Meeting Friday to act on a petition signed by 62 Leech Lake Chippewa members, the Leech Lake tribal council fired its legal director, Frank Bibeau, over an off-reservation fishing demonstration Bibeau announced last week.
The back story to off-reservation treaty-rights fishing
April 25, 2010 at 4:28AM
Bibeau had been the primary source for news stories detailing White Earth and Leech Lake Chippewa plans to hold an off-reservation fishing "show of solidarity" in defiance of state law on May 14, the day before the state's walleye and northern pike seasons begin.
The event would showcase treaty rights the bands believe they hold to fish, hunt and gather across much of northern Minnesota.
News reports of the planned treaty demonstration surprised Leech Lake tribal leaders, and on Thursday they issued a press release advising it not be held.
"When all of this came down, we were blindsided by it," said Mike Bongo, one of two elected officers on the five-person tribal council. A primary goal of the Leech Lake band is to establish positive relations with its non-band neighbors, Bongo said.
"This has lit a fuse that we didn't want to be lit," he said. "We hope now that by acting on the petition we can graciously pick up the pieces and turn this negative into a positive."
The Leech Lake band will continue to explore treaty issues, Bongo said, but diplomatically, in talks with the state. The Leech Lake band has 9,400 members and is the largest employer in Cass County.
None of the boat’s occupants, two adults and two juveniles, were wearing life jackets, officials said.
