I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4802 
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt Lake Band 
as a distinct federally recognized Indian Tribe, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2006 
Mr. STUPAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt 
Lake Band as a distinct federally recognized Indian 
Tribe, 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 ‘‘Burt Lake Band of 
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Reaffirmation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The members of the Burt Lake Band of Ot-
tawa and Chippewa Indians, whose historic name is 
the Cheboigan (or Cheboygan) Band, are descend-
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ants and political successors to signatories of the 
1836 Treaty of Washington and the 1855 Treaty of 
Detroit. The Band was twice recognized by the 
United States, on a government-to-government rela-
tionship basis, through the execution and ratification 
of those treaties. 
(2) The 1836 Treaty of Washington provided 
that the Cheboigan Band would receive a reservation 
of 1,000 acres on the Cheboigan, within its aborigi-
nal territory, but the United States failed to provide 
that reservation. The 1855 Treaty of Detroit pro-
vided for the withdrawal of unsold lands in 2 Michi-
gan townships 35 North and 36 North Range 3 
West for the use of the Cheboygan Band, but due 
to the Federal Government’s failure to act, those 
members who selected allotments within that area 
were not awarded those individual land holdings 
until 3 years after a special Act of Congress was 
passed in 1872. 
(3) Between 1845 and 1850 the Band’s mem-
bers used treaty annuity payments to purchase land 
for the Band in Burt Township, Cheboygan County, 
Michigan. That land, called Colonial Point, was 
placed in trust with the Governor of Michigan on the 
advice of Federal Indian agents. 
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(4) During the next 50 years, questions arose 
regarding the taxability of the property, and the 
acreage was ultimately sold for back taxes in 1900. 
(5) After the Band was forcibly evicted from 
Colonial Point and its village was burned to the 
ground by its new owner, John McGinn, the major-
ity of the Band’s families took up residency on near-
by Indian Road on lands which other Band members 
had purchased or received as treaty allotments or 
homesteads. 
(6) In 1911, the United States filed suit in the 
United States Federal District Court for Eastern 
Michigan seeking to regain possession of the Colo-
nial Point Lands (United States v. McGinn, Equity 
No. 94, filed June 11, 1911). In its complaint, the 
United States advised the Court that it was suing on 
behalf of the: ‘‘Cheboygan band of Indians [which] 
is now and was at all the times mentioned in this 
bill of complaint a tribe of indians [sic] under the 
care, control, and guardianship of the plaintiff and 
said band is now and was at all times mentioned in 
this bill of complaint recognized by the plaintiff 
through its chiefs or head men which it annually 
elects.’’. 
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(7) In 1917, the Federal District Court decided 
the McGinn case against the United States finding 
that the language in the Colonial Point deeds did 
not prevent the Colonial Point land from being 
taxed. 
(8) Over the next 20 years, members of the 
Band asked the United States to appeal, or other-
wise rectify the District Court’s decision, but no 
Federal action was taken. Throughout this period, 
the United States continued to provide the Band 
and its members with many of the same Federal 
services that were being provided to other Indian 
tribes in Michigan. 
(9) The Act of June 18, 1934 (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ‘‘Indian Reorganization Act’’), 
authorized and directed the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs to provide technical assistance and Federal 
funds to petitioning tribes to assist them in reorga-
nizing their governments and improving their econo-
mies. Members of the Cheboigan Band, as well as 
members of other landless treaty Tribes in Michigan, 
submitted petitions to receive that assistance. Simi-
lar petitions were also submitted by 4 Michigan 
bands that still held communal lands. Possession of 
a tribal land base was a prerequisite to the receipt 
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of most of the Federal funds and services provided 
for in the Indian Reorganization Act. 
(10) While the Indian Reorganization Act di-
rected the Secretary to assist landless bands, like 
Burt Lake, and authorized Federal funds to acquire 
land for landless tribes, no Federal funds were ap-
propriated to acquire new tribal lands for any of the 
landless bands in Michigan. After struggling with 
this dilemma, the Bureau of Indian Affairs extended 
the benefits of the Indian Reorganization Act to only 
those 4 Michigan tribes that had an existing land 
base on the date of the enactment of the Indian Re-
organization Act. Of the Ottawa and Chippewa 
Tribes who signed the 1836 and 1855 Treaties, only 
1 group, the Bay Mills Indian Community was re-
affirmed. 
(11) The failure of the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs to grant Indian Reorganization Act benefits to 
the Cheboigan Band did not terminate the band’s 
government-to-government relationship with the 
United States, and Congress has never taken any 
action to terminate the Federal acknowledgment of 
the Burt Lake Band. 
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