White Earth Nation

White Earth Nation Adopts New Constitution

Producer
MR Online
Year

In a historic vote, on November 19, 2013, the White Earth Nation in northwestern Minnesota became the first member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT) to adopt a new constitution. Of the 3,492 ballots counted, the vote was 2,780 in favor and 712 opposed, a 79 percent approval. Since the ballots were secret, there is no way to know the demographic breakdown of those who voted. But with a membership of nearly twenty thousand, the rather low participation seems to reflect a certain apathy on the part of many tribal members. Still, the turnout was twice that for most tribal elections. (Anecdotally, of several tribal members I know, only one had read the proposed constitution and none voted.) But the small turnout in no way diminishes the significance of the vote. "Since the White Earth Reservation was established in 1867, this is the most monumental, historic moment in our history, White Earth Tribal Chairperson Erma Vizenor told the Forum News Service...

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Thorstad, David. "White Earth Nation Adopts New Constitution." MR Online. November 21, 2013. Article. (https://mronline.org/2013/11/21/thorstad211113-html/, accessed February 12, 2024)

Leech Lake, Red Lake Ojibwe bands moving on constitutional reform

Author
Year

On Tuesday, tribal members of the White Earth Nation voted resoundingly to adopt their own constitution and eventually split from the 80-year-old Minnesota Chippewa Tribe constitution that dictates the laws of many Ojibwe tribes in the state.

Neighboring Ojibwe bands at Leech Lake and Red Lake may not be far behind in similar constitution reform efforts. Reformers with both bands said Wednesday they are working to gauge what the people want in their new framework...

Resource Type
Citation

Kayser, Zach. "Leech Lake, Red Lake Ojibwe bands moving on constitutional reform." Bemidji Pioneer. November 20, 2013. Article. (http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/content/leech-lake-red-lake-ojibwe-bands-m..., accessed November 22, 2013)

Dayton signs tribal consultation executive order

Author
Producer
The Bemidji Pioneer
Year

With the White Earth Nation flag and tribal and state representatives standing behind him, Gov. Mark Dayton signed an executive order Thursday directing state agencies to develop policies to guide them when working with tribal nations...

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Hageman, John. "Dayton signs tribal consultation executive order." Bemidji Pioneer. August 8, 2013. Article. (https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/dayton-signs-tribal-consultation-executive-order, accessed April 3, 2023)

Tribes across the country are re-examining their constitutions

Year

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 government to citizenship. But many were built on models written by the U.S. Department of the Interior nearly 80 years ago. Times have changed, tribal leaders say. Today many Indian nations are expanding their economies, experimenting with gaming and hoping to include their own cultural touchstones and collective priorities in the document that governs them. As Minnesotans celebrated Independence Day last week, tribes across the nation were re-examining their own constitutions and looking for ways to recreate them for the 21st century...

Resource Type
Citation

Hopfensperger, Jean. "Tribes across the country are re-examining their constitutions." Minneapolis Star-Tribune. July 6, 2013. Article. (http://m.startribune.com/tribes-across-the-country-are-re..., accessed July 10, 2013)

White Earth and Tsleil-Waututh Nations Partner on Community Wind Power

Author
Producer
Indian Country Today
Year

Two tribes, from different sides of the 49th Parallel, are reuniting Turtle Island with a business deal. A First Nations—owned company in British Columbia will supply wind power to the White Earth Community Service Center in Naytahwaush and to the Ojibwa Building Supplies facility in Waubun, the U.S. tribe announced on September 6...

Resource Type
Citation

ICTMN Staff. "White Earth and Tsleil-Waututh Nations Partner on Community Wind Power." Indian Country Today, September 9, 2012. Article. (https://ictnews.org/archive/white-earth-and-tsleil-waututh-nations-partner-on-community-wind-power, accessed February 12, 2024)

Successful Tribes Are Reshaping Governance

Producer
The Daily Yonder
Year

American Indian communities are often offered up as the gold standard of dysfunction in America. With our high rates of entrenched poverty, we top the lists of addiction, suicide and other social ills. It’s platitude that, frankly, gets tiring to hear. We in the media like to describe the best and the worst. Admittedly, it does make for easier headline writing and more exciting copy. Unfortunately, this love of drama often overlooks the real story, especially in Indian Country, where revolutions tend to grow quietly...

