Local tribe looks to regain federal recognition following ‘landmark’ decision
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Chinook Indian Nation is closer to regaining its status as a federally recognized tribe following a “landmark” legal decision, which reaffirmed that its tribal members as the rightful heirs of a settlement awarded to the Lower Chinook and Clatsop people in 1970, tribal leaders say.
The Indian Claims Commission initially awarded the tribe $48,692.05 in compensation for lands stolen from the Lower Band of Chinook and Clatsop Indians in the 1800s. However, the tribe’s quarterly trust fund distributions were halted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2011, on the grounds that the Chinook Indian Nation was no longer a federally recognized tribe. (The Chinook Indian Nation’s federal recognition, the tribe said, was “arbitrarily” rescinded in 2001.)
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The tribe began a legal battle to reverse the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ decision to withhold its funding in 2017. Following the recent ruling confirmed by the U.S. federal court system, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Congress, the funding was immediately reinstated.
Chinook Indian Nation Chairman Tony Johnson said that the recent decision resolves more than a century of legal battles to secure the Chinook Indian Nation’s title to its own territory.
“Our fight for federal recognition has lasted for over 120 years, and our justice is long overdue,” Johnson said. “We are the first people, the Indigenous people, of the mouth of the Columbia River, and are committed to preserving and continuing the legacy of our ancestors.”
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The Chinook Indian Nation represents a group of five tribes indigenous to the mouth of the Columbia River. The tribe was federally recognized by the Clinton Administration in 2001. However, the federal government rescinded the decision 18 months later. Backed by the recent court ruling, the tribe now hopes to regain its federal status.
“This decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is crucial in affirming the tribe’s right to seek reparations for lands unjustly taken from their ancestors and further cements the Chinook Indian Nation’s status as a continuously legitimate tribe deserving of federal recognition,” the tribe said in a statement following its recent court victory. “In addition to releasing funds to the Chinook Indian Nation, this legal victory also marks an unambiguous contemporaneous acknowledgement by the federal government, thus strengthening the tribe’s efforts to regain their status as a federally recognized tribe.”
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