SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Aaron Payment, chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, was reelected chairman of the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority at its January 2016 meeting.
"Our treaties memorialized our sovereignty and retained our rights as a people," Payment said. "To be re-elected unanimously by my fellow chairs to protect our rights is a honor for which I am humbled."
CORA oversees Great Lakes tribal fishing in the 1836 Treaty Ceded territory in the eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Michigan.
Officers are elected from among the conservation committee chairs and tribal chairs of CORA member tribes Sault Tribe, Bay Mills Indian Community, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
"Aaron Payment is dedicated to the protection of our commercial and subsistence fishery," Jason Grondin, Sault Tribe's Conservation Committee chairman, said.
Grondin added, "We are at a critical stage in preparing to extend our treaty rights long past the year 2020 when our current Great Lakes fishing consent decree expires. Aaron has the experience, passion and energy to fight to protect our rights."