St. Paul, Minnesota — Today, the Minnesota Senate and Minnesota House of Representatives held Sovereignty Day at the State Capitol. Sovereignty Day is an educational event for legislators that includes information on tribal history and culture, sovereignty, and the interplay between federal, state, and tribal law. This event included the leaders of the eleven federally-recognized sovereign tribal nations in Minnesota.
The Minnesota House held the first Sovereignty Day in 2019. Members of the House participated in Tribal-State Relations Training in October 2021 hosted by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. The House and Senate hosted the second Sovereignty Day in 2023 and participated in joint Tribal-State Relations Training in October 2023 hosted by the Prairie Island Indian Community.
“Nurturing the important government-to-government relationships our state has with each of the 11 sovereign tribal nations that share our borders is critical work,” said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy. “As Leader, I have worked to ensure that the Tribal Nations within Minnesota not only have a seat at the table, but that we sit together at that table when we decide policies that affect us all. It has been my good fortune to visit many tribal nations in the past year, where leaders shared their unique cultures and histories, and we built upon and deepened relationships between us. Sovereignty Day at the Minnesota State Capitol is an important part of that work as we move forward together.”
“Sovereignty Day brings legislators, Tribal leaders, experts, tribal-state agency liaisons, and others together for a day of learning, conversation, understanding, and most importantly, strengthening government-to-government relations between the legislature and the Tribal Nations within Minnesota,” said Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman. “Educating members and legislative staff is critical to the work that we do together and to respecting tribal sovereignty. We have enjoyed a lot of policy successes in recent years, but we know there is more work ahead of us. I’m deeply grateful to Minnesota’s tribal leaders, and I look forward to our continued partnership and collaboration this session.”
Legislators were joined by the Tribal governments of the 11 sovereign Tribal Nations within the boundaries of Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz, Senator Tina Smith, and policy experts from the state of Minnesota and the 11 Tribal Nations. The agenda for the day and topics discussed were decided with direct input from the 11 sovereign Tribal Nations, MN Tribal State Relations Training staff, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and others.
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