Quote:
The Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa says it plans to exercise its treaty rights for the first time to spear walleyes on northeastern Minnesota lakes this spring.
Secretary-Treasurer Ferdinand Martineau Jr. says the tribe is working with the state to determine which lakes and set harvest quotas. He says they’ll be smaller lakes in the 1854 treaty area, which covers most of northeastern Minnesota.
Martineau says 70 to 80 of his members have expressed interest in spearing walleyes this spring. He says one reason is the sharply lower quota on Lake Mille Lacs, where Fond du Lac members have fished in past years under an 1837 treaty. He says another reason is the 1854 treaty area is closer to home for the tribe, which is based in Cloquet.
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Good question–ask yourself and your government leaders? Was the “intent” of these treaties to allow Native Americans “exclusive” harvest rights ( giving the citizens at the time less rights) or rights to harvest in line with what the rest of the citizens had at the time? I say the “intent” was simply to allow Native Americans to continue what they were doing–not unlike the rest of society back then, in order to eat. So, as times change, and regulations needing to change to protect the resources, surely based on that obvious “intent”, Native Americans should not have any more or less rights than the rest of the citizens. No one citizen or ethnic group, Native Americans included, were meant to have rights above state regulation! Especially in the 21st century in this country–based on skin color and ethnic origin–especially when those rights have adverse effects on the rest of society.
