Chronology of American Indian History

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December 22

The Menominee Restoration Act reinstates
the Menominee's tribal status.
Twelve years after the termination of the Menomi-
nee’s tribal status, the Menominee Restoration Act
formally recognizes the Menominee as a tribe and
reestablishes the Menominee Indian Reservation
in Wisconsin. The restoration of the Menominee
is largely due to the lobbying efforts of Ada Deer
and other members of Determination of the Rights
and Unity for Menominee Shareholders (see entry
for 1970), a group of Menominee activists who
lobbied Congress and spoke out in the press about
the disastrous effects Termination has had on the
Menominee both economically and culturally.
Through the act, the U.S. government acknowl-
edges that Termination was ill conceived and signals
its formal abandonment of the policy.

December 28

The Comprehensive Employment and
Training Act (CETA) program provides
funds for Indian groups.
Congress passes the Comprehensive Employment
and Training Act, which offers grants to increase
employment for underprivileged Americans. Many
Indian groups, which under the law are eligible to
apply for CETA grants, acquire CETA funds to
help create jobs and finance job training in Indian
communities, both on reservations and in cities.
CETA will soon become a leading source of money
for Indian self-help programs.

1974

Women of All Red Nations (WARN) is founded.
Female activists in the American Indian Movement
found the Women of All Red Nations (WARN), an
organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of
all Indian people. Based on the Rosebud Reservation
in South Dakota, WARN will focus on many issues
of particular relevance to women and children, such

as the forced sterilization of Indian women and the

adoption of Indian children by non-Indians. It will

also encourage women to seek leadership positions

within tribes.

The Canadian prime minister authorizes the

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry.

As the Canadian government plans to build an oil

pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley, Natives in the area

challenge that their claims to the valley have never

been extinguished by treaty. To investigate their

land claims, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau initiates

the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and appoints

Justice Thomas Berger to head the investigation.

(See also entry for APRIL 15, 1977.)

“I wonder how people in

Toronto would react if the

people of Old Crow went down

to Toronto and said, ‘Well, look,

we are going to knock down

all those skyscrapers and high

rises[,]... blast a few holes to

make lakes for muskrat trap-

ping, and you people are just

going to have to move out and

stop driving cars and move into

cabins.’”

—testimony during the Berger

Inquiry Hearings on the

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline

The Archaeological Recovery Act is passed.

An amendment to the Reservoir Salvage Act of 1960,

the Archaeological Recovery Act sets aside funds to

recover or salvage Indian burial grounds and other

important archaeological sites endangered by dam

construction and other federal projects. The act is

the first major piece of legislation that calls for the