Great Saponi Nation

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United States Code of Federal Regulations
CFR 25 PART 83.7

All Tribes must meet these requirements



	TITLE 25--INDIANS CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR PART 83--PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING THAT AN AMERICAN INDIAN GROUP EXISTS AS AN INDIAN TRIBE Sec. 83.1 Definitions. As used in this part: Area Office means a Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Office. Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs, or that officer's authorized representative. Autonomous means the exercise of political influence or authority independent of the control of any other Indian governing entity. Autonomous must be understood in the context of the history, geography, culture and social organization of the petitioning group. Board means the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. Bureau means the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Community means any group of people which can demonstrate that consistent interactions and significant social relationships exist within its membership and that its members are differentiated from and identified as distinct from nonmembers. Community must be understood in the context of the history, geography, culture and social organization of the group. Continental United States means the contiguous 48 states and Alaska. Continuously or continuous means extending from first sustained contact with non-Indians throughout the group's history to the present substantially without interruption. Department means the Department of the Interior. Documented petition means the detailed arguments made by a petitioner to substantiate its claim to continuous existence as an Indian tribe, together with the factual exposition and all documentary evidence necessary to demonstrate that these arguments address the mandatory criteria in Sec. 83.7(a) through (g). Historically, historical or history means dating from first sustained contact with non-Indians. Indian group or group means any Indian or Alaska Native aggregation within the continental United States that the Secretary of the Interior does not acknowledge to be an Indian tribe. Indian tribe, also referred to herein as tribe, means any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, pueblo, village, or community within the continental United States that the Secretary of the Interior presently acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe. Indigenous means native to the continental United States in that at least part of the petitioner's territory at the time of sustained contact extended into what is now the continental United States. Informed party means any person or organization, other than an interested party, who requests an opportunity to submit comments or evidence or to be kept informed of general actions regarding a specific petitioner. Interested party means any person, organization or other entity who can establish a legal, factual or property interest in an acknowledgment determination and who requests an opportunity to submit comments or evidence or to be kept informed of general actions regarding a specific petitioner. ``Interested party'' includes the governor and attorney general of the state in which a petitioner is located, and may include, but is not limited to, local governmental units, and any recognized Indian tribes and unrecognized Indian groups that might be affected by an acknowledgment determination. Letter of intent means an undocumented letter or resolution by which an Indian group requests Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe and expresses its intent to submit a documented petition. Member of an Indian group means an individual who is recognized by an Indian group as meeting its membership criteria and who consents to being listed as a member of that group. Member of an Indian tribe means an individual who meets the membership requirements of the tribe as set forth in its governing document or, absent such a document, has been recognized as a member collectively by those persons comprising the tribal governing body, and has consistently maintained tribal relations with the tribe or is listed on the tribal rolls of that tribe as a member, if such rolls are kept. Petitioner means any entity that has submitted a letter of intent to the Secretary requesting acknowledgment that it is an Indian tribe. Political influence or authority means a tribal council, leadership, internal process or other mechanism which the group has used as a means of influencing or controlling the behavior of its members in significant respects, and/or making decisions for the group which substantially affect its members, and/or representing the group in dealing with outsiders in matters of consequence. This process is to be understood in the context of the history, culture and social organization of the group. Previous Federal acknowledgment means action by the Federal government clearly premised on identification of a tribal political entity and indicating clearly the recognition of a relationship between that entity and the United States. Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or that officer's authorized representative. Sustained contact means the period of earliest sustained non-Indian settlement and/or governmental presence in the local area in which the historical tribe or tribes from which the petitioner descends was located historically. Tribal relations means participation by an individual in a political and social relationship with an Indian tribe. Tribal roll, for purposes of these regulations, means a list exclusively of those individuals who have been determined by the tribe to meet the tribe's membership requirements as set forth in its governing document. In the absence of such a document, a tribal roll means a list of those recognized as members by the tribe's governing body. In either case, those individuals on a tribal roll must have affirmatively demonstrated consent to being listed as members. END ==================================================================== NOTE “Documented Petition” and its explanation. Sec. 83.7 Mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment. The mandatory criteria are: (a) The petitioner has been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900. Evidence that the group's character as an Indian entity has from time to time been denied shall not be considered to be conclusive evidence that this criterion has not been met. Evidence to be relied upon in determining a group's Indian identity may include one or a combination of the following, as well as other evidence of identification by other than the petitioner itself or its members. (1) Identification as an Indian entity by Federal authorities. (2) Relationships with State governments based on identification of the group as Indian. (3) Dealings with a county, parish, or other local government in a relationship based on the group's Indian identity. (4) Identification as an Indian entity by anthropologists, historians, and/or other scholars. (5) Identification as an Indian entity in newspapers and books. (6) Identification as an Indian entity in relationships with Indian tribes or with national, regional, or state Indian organizations. (b) A predominant portion of the petitioning