Justice for Defrauded Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux

Documentary film producer Sheldon Wolfchild is in the process of creating an important film entitled The Last Winter Count. This project depicts the story of the Loyal Mdewakanton Dakota people and their lineal descendants. Please consider supporting this project by reading the short film synopsis and submitting a donation to assist in its completion.

Thank you for your support.

Film Synopsis

"Black Dog Village, pictured in 1853, based on a drawing by Adolf Hoeffler ..." | courtesy MinnesotaHistory

THE LAST WINTER COUNT:

A Story of the Extinction of the Minnesota Mdewakanton

Over five thousand Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux have been defrauded of lands purchased for their exclusive and permanent benefit. The lands were statutorily reserved for the Mdewakanton people whose names appear on the May 20, 1886 enrollment of the full-blood Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux Indians. A second roll taken in 1889 adds the names of the mixed blood Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux entitled to be counted on the 1886 roll. Through a series of appropriation acts, in 1888, 1889, & 1890 Congress purchased Minnesota lands in areas recognized as Birch Coulee, Welch, and Prior Lake.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 led to the formal recognition of the Lower Sioux Indian Community (Birch Coulee, MN) and the Prairie Island Indian Community (Welch, MN). The Prior Lake community was considered too small to organize as a government. Instead, the people at Prior Lake could participate in the governments established in the other Mdewakanton communities and live on land at any one of the communities whenever land was available. As part of the Reorganization Act, the communities were to establish constitutions and governing councils. The constitution codified rules of governance for the communities, as well as enrollment requirements, which remained with the Congressional Appropriations Acts of 1888, 1889, and 1890.

In 1969, a group of 33 unidentified people related by blood and/or by marriage applied for federal recognition as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) and submitted a proposed constitution to the Department of Interior (Department). The Department requested documentation to establish lineal descent from a Minnesota Mdewakanton Sioux Indian listed on the 1886 or 1889 rolls.

This documentation was never provided.

Despite missing documentation, the DOI proceeded to certify the SMSC constitution and grant federal recognition to the SMSC. This was a pivotal mistake that has created the injustice and loss of Dakota identity to which thousands of lineal descendants of the Loyal Mdewakanton have been subjected.

As a federally recognized community, the SMSC tribal council has been able to establish a set of enrollment ordinances through authority established by their constitution. This has led to a dispute involving enrollment of individuals who are not certified lineal descendants of the 1886 Loyal Mdewakanton. The dispute has also involved the denial of enrollment to individuals who are documented and certified lineal descendants.

All members of a community should be required to provide documentation linking their lineage to a Loyal Mdewakanton listed on the 1886 or 1889 census. All certified lineal descendants should be allowed to submit their documentation, enroll, and become members of a community. A fourth community should be established and provided federal recognition to accommodate any certified lineal descendants that have been denied enrollment. The denial of these changes will eventually lead to the extinction of the Loyal Mdewakanton and thus, the Last Winter Count.