The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that a partial per capita payment of judgment funds awarded to the Mississippi Sioux Indians by the Indian Claims Commission will be made before the end of April. The award was for land taken in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota in the early 1800's.
The partial payment will be made to the present-day successor groups of the Mdewakanton-Wahpakoota Tribes of Mississippi Sioux Indians. These are the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska; the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; the Lower Sioux, Prairie Island and Shakopee Sioux Communities of Minnesota; and an enrolled group of lineal descendants who are not members of the above tribal groups.
Members of these groups who have moved since being notified of their eligibility should provide new addresses to either the BIA Aberdeen Area Office, 115 Fourth Avenue, S. E., Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401 or the BIA Minneapolis Area Office, 15 South Fifth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402.
The total amount available for distribution to these groups is approximately $15 million, but a portion of the fund will be retained in a special account to provide for possible payments to rejected applicants who have not completed the appeal process.
Payment from the Mississippi Sioux judgment funds has already been made to the tribal successors of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux entities. Payment is yet to be made, however, to the lineal descendants group of Sisseton-Wahpeton awardees. No date for this payment has been scheduled.