group comprises a distinct community and has existed as a community from historical times until the present. (1) This criterion may be demonstrated by some combination of the following evidence and/or other evidence that the petitioner meets the definition of community set forth in Sec. 83.1: (i) Significant rates of marriage within the group, and/or, as may be culturally required, patterned out-marriages with other Indian populations. (ii) Significant social relationships connecting individual members. (iii) Significant rates of informal social interaction which exist broadly among the members of a group. (iv) A significant degree of shared or cooperative labor or other economic activity among the membership. (v) Evidence of strong patterns of discrimination or other social distinctions by non-members. (vi) Shared sacred or secular ritual activity encompassing most of the group. (vii) Cultural patterns shared among a significant portion of the group that are different from those of the non-Indian populations with whom it interacts. These patterns must function as than a symbolic identification of the group as Indian. They may include, but are not limited to, language, kinship organization, or religious beliefs and practices. (viii) The persistence of a named, collective Indian identity continuously over a period of more than 50 years, notwithstanding changes in name. (ix) A demonstration of historical political influence under the criterion in Sec. 83.7(c) shall be evidence for demonstrating historical community. (2) A petitioner shall be considered to have provided sufficient evidence of community at a given point in time if evidence is provided to demonstrate any one of the following: (i) More than 50 percent of the members reside in a geographical area exclusively or almost exclusively composed of members of the group, and the balance of the group maintains consistent interaction with some members of the community; (ii) At least 50 percent of the marriages in the group are between members of the group; (iii) At least 50 percent of the group members maintain distinct cultural patterns such as, but not limited to, language, kinship organization, or religious beliefs and practices; (iv) There are distinct community social institutions encompassing most of the members, such as kinship organizations, formal or informal economic cooperation, or religious organizations; or (v) The group has met the criterion in Sec. 83.7(c) using evidence described in Sec. 83.7(c)(2). (c) The petitioner has maintained political influence or authority over its members as an autonomous entity from historical times until the present. (1) This criterion may be demonstrated by some combination of the evidence listed below and/or by other evidence that the petitioner meets the definition of political influence or authority in Sec. 83.1. (i) The group is able to mobilize significant numbers of members and significant resources from its members for group purposes. (ii) Most of the membership considers issues acted upon or actions taken by group leaders or governing bodies to be of importance. (iii) There is widespread knowledge, communication and involvement in political processes by most of the group's members. (iv) The group meets the criterion in Sec. 83.7(b) at more than a minimal level. (v) There are internal conflicts which show controversy over valued group goals, properties, policies, processes and/or decisions. (2) A petitioning group shall be considered to have provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the exercise of political influence or authority at a given point in time by demonstrating that group leaders and/or other mechanisms exist or existed which: (i) Allocate group resources such as land, residence rights and the like on a consistent basis. (ii) Settle disputes between members or subgroups by mediation or other means on a regular basis; (iii) Exert strong influence on the behavior of individual members, such as the establishment or maintenance of norms and the enforcement of sanctions to direct or control behavior; (iv) Organize or influence economic subsistence activities among the members, including shared or cooperative labor. (3) A group that has met the requirements in paragraph 83.7(b)(2) at a given point in time shall be considered to have provided sufficient evidence to meet this criterion at that point in time. (d) A copy of the group's present governing document including its membership criteria. In the absence of a written document, the petitioner must provide a statement describing in full its membership criteria and current governing procedures. (e) The petitioner's membership consists of individuals who descend from a historical Indian tribe or from historical Indian tribes, which combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. (1) Evidence acceptable to the Secretary which can be used for this purpose includes but is not limited to: (i) Rolls prepared by the Secretary on a descendancy basis for purposes of distributing claim money , providing allotments, or other purposes; (ii) State, Federal, or other official records or evidence identifying present members or ancestors of present members as being descendants of a historical tribe or tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. (iii) Church, school, and other similar enrollment records identifying present members or ancestors of present members as being descendants of a historical tribe or tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. (iv) Affidavits of recognition by tribal elders, leaders, or the tribal governing Body identifying present members or ancestors of present members as being descendants of a historical tribe or tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. (v) Other records or evidence identifying present members or ancestors of present members as being descendants of a historical tribe or tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity. (2) The petitioner must provide an official membership list, separately certified by the group's governing body, of all known current members of the group. This list must include each member’s full name (including maiden name), date of birth, and current residential address. The petitioner must also provide a copy of each available former list of members based on the group's own defined criteria, as well as a statement describing the circumstances surrounding the preparation of the current list and, insofar as possible, the circumstances surrounding preparation of former lists. 83.7 (f) The membership of the petitioning group is composed principally of persons who are not members of any acknowledged North American Indian tribe. However, under certain conditions a petitioning group may be acknowledged even if its membership is composed principally of persons whose names have appeared on rolls of, or have been otherwise associated with, an acknowledged Indian tribe. The conditions are that the group must establish that it has functioned throughout history until the present as a separated and autonomous Indian tribal entity, that its members do not maintain a bilateral political relationship with the acknowledged tribe, and that its members have provided written confirmation of their membership in the petitioning group. 83.7 (g) Neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship.