The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the Lake Superior Bands of Chippewa Indians is located approximately 65 miles north of Marquette, MI in the L’Anse/Baraga, MI area and has dual land bases on both sides of the Keweenaw Bay Peninsula in Baraga County. The current tribal enrollment is 3,159, pursuant to the 1999 BIA Labor Force Report with an unemployment rate of 1% and of those employed, 33% living below the poverty guidelines.

The Keweenaw Bay Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Indian tribe and the successor in interest of the L’Anse Band of Chippewa Indians. The L’Anse Reservation is both the oldest and largest reservation in Michigan. It was established under the Treaty of 1854. The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Treaty of 1854 as creating permanent homelands for the Chippewa (Ojibwa Anishnabek) signatories to the treaty. The Treaty of 1842, which ceded lands to the federal government, was one of the largest land cession agreements ever made between the US Government and Indian tribes. It does include provisions and stipulations that the Chippewa retain their rights to fish, hunt and gather on these ceded lands.

The reservation consists of 54,000 acres with approximately 14,000 acres owned by the tribal community. 2/3 of the land is held in tribal common ownership and the remaining 1/3 is owned by Indians in fee, restricted fee, or allotted lands status. The reservation in total, encompasses nearly 1/3 of Baraga County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Historic means of subsistence centered around fishing, hunting, gathering, harvesting of wild rice (Menomin – the good grain), maple-sugaring and lumbering. Keweenaw Bay is one of the four original member tribes in Michigan that founded the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. in 1966 and remain a most vital member ever since. Their constitution, by-laws and corporate charter were adopted on November 7, l836 pursuant to the terms of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act that established tribal governments as we know them today, with these organizational organic documents and elected tribal council members. Their tribal community is governed by a twelve person Tribal Council, all elected at-large by enrolled members. The elected tribal council then selects its five member Executive Council, including the Tribal Chairperson.

Keweenaw was initially thought to be “a place of portage”, but Bishop Baraga recorded the meaning as being “the place where they traverse a point of land on foot”. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is the largest employer in Baraga County. Current economic activities they are involved with in the surrounding area include, but are not limited to, gaming operations, forest management, industry, tourism and durable goods manufacturing. They have casino sites at two locales, the original Ojibwa Casino I at L’Anse/Baraga and Ojibwa Casino II in Chocolay Township, 17 miles east of Marquette.

The tribal service area includes a number of Upper Peninsula County, primarily Baraga, Ontonagon and Gogebic, but Marquette, Houghton and Keweenaw counties as well to a lesser degree. Their children, for the most part, attend nearby public schools and the tribe also operates Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College as well.

The reservation is located in beautiful pristine lands on the southern shores of Lake Superior (Gitchi Gumee – Big Sea Water) and straddles both sides of Keweenaw Peninsula. Mining of iron ore and copper in this area of Michigan was a major business at one time as well as the lumbering of White Pine.

The Baraga side of Keweenaw Bay (named after Bishop Frederic Baraga “the snowshoe priest”) had missions established by Catholics Jesuits and the L’Anse side of the Bay has missions founded by the Methodists. This history is reflective of their religious affiliations to this day, depending on what side of Keweenaw Bay their families are originally from.

Six members of the Tribal Council come from one side of the Bay and six from the other; a rather interesting checks and balance system, not originally anticipated. The Baraga side of the Reservation was home to an Indian Orphanage that was in operation for many years in a little settlement known as Assissins (Little Pebbles or Little Stones). It was founded in 1834 by then Father Frederic Baraga which was the name of a historic Ojibwa chief of the area of the L’Anse Band.

L’Anse is a French phrase that means ‘the point”, the name the French used to describe the location of the Ojibwa Band of the area. The L’Anse side of the Bay major village is called Zeba or River.

The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community has operated a very successful residential treatment center for many years, called New Day for both male and female adults in recovery from alcoholism or drug abuse and offers many other services for tribal members, including but not limited to: Housing, Scholarships, HIP, Child Welfare, Police, Fire, Conservation, Elderly and Adult Programs, among others.

Keweenaw Bay like many other reservation communities in modern times, became inflamed with debates over enrollment and reservation residing voting rights requirements a few years ago; the result like some many other tribes, of antiquated original IRA Tribal Constitutions, which should have been, but were not updated and amended to reflect current tribal membership makeup.

The current Tribal Chairperson Mr. Leonard “Bill” Cardinal has recently proclaimed that the need for community healing is a major goal of his tenure, so the tribe can “bury the hatchet”, reunite and get back to the pressing unresolved tribal needs and objectives at hand. They shall, they have always been flexible and major leaders in Great Lakes area Anishnabek Country.