Chinook Tribe Seeks Federal Recognition by Frank Hopper
Tribal and government attorneys faced off at the U.S. Courthouse in Tacoma on January 6 in the latest round of the Chinook Indian Nation’s 150-year battle for federal recognition.
Judge Ronald Leighton heard opening arguments from the Chinook’s attorneys that the tribe should be allowed to re-petition the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition after having it revoked in 2002 at the behest of the Quinault Indian Nation. But attorneys for the Department of the Interior argued BIA policy prohibits tribes from re-petitioning the bureau for federal recognition after they have previously been turned down or had their recognition revoked.
Outside the courthouse tribal members stood in the rain drumming and singing songs from their ancestors as the Chinook Indian Nation flag flew above them.
History of the fight for acknowledgement
The fight acted out inside the courthouse has been going on for over a century and a half. After nearly being wiped out by Western diseases in the late 18th century, the surviving Chinookans lived in five separate bands around the mouth of the Columbia River. In 1805 the Chinook helped the arriving Lewis and Clark expedition survive the harsh winter. It was a kindness the tribe continues suffering for to this day.
After the Lewis and Clark expedition, settlers began arriving over the Oregon Trail exerting pressure on government officials to get rid of the Indians. In 1851 the Chinook signed the Treaty of Tansy Point along with several other tribes. The treaty specified the land around the Chinook’s remaining villages and much of what is now Pacific County, as their reservation.
But the settlers wanted the land for themselves and put pressure on the government to move the Chinook away. Due to this, the Treaty of Tansy Point was never ratified by Congress and the Chinook Reservation was never formally created.
Instead, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens tried to get the Chinook to sign a new treaty that would move them onto the already existing Quinault Reservation just to the north along Washington’s Pacific coast. The Chinook and the Quinault were traditionally enemies, so the Chinook refused to sign saying they already had a treaty and a reservation.
Stevens reportedly stormed out of a meeting with Chinook leaders when they refused to sign the new treaty. Later, government agents began giving land allotments on the Quinault Reservation to Chinook members in return for relocating.
This attempt by the government to assimilate the Chinook into the Quinault lies at the heart of the current conflict.
Whose rez is it, anyway?
Congress terminated the Chinook’s federal recognition in 1954 along with 109 other tribes in the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act. This was just one of 46 similar termination bills enacted during the same period.
Although the Chinook had a constitution and an elected government that met regularly, they did not attempt to restore their recognition status until 1982, when the BIA revamped and formalized the recognition process. Until then, most Chinookans lived on the Quinault Reservation in allotments set aside by the Supreme Court in a 1931 ruling.
The 1982 Chinook petition for federal acknowledgment was primarily made so they could have a separate, official say in how the Quinault Reservation was run and also to participate in the Quinault’s hunting and fishing rights there.
The Quinault opposed the Chinook’s bid for recognition, saying it was an assault on their sovereignty. Over the years they have consistently opposed any efforts by the Chinook to regain federal recognition.
The Chinook won restoration of their federal recognition in 2001, but due to the outcry of the Quinault, the BIA reviewed the case and revoked recognition a year and a half later in 2002.
Since then, the BIA streamlined and altered the requirements for eligibility, making it slightly easier for the Chinook to qualify. However, at the same time they added a new rule. Now a tribe can only apply once. They can no longer re-petition the BIA after being previously turned down.
That’s what the January 6 hearing was about. The Chinook sued the Department of the Interior to allow them to submit a second petition for federal acknowledgment.
The Chinook Indian Nation flag flys above tribal members singing outside the courthouse. (Photo by Frank Hopper)
The trap of federal recognition
Many treaties signed during the 1800s forced tribes to consolidate with other tribes and live together on one reservation, such as with the Quinault and the Chinook. It was cheaper and easier to combine different tribes onto one reservation instead of forming separate reservations for each tribe.
In essence, the treaty process created new tribes that were amalgamations of several different, previously separate tribes. This is the true root of the problem now being addressed by the court.
Although the Quinault are often thought to be wrong for opposing the Chinook, they are just protecting their sovereignty. The Chinook themselves opposed the federal recognition of the Clatsop-Nehalem tribe in 2014. Many of the Clatsop-Nehalem Tribe are also members of the Chinook Tribe.
Chinook member Wyatt Davis drums and sings with other members of his tribe outside the federal courthouse on Monday, January 6. (Photo by Frank Hopper)
But outside the courthouse as the Chinook and their allies drummed and sang in the pouring rain, the true recognition of the tribe became clear. Many reported feeling the presence of their ancestors, especially a previous tribal chairman named Ray Gardner, a beloved elder who passed away in 2015 after many decades fighting for his tribe’s rights.
To most Native people, this spiritual recognition, the acknowledgment granted by a tribe’s ancestors, is the true recognition that will last much longer and be much more powerful than the United States government’s federal recognition can ever be.
Judge Leighton is expected rule on the Chinook’s lawsuit within two weeks.
Frank Hopper is a Tlingit freelance writer, born in Juneau, Alaska, and raised in Seattle. He now lives in Tacoma.