(12) The Bureau of Indian Affairs lacked and 
lacks the legal authority to terminate a tribe that 
has been acknowledged by an Act of Congress. 
(13) In recent years, the Federal recognition of 
the following Michigan tribes, who were also denied 
the benefits of the Indian Reorganization Act, has 
been reaffirmed: 
(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 reaffirmed by the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Acknowl-
edgment 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 reaffirmed by an Act of Congress at the re-
quest of the Administration on September 8, 
1988. 
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(E) The Pokagon Indian Nation had its 
Federal status reaffirmed by an Act of Con-
gress on September 21, 1994. 
(F) The Huron Potawatomi Nation had its 
Federal status reaffirmed by the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs’ Branch of Acknowledgment and 
Research on March 17, 1996. 
(G) The Gun Lake Tribe (Match-She-Be- 
Nash-She-Wish) had its Federal status re-
affirmed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Of-
fice of Federal Acknowledgment on August 23, 
1999. 
(14) The Band has been consistently recognized 
by third parties as a distinct Indian community 
since well before 1900. 
(15) All of the Band’s adult members are the 
children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren of 
Indian persons who resided on or near Colonial 
Point or Indian Road at the time of the Burn Out. 
Most 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. 
(16) The Band’s families have and continue to 
provide mutual aid to each other, visit each other 
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regularly, mobilize to assist each other in times of 
need, practice traditional arts and crafts, gather for 
Ghost Suppers, decorate the graves of their ances-
tors, and participate in other traditional tribal cere-
monies and events. 
(17) Since 1829 the Band’s members have at-
tended and consistently mobilized to maintain the 
Indian Mission Church of St. Mary’s, first on Colo-
nial Point and later on Indian Road. The Band’s 
members have also worked together to maintain the 
Tribe’s 2 Indian cemetaries. They have also dug the 
graves and buried their relatives in those 2 Indian 
cemeteries for almost 200 years. 
(18) The Band’s members have throughout 
time made formal and informal decisions for the 
community. The Band has also organized 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 tra-
ditional language in their homes, and more than 50 
percent of those tribal members who were married 
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were married to other Ottawa and Chippewa individ-
uals. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘Band’’ or ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 
Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians 
which was previously called the Cheboigan or Che-
boygan Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; 
(2) the term ‘‘Burn Out’’ means the destruction 
of the Colonial Point Indian Village of the Burt 
Lake Band in 1900; 
(3) the term ‘‘OFA’’ means the Office of Fed-
eral Acknowledgment, a Branch of the United States 
Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian of Indian 
Affairs; and 
(4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Interior. 
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 
(a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.—Federal recognition of 
the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is 
hereby 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., commonly referred to as the ‘‘In-
dian Reorganization Act’’), which are inconsistent with 
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any specific provision of this Act shall not be applicable 
to the 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 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 
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 deliv-
ery of Federal services to the enrolled members of 
the 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 
located within 25 miles of the Tribe’s Cemetery 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 Band who reside or are domiciled 
outside this Service Area, or from otherwise expand-
ing the Band’s Service Area in compliance with ap-
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