Article II: Land
Section 1.
Recognition. We, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, do not accept a diminishing of our sovereign status as a nation and of our vested or inherent rights by the act of adopting this constitution.
Section 2.
The Tribal Council shall establish a standing Committee vested with the responsibility of protecting and preserving our land rights in accordance with the land policies of the Nation which are hereby declared to be:
(a) The Potawatomi Indian Reservees, under a treaty, have a right paramount and superior to any grant of land to states or others. Until our collective or individual title shall be fully extinguished in compliance with treaty law, the grants or assignments of our land to others by executive or legislative action, in whatever form, cannot operate. We, the Potawatomi, maintain our inherent and sovereign right to negotiate with the United States for just compensation for unlawful removal of our lands or property from the jurisdiction of the Potawatomi Nation without just compensation. We maintain our right to sue for lands of individual reservees under treaty law.
(b) We thereby claim, by treaty law, all Potawatomi lands granted to religious orders or educational institutions, which parties failed as agreed to adequately educate Potawatomi members in exchange for the rights to occupy and possess such lands.
Section 3.
It shall be the duty of the Tribal Council to protect and preserve the individual members' rights and ownership of trust lands, including the right of inheritance under applicable law. Further, the Tribal Council shall have the duty to protect and preserve all tribal lands and to prevent the loss of such lands from tribal ownership.