The Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC) (Ojibwe: Gnoozhekaaning, lit. "Place of the Pike"), is an Indian reservation forming the land base of one of the many federally recognized Sault Ste. Marie bands of Chippewa (aka Ojibwa). The largest section of the reservation is located in Chippewa County, Michigan, approximately 15 miles (25 km) west-southwest of Sault Ste. Marie. The tribe has land in both Bay Mills and Superior townships. A smaller section lies southeast of Sault Ste. Marie and encompasses Sugar Island, all contained within the boundaries of Sugar Island Township. History The Ojibwa are a large tribe with numerous bands who have occupied territory for centuries around the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Their territories are now divided between the nations of Canada and the United States (where the people are commonly known as the Chippewa). Numerous bands have historically occupied areas around the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Ontario. The city developed along both sides of the St. Mary's River, established first during the colonial era as a French and then British fur trading post. A settled community gradually developed around the post, cosmopolitan in its varied cultures of Native American tribes, Métis people, and French and Anglo ethnic Europeans. In the 19th century, the Ojibwa/Chippewa bands in Michigan were forced to cede large amounts of territory to the United States, and many bands became landless. Nonetheless, they persisted in maintaining their cultural communities. Bay Mills people are Ojibwa or Chippewa who have lived for hundreds of years around the Whitefish Bay, the falls of the St. Marys River, and the bluffs overlooking Tahquamenon Bay, all on Lake Superior and southwest of Sault Ste. Marie. The Bay Mills Indian Community was officially established by an Act of Congress on June 19, 1860. After passage of the federal Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC) created a new form of government under a written constitution, adopted on November 27, 1937. This was approved and recognized by the federal government, which purchased land for the community to establish a reservation land base. Its territory was one of the four reservations established in Michigan under the 1934 act. These lands, along with the original Bay Mills Mission and a small area on Sugar Island, occupied by its people at least since the late