TEC meeting 31 October 2019

*Posted this on my Facebook Page on 31 October 2019 Reposting this here as this issue is important to me and mine.  **Reminder, I am allowing comments on this: Be Respectful or your comment will not be posted.

Yesterday’s TEC meeting was interesting.  Yours truly lost it during the last few minutes of the meeting.  Why? You are rightfully asking yourselves.  Course, those that know me, know that I can and do lose my temper.  And this is one of the traits I inherited from my mother who’s nickname was “Tiger Lady” and so we received the name “Tiger Cub” from her.

T’any rate, the issue was about the Land transfer, which as our fearless leader, Cathy, and her cohorts on the TEC have a revised resolution in which the individual reservations have the option to “opt out” of this.  Well, five reservations want their land titles transferred back to the Bands.  Only one doesn’t.  Therein lies the crux of the matter.

If you’ll look at the link I posted, which reminds me, I need to download the actual file of the lands in question.  If you’ll note all the red areas on the Bois Forte reservation and compare that to the others, well, speaks for itself. 

Deer Creek, which you’ll also note doesn’t have any red lines.  Why? is another question surely popping up in your minds as of this moment.  Perhaps it’s already popped up there.  Well, FYI, that land is where the Soreyes branch of my family resided until it became impossible to do anything there due to the allotment period of history.  That particular land is divided between thousands of heirs of the original allottees.  Hmm, methinks that spelling is a bit off. This explains why most of the Soreyes branch moved to Canada.

The Wakemup branch of my family had land in the village, which due to circumstances beyond our control, was sold to various interests.  Now the Wakemup branch is scattered around Minnesota.  The only branch that stayed in the village was my mother.  She tried living off the rez for exactly three months of her life.  Months, which were spent in Mpls, that taught her the real meaning of home, amongst other things.

Those months, in part, also explain the things she taught us about our home, our land and most important, our family.  These things are:
1. All this land was and still is ours.  We have the right to hunt, fish and gather in the ceded territory.  Since the current “owners” of the land have a different viewpoint, the Band decided to enter into an agreement with the State and receive monies for our right to hunt, fish and gather. This is the reason for the issuance of the 1854 Treaty identification cards.  And it is also the reason why we receive a check once a year which, since it is in effect subsistence money, is not taxed and is not to be counted as income for tax purposes.  $800 or so isn’t enough to feed, clothe and shelter one person or a family of four for the whole year.  If we all exercised our rights to gather, hunt, fish in the manner our ancestors did, it might get us through the winter. Might not. I remember my father going out to do drives during the winter months and the men getting enough deer to carry us through the coldest months.

So consider this when you go to pay for those licenses to hunt and fish.  Those state licenses allow us to hunt and fish anywhere in the state, not just in the ceded territory.  How do I know this?  My sister has been trying for years to turn me into a fisherman.  And to fish at Farmer John’s one does need a state license.  Oh there is more that could be said about this issue.  Not the point of this little diatribe in which I mean the long discourse, not the irony, satirical or bitter definition either. (Oh the vagaries of the English language.)

2. Our home was, is and always will be here on the Bois Forte Reservation, in particular, Nett Lake.  My mother was one of the few actually born and raised right in the village.  Most of the rest were born in hospitals miles from the village.  One of the hardest lessons I had to learn from her was the need to cooperate and get along with everyone, not just my siblings. Oh, we get mad at each other, but we were never allowed to carry a grudge.  We had to work things out.  Along with this was the need to accept things that we couldn’t control, such as the majority’s wishes in matters even when we knew it wasn’t the ideal situation.  We could figure out how to change it and do it in a respectful manner.  Now, what this meant is we must pick and choose our battles.  Not jump on any old bandwagon, not knowing where it is going or if they’re going to get there or even who is driving the thing.

3. Our family.  Oh, this is hard, because of all the memories I have of my mother and my father and the things they tried to teach us.  In the days before they died, the main thing they worried about was leaving us behind.  We had to reassure each one, especially on their death bed, that we would be all right, that we could make it without them and they could travel on to see their family who were waiting for them to join them. I know exactly the feeling cause I look at the grandchildren, my sons, my nieces and nephews and can only hope they’ve learned enough to be able to tell me, my sisters and brothers that they’ll be alright, they’ll make it, they know enough and we can join our families with joy when the time comes.

So, what does all this have to do with the interesting time at the TEC?

I got tired of being respectful for people who claim to have respect for “the People, the land, the animals” all the while putting others down just because we were respectful of their “right?” to name call us just because we don’t go around hollering about this, that and the other thing that is important to us.  We stood up when it was asked for a demonstration of the point of order and respect be demonstrated. And when I heard the real reason for the “speaking out” of this particular bus load of Band members: asking the TEC to rescind the resolution in the matter of the Land Title Transfer, well...enough said.  Take a look at that map of MCT Lands once again and make up your own mind.  There was a call to also put this to a referendum vote.  Well.  When I was leaving the room to come home, I heard a call for people to stay and strategize for the petitioning for the removal of A L L the TEC members for which I only have this in answer.  I left.