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The Tulalip Tribes—Frequently Asked Questions
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What is tribal
sovereignty?
Sovereignty is the authority of
a people to govern themselves.
Our sovereignty guarantees our
inherent right as a government
to raise revenue for our
community. In fact, 92% of our
government services, family
and senior housing, education,
health and dental services, law
enforcement, fire protection,
infrastructure improvements,
and economic growth are funded
from within.
Treaties, court cases, and
the U.S. Constitution have
upheld Tulalip’s status as a self-
governing nation.
Today, tribal government
and the people of the Tulalip
Tribes continue to exercise our
sovereignty through a number
of initiatives:
Administering a strong
tribal government
Providing tribal citizens
opportunities for education,
jobs, land, and housing
Improving our tribal
community to promote
physical, emotional, and
spiritual wellbeing and
perpetuating cultural and
environmental sensitivity
Building infrastructure on
and off the reservation
Developing the tribe’s
economic base that provides
the primary support for a
growing population of young
tribal members
Treaty rights, preservation,
access to government to
government relationships
What is the Treaty of
Point Elliott?
e 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott
reserved specific tribal rights,
which were not ceded to the
United States. An important
provision tribal leaders insisted
upon was the right to continue to
fish in all usual and accustomed
grounds and to hunt and gather
on all open and unclaimed
lands. ese “reserved rights”
are rights which were essential
to tribal culture, subsistence,
and commerce. ese rights
were not granted in the treaty,
rather they were rights that
tribes have always possessed
and which were protected by
the treaty. e Treaty of Point
Elliott contains 15 articles. In
addition to reserving reservation
homelands and tribal rights,
the treaty promised education,
medical assistance and housing
to thetribe.
Since the signing of the
treaty, the Tulalip Tribes and
other local tribes have fought
continually to uphold our treaty
rights
.
In 1974, tribes in the region
won a major fishing battle in
the “Boldt” case (e United
States v
.
Washington)
.
is case
reaffirmed the tribe’s treaty-
protected fishing rights in all
our usual and accustomed places
and established the tribe as
co-managers of the fisheries
resource
.
Later cases affirmed
treaty rights to shellfish and
treaty protection against
destruction of habitat necessary
to support the salmon runs
.
S
ince the turn of the century,
many commemorations of the
treaty have been held on the
Tulalip Reservation.
T
reaty Days
occur in our longhouse on or
around January 22 every year
and always includes speeches on
the importance of upholding the
treaty
.
In spite of the hardships
brought on by the reservation
system and the cession of
millions of acres of land, the
Tulalip Tribes celebrate the Point
Elliott Treaty of 1855 as formal
recognition by the United States
of the tribe’s inherent right to
self-determination as a sovereign
and distinct people
.
Under the
United States constitution, the
treaty is the supreme law of the
land and it is as legally binding
today as it was the day it was
