Wisconsin Ojibwe leader included in White House discussions on rural issues

Mole Lake Ojibwe Chairman Robert Van Zile had a message for rural community leaders at the White House earlier this month.

“Why compete with one another when we can work together,” he said. “We can focus on the things we have in common in being able to prosper.”

Van Zile said it was good conversation between leaders in tribal nations, rural towns, rural counties and federal officials as they discussed ways to bring in federal dollars to improve infrastructure.

He said tribal nations can play a role in helping surrounding rural communities in creating broadband access, building water and septic infrastructure, housing and health care.

Van Zile was among those invited to the White House this month by the Biden-Harris Administration as part of its Rural Communities in Action event.

“We got invited to help push the envelope,” he said.

They met to discuss the issues with senior White House officials, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Rural communities are being gutted by lack of economic opportunity, lack of broadband access, lack of housing, lack of access to healthcare due to inability to recruit healthcare professionals to address a variety of medical and mental health challenges,” Van Zile said in a statement.

Van Zile said the Mole Lake Reservation in northern Wisconsin is in a rural region that even lacks cellphone service in many places. And the lack of internet access was apparent during the pandemic when students in many households found it challenging to learn at home.

“They could not continue their studies remotely during the pandemic,” he said. “Our rural kids were not able to participate in education because broadband access does not exist in many rural communities.”

The reservation is home to about 500 tribal members with another 1,000 members living off-reservation.

Van Zile said many people want to build vacation homes and move to the Mole Lake area, which would be a boost to the economy. But they find challenges with lack of infrastructure.

“It’s not just tribal members,” he said. “What I’m talking about is tourism.”

In conjunction with the event, the White House also just announced $671 million in new investments for infrastructure in rural communities.

Van Zile’s visit also included a discussion with Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, which included thanking her for the $3 million she helped recently secure for the tribe’s community health clinic.

Van Zile also opened a workshop at the event with a prayer, becoming the first Mole Lake chairman to open an official meeting in Washington, D.C.

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.

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