{"id":56,"date":"2020-04-10T18:05:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T18:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2021-04-17T00:35:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T00:35:49","slug":"bordersagainstinfection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/home\/bordersagainstinfection\/","title":{"rendered":"Borders Against Infection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Borders Against Infection<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Montana tribes enforce sovereignty during COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Story by Kasey Faur and Madeline Broom<\/h4>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribal council on the Rocky Boy\u2019s Indian Reservation installed checkpoints at the entry points of the reservation\u2019s borders on March 24, two days before Gov. Steve Bullock announced a shelter-in-place order for Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just east of there, on the Fort Belknap reservation, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes implemented a stay-at-home order on March 27, one day before Montana\u2019s took effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, every reservation in the state has, in some way, been proactive in trying to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has shut down most of the planet. Tribal administrators said they are acting to protect citizens who tend to fall in the more susceptible populations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Indians and Alaskan Natives are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, have a greater prevalence of obesity, and are more likely to be smokers than other ethnic groups in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This puts Native Americans at higher risk for dying from COVID-19, making the stakes high for leadership on Montana reservations to mitigate the spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where tribal sovereignty comes in. \u201cThere\u2019s major pushback when tribes enforce their sovereignty both in Montana and across the country,\u201d said David Beck, a Native American Studies professor at the University of Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pushback comes in many different forms and from many different places, including federal and state governments and law offices who actively pursue anti-sovereignty cases. Sometimes, the push back can be violent. This time is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tribal reservations are recognized as sovereign nations, with the authority to legislate policy within their borders. There are many different ways tribes enforce sovereignty, from exercising their rights to fish and hunt on certain lands, to being able to regulate their own water quality standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Amid the pandemic, several Montana tribes have enacted policies to protect tribal members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf On the Flathead reservation, home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the tribe has created a unified task force with Lake County, partnering up to tackle COVID-19 on a reservation where a majority of the residents are not enrolled tribal members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf On the Blackfeet reservation, the tribal government has encouraged everyone to stay home and roads have been closed to all non-essential travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has put an overnight 10 p.m. curfew mandate in place, which they later changed to 8 p.m., the earliest in Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf The Crow Tribe has implemented similar checkpoints to the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy\u2019s reservation on its reservation\u2019s borders in southwestern Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From closing borders and instituting checkpoints to enforcing curfews and closing recreational areas, tribes have done whatever is in their power to get ahead of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The allotment period, also known as the General Allotment Act, plays a role in what tribes are able to do within their borders. The act was meant \u201cto break up tribal governments, abolish the reservations, and assimilate Indians into non-Indian society as farmers,\u201d according to the United States Natural Resources Conservation Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To accomplish this goal, Congress divided tribal lands into individual parcels, gave each tribal member a parcel; and sold the \u201csurplus\u201d parcels to non-Native farmers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These \u201csurplus\u201d parcels became known as fee land, which tribal governments don\u2019t have jurisdiction over. The General Allotment Act ultimately reduced the amount of land held by American Indian tribes on reservations from 138 million acres in 1887, when the Allotment Act was passed, to 48 million acres in 1934, when the act was abolished. The landholdings have slowly increased to 56 million acres since then, mostly through land buy-back programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fee lands complicate how much jurisdiction a tribal government has within its reservation boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Bullock announced the first phase of reopening after the state mandated stay-at-home order, which he let expire on April 26. Every tribe in Montana has since released a statement saying orders would not be lifted on their reservations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rocky Boy\u2019s Indian Reservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Monte Mills, co-director of the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana said placing a restriction on who has access to a reservation is easier when the tribe owns most of the land, as is the case for the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy\u2019s reservation. This land is described as in \u201ctrust\u201d of the tribe and is under the full jurisdiction of the tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribal council of the Rocky Boy\u2019s reservation was the first in Montana to place checkpoints at the entries of its reservations. This is the closest any Montana reservation has come to closing its borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The checkpoints were mainly installed to keep people with out-of-state license plates off the reservation; to keep people from bringing COVID-19 in, according to councilwoman Jody LaMere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law enforcement regularly screens any person inside a vehicle for symptoms of COVID-19: fever, shortness of breath, cough. If they have such symptoms, they are advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chippewa Cree Tribal Chairman Harlan Baker said as of late April, less than 10 people have been turned away from entering. He said those turned away had \u201cno business\u201d being on the reservation, they weren\u2019t residents, vendors or suppliers, but rather, they just wanted to \u201ccheck things out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LaMere said the tribal council is working hand-in-hand with the attorney general\u2019s office to make sure its regulations aren\u2019t violating any state or federal laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t sleep very good at night thinking that we\u2019re responsible for so many thousands of people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

