Let’s reclaim some Ojibwe land

Boozhoo Giiwedin nindizhinikaaz. Makwa nindoodem Gaa- Zagaskwaajimekaag nindoojibaa. Hello, my name is Northwind. I’m bear clan and I’m from the Leech Lake reservation. Many of y’all know me as @giiwedinindizhinikaaz on TikTok/Instagram and know I am a Two-spirit water protector and youth activist. I am also a college student at the University of Minnesota Morris studying Biology with plans to go on to Optometry school. I grew up in Ball Club, Minnesota and am reservation born and raised. It’s a dream of mine for Native people to have access to land, land that is NOT leftovers.

The dream of Land Back is and will continue to become reality. It happened back in 2017 when the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe took back numerous lakefront properties from non-tribal members on our reservation. It happened with the cabin on Leech Lake I was able to secure with my amazing community on TikTok. But as you may know, from my explanations on TikTok or from what I’m about to share, the cabin was and is on tribal leased land. Tribal leased land that is owned by the tribe (held in trust by the government) and is leased to tribal members, tax exempt. It is Land Back, but Land Back as a movement and as an action, varies greatly. Land Back is a movement that has been around (in some form or another) since the beginning of colonization. It’s a means to return and maintain Indigenous sovereignty. Land Back in the lens of western thinking is difficult to grasp as Indigenous action given that in many Native worldviews, we don’t think of land as something we can own or that belongs to us. But rather, the other way around. We belong to the land and the land knows and misses us. Land Back can be on a macro level like Leech Lake getting nearly 12,000 acres of land wrongfully taken back from the federal government, to a micro level such as individual Native people buying land back. I hope to do the latter, inspiring other Native people to do the same.

As a 20 year old college student coming from a family on the reservation, I do not have the current means to afford a lakefront property—or any property. It is an economic privilege to be able to purchase land that individual Native people rarely have. Especially since properties that aren’t tribally owned, cost exponentially more. There is always the option for a loan, something I would not qualify for given my age and demographic. But, there is another possibility utilizing the platform I’m thankful for. That possibility being crowdfunding. Which I have done previously, with the cabin on tribal leased land.

The tentative plan is to sell the cabin to another tribal member and use those funds in addition to what is raised to purchase land that is not tribally owned. Land that would then be owned by a Native person. There are numerous lakes on and off the reservation that have lake lots available for sale. Just for clarification, many of the lakefront properties on the reservation are not tribally owned because of the Dawes Act of 1887 and other instances of land theft. Some of the properties for sale are developed and some are not, so there are options. Lakes that I would love to reclaim land on are lakes that are on the reservation such as Bowstring Lake, Leech Lake, or Cass Lake—to name a few. I am privy to lakes off the reservation too, lakes that no Native people are on and that have “private road” signs plastered all over the place..

The cost of property is expensive, especially the properties that are on lakes that non-tribal resort owners are on or people who own summer lake cabins are on. The disenfranchisement of not having direct access to lakes as Ojibwe people is something that ought to be fixed. As Ojibwe people, we rely heavily on the abundance of water around us. We rice and fish the lakes and rivers. We get sugar from the maples and hunt game in the woods. These are birthrights as Ojibwe people. I dream of establishing a wildrice camp every Manoominike Giizis (August) on the reclaimed property where we harvest and process Manoomin, wild rice. I dream of exercising my treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather. I dream of gardening and doing all of this with my family, friends, and community members. Not just reclaiming the land, but reclaiming those lifeways and teachings.

Price ranges for properties I’ve been looking at on lakes on or near Gaa- Zagaskwaajimekaag are anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000. The cost is a substantial sum and I want to make it known that I do not expect anything to come from this, but I’m taking a leap of faith, making a wish, and saying a prayer that we can make this happen. As for what my plans look like for when the property is secured, I plan to start a nonprofit organization or something akin to that to do good work for my communities. That good work ranging from aiding in efforts to reclaim land to curating culturally rich lifeways. With all that said, I just want to say Gichi-miigwech to all of those who support me in life-changing ways. Mii’iw. That’s it. Muah!