Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe is a

state-recognized tribe State-recognized tribes in the United States are Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by state government through laws, governor's executive orders ...

and

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. It is headquartered in

Montegut, Louisiana Montegut is a census-designated place (CDP) in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,540 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Houma– Bayou Cane– Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area. Montegut was the ...

. It is active in Terrebonne and

Lafourche Parish Lafourche Parish () is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Thibodaux. The parish was formed in 1807. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, which consisted of the present ...

es. Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT) identify as descendants of the

Acolapissa The Acolapissa were a small tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of North America. They lived along the banks of the Pearl River, between present-day Louisiana and Mississippi. They are believed to have spoken a Muskogean lang ...

Atakapa The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct b ...

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

Chitimacha The Chitimacha ( ; or ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands in Louisiana. They are a federally recognized tribe, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana. The Chitimacha have an Indian reservation in St. Mary Parish near Charento ...

, and

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

peoples. The organization formerly identified as descending from the

Houma people The Houma () are a historic Native American people of Louisiana and Mississippi on the east side of the Red River of the South. They once spoke a Western Muskogean language. Language The Houma spoke the Houma language, which is poorly attest ...

since at least 1907 to 1993. The group has approximately 800 members.

History

The Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and the Bayou Lafourche Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees broke away from the

United Houma Nation The United Houma Nation, Inc. is a state-recognized tribe and non-profit organization in Louisiana. It is one of the largest state-recognized tribes in the United States, with over 17,000 members. It is not a federally recognized American Indian ...

in the 1990s. All three are state-recognized tribes today in Louisiana.

Nonprofit organization

The Pointe Au Chien Indian Tribe organized as a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

based in Montegut, Louisiana. Its tax-exempt status was temporarily revoked in 2023 but has been restored by 2024. Its principal officer is Melissa Verdin. Its total assets were $517,288 in 2024.

Petition for federal recognition

In 1996, the group petitioned to the

United States Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

for federal recognition after breaking away from the United Houma Nation, whose petition had been denied. In 2008, the proposed amending finding stated that the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe "is not an Indian tribe within the meaning of the Federal law," since their ancestors did not constitute a community or hold political influence over the group before 1830. The preliminary finding states, "The evidence in the record has not demonstrated that the PACIT petitioner's members descend from a historical Indian tribe..." Their petition is still being processed under the revised 2015 criteria for recognition.

Hurricane Ida

Although the Pointe Au Chien Indian Tribe has survived hurricanes for hundreds of years,

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive tropical cyclone in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In terms of m ...

devastated the Pointe-au-Chien community on August 29, 2021, leaving unprecedented damage with about 150 tribal families in need of assistance for temporary housing and rebuilding. Because of not being a federally recognized tribe, important disaster proclamations and rescue funds were not forthcoming from U.S. government relief agencies.

Education

The tribe established a French immersion

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

École Pointe-au-Chien École Pointe-au-Chien (EPAC) is a public French immersion elementary school in Pointe-aux-Chênes, an unincorporated area in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. It has a Montegut postal address, but is not in the Montegut census-designated place. Th ...

, in Pointe-aux-Chenes, after the

Terrebonne Parish School District Terrebonne Parish School District is a school district headquartered in Bayou Cane, Louisiana, Bayou Cane, an unincorporated area in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, near Houma, Louisiana, Houma. The district serves residents in Terrebonne Parish, ...

closed that community's public school in 2021. The school district sold the former Pointe-aux-Chênes school building to the tribe, for one dollar, so the French immersion school could be housed there. In the summers, they host Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe Culture Camp.

References

External links

The Pointe-au-Chien Tribe

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

, 06/16/2013. {{authority control Choctaw heritage groups Houma heritage groups Cultural organizations based in Louisiana State-recognized tribes in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Louisiana 1993 establishments in Louisiana