Tribe keeps name the same

By MARK RANZENBERGER

The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe has gone back to calling itself the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

The Tribe recently ended a brief experiment with calling itself the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation, according to Chief Fred Cantu. "The (Tribal) Council felt that the Tribe, through its constitution, is named the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan," Cantu said, "and that's what we wanted to stick with."

The Tribe's official name, since its organization during the 1930s under the Indian Reorganization Act, always has been the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. But earlier this year, the Tribe began to identify itself as the Tribal Nation, dropping the words "Indian" and "of Michigan" and emphasizing the word "nation."

A public relations task force originally proposed the use of the term "Tribal Nation" as an alternative to the official name. Members said it emphasized the Tribe's inherent sovereignty, pride in nationhood, and the fact that the Tribe is separate from the state of Michigan.

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