The Mitchell Bay Band of the San Juan Islands is an indigenous Coast Salish community based in the San Juan Islands of Washington, United States. The community was first referred to as the Mitchell Bay Tribe by Office of Indian Affairs agent Charles Roblin in his 1919 Census of Unenrolled Indians, in reference to one of several bays with historically significant indigenous populations. Mitchell Bay Band ancestors were related to other peoples — among them the Lummi, Saanich and Samish — with whom they share an origin story and language. Great Britain and the United States claimed and jointly occupied San Juan Island from 1859-1872. After the dispute was settled in favor of the U.S., many Indigenous people moved to reservations at Lummi or Swinomish; many others, however, chose to remain on the island. These individuals were grouped in Roblin’s census as the Mitchell Bay Tribe or the San Juan Tribe. Members of the Mitchell Bay Band met on June 5, 1976 to adopt a constitution and bylaws and elect a government in an effort to become a party to U.S. v. Washington. Efforts to establish federal recognition — and a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. government — have to date been unsuccessful. History Pre-contact: The ancestors of today’s Northern Straits Coast Salish, including those of the Mitchell Bay Band, begin to appear in the wake of the continental ice sheet that resided 11,000 years ago. Their creation story traces their origin to a common ancestor, sweh-tuhn, who first appeared at Open Bay on Henry Island. The Indigenous people of the San Juan islands and surrounding areas are primarily members of six Coast Salish groups who speak the Northern Straits language: Sooke, Saanich, Songhees, Lummi, Samish and Semiahmoo. In addition to sharing language, these groups share a culture that encompasses a wide variety of marine and upland resources. They follow patterns of seasonal movement between islands and the mainland from large winter villages to smaller resource collection camps in the other seasons. 1855: Leaders of 23 Indigenous Nations sign the Treaty of Point Elliott, which makes a large swath of Western Washington available for non-Native settlement. To ensure all aboriginal land claims are extinguished, several leaders are appointed to sign on behalf of non-named or non-represented groups. Chow-its-hoot, a leader of the Lummi people, signs as “chief of the Lummi and other allied tribes,” including those living in the San