Oneida Nation

Oneida Nation

Tribal Statistics

• 17 and under = 3,442
• Ages 18-64 = 11,813
• 65 and older = 1,312

• 23,122 acres are tribally owned
• 12,208 acres are considered fee land
• 10,904 acres are considered tribal trust land

Oneida is the 5th largest employer in Brown County and the 14th largest in Outagamie County (Source: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development), employing approximately 3,085 people.

Tribal Government

• Chairperson
• Vice-Chairperson
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Five council members

Brief History

The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin is sovereign government with a long and proud history of self-government. We are a federally-recognized treaty tribe of the United States. We have faced threats and continue to face threats to our homelands. The Oneida have persevered in the face of adversity for centuries, and we proudly and passionately continue to protect and preserve our homelands.

The Oneidas, along with the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga comprised the original Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy that dates back to the 1500s, which later became the Six Nations when the Tuscarora joined in the 1700s. The Iroquois held millions of acres of land in what is now the State of New York, which entered statehood in 1776.

During the Revolutionary War, the Oneida and the Tuscarora supported the colonies and served in General George Washington’s army. For this service, our lands were to be protected forever, a promise reflected in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the Oneida and United States.

The 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix was the first treaty between the Oneida and United States that established peace between the Iroquois Confederacy and the colonial states, which operated under the Articles of Confederation at the time. This treaty of peace established the government-to-government relationship between the Oneida Tribe and the United States that continues to exist today.

Through the 1785 Treaty of Fort Herkimer and the 1788 Treaty of Fort Schuyler with the State of New York, the Oneida lost more than 5 million acres of their ancestral homelands to the State of New York

In 1789, the states ratified the United States Constitution, which declared treaties of the United States to be the law of the land. The United States adopted the Non-Intercourse Act of 1793, which prohibited the purchase of any Indian land by any person or entity without the Federal Governments approval.

In spite of the Non-Intercourse Act, the State of New York continued to enter into a series of land transactions between 1795 and 1846 with the Oneida in direct violation of federal law. These land transactions continued to deplete the Oneida land holdings in New York until only 32 acres remained in Oneida possession by the 1820s.

During the 1820s, Oneidas relocated to what would become the State of Wisconsin to establish new homelands. The Oneidas purchased 5 million acres of land from the Winnebago and Menominee Tribes for the purpose of preserving sovereignty as a self-governing sovereign nation. This band of Oneidas became recognized as the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, who entered their final treaty with the United States in 1838, ten years before Wisconsin entered statehood.

The Treaty of 1838 between the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and the United States established the present day Oneida Reservation boundaries located in northeast Wisconsin and comprised of 65,430 acres. To the present day, the Oneida Reservation has not been diminished or disestablished by an Act of Congress and our reservation boundaries as established by treaty continue to exist under the full force and effect of federal law and the United States Constitution.

The Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 enacted by Congress was the next challenge of maintaining our homelands. Our lands were divided into individual parcels that resulted in a significant loss of tribal land ownership because our members did not understand the English language and did not understand land taxation. Consequently, tribal land ownership was reduced to a few thousand acres within the Oneida Reservation boundaries.

The Dawes Allotment Act and the loss of tribal land ownership were ended when Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA). The federal policy of the IRA was to recognize and strengthen the authority and autonomy of tribal governments, and implicit in the recognition of tribal authority is a tribes right of self-government. The IRA provided the foundation for adopting a tribal constitution that would govern tribal members.

In 1936, the Oneida membership adopted the Oneida Constitution that established an elected governing body for the Oneida membership. Upon adoption of the Oneida Constitution, the United States federal government purchased 1,270 acres of land within the Oneida Reservation and placed that land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Tribe.

Since passage of the IRA, the Oneida Tribe has taken the initiative to actively acquire ownership of land within the Oneida Reservation boundaries, and to provide for its membership through governmental programs and services that meet the needs of the people. More importantly, the Oneida Tribe has strengthened its authority by the adoption, implementation and enforcement of tribal laws. The Oneida Tribe preserves its sovereignty by exercising the inherent right of self-government over our lands and members within the Oneida Reservation boundaries.

Tribal Services

• Seymour Community Schools with a Native Enrollment of 341 (13.5%)
• West DePere School District with a Native Enrollment of 241 (8.7%
• Freedom School District with a Native Enrollment 65 (3.9%)
• Green Bay Area School District with a Native Enrollment of 1037 (5.1%)
• Pulaski School District with a Native Enrollment of 134 (3.5%0)

(Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction)

• Oneida Nation Elementary School is a K-8th grade school
• Total enrollment of 331 students
• Oneida Nation High School is a 9-12th grade school
• Total enrollment of is 79 students
• Both schools are accredited
• Some funds from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
• No state equalization aid or charter school funds

• Clinical services include: optometry, dental, orthodontia, primary care (Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics), specialty care (Urology, OB/Gyn, ENT, Allergy-Asthma, Diabetes), ancillary care (X-ray, Lab, Pharmacy), Behavioral Health (Mental Health & Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drug Abuse), Skilled Nursing Services, Employee/Occupational Health Services, and numerous grant related programs to include: the Community Options Program, Women-Infants-Children (WIC), the Wisconsin Well Women’s Program, Preventive Health Services, Rural Infant Health Project, the Cooperative American Indian Health Project (Safety Town), the Immunization Program (Infants and Communicable Disease-influenza), the Medicaid Eligibility Outreach Program (enrolling eligible people I Medical Assistance), the Medical Relief Block Grant (for uninsured Dental patients). Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, and IT Technology grants programs.
• Funding from the Oneida Tribe, the state of Wisconsin, the federal government and private foundations as well as 3^rd party reimbursements from commercial insurance carriers, Wisconsin Medicaid, Medicare and private pay.

• Children and Family Services
• Indian Child Welfare
• Foster Care and Placement
• Domestic Abuse Prevention & Intervention
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Community Wellness
• Parenting (single, teen, ma/pa, grandparents)
• Kinship Care
• Juvenile Services, prevention and intervention
• Elderly Services, 55+
• Respite Care
• Meals on Wheels
• Congregate meals
• Transportation Services
• Senior Companions/Foster Grandparents
• Elder Abuse Prevention
• Family Care-givers
• Home chore
• Benefits assistance
• Life-Line
• Food Distribution (on site and home delivery)
• Child Support Enforcement
• Community Support Programs/Economic Support
• TANF
• Catastrophic aid
• Food Share/MA
• Heating/Utility Assistance/Rental Assistance for emergencies only
• Native Employment Works
• Community Development Block Grant/Wisconsin Shares
• Early Head start (pregnant parents and birth-2)
• Head start (3-5)
• Southeastern Oneida Tribal Services (SEOTS) Social Services outreach office located in Milwaukee.

**All programs are funded by a combination of tribal, state and federal dollars**

Economic Enterprises

• Oneida employs approximately 3,085 people
• The Oneida tribe is the 5^th largest employer in Brown County
• 42% of those are non-native
• 58% are native