Sault Tribe chair testifies in Washington

NEWS RELEASE

SAULT STE. MARIE TRIBE OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS

************************* Shores Casino bill progresses through Congress

House committee also approves Mackinac Straits Hospital bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Chairperson Aaron Payment provided testimony today before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to show cause as to why the committee should move Bill HR 2120 to the Senate floor for a final vote and tribe decided to build a new Kewadin Shores Casino on an adjacent lot next to the old facility.

Chairperson Payment explained: “A provision in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) that states that land(s) taken into trust after October 17, 1988, are eligible for gaming if ‘such lands are located within or contiguous to the boundaries of the reservation of the Indian Tribe’. I am advised that under the Supreme Court precedent, the (land adjacent to the casino property) is a reservation.”

In February 2006, the Interior Solicitor’s Office determined because the United States had never proclaimed it a reservation, it did not meet the definition of a reservation under federal law.

Accordingly, the acting associate solicitor determined that the casino property was not land contiguous to a reservation under IGRA, and ruled the new casino was built on land that is not eligible for gaming.

In addition to seeking a legislative remedy to resolve the casino-land dispute, the tribe eventually brought suit against the United States, challenging the Department of the Interior’s decision.

The Sault Tribe then filed for a preliminary injunction from the U.S District Court in May 2007 and was granted the injunction on July 23, 2007.

The casino opened gaming on the main casino floor nearly 24 hours later and has been operating ever since.

The injunction allows the tribe to conduct gaming in the new casino while the case continues in the courts or until it is resolved, without the threat of interference from the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Chairperson Payment provided a legal update by stating, “We are currently still in federal court. The briefing on the merits on this case is now complete. We are hopeful for a positive outcome. I know the question for the Committee is why do we need the legislation if we are hopeful about our litigation? First, there is no guarantee in any litigation. Second, this litigation is very costly for the tribe. Even if we win at the district court level, there will be an appeal. This legislation moots the need for this costly litigation and will make things as they should have been when the Tribe asked that this land to be proclaimed a reservation more than a decade ago.”

The tribe requested twice in the late 1980s that the United States proclaim the land in question as a reservation.

In 1988, the United States got as far as informing local governments that a reservation proclamation was “impending.” The Bureau of Indian Affairs has also acknowledged that the Tribe complied with all applicable procedures and indicated that an administration oversight on behalf of the Department of the Interior or BIA is likely to blame.

In other legislative news, Chairperson Payment announced that the House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R. 5680 earlier this week, which is a bill that grants approval for the tribe to move forward on a land agreement which provides a building site for the new Mackinac Straights Hospital in St. Ignace.

The agreement will credit the tribe with the value of donated land towards a lease for clinic space, which will triple the size of the Tribal Health Clinic in St. Ignace.

The agreement also proposes that the Tribe will have access to x-ray, lab, and ambulatory services which are currently unavailable.

An act of Congress is needed to transfer the land from its trust land status as a requirement of the agreement.

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