Daines: Little Shell Tribe Demonstrates Need for Reforms to Federal Tribal Recognition Process

Press Release

Congressman Steve Daines today called for the reform of the federal tribal recognition process, citing the long-overdue federal recognition of Montana's Little Shell Tribe.

During a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs hearing on federal tribal recognition, Daines expressed his frustrations with the Bureau of Indian Affairs' failure to grant federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe, despite decades of fighting and overwhelming local support for the designation.

Daines asked Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, who provided testimony at the hearing, what actions the BIA was taking to reform the federal recognition process.

"That is one of the issues that caused me to think that there is something broken here that we need to take a look at and we are endeavoring to do so," Washburn stated.

Daines noted that the Little Shell Tribe has been fighting for recognition for decades.

"Now, I know I'm the new guy on the block here," Daines stated. "But it seems if we can't settle Little Shell Tribe's recognition--an effort that Montana, including our two Democratic Senators and my predecessor Republican Denny Rehberg, our State Government, and the local community, and myself all support--I'm not sure what else the BIA needs to know."

Daines outlined how the Little Shell Tribe provided the BIA with 10,000 pages of paperwork after the BIA had released a preliminary decision that the Tribe met all seven criteria for federal recognition. However, ten years later, the BIA revoked the positive finding.

"The folks back home in Montana thinks that's a lot of paperwork for a negative outcome," Daines added. "In light of this long history, what would you say is needed in terms of reforms of this process? Because I think the Little Shell Tribe is looking at this process, and I think the lawyers are winning right now but the Tribe is not."

Daines pressed Washburn to provide specific reforms that would address tribes like the Little Shell providing thousands of pages of documents and endure years of waiting, only to be denied recognition.

"You raised one important issue yourself," Washburn responded. "The first few tribes that went through this process gave us a couple inches of documents, and now a days, we get truckloads of documents with regards to each one of these tribes. Some people believe there is sort of a justice issue there--how come one tribe got recognized with two inches of documents, and now a days it takes several linear feet worth of documents to recognition, or even to get denied recognition.

"Those are the kinds of issues we're looking at," Washburn continued. "We want to put the people through a process that is rigorous enough to get to the right result, but not so onerous that it causes a lot of wasted effort. We want to be getting worthy tribes through the process."

Montana is home to seven federally recognized Indian Reservations and the state recognized Little Shell Tribe. The Little Shell Tribe has been working for federal recognition since the 1930s, beginning with petitions under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and working under the current regulatory recognition process through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) from 1978 to the present.

In 2000, the BIA stated in the Federal Register that the Little Shell Tribe had met all seven of the criteria for federal recognition. However, a final determination was later issued denying Little Shell's federal recognition. The Tribe has appealed this decision, which now has reached "active consideration" in the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.

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