties;
the 1807 Treaty of Detroit (7 Stat. 105), the 1819
Treaty of Saginaw (7 Stat. 203), the March 28,
1836 Treaty of Washington (7 Stat. 491), and the
May 9, 1836 Treaty of Washington (7 Stat. 503),
therefore, their petition under the Indian Reorga-
nization Act should have been honored as other
Michigan tribes. Additionally, the Swan Creek Black
River Tribe has never been formally dissolved by the
Federal Government.
(11) Despite administrative denials of requests
by the Tribe to establish an organization according
to Federal forms of tribal government, the Tribe
continued to carry out its traditional sovereign tribal
functions through various formal and informal polit-
ical institutions, social structures, and actions, in-
cluding a representative Tribal Council. Between
1937 and 1991, the Tribe conducted many of its
governmental functions through tribal based associa-
tions organized by Swan Creek Black River mem-
bers, including the Saginaw Rural and Urban Indian
Association. In 1991, the Tribe chartered within the
State a historic, nonprofit, tribal government, and
agreed to seek Federal reaffirmation of its Confed-
eration of Swan Creek and Black River Ojibwa
Bands as a distinct sovereign tribe.
(12) Other tribes in Michigan, whose members
are descendants of the signatories to 1 or more of
the treaties listed in section 3(1) have been acknowl-
edged, reaffirmed, and restored by the Federal Gov-
ernment as distinct Indian tribes, separate and
apart, including the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Indians, the Huron Potawatomi Band of Indians,
the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa In-
dians, the Bay Mills Band of Chippewa Indians, the
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Ottawa Indians, and
the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Potawatomi. Due
process and treaty rights require that restoration be
provided for the Tribe.
(13) In light of the Federal treaty relations be-
tween the Tribe and the United States, recognition
as a tribe as defined by Acts of Congress, to provide
Federal restoration of the Tribe’s rights in lands
and funds, it is appropriate for Congress to restore,
affirm, and clarify the Federal relationship of the
Tribe in the same manner as Congress has affirmed
Federal recognition of the Lac Vieux Desert Band
of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, the Sault St.
Marie Band of Chippewa, the Pokagon Band of Pot-
awatomi Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of
Odawa Indians, and the Little River Band of Ot-
tawa Indians.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL REAFFIRMATION AND RESTORATION.
(a) FEDERAL
REAFFIRMATION
AND
RESTORA-
TION.—Federal recognition of the Swan Creek Black
River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan Indians is
hereby restored and reaffirmed. All laws and regulations
of the United States of general application to Indians or
nations, tribes, or bands of Indians, including the Act of
June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) which are not in-
consistent with any specific provision of this Act, shall be
applicable to the Tribe and its members.
(b) FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Tribe and its members
shall be eligible, on and after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, for all future services and benefits
provided by the Federal Government to federally rec-
ognized Indian tribes without regard to the existence
of a reservation for the Tribe or the location of the
residence of any member on or near any Indian res-
ervation.
(2) SERVICE AREA.—For purposes of the deliv-
ery of Federal services to enrolled members of the
Tribe, the Tribe’s service area shall be deemed to be
the area comprised of Monroe, Lapeer, Lenawee,
Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Washtenaw,
and portions of Sanilac, Shiawassee, Genesee, and
Tuscola Counties that were lands in southeastern
lower Michigan reserved to the Swan Creek Black
River Bands in the 1807 Treaty of Detroit (as later
confirmed in the Treaty of 1864).
SEC. 5. REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—All rights and privileges of the
Tribe, and the members thereof, which may have been ab-
rogated or diminished before the date of enactment of this
Act are hereby restored.
(b) EXISTING RIGHTS OF TRIBE.—Nothing in this
Act shall be construed to diminish any right or privilege
of the Tribe, or the members thereof, that existed prior
to the date of enactment of this Act. Except as otherwise
specifically provided in any other provision of this Act,
nothing in this Act shall be construed as altering or affect-
ing any legal or equitable claim the Tribe may have to
enforce any right or privilege reserved by or granted to
the Tribe which was wrongfully denied or taken from the
Tribe prior to the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 6. TRIBAL LANDS.
The tribal lands of the Tribe shall consist of all real
property, now or hereafter held in trust for the Tribe. Pur-
suant to section 5 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C.
465), not later than 6 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary shall acquire and take into
trust for the benefit of the Tribe not less than 250 acres
of land located in the service area specified in section
4(b)(2) as restored lands for the Tribe. Such land shall
become the initial reservation of the Tribe. Thereafter, the
Secretary may accept additional land in trust for the ben-
efit of the Tribe within its service area and such additional
land shall become part of the Tribe’s reservation.
SEC. 7. MEMBERSHIP.
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Tribe shall submit to the Secretary
a membership roll consisting of all individuals enrolled as
members of the Tribe. The qualification for inclusion on
the membership roll of the Tribe shall be determined in
accordance with Article II, section 1, paragraph (a) of the
Tribe’s Constitution. The Tribe shall ensure that such
membership roll is maintained and kept current.
SEC. 8. CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNING BODY.
(a) CONSTITUTION.—
(1) ADOPTION.—Not later than 24 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Tribe shall conduct, by secret ballot, an election to
adopt a constitution and bylaws for the Tribe.
(2) INTERIM
GOVERNING
DOCUMENTS.—Until
such time as a new constitution is adopted under
paragraph (1), the governing documents in effect on
the date of enactment of this Act shall be the in-
terim governing documents for the Tribe.
(b) OFFICIALS.—
(1) ELECTION.—Not later than 6 months after
the Tribe adopts a constitution and bylaws pursuant
to subsection (a), the Tribe shall conduct elections
by secret ballot for the purpose of electing officials
for the Tribe as provided in the constitution and by-
laws.
(2) INTERIM GOVERNMENT.—Until such time
as the Tribe elects new officials pursuant to para-
graph (1), the governing body of the Tribe shall be
the governing body in place on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, or any new governing body selected
under the election procedures specified in the in-
terim governing documents of the Tribe.
SEC. 9. JURISDICTION.
The Tribe shall have jurisdiction to the full extent
allowed by law over all lands taken into trust for the ben-
efit of the Tribe by the Secretary. The Tribe shall exercise
jurisdiction over all its members, who reside within its
service area, as specified in section 4(b)(2), in matters
pursuant to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25
U.S.C. 1901 et seq.) as if the members were residing upon
a reservation as defined in that Act.
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