The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is headquartered in historic Sault Ste. Marie, MI (Bahweting/Place of the Rapids). They have a tribal enrollment of 30,324, the largest of all of the 34 federally recognized United States tribes in the BIA’s Midwest/Great Lakes service area. The 1999 BIA National Labor Force Report indicates an unemployment rate of 71% with 22% of those employed living below the poverty guidelines.

The “Soo Tribe” is a self-governance entity with a seven county service area in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of MI. They received their federal recognition on December 31, 1974 by Proclamation of the Secretary of the Interior and adopted their constitution, by-laws and corporate charter on November 13, 1975. They later joined the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. as the 5th member tribes, along with the original four founding tribes, being: Bay Mills Chippewa Indian Community, Hannahville Potawatomi Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Chippewa Indian Community and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe.

The governing body of the SSMTCI consists of an elected 13 member Board of Directors/Tribal Council, with the Tribal Chairperson position being elected, as well as the 12 council members. Tribal economic development and planned adventures are extensive and they offer a vast myriad of program and governmental tribal services to their membership.

The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa (correctly Ojibwa) Indians, have resided in their home location for nearly 600 years and historically they were one of the six Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Bands. Their main settlement has and remains to be at Sault Ste. Marie (The Rapids of Saint Mary) and their earlier band settlements included: Sugar Island, Neebish Island, Drummond Island, Grand Island, Bay Mills and Garden River. The latter two, Garden River is now located on the Ontario side of the international border with Canada and they have their own distinct lst Nations Reserve status. Bay Mills is 25 miles to the West of Sault Ste. Marie, MI and they have their own reservation and federal status as a recognized Indian Tribe of the United States. Their historical community is called Gnoozhekaaning (The Place of the Pike).

Bahweting/Sault Ste. Marie has been a major gathering spot for Anishnabek people for the past six centuries, and continues to be, for inter-tribal trade, spiritual gatherings, cultural and social interactions and Grand Councils (which would discuss and negotiate military and trade strategies initially, and then later, treaty matters).

Historically, Bahweting and later Sault Ste. Marie, meant both sides of the St. Mary’s River. Now days it means both Sault Ste. Marie, MI and Sault Ste. Marie, ON. In any case, the twin cities are situated in a strategic location, where Lake Superior and Lake Huron come within 45 miles of converging, via the St. Mary’s River, running from DeTour Village to Sault Ste. Marie.

Bahweting was first visited by the French Jesuit Isaac Joques in 1641 and Pere Marquette established a permanent Catholic Mission at Sault Ste. Marie in 1668, making it the 3rd oldest settlement in the United States, following St. Augustine, FL and Jamestown, VA. The location was coveted first by the French, later the British and finally the Americans, who established Fort Brady in 1820 to protect their interest from the British who were still present in Sault Ste. Marie, ON and to ensure that they would be able to tap the mother lodes of rich minerals knowing to exist in the Upper Peninsula and to secure the ongoing bustling and booming Great Lakes area fur-trading industry.

The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa lost most of their lands through a series of treaties that they were party to in whole or in part, betwixt 1795 and 1855, but most were ceded under the 1836 Ottawa/Chippewa Treaty of Washington, D.C. They were left with a few small temporary reservations for a period of five years, because of the looming threat of the Andrew Jackson Indian Removal Policy (1832—1840), which fortunately did not manifest itself this far North.

The people struggled along from 1836 on, and by the early 1840s the fur-trade industry had petered out and was replaced by on-scale lumbering, commercial fishing and scattered farming. In 1855, they signed the Ottawa/Chippewa Treaty of Detroit, the same year the Sault Locks were completed. The federal government, for many, many years, interpreted the language of said treaty that the Ottawa/Chippewa Nation now ceased to exist, and utilized such a justification to deny appropriate services accordingly because of it. History already has a way of playing catch-up however and many years later it was ruled that there never was such an entity as the Ottawa/Chippewa Nation, and what the Federal Government believed they terminated, never existed in the first place.

As was the case with all Michigan tribal peoples, very little land bases were established because of their unique place and turn of events in United States history. As such, the majority of the people from the Sault Chippewa Bands, never ever took up residency on a reservation and fended their own way the best the could in the small communities of the eastern Upper Peninsula and the municipality of Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The tribal abyss for the historic people of Bahweting commenced in circa 1855 and continued on for another 120 years.

The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Bands were not extended the opportunity to collectively seek federal tribal status under the terms of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, for a number of reasons. They included, lack of federal funds to fully implement the intentions of the legislation, didn’t have a specific federal lands base, except at Bay Mills, and the lingering theory that federal government BIA officials held that “they had been successful in their assimilation and acculturation efforts”, at least East of the Mississippi River; so leave well enough alone.

Like their Anishnabek brethren through-out Michigan, except Bay Mills, Hannahville, Keweenaw Bay and Saginaw Chippewa, they began another long laborious trek commencing in the late 1930s which finally brought them their rightful federal status in 1974.

The began with a tribal land base of 40 acres on Sugar Island have a land base of 1,563 acres of trust lands and well as significant land holdings not in federal trust. Since their recognition, they have emerged as a major player in Great Lakes area Anishnabek country. The successful gaming operations support a healthy and diverse tribal economy that turns business ventures into needed tribal services.

The growth has been somewhat mind-boggling in a short twenty-five year period. They now operate over 50 membership service programs and 22 tribal businesses. The tribal headquarters, which are extensive, are all located in the Sault Ste. Marie, either on reservation property or within the city or township itself. The also maintain satellite offices in St. Ignace, Manistique, Escanaba and Hessel, expanding their services throughout seven Upper Peninsula Counties, (Chippewa, Mackinac, Luce, Schoolcraft, Alger, Marquette and Delta).

Programs and services include but are not limited to; Anishnabek Family & Community Services, Behavioral Health, Direct Services, Child Care Programs, Bahweting Anishnabek K-8 Tribal Public School Academy, Chi Muckwa and Little Bear Arenas, Elderly, Youth, Cultural and Language Programs, Higher Ed., Voc. Ed., and Adult Ed. Programs, Housing, Tribal Courts, Child Welfare, Law Enforcement/Safety, and Recreational Programs. Additionally, they operate four outlying clinics for extended health care for tribal members.

The Sault Chippewa operate casinos in Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Manistique, Munising, Hessel and Detroit. They Kewadin Casino Complex includes a convention center, hotel, many gift and snack shops, dining restaurant and entertainment theater. The tribe is the major employer in the eastern U.P. with over 3,200 individuals, both native and non-native being employed.

Although the future remains bright, management and extension of services to such a widely dispersed and diverse populous, is monumental. They are able to do it effectively however, with a strong, centralized tribal government, superb infrastructure, high levels of expectation and professionalism from staff and with committed tribal leaders with vision and innovation.

Prepared by: Robert N. Van Alstine, ITC Grants Writer/Developer