Indigenous Governance Database
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu
Climate change has impacted and will continue to impact indigenous peoples, their lifeways and culture,and the natural world upon which they rely, in unpredictable and potentially devastating ways. Many climateadaptation planning tools fail to address the unique needs, values and cultures of…
Sovereign Nations: Giving Visibility
Tribal nations have always had formal ways of self-governing. Take a closer look at local Tribes exercising their inherent rights to land, culture, and self-governance in a contemporary context. Produced in partnership with TPT-Twin Cities PBS and producer/director Missy Whiteman. Special thanks to…
The Ojibwe Language Program: Teaching Mille Lacs Band Youth the Ojibwe Language to Foster a Stronger Sense of Cultural Identity and Sovereignty
As part of its effort to assimilate American Indians into mainstream society, the federal government launched an assault on Native languages. For example, in the 1890s the government built twenty-five off-reservation boarding schools to which many Indian children were forcibly removed and where…
Mille Lacs Ojibwe Language Program
Created in 1995, this tribally funded program serves 350 students (from toddlers to teenagers) and uses elder-youth interaction, song books, and comic books to teach the Ojibwe language. In addition, the Program broadcasts language classes to local public schools in an effort to teach the Ojibwe…
Mille Lacs' Small Business Development Program
The Small Business Development Program assists Band members in developing the private sector economy by providing low-interest loans up to $75,000 to businesses that are at least 60 percent owned and operated by Band members located on or near the Reservation. The Program offers both "micro" loans…
Minnesota 1837 Ceded Territory Conservation Code (Mille Lacs)
In 1997, the Band successfully developed a conservation code that enables the Tribe to exercise its treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather. The Code sets out detailed hunting and fishing regulations for Band members that protect the natural resources while allowing for the continuation of…
Honoring Nations: What is Good Tribal Governance and Why is it Important?: Tribal Leaders' Perspectives
Moderator Joseph P. Kalt facilitates a rich discussion by an impressive panel of Native nation leaders about the role leaders play in building and sustaining successful tribal programs.
Honoring Nations: Miriam Jorgensen: Achieving Good Governance: Cross-Cutting Themes
Miriam Jorgensen, Director of Research for the Native Nations Institute and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, shares the cross-cutting themes of good governance that exist among the Honoring Nations award-winning programs.
Honoring Nations: Using Partnerships to Achieve Governing Goals
Heather Kendall-Miller moderates this panel of Native leaders for a discussion on building and maintaining intergovernmental relationships.
Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures Buys Oklahoma City Embassy Suites Hotel
Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV) announced on Friday that it has purchased the 236 room Embassy Suites Oklahoma City hotel, located at 1815 South Meridian in Oklahoma City. The purchase represents a strategic expansion into a growing market for the company...
Tribes across the country are re-examining their constitutions
Erma Vizenor is not exactly a revolutionary. But like America’s founders, she’s on a mission to ratify a new constitution in her homeland – the White Earth tribal nation. Most Americans don’t realize that tribes have their own constitutions, which set down rules for everything from tribal…
Mille Lacs Ojibwe leader Marge Anderson dies at 81
Marge Anderson, the first woman to lead a Minnesota Indian tribe and a driving force in efforts to secure tribal hunting and fishing rights on Lake Mille Lacs, died Saturday. Appointed chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in 1991, following the death of longtime tribal head Arthur…
PBS "We Shall Remain": Spotlight on Sovereignty
The federal government today recognizes 562 Indian tribes as sovereign nations within the United States. Tribal members are citizens of the United States and subject to federal laws, but as sovereign nations, tribes have retained some rights to govern their own people. The limits of these rights…