MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on the history of tribal government in Minnesota, and its potential changes.

The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, the umbrella organization of six Ojibwe bands in the state, is considering adoption of a new constitution. With at least one of the bands threatening to withdraw from the MCT, the process is likely to be lengthy, and tense…and at the same time, White Earth is debating a new constitution of its own.

The government structure most Indian tribes now operate under was put in place by the Federal government in 1934. The Indian Reorganization Act imposed a constitution on tribes, effectively destroying a system of tribal governance that had been in place for hundreds of years.