Rocky Boy Indian Reservation
Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is one of seven American Indian reservations in the U.S. state of Montana. Established by an act of Congress in 1916, it was originally intended for landless Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians in the American West, but has grown to include many Cree (Nēhiyaw) and Métis over the years. The reservation is located in Hill and Chouteau counties in northeastern Montana, about 40 miles (64 km) from the Canada–U.S. border. It has a total land area of 171.4 square miles (444 km2), which includes extensive off-reservation trust lands. The reservation is reported to have 6,177 enrolled members.
The reservation was established by Congressional Statute on September 7, 1916 (39 Stat. 739, Sec. 10). The Congressional Act recognized the Rocky Boy's Band of Chippewa Indians. There is a legal dispute as to the validity of a Chippewa Cree Tribe, a designation that is not founded on U.S. Treaty source law, nor is it accepted by the original Rocky Boy Band. The self-identified adoptees worked with the Department of Interior to enact a Chippewa Cree Constitution in November 1935, to the near complete exclusion of the Chippewa people. In this unorthodox and dubious process, the adoptee faction and Interior enacted the current Chippewa Cree Tribal Constitution, that the Interior recognizes as the governing body, referred to as the Business Committee of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation was organized in accordance with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (34 Stat. P. 984) as amended by the Act of June 15, 1935.
Tribal recognition as the Chippewa Cree tribe was never formalized by Congress, nor was it ever authorized by the Rocky Boy Band of Chippewa Indians. The governing document is the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, Montana enacted in 1935, as amended on May 17, 1972; and February 6, 2004, to include but not limited to: (creating Article XI - Rights of Members, codifying the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 and its amendments; and Article XII - Judicial Branch, appointing tribal court judges versus the old system of electing them). The Tribe also ratified a Corporate Charter on July 25, 1936, in accordance with section 17 of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984) as amended by the Act of June 15, 1935 (Pub. No. 147, 74TH Cong). There is no legal manner for the Cree tribe to claim or assert recognition in the U.S., the legal maneuvering of adoptees around the Chippewa body as the official recognized tribe is now a source of dispute. Only the officially recognized tribe can enact law and assert sovereignty. The Chippewa people are working to revoke the tribal constitution at the present time.
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