Four of northern Wisconsin’s bands of Lake Superior Chippewa pledged solidarity with the Bad River tribe’s opposition to proposed mining legislation. And they told the Assembly Jobs Committee Wednesday (1/11) at a hearing in Hurley that they’d better listen.

Seven and a half hours into a 12 hour hearing, the tribes played their trump card: The treaties signed in the 19th century giving them the right to hunt, fish, and gather in the ceded territory of the Lake Superior region. So Lac du Flambeau tribal chairman Tom Maulson says that gives them the right to intervene to protect natural resources, “We will decide. We have the right in the treaty area to make that decision. So that’s something that you’ve got to take home to your tables. It’s not a threat. It’s a promise that we’re going to be talking about that. Megwich (thanks in Ojibwe language).”

That got the attention of Republican state Rep. Mike Kuglitsch of New Berlin, “Can you explain the treaty that you’re talking about and how you can affect and not have this go forward because I’m not familiar with it.”

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is downstream from the proposed Penokee iron ore mine. But tribal chairman Mike Wiggins says the proposed mining bill is a threat to all 11 Wisconsin tribes, “We recognize some of the things in here as being unbelievable threats to us and what we stand and live for, and ultimately, we’re willing to go to the mat on this stuff.”

So Red Cliff, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau and Menominee tribes say they’ve got Bad River’s back. While warning the committee not to paint the tribes into a corner, Lac du Flambeau’s Maulson did leave the door open, “We need to sit down, you and I. I mean, it ain’t like it rubs off, I can tell you. My wife’s white. And she’s still white. We just need to work together.”

The Assembly is expected to vote on the mining bill late next week.