complaint a tribe of indians [sic] under the care, con-
trol, 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.’’. 
(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, Acting Chief Enos 
Cabinaw, acting on behalf of the Cheboygan Band, 
asked the United States to appeal or otherwise 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 Affairs 
to provide technical assistance and Federal funds to 
petitioning tribes to assist them in reorganizing their 
governments and improving their economies. Members 
of the Cheboigan Band, as well as members of other 
landless treaty Tribes in Michigan, submitted peti-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
tions to receive that assistance. Similar 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 of most of the Federal 
funds and services provided for in the Indian Reorga-
nization 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, 
no Federal funds were appropriated to acquire new 
tribal lands for any of the landless bands in Michi-
gan. 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 en-
actment of the Indian Reorganization Act. Of the Ot-
tawa and Chippewa Tribes who signed the 1836 and 
1855 Treaties, only 1 group, the Bay Mills Indian 
Community, was organized under the Indian Reorga-
nization Act. 
(11) The failure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
to grant Indian Reorganization Act benefits to the 
Cheboigan Band did not terminate the band’s govern-
ment-to-government relationship with the United 
States, and Congress has never taken any action to 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
terminate Federal acknowledgment of the Burt Lake 
Band. 
(12) The Bureau of Indian Affairs does not have 
the legal authority to terminate a tribe that has been 
acknowledged by an Act of Congress. 
(13) Since 1972, the following Michigan tribes 
that were not organized under the Indian Reorganiza-
tion Act, have been recognized or reaffirmed as feder-
ally recognized Indian tribes: 
(A) The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chip-
pewa was reaffirmed by a Memorandum of the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs on September 7, 
1972. 
(B) The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa 
and Chippewa Indians was acknowledged by the 
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs on May 27, 
1980. 
(C) The Little Traverse Bay Bands of 
Odawa Indian and the Little River Band of Ot-
tawa Indians each had its Federal status re-
affirmed by an Act of Congress on September 21, 
1994. 
(D) The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake 
Superior Chippewa Indians had its Federal sta-
tus as a separate Indian tribe reaffirmed by an 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
Act of Congress at the request of the Administra-
tion on September 8, 1988. 
(E) The Pokagon Indian Nation had its 
Federal status reaffirmed by an Act of Congress 
on September 21, 1994. 
(F) The Huron Potawatomi Nation had its 
Federal status acknowledged by the Assistant 
Secretary of Indian Affairs on March 17, 1996. 
(G) The Gun Lake Tribe (Match-She-Be- 
Nash-She-Wish) had its Federal status acknowl-
edged by the Assistant Secretary of Indian Af-
fairs on August 23, 1999. 
(14) The Burt Lake Band has been consistently 
recognized by third parties as a distinct Indian com-
munity since well before 1900. 
(15) The Burt Lake Band consists of members 
who are the children, grandchildren, or great grand-
children of Indian persons who resided on or near Co-
lonial Point or Indian Road prior to 1910. The ma-
jority of the Band’s adult members grew up on or 
near Indian Road or had an immediate family mem-
ber who did. As the result, the Band’s members have 
maintained very close social and political ties. The 
Band has its own, well-defined membership criteria, 
which requires the maintenance of tribal relations. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
(16) The Burt Lake Band consists of families 
who have and continue to provide mutual aid to each 
other, visit each other regularly, mobilize to assist 
each other in times of need, practice traditional arts 
and crafts, gather for Ghost Suppers, decorate the 
graves of their ancestors, and participate in other tra-
ditional tribal ceremonies and events. 
(17) Since 1829 the Burt Lake Band’s members 
have attended and consistently mobilized to maintain 
the Indian Mission Church of St. Mary’s, first on Co-
lonial Point and later on Indian Road. The Burt 
Lake Band’s members have also worked together to 
maintain the Tribe’s 2 Indian cemeteries. They have 
also dug the graves and buried their relatives in those 
2 Indian cemeteries for almost 200 years. 
(18) The Burt Lake Band’s members have 
throughout time made formal and informal decisions 
for the community. The Burt Lake Band has also or-
ganized its own modern tribal government without 
the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 
(19) The majority of the Band’s elders have a 
high degree of Indian blood and continue to speak the 
Ottawa language when they gather with each other. 
