Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (), also known as the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe located in east-central Minnesota. The Band has 4,302 members as of 2012. Its homeland is the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation, consisting of District I (near Onamia), District II (near McGregor), District IIa (near Isle), and District III (near Hinckley). The Mille Lacs Band is one of six members of the federally recognized Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, which they organized in 1934. The other members are the White Earth Band, Leech Lake Band , Grand Portage Band, Bois Forte Band, and Fond du Lac Band. "Chippewa," is a term commonly used in the United States to refer to Ojibwe people; the Mille Lacs Band prefers the term "Ojibwe," which is also more common in Canada. Clans. There are eight major "doodem" (or clan) types found among the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. They are "Bizhiw" (Lynx), "Makwa" (Bear), "Waabizheshi" (Marten) "Awaazisii" (Bullhead), "Ma'iingan" (Wolf), "Migizi" (Bald Eagle), "Name" (Sturgeon) and "Moozens" (Little Moose). The historical Mille Lacs Band of Mdewakanton Dakota was part of the historical Mille Lacs Indians. The Snake River Band of  Isanti Dakota became part of the historical St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which is today known as the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. Due to some of these Dakota ancestry, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have a high degree of "Ma'iingan-doodem" members. History. According to oral traditions, the Ojibwe, part of the Algonquian languages-speaking peoples, coalesced on the Atlantic coast of North America. About 500 years ago, the ancestors of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe began migrating west. This tradition has been confirmed by linguistic and archeological evidence. After driving previously settled Dakota villagers  from the area in the mid-1700s, the Ojibwe had become established in the region around Mille Lacs Lake in what is today East Central Minnesota. They had a varied diet based on the resources of the area and hunted deer, bear, moose, waterfowl, and small game; fished the area's lakes and streams; gathered wild rice, maple sugar, nuts and berries; and cultivated some plants. Europeans started arriving, among them French, British and American fur traders. Some European colonists stayed and began to compete with the Mille Lacs Band for resources and to encroach on their land. Such settlers continued  to violate the treaties and agreements which the Mille Lacs Band made with the United States and British representatives over the decades. The Ojibwe also suffered because of new infectious diseases, which killed many. By the end of the nineteenth century, only a few hundred Ojibwe remained on the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation. At that time, pressing for assimilation, the United States government prohibited the Ojibwe from practicing their religion (many had converted to Catholicism but still combined it with traditional prayers and rituals), tried to have their children sent to boarding schools at which they were forced to learn  and speak English, and virtually denied their right to govern themselves. Their traditional way of life was nearly impossible to follow. When the Sioux hostilities broke out in 1862 Chief Hole in the Day made threats to take north to war too. Chief Mou-zoo-mau-nee of the Mille Lacs Band sent 300 warriors to the Fort Ripley to aid in its defense. The State erected a large monument to the Chief and the Lille Lacs band at Fort Ridgely cemetery in 1914 for their service to the State. Over the next century, Ojibwe bands in the Mille Lacs  region struggled with poverty and despair. With the passage of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the bands of the Mille Lacs region joined five others in forming the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, organized 1934-1936. The four historical bands in the Mille Lacs region (Mille Lacs Indians, Sandy Lake Band, Rice Lake Band of Mississippi Chippewa, and Snake and Kettle River Bands of St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota) were reorganized as the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. In the early 1990s, the Band opened Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley. Since then, casino revenues have allowed the Mille  Lacs Band to strengthen its cultural identity, return to economic self-sufficiency, rebuild its reservation, and increase the prosperity of the entire region. Tribal government. The Mille Lacs Band has a separation-of-powers form of government, making it one of the few Native American governments with three branches of government, similar to the government structure of the United States. Executive branch. The current Chief Executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is Melanie Benjamin. The Chief Executive, who is elected by Band members every four years, is the head of the executive branch. She appoints commissioners who are  ratified by the Band Assembly to oversee the various departments in the executive branch. Legislative branch. The legislative branch of the Band’s government, known as the Band Assembly, consists of one Representative from each of the reservation’s three districts and a Secretary/Treasurer who presides over the Band Assembly as its Speaker. Each Representative is elected by the people of his or her district to serve a four-year term in the Band Assembly. Band members who live off the reservation select a home district and vote only for a Representative from that district. The Secretary/Treasurer is  elected by all Band members. The current Secretary/Treasurer of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is Sheldon Boyd, Speaker of the Band Assembly elected in April 2018. Judicial branch. The Chief Justice of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is Rayna Mattinas. The judicial branch includes the Chief Justice and the Court of Central Jurisdiction, which consists of three appellate justices and one district judge.