Saginaw Chippewa Tribe calls land claims bills “A scam from the start” and urges investigation by Department of Interior

(Washington, D.C. Feb. 6, 2008)


Citing testimony from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe, Chief Fred Cantu of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe called two off-reservation gaming bills “a scam from the start” and accuses the Bay Mills Tribe of entering into a “collusive lawsuit” to make a land claim seem legitimate.

“What we now know is that these bills have nothing to do with protecting innocent landowners, but it was scam from the get-go so these tribes could get casinos 350 miles from their reservations” said Chief Cantu.

In 2002, the former Chairman of the Sault Ste. Tribe, Bernard Bouschor, submitted testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that strongly criticized the legislation to allow the Bay Mills Tribe to build a casino in Port Huron.

In Bouschor’s testimony he explained that a Detroit attorney had first approached the Sault tribe to use a proposed land claim in Charlotte Beach to get a casino under IGRA. Boushor claims the Bay Mills Tribe ginned up the land claim, entered into a suspicious settlement and a collusive lawsuit and now seeks to put one over on Congress.

“Congress should not reward this type of behavior,” said Cantu. “Indian gaming was meant to promote economic development on the reservations — not reward tribes who scheme with non-Indian developers,” Cantu said.

Incredibly, the Sault Tribe has changed its position on the issue, since it has now been promised a casino and is the beneficiary of one of the two bills being considered by the House Resources Committee.

In light of this testimony, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe asked the U.S. Department of Interior to investigate these lands claims. In a letter to the US Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Chief Cantu urges the Department to “review the claims made by these tribes, and determine whether they are valid claims, worthy or federal resolution.” Chief Cantu also urged the House Resources Committee to “refrain from taking any action” on these bills until such an investigation is completed.

Chief Cantu also criticized the two tribes for shopping these casino deals to several cities in Michigan, including Auburn Hills, Vanderbilt, Flint, Port Huron and Romulus. “These two tribes have most certainly put the 'shopping' in 'reservation shopping',” Cantu said before the House Resources Committee.

These bills are also opposed by tribes and tribal organizations from across the country, including the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association, the New Mexico Indian Gaming Association and numerous tribes that oppose off-reservation gaming.