Before World War II, more than 50 percent of the 
Burt Lake families were still speaking the traditional 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
language in their homes, and more than 50 percent 
of those tribal members who were married were mar-
ried to other Ottawa and Chippewa individuals. 
(20) There is no evidence that the Band has will-
fully abandoned tribal relations and there is no evi-
dence that the Congress has taken any legal action to 
terminate its government-to-government relations 
with the Burt Lake Band. 
(21) Because the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed 
to review the Band’s petition for over 20 years, a per-
centage of the Band’s members enrolled in other 
Tribes in order to obtain the Federal services, most 
notably health care and prescription drug assistance, 
that they were legally entitled to, but denied as mem-
bers of Burt Lake. This step was often taken on the 
advice of one or more employees of the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs. This duel enrollment situation has now 
created a new problem for the Band’s reaffirmation, 
because the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ current regula-
tions prohibit it from recognizing a tribe when a part 
of the tribe’s community is or was enrolled in another 
federally recognized tribe. 
(22) In September 2006, the Assistant Secretary 
of Indian Affairs denied the Burt Lake Band’s peti-
tion for recognition even though it found that the 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
Burt Lake Band has been identified as an Indian en-
tity by scholars, local and State officials, and other 
tribes, and even though it found that the members of 
the Burt Lake Band maintain a strong Indian com-
munity. In its letter denying the Burt Lake Band’s 
petition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs stated that 
‘‘Congress may consider taking legislative action to 
recognize petitioners that do not meet the specific re-
quirements of the acknowledgment regulations but 
may have merit.’’. 
(23) The Burt Lake Band has exhausted its ad-
ministrative remedies, therefore this Act is both nec-
essary and appropriate. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
apply: 
(1) The term ‘‘Burt Lake Band’’ means the Burt 
Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a con-
tinuously existing historical tribe of Indians descend-
ing from the Cheboygan band which was included in 
treaties with the United States in 1836 and 1855 and 
descending from the Indian Village at Burt Lake in 
1900. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
(2) The term ‘‘Indian Reorganization Act’’ 
means the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et 
seq.). 
(3) The term ‘‘OFA’’ means the Office of Federal 
Acknowledgment, a branch of the United States De-
partment of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian of Indian 
Affairs. 
(4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of 
the Interior. 
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 
(a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.—The Burt Lake Band of 
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is hereby reaffirmed as a 
federally recognized Indian tribe. All laws and regulations 
of the United States of general application to Indians or 
nations, tribes, or bands of Indians, including the Indian 
Reorganization Act, which are inconsistent with any spe-
cific provision of this Act shall not be applicable to the Burt 
Lake Band and its members. 
(b) FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Burt Lake Band and its members shall 
be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the 
Federal Government to Indians because of their status 
as federally recognized Indians without regard to the 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
existence of a reservation or the location of the resi-
dence of any member on or near any Indian reserva-
tion. 
(2) SERVICE AREA.—For purposes of the delivery 
of Federal services to the enrolled members of the Burt 
Lake Band and to other Indians, all of Cheboygan 
County Michigan, and any area in the State of 
Michigan that is outside of Cheboygan County, but lo-
cated within 25 miles of the Burt Lake Band’s Ceme-
tery at the St. Mary’s Indian Mission Church, shall 
be deemed to be within the Service Area of the Burt 
Lake Band. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit 
the Federal Government from providing services to 
members of the Burt Lake Band who reside or are 
domiciled outside this Service Area, or from otherwise 
expanding the Burt Lake Band’s Service Area in 
compliance with applicable Federal law and policy. 
Nothing in this subsection is intended to diminish or 
alter the service area of another Federally recognized 
Indian tribe. If any part of the Burt Lake Band’s 
service area overlaps with the service area of another 
federally recognized Indian tribe, that overlap shall be 
addressed in compliance with existing Federal poli-
cies and regulations. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
SEC. 5. REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—All rights and privileges of the Burt 
Lake Band and its members, which may have been abro-
gated or diminished before the date of the enactment of this 
Act are hereby reaffirmed. 
(b) EXISTING RIGHTS OF BURT LAKE BAND.—Noth-
ing in this Act shall be construed to diminish any right 
or privilege of the Burt Lake Band or of its members that 
existed before the date of the 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 affecting any legal or equitable claim the Burt Lake 
Band may have to enforce any right or privilege reserved 
by or granted to the Burt Lake Band which was wrongfully 
denied to or taken from the Burt Lake Band before the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 6. TRIBAL LANDS. 
