I Am Little Shell

The following is an artcle sent to the HDC by a Little Shell Tribal member.



Thank you for rec. my email,

I am Little Shell. I am one of many members of the Little Tribal Community who in 2009 asked for the State of Montana to investigate funding allocated to our tribal community. It was not that I knew of any misconduct by the tribal leadership, it was more of a hunch that if leadership misrepresents the trust of the community, that misrepresentation would take place with others. In this case, the State of Montana and Montana Citizens.

I liked the heading of the Havre Daily Corrector, “Little Shell Hideout”, regarding Mr. Sinclair’s moving the Little Shell offices to Havre. There are many who believe he is withholding financial records from the State of Montana auditors. And this may be so ….. however, there are records that have been created during Mr. Sinclair’s administration that would demonstrate an even greater violation toward the Little Shell Tribal Community.

In 2009 I called the Great Falls offices. I expressed an interest in finding a tribal member. My simple question was to find out if this person was still registered as a member. The response to my question was, YES. I have to admit, I was not surprised.

In 2000, I came into tribal leadership information, whereby an individual was interested in changing his tribal loyalty, and joining the Little Shell Tribe. At the time the individual was registered as a Metis. Metis are a Tribal Community recognized within Canada. There is no recognition of the Matis here as a result of Canadian Governments acknowledgement.

Within the context of that tribal leadership information from this individual, the lawyer had expressed his intent and further acknowledged his desire to become the tribal leader. The 2000 Little Shell Tribal Leadership dismissed this person, yet underestimated his desire to accomplish this intent. He made contact with several potential tribal leaders during a special election. Thus a partnership was forged and sealed with a weak link we know as “Sinclair” and the lawyer. Sinclair was unaware of our knowledge of this individuals intent. So we watched, listened, and reported what we knew to the respected tribal elder, the State of Montana and the BIA.

What ‘Sinclair” and the lawyer are hiding in Havre are records of hundreds of Metis that have been added to the Little Shell Tribal rolls. This alliance between Sinclair and the Lawyer was to ensure that the recognition did not take place and this would be insured with the continued registration of Metis. After all, the State of Montana already recognizes The Little Shell Tribe which is worth a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. If the BIA sees the truth of what is being registered, they will have to reject the Little Shell Tribe recognition.

We as Little Shell Tribal members are aware of these kinds of tactics by Lawyers. This has been attempted all over the United States. In point, the State of California and many others. What should be acknowledged is that had the Little Shell Tribal Community been a recognized tribe, Sinclair and Lawyer would be prosecuted under Federal Law, and in prison. There are many of us within the Little Shell Tribal Community who have presented the evidence. We thank the State of Montana and the Citizens of Montana for investigating this fraud.