White Earth Nation Adopts New Constitution

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...