Little Shell recognition passes finish line, heads to president

Editor’s note: This version corrects that Sen. Jon Tester’s Little Shell recognition bills have never been brought up for consideration in the Senate, not that they were voted down.

A bill containing federal recognition of The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians passed Congress Tuesday and is on its way to the president's desk.

Little Shell tribal Chair Gerald Gray said Tuesday that the fight to get the Little Shell Tribe federally recognized has been going on for more than a 150 years, and is about dignity and honor. It is great the fight has finally come to a head, he said.

"A fight for our dignity, we always knew belonged to us, and now it finally does," Gray said. "... I just think it was such a long fight."

He said that by getting federally recognized the tribe will be able to have access to Indian Health Services, housing funds and education funds, which the tribe has not had access to before.

"Future generations will not have to take on this long battle we have been fighting for so long," he said.

All of Montana's Congressional delegates played a role in getting the bill to federally recognize the Little Shell Tribe passed in a bipartisan effort.

After the House passed a bill earlier this year to sponsored by Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., to recognize the tribe, it languished in the Senate.

A bill sponsored by Gianforte last year to recognize the tribe passed in the House - the first time a bill to recognize the tribe had passed - but was stymied in the Senate with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blocking a vote on Little Shell recognition.

When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Ky., did not put this year's House bill on the Senate agenda, Sen ,. Steve Daines, R-Mont., inserted it into the national defense authorization bill.

Tester said last week that McConnell said he would only include it on the Senate agenda if it was sponsored by a Republican, so Daines was the lead sponsor and Tester was the co-sponsor.

After a conference committee resolved differences in the House and Senate versions of the authorization, it kept the federal recognition in the bill.

It passed the House last Wednesday 377-48 with Gianforte voting for it and passed the Senate Tuesday 86-8 with both Daines and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., voting for it.

"Today is a historic day for the Little Shell Tribe and the state of Montana," Daines said in a press release. "For far too long, Congress kicked the can down the road and failed to federally recognized Little Shell. That's why I made it my top priority to help get federal recognition across the finish line. I look forward to President (Donald) Trump signing this huge victory for the Little Shell Tribe into law."

Tester, who co-sponsored Daines' amendment to the defense authorization act, has been a long-time proponent of federally recognizing the Little Shell Tribe, working on bills to help recognize Little Shell while in the state Legislature. After Tester was elected to the U.S. Senate, the first bill he proposed to the Senate was to federally recognize the Little Shell Tribe, although the bill was voted down.

"We're at the finish line. The Little Shell Tribe has fought for more than a century to claim their rightful place as a sovereign nation, and for the last 12 years I've been honored to work alongside them to get it done," Tester said. "This is a historic day for the tribe and for Montana, and now it's finally time for the president to sign this bill into law and officially recognize the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians."

Gianforte praised the recognition's inclusion in the defense appropriations and played a role in sponsoring the amendment in the House.

"Today marks an important day for the Little Shell Tribe who have waited too long for federal recognition," Gianforte said in a press release. "I'm proud to have stood with Chairman (Gerald) Gray and the Little Shell people who have worked hard to get here. Now their overdue federal recognition is one step away from becoming reality."

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock also shared in the celebration. 

"After a generations-long fight, I join many across our state in celebrating this monumental time as legislation to federally recognize the Little Shell Tribe heads to the president's desk," Bullock said in a press release. "Federal recognition will provide an opportunity for the Little Shell to strengthen as a sovereign government, uphold its constitutional duties to its members, and continue to foster relationships with the state. Multiple generations of Little Shell Tribe members have relentlessly advocated for this day and their hard work will finally be realized."  

The Little Shell Tribe is headquartered in Great Falls and has more than 5,400 enrolled members across Montana and outside of the state.

The Little Shell Tribe, which was recognized by the state of Montana in 2001, has been fighting for more than a century to receive federal recognition.

The tribe has been without a recognized homeland since the late 1800s, when Chief Little Shell and his followers in North Dakota broke off treaty negotiations with the U.S. government. Tribe members later settled in Montana and southern Canada.

Tribal historians trace the tribe's other attempts to gain recognition back to the 1860s, when the Pembina Band of Chippewa signed a treaty with the U.S. government.

In 1978, the Little Shell petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition through the Bureau's Federal Acknowledgement Process. Despite a favorable report by the Department of the Interior in 2000 and recognition of the tribe by the Montana government that same year, the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the tribe recognition in 2009 and again in 2013.

Montana's congressional delegation has been trying to have Congress give the recognition ever since.

Gray said it is a historic day to have the bill move forward. He added that the president has already said he will sign the bill. 

"It is great news for us," he said.

He said that they will be having a celebration to mark this historic day and start working on outlining the next steps for the tribe to be established.

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Havre Daily News Managing Editor Tim Leeds contributed to this report.