Seasons of Change: Labor, Treaty Rights, and Ojibwe Nationhood

2 They Can’t Arrest Me. We Got Treaty Rights!: Criminalizing Hunting and Trapping

43 c h a p t e r t w o They Can’t Arrest Me. We Got Treaty Rights! Criminalizing Hunting and Trapping While berrying exemplified Ojibwe people’s creative opposition to the federal government’s efforts to undermine their social and cultural values, Ojibwe struggles to hunt and trap led to more overt forms of resistance. Under the restriction of state game laws, Ojibwes fought not only to retain the traditions connected to hunting and trapping but also to defend the livelihoods critical to their economies and their sovereignty. Walter Bresette, one of the most vocal Ojibwe treaty rights activists of the twentieth century, said his grandfather inspired his own activism in the 1990s. “I remember the story of grandpa . . . when he would show up at the house . . . and . . . pretty soon he’d start looking for the shot gun. And ma would say: ‘What are you doing dad?’ He said: ‘Well I’m going to get some supper.’” “You can’t do that,” Bresette’s mother would say. “They’ll arrest you. It’s against the law.” But Bresette’s grandfather would persist, exclaiming, “They can’t arrest me. We got treaty rights!” Bresette continued: “My grandpa was there. He was there on Madeline Island when they signed that treaty. And he told me why theysignedthattreaty.Now,mygrandpawouldn’tlietome.Ifhesayswegot treaty rights. We got treaty rights.” Bresette’s grandfather would then go off to hunt rabbits. “Of course he’d get arrested,” Bresette added. “They’d throw himinjail.They’dstealoursupper.Andsometimesweneededthatsupper.” Walter Bresette died tragically from a heart attack in 1999, but local community members remember his dedication to Ojibwe treaty rights. Bresette ’s story illustrates how past generations’ struggles to exercise treaty rights shape more recent Ojibwe political activism. It shows that hunting and Ojibwe struggles to exercise their sovereignty were interwoven; 44 / Criminalizing Hunting and Trapping something as simple as shooting rabbits for dinner could become a form of defiance against state policy. Ojibwe headmen reserved the right to hunt and trap to provision for their people’s survival and their sovereignty in the treaties of 1837 and 1842. Their foresight became increasingly valuable during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Ojibwes sought new opportunities for earning an income in the commercial markets for fur and meat. Selling these commodities enabled Ojibwe hunters and trappers to compete with non-Indian hunters and trappers who moved into their territory. However, in the late nineteenth century, the federal government pressured Ojibwes and other Native peoples to give up hunting and trapping for wage labor and farming. Federal policy-makers believed that Indian hunting and trapping practices anchored them to a primitive, savage state. They thought that if they compelled Native people to give up hunting and trapping for what they considered valid forms of work, they could expedite their assimilation into American society. Wage labor and agricultural contributed to the growth of the U.S. economy and facilitated American Indian citizenship. Because hunting reinforced indigenous mobility and connections to the land, it fell outside the boundaries of what Euro-Americans considered appropriate labor. State governments also argued that assimilation and allotment rendered American Indians subject to state laws and that U.S. citizenship annulled treaty rights. They emphasized that Indian hunting and trapping practices were savage and wasteful, and they justified their efforts to extend control over Indian lands and resources by declaring that treaty rights afforded Native people unlimited and unfair access to game. However, hunting and trapping remained vital to Ojibwe survival. From the turn of the century onward, Ojibwes challenged state and federal policy by hunting and trapping in violation of state game laws, taking state officials to court, and by demanding compensation. In the process, they demonstrated that hunting and trapping rights were an integral part of their nationhood. Citing the treaties, they insisted that they remained members of an autonomous tribal nation and that states did not have the power to restrict their rights to hunt and trap. Under the restrains of state and federal policy, treaty rights became a critical vehicle through which Ojibwes asserted their sovereignty and resisted colonialism. hunting, trapping, and the seasonal economy As vital sources of food, clothing, and other necessities, hunting and trapping were essential to Ojibwe economies. Ojibwe men hunted year-round, Criminalizing Hunting and Trapping / 45 and how often depended on family and community needs. They tracked and hunted a range of...