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>> All right. Well, we
Habush Sinykin, thank you

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so much.
>> Thank you very much.

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>> In the Northwoods land
owned by the Franciscan

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Sisters of Perpetual
Adoration was given back to

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its original landowners,
"Here& Now". Reporter Erica

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Ayisi traveled to Arbor
Vitae, where the Lac du

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Flambeau Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa Indians

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reclaimed a part of their
indigenous lands from

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Catholic sisters who
operated an Indian boarding

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school.
>> Signed, sealed and

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delivered.
officially concludes the

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transfer of the property to
the Lac du Flambeau tribe.

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>> The Franciscan Sisters
of Perpetual Adoration are

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the first known Catholic
orders of sisters to

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transfer land to its
original Native American

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owners in an act of
reparations for

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colonization during the
federal Indian boarding

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school era.
>> We fspa have been

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exploring what it means to
unveil our white privilege,

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including the
responsibility that comes

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with the privilege.
>> Sue Ernster, president

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of the Fspa, says. His
sisters acknowledge their

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dark legacy of colonialism
through truth, healing and

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a land transfer of their
Marywood Franciscan

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Lac du Flambeau Band of
Lake Superior Chippewa

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Indians.
how we've been complicit

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and have benefited from the
systems that have kept

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others out, such as the Lac
du Flambeau.

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>> Lac du Flambeau children
attended the Saint Mary's

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Indian Boarding School in
Odanah, which the Fspa

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operated for 86 years,
during a period when the US

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government removed Native
American children from

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assimilated them into
Euro-American Catholic

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culture. Does giving land
back to Native Americans

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reconcile the past?
>> It's a step it does not

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fully reconcile. There's
nothing I believe that can

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fully reconcile for the
trauma that has been

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inflicted over these years.
>> Ernster says. When the

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sisters realized that they
no longer needed their

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center, they collaborated
with Brittany Koteles of

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Land Justice Futures to
learn how to incorporate

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land justice into their
reckoning.

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>> We knew that it was the
time to reignite the

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relationship with the Lac
du Flambeau and see if they

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would be interested in
purchasing the property.

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This is not a market rate
transaction, it's a land

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Bakke. The tribe is paying
$30,000 for the property.

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>> The Fspa purchased the
property for $30,000 in

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1966. John Johnson,
president of the Lac du

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Flambeau, says his
counteroffer was a dollar.

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>> I had just asked him. I
said, how did you get our

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land? And I don't mean mine,
per se, or my tribe, but

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every Ojibwe person in the
state of Wisconsin.

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>> The Lac du Flambeau,
ceded or gave up their land

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to the federal government
in the 1854 Treaty of La

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Pointe. Johnson says the
tribe's business department

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felt $30,000 was fair
considering the property's

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current market value.
>> When I first heard, it

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was like $2.6 million, and
then I heard it was, you

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know, they had to offer a
$3 million. And, you know,

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the price could have kept
going up and up and up.

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>> Marywood is nearly two
acres, including an office,

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lodge and cabins situated
along Trout Lake.

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>> And as you look out onto
these islands out here,

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those were once inhabited
by all of our relatives

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here. And there are
families in Lac du Flambeau

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that were raised on the
islands.

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>> Giving this land back to
its original Native

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American owners presents
challenges. It's situated

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just outside the Lac du
Flambeau reservation,

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subjecting it to taxation.
>> There's also processes

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that tribes can place that
land into trust and protect

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it from taxation.
>> Philomena Kebec, tribal

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attorney and enrolled
member of the Bad River

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tribe, says the process can
be complex.

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>> The fee to trust
application can be opposed

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by municipalities.
>> We're looking at this

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for midterm potential
opportunities for

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work in the tribe.
>> For now, Larry Turner of

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the Lac du Flambeau
Business Development

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not expecting to make a
profit from the land

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transfer and will use the
property for professional

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housing.
>> We have such a huge

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shortage of professionals
in the tribe, including

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traveling nurses, doctors
for the clinic, management

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for the Business
Development Corp, and

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there's no rentals up here.
>> Xia Johnson says he also

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wants to use their
reclaimed land to sustain

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their Ojibwe culture to
future generations.

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>> Hold on a lake here in
the wintertime, we're going

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to probably set up a tent
or something, you know, and

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do some spearing here in
the winter for muskellunge

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and stuff like that.
>> The PFAS former Indian

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boarding school was
demolished and is now Saint

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Mary's Parish on the bad
River Tribal Reservation.

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In documents acquired by
the Catholic Church, was

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given at least 10,000 acres
of land by the federal

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government to operate
Indian boarding schools

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00:05:34,835 --> 00:05:37,604
across the country,
including three schools in

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Wisconsin. Although the
Catholic Diocese of

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Superior says all of its
land is currently in use

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and unavailable for land
transfers to tribes, the

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Fspa says their land
transfer is about reckoning.

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>> What is it? We can learn
from this so that we can

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move forward.
>> And reclamation for the

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tribe.
>> All this land that you

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00:06:02,796 --> 00:06:07,467
see around here should be
rightfully ours anyway.