Montana Anishinabe Economic Recovery: 2009 1st Annual Ojibwe Unity Walk

Monday, May 17, 2010

2009 1st Annual Ojibwe Unity Walk

This sign protests the lack of stimulus being directed at Rocky Boy's original people, the Ojibwes who called Hill 57, Great Falls, Montana home for over a century. The band, because of the denial of its sovereign authority; receives no federal funding--even though a treaty obligation exists to the Ojibwe people.

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A GOOD DEED IS AS GOOD AS WORSHIP

Anishinabe Chief Ghizihwiibenais, or Loud Thunder, was also known as Jim Gopher, he had a saying " A good deed is as good as worship. " Loud Thunder was identified in an early census in Great Falls, Cascade and scorned by census workers as a "bolshevik." The carrier and heir to the 13 Star Revolutionary Treaty Flag was labeled a communist at this era of backlash in the Congress against perceived enemies of the U.S. Although Loud Thunder inherited a great legacy, and preserved a great legacy of the American Revolution. His tradition continues. Today his descendants honor his legacy in a spirit of public service, unity and compassion for all citizens of this nation.

"LOVE ONE ANOTHER, TAKE CARE OF ONE ANOTHER"

These were the dying words of Chief Asiniweyin, or Rocky Boy, on April 18, 1916. The great Chief who campaigned for over thirty years for a home for his people, died at Ft. Asiniboine, near the entrance of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. The Chippewa were on the cusp of finally settling after a hard effort to establish the reservation, had resulted in many deaths. Their hope was quickly dashed as the federal government moved Canadian Cree under Imasees, and the descendants of Louis Riel onto the newly created landbase.

The Chippewa have faced profound dispossession since. Their original 1908 roll was quickly thrown out by the Dept. of Interior; this same agency created another roll to replace it; thereby establishing the "1917 TENTATIVE ROLL OF THE ROCKY BOY INDIAN RESERVATION." Its own paid anthropologist, John C. Ewers, noted that original Chippewa from the 1908 roll were only 45 people out of the 451 the Interior deemed "tribal members."

Federal neglect, omission and paternalism created further disasters: the 1934 tribal constitution created; the Chippewa Cree Tribe. The Chippewa dispute the legality of this entity. in its haste to exterminate Anishinabe aboriginal title of the Pembina cedes: The U.S. Court of Claims based judgment distributions of the Pembina awards of 1964 and1980--on the 1917 roll.

The dis-enrolled Chippewa now assert claims to the Pembina cedes that encompass the Bakken Formation in the cede areas. This is a claim they assert as autonomous people.