-Shelly Fyant<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Flathead Indian Reservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Flathead reservation spans four counties: Lake, Missoula, Sanders and Flathead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes do not have the authority to close the Flathead reservation’s borders because it would be a treaty violation, said communications director Rob McDonald. The Hellgate Treaty of 1855, which established the Flathead Indian Reservation, secures the right for the U.S government to build a road through the reservation and grant both tribal members and other U.S. citizens equal and complete access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can take action as far as our tribal lands, but we don\u2019t really have the authority to close [the Flathead reservation],\u201d said Shelly Fyant, chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The reservation is too spread out and \u201ccheckerboarded\u201d to effectively close its borders, Fyant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CSKT also formed a Unified Command Center with Lake County, \u201cwhich was pretty historic in and of itself,\u201d said Fyant, who specifically referenced the Flathead water compact, a deal that has taken the better part of a decade with contentious negotiations between the state and the tribe. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a very civil relationship with Lake County Commissioners. But we all decided we needed to do what was in the best interest in the health of all the members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Unified Command Center recently put five 6 foot by 10 foot signs around different entry-points of the reservation, telling people to stay home because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementing restrictions much stronger than what the state government has enacted would be difficult to enforce, according to Monte Mills, co-director of the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because tribal police, and the tribal council, only have jurisdiction over tribal members on reservation land. Only 40% of the reservation\u2019s population identifies as Native American, according to the United States Census.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Flathead reservation, spread out as it is, is home to half of Flathead Lake, the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness and a number of popular campgrounds. It is important, Fyant said, for non-residents of the reservation to say out and help mitigate the spread of the virus. In order to further discourage visitors, recreational areas were closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have such a beautiful reservation, people flock here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Gov. Bullock announced the shelter-in-place order, Fyant and other tribal council members have seen vehicles with out-of-state plates on the reservation. Fyant and her boyfriend recently saw a camper with Indiana plates and thought, \u201cWow, people are really still coming here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation manager Tom McDonald said the waters are still open to boating and fishing for everyone, because activities on the water are agreed upon between CSKT and the state, so it would be more difficult to get those restricted. \u201cThere are still people fishing and boating on the Flathead [Lake],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fyant said she worries some people are treating the shelter-in-place order like it\u2019s a vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are just going here and there and everywhere,\u201d she said, explaining she\u2019s seen people going to the store in big groups and lingering around rather than just going in, getting what they need, and leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t sleep very good at night thinking that we\u2019re responsible for so many thousands of people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A frustration for the Salish and Kootenai tribal council has been a disruption in the places it accesses and its cultural routines. For instance, Fyant said the tribe\u2019s annual fall Bitterroot dig, in which tribal members take buses to Hot Springs, Montana will be noticeably affected. Participants in the annual event come together to gather Bitterroot and pray to honor their dead. This year, Fyant said, there is going to be a much smaller group attending, and while people are welcome to attend on their own, the event is going to be much more low-key than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salish and Kootenai aren\u2019t alone. Almost all Montana tribes have canceled community events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“[COVID-19] is really changing the dynamics of how we are used to gathering. But it is what it is, we have to adjust,\u201d Fyant said. \u201cAs Native people, we\u2019ve always been able to do that, we\u2019ve always been having to adjust to situations as they change, like with climate change: Plants and medicines bloom earlier than usual, and we\u2019ve had to adjust to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a threat to human lives–I\u2019ll close the roads first and beg for forgiveness later.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

-Robert DesRosier<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blackfeet Indian Reservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Blackfeet tribe hasn\u2019t closed its borders, and the tribe\u2019s incident commander, Robert DesRosier, hopes it doesn\u2019t come to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe probably could close our borders if we wanted to, but that\u2019s a scenario we don\u2019t want to go into,\u201d DesRosier said. If the tribal council decided it had to close the borders of the Blackfeet reservation, he said, it would establish checkpoints and try to keep people from stopping, but they couldn\u2019t keep people from driving through unless human lives were in danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In winter of 2018, DesRosier ordered the closure of a state highway West of of Browning, a federally owned road on the Blackfeet reservation, due to extreme blizzard conditions. \u201cRoads don\u2019t have right-of-way over human lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, DesRosier said when taking measures to contain COVID-19, it\u2019s important to be realistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve closed roads before,\u201d DesRosier said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a threat to human lives, I\u2019ll close the roads first and beg for forgiveness later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blackfeet reservation shares a border with Canada, as well as other federal and state roads, so closing them and trying to