The Secretary shall acquire real property in Che-
boygan County in trust for the benefit of the Burt Lake 
Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, if at the time of 
such acceptance by the Secretary, there are no adverse legal 
claims on such property, including outstanding liens, mort-
gages or taxes owed, and the Secretary has confirmed that 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 has been 
complied with regarding the trust acquisition of the prop-
erty. After being taken into trust, such lands shall become 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
part of the initial reservation of the Burt Lake Band at 
the request of the Burt Lake Band. The Secretary is also 
authorized to acquire and accept real property in other geo-
graphic areas into trust for the benefit of the Burt Lake 
Band and to declare those lands to be a part of the Burt 
Lake Band’s Reservation consistent with applicable law. 
SEC. 7. MEMBERSHIP. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The initial membership of the Burt 
Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians shall consist 
of persons who can present evidence, acceptable to the Burt 
Lake Band, showing that they meet the requirements of sub-
section (b), and persons who meet such other requirements 
as are specified by the Burt Lake Band in its Burt Lake 
Band’s Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance as the 
same may be from time-to-time amended. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA.— 
(1) To qualify for membership in the Burt Lake 
Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a person 
must be able to demonstrate through evidence accept-
able to the Burt Lake Band that the person meets at 
least 1 of the following requirements: 
(A) The person descends from a tribal mem-
ber who was domiciled at Colonial Point, Burt 
Township, Cheboygan County, Michigan, before 
or at the time that the Burt Lake Band’s village 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
was burned in October 1900, as the tribal mem-
bers are identified as Colonial Point residents in 
the case files of the litigation initiated by John 
W. McGinn to evict former residents from that 
land, or in the list prepared in or about 1950 as 
the Albert Shananaquet list of pre-1900 village 
residents, or both. 
(B) The person descends from a tribal mem-
ber who is listed on the 1900 or 1910 Burt Lake 
Township Federal Census, Indian Enumeration 
Schedule. 
(C) The person has an Indian ancestor who 
was, prior to 1910, living in tribal relations 
with the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chip-
pewa Indians as the Burt Lake Band is defined 
in this Act. 
(2) In addition to the requirements under para-
graph (1), to qualify for membership in the Burt 
Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a per-
son must be able to demonstrate through evidence ac-
ceptable to the Burt Lake Band that the person meets 
all of the following criteria: 
(A) That the person is in tribal relations 
with other Burt Lake Band members. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00015
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
(B) That the person’s ancestors have lived 
in tribal relations with other Burt Lake Band 
members on a substantially continuous basis 
from 1910 to the present. 
(C) That the person has a completed tribal 
membership enrollment file as prescribed by the 
Tribal Enrollment Ordinance. 
(D) That the person’s membership applica-
tion has been processed and that the person has 
been approved for membership in the Burt Lake 
Band in the manner prescribed by the Tribal 
Enrollment Ordinance. 
(c) BASE ROLL.—The Burt Lake Band shall provide 
a copy of the base roll of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa 
and Chippewa Indians to the Assistant Secretary for Indi-
ans Affairs not later than 12 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. The base roll shall consist of the 320 
persons whose names were listed on the official roll of the 
Burt Lake Band which were members submitted by the 
Burt Lake Band to the OFA on May 2, 2005, and shall 
also include the biological sons and daughters who were 
born to those members between the submission of that list 
and the enactment of this Act. The Base Roll shall also in-
clude those descendants of Burt Lake members who— 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00016
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
(1) meet the enrollment criteria established by 
this section; 
(2) seek enrollment in the Burt Lake Band not 
later than 12 months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act; and 
(3) are accepted for enrollment in the Burt Lake 
Band in the manner prescribed by the Burt Lake 
Band’s Constitution. 
SEC. 8. CONSTITUTION. 
The initial constitution of the Burt Lake Band shall 
be the constitution that the Burt Lake Band submitted to 
the OFA on May 2, 2005. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00017
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 512 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1575 
[Report No. 110–794] 
A BILL 
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of 
the Burt Lake Band as a distinct federally recog-
nized Indian Tribe, and for other purposes. 
JULY 29, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 6651
Sfmt 6651
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS