Nation
Grand River Bands of Ottawa IndiansGrand River Bands of Ottawa Indians
Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.
- Recorded status
- Recognized by a state
- Region
- MI
In the record
This nation carries the history of Ottawa in the treaty record.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources. This is what the United States’ treaty record says, not the nation’s own account.
The record over time
Circles are land the United States recorded as ceded, sized by acres and colored by how it was taken. Bars are treaties, broken promises, court cases and land returns.
Recognition, as each source states it
Recognition is a legal and political status that governments assign; it is not a measure of who a people are.
- Recognized by a state, MI (1996)Recognized by the State of Michigan in 1996 as a historic Indian tribe, as stated in Michigan House Resolution 345 (2022, adopted)source
- Petitioning for federal acknowledgment, Michigan (Grand River valley; Oceana and Mason Counties)OFA proposed finding (88 FR 12401, 2023) states the historical Grand River Ottawa bands signed several treaties through 1855; petitioner #146, 'Phase I TA Review'; elected 2015 regulations (90 FR 19227, 2025).source
Land recorded as ceded
This nation carries the history of peoples named in Royce’s schedule. Their record:
- Treaty or agreement44 million
- Treaty under documented pressure26 million
- Removal treaty11 million
Estimate from Royce’s maps; overlapping cessions counted once. Not a survey or legal measure.
77 cessions. Follow Ottawa through the years on the map
Who is doing the work
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Carries the treaty history of 1
Sources
- federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/06/2025-07853/notice-of-documented-petition-for-fedeprimary record
the group known as the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, a petitioner for Federal acknowledgment as an American Indian Tribe
- federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/27/2023-03945/proposed-finding-against-federal-acknoprimary record
With other Ottawa and Chippewa bands, these bands signed several treaties during the early- to mid-nineteenth century.
- legislature.mi.gov/documents/2021-2022/resolutionadopted/House/pdf/2022-HAR-0345.pdfreference work
The State of Michigan previously recognized GRBOI, in 1996, as a historic Indian tribe that continues to exist as a tribal entity
- Kind
- Nation
- Confidence
- Low
- Nation review
- Not yet reviewed by this nation