keep people from driving would be a \u201ccontentious issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blackfeet tribe issued an order on April 2 to close all vacation rentals on the reservation and another one to restrict all non-essential traffic on the reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DesRosier said these orders were made to keep the virus at bay by keeping people from traveling within the reservation and by keeping outsiders from bringing COVID-19 to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting out a public plea,\u201d Blackfeet incident commander Des Rosier said, \u201cTake this seriously and stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DesRosier said while most people seem to be taking the virus seriously, the police department has issued citations to a few people who were caught out past curfew when they didn\u2019t need to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making sure we have our rules in order and everything is enforced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When COVID-19 first came to the council\u2019s attention, the initial reaction was to close the reservation\u2019s borders, said Dana Eagle Feathers, Northern Cheyenne tribal councilman. The problem is Highway 212, which runs through Lame Deer, the heart of the Northern Cheyenne reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The governor’s office and Montana Department of Transportation told the council it couldn\u2019t stop or re-route traffic on Highway 212 as it’s a state highway The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council also needs the highway to stay open so supplies can still be delivered to the reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eagle Feathers said he personally believes the council could close the reservation if the safety and health of the residents is in danger because the highway is within the boundaries of the reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these reasons, the tribal council has posted signs at each entrance of the reservation asking truckers and non-residents to not take 212 and to instead take I-90 around from South Dakota through Wyoming to Montana, or, for westbound traffic to detour at Broadus, a town in Montana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the roundabout in Lame Deer, similar signs are posted asking truckers and non-residents not to stop as they are passing through, although the Northern Cheyenne tribe doesn\u2019t have the resources to enforce this,  according to Eagle Feathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The signs and detour requests triggered outrage and a torrent of racist and vitriolic comments on Facebook, particularly in a message posted on March 28 to The Montana Department of Transportation Sting Location, a Facebook page made to help enforce \u201ccommercial vehicle laws and statutes,\u201d according to the page\u2019s \u201cAbout\u201d section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message described the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council\u2019s suggestion to detour around the reservation and Highway 212.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust give \u2018em a bottle of whiskey and a pack of cheap smokes, they\u2019ll move,\u201d one Facebook user commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like people are stopping and passing out blankets with smallpox on them,\u201d another said. \u201cOh wait, that\u2019s already been done before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been rumors circulating in truckers\u2019 circles and among the tribal council that Natives are throwing rocks and bricks at trucks and vehicles with-out-of-state plates who drive down Highway 212. Eagle Feathers said this rumor is untrue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 9, the tribe\u2019s president put out an order announcing that products such as medical supplies and groceries are still allowed to be delivered to the reservation via Highway 212 as they are important to the health and well-being of reservation residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eagle Feathers said he doesn\u2019t believe COVID-19 is as bad as it\u2019s been made out to be, but he\u2019s happy the tribal council and reservation are reacting the way they have, \u201cso that way, if we have an actual disaster, we\u2019ll already have these things in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can survive smallpox, we can survive just about anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crow Indian Reservation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Crow tribe has met similar racism, both on Facebook and at checkpoints posted at the entries of the Crow reservation. Besides the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy\u2019s reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crow resident and former chief of staff to the tribal vice president, Noel Two Leggins said he\u2019s seen Facebook posts and heard stories of people responding to being turned away from the checkpoints by calling the people \u201cdirty Indians,\u201d \u201calcoholics\u201d and \u201cdrug addicts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Leggins said that even if COVID-19 wasn\u2019t a problem, the Crow tribe still has a right to do what it wants with its land, including turning people away if it deems necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Leggins said he had a recent experience at the Cenex gas station in Hardin, a town right outside of the borders of the reservation with an out-of-stater seeking escape at the Big Horn River on the Crow reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw a maroon Ford F-250 pulling an R.V., and saw the plates were from New York,\u201d Two Leggins said. \u201cI asked him what [he and his family] were doing out here and he said, \u2018We\u2019re escaping from the coronavirus.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Leggins said he told the man he should\u2019ve been more considerate because he could have infected somebody, coming from out of state, and then he followed the vehicle after it finished filling up just long enough to see them enter the Crow reservation and go up toward the Big Horn River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I come off the reservation, I follow the rules, I respect the law, and I just wish non-Natives could do the same, but they don\u2019t,\u201d Two Leggins said. \u201cThey just think they can do whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Banking on a Band-Aid<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by Kasey Faur and Madeline Broom The tribal council on the Rocky Boy\u2019s Indian Reservation installed checkpoints at the entry points of the reservation\u2019s borders on March 24, two days before Gov. Steve Bullock announced a shelter-in-place order for Montana. Just east of there, on the Fort Belknap reservation, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":127,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1031,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions\/1031"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativenews.jour.umt.edu\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}