Resource Type
Citation

Pember, Mary Annette. "Successful Tribes Are Reshaping Governance." Daily Yonder, May 10, 2011. (http://www.dailyyonder.com/successful-tribes-are-recrafting-government/2..., accessed January 22, 2024)

Tribal Enrollment And Blood Quantum

Producer
Native America Calling
Year

Every tribe has its own rules for membership. Some tribes include lineal descent — proof that you descend from a recognized tribal member — while others have a blood quantum requirement that requires members possess a certain percentage of tribal blood. On White Earth, researchers found that the Nation would see dramatically diminished enrollment numbers in the future if they continued using blood quantum as a requirement for membership. In 2013, White Earth citizens voted to change tribal enrollment from blood quantum to lineal descent. The change hasn’t yet gone into effect, and questions linger about how enrollment will impact the tribe’s connection to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, as well as its federal status. What are the benefits and drawbacks of basing tribal enrollment on blood quantum? Would you like to see your tribe change enrollment policy to blood quantum or lineal descent? If your tribe uses blood quantum, do you think your tribe will exist 100 years from now?

Guests:

Robert A. Williams Jr. (Lumbee) — the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies and the Faculty Co-chair Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona Dr.

Jill Doerfler (White Earth) - Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

"Tribal Enrollment And Blood Quantum." Native America Calling. May 6, 2015. Audio. (http://www.nativeamericacalling.com/wednesday-may-6-2015-tribal..., accessed May 11, 2015)

Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform

Producer
White Earth Nation
Year

As part of its ongoing process of educating the White Earth people and others about White Earth's proposed new constitution, White Earth Nation's Constitutional Education Team produced several videos for White Earth citizens to view in order to gain a better understanding of the key governance changes that the new constitution seeks to make.

Native Nations
Citation

White Earth Nation. "Videos: White Earth Nation Constitutional Reform." White Earth Nation. White Earth, Minnesota. August 2013. Videos. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQS2l_EeUTrF9Gi9J9KUZcw/videos, accessed November 12, 2015)

Truth To Tell: Community Connections - White Earth Constitutional Forum Part I

Producer
KKWE/Niijii Radio
Year

In collaboration with production partner KKWE/Niijii Radio, TruthToTell and CivicMedia/Minnesota traveled west on August 14, 2013, to the White Earth Reservation to air/televise the seventh in our series of LIVE Community Connections forums on critical Minnesota issues. Convened at White Earth's Shooting Star Casino, panelists debated the meaning and impacts of a proposed new home rule constitution to be voted on by White Earth Nation citizens this fall, and fielded questions from members of the audience. This is a burning issue among members of the entire Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT), whose current Constitution currently governs all Minnesota bands under its jurisdiction...

Native Nations
Citation

KKWE/Niijii Radio. "Truth To Tell: Community Connections - White Earth Constitutional Forum Part I." Truth ToTell and Civic Media Minnesota (hosts: Andy Driscoll and Michelle Alimoradi). KKWE/Niijii Radio. August 14, 2013. Forum. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEdlRqSf970, accessed September 4, 2013)

Truth To Tell: Community Connections - White Earth Constitutional Forum Part II

Producer
KKWE/Niijii Radio
Year

In collaboration with production partner KKWE/Niijii Radio, TruthToTell and CivicMedia/Minnesota traveled west on August 14, 2013, to the White Earth Reservation to air/televise the seventh in our series of LIVE Community Connections forums on critical Minnesota issues. Convened at White Earth's Shooting Star Casino, panelists debated the meaning and impacts of a proposed new home rule constitution to be voted on by White Earth Nation citizens this fall, and fielded questions from members of the audience. This is a burning issue among members of the entire Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT), whose current Constitution governs all Minnesota bands under its jurisdiction...

Native Nations
Citation

KKWE/Niijii Radio. "Truth To Tell: Community Connections - White Earth Constitutional Forum Part II." Truth ToTell and Civic Media Minnesota (hosts: Andy Driscoll and Michelle Alimoradi). KKWE/Niijii Radio. August 14, 2013. Forum. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8NZM8LdnU, accessed September 6, 2013)