Tribal Affairs

MnDOT employee Mike Conner with snowplow truck that is named Giiwedin which means North Wind
District 1 recently named a snowplow in its fleet, Giiwedin, the Ojibwe word for the North Wind. Pictured is Mike Connor (a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa). Photo courtesy of MnDOT District 1 staff.

The Office of Tribal Affairs works on developing policies, agreements, partnerships, employment training, and contracts to create more efficient, improved and beneficial transportation services with the 11 Tribal Nations in Minnesota.

The office also works on the Tribal-State Relations Training program to provide an enterprise wide training program for all state employees to learn about American Indian tribal governments, histories, cultures and traditions, in order to empower employees to work more effectively and efficiently with American Indian tribal governments.

Tribal Liaison

The MnDOT tribal liaison facilitates meetings, negotiates intergovernmental agreements and helps reconcile differences between MnDOT and Tribal Governments. The MnDOT tribal liaison also works to coordinate with all MnDOT regions and other agency tribal liaisons to ensure constant and effective communication with the tribes in Minnesota.

map of minnesota that details where the seven ojibwe tribal nations are located

There are seven Ojibwe reservations in Minnesota.

map of minnesota that details where the four dakota tribal nations are located

There are four Dakota communities in Minnesota.

MnDOT's commitment

MnDOT is committed to working with the Tribal Nations in Minnesota through consultation, coordination, and cooperation. For more information on MnDOT's commitment for developing, improving, and maintaining collaborative relationships between MnDOT and the eleven (11) Tribal Nations in Minnesota view the MnDOT's Tribal Nations Government-to-Government policy. The policy and this website were developed to support these efforts and to improve Tribal-State governmental relations through resource sharing.

The State of Minnesota's commitment

For information about Government-to-Government relations between the Tribal Nations in MN and the State, view the recently codified Laws of Minnesota 2021, 1st Spec. Sess. chapter 14, article 11, section 5.