The Bodéwadmi Confederation of Tribal Nations is a formal body composed of eight Potawatomi tribes in the United States and four in Canada. Tribal leaders formed the union last year at the 2025 Potawatomi Gathering in Wayland, Mich.
The Citizen Potawatomi Tribal Legislature based in Shawnee voted to join the group in September 2025.
But at this year's gathering hosted by the Forest County Potawatomi Community in Wisconsin, Citizen Potawatomi Chair John Barrett signed the articles of confederation, formally entering the tribe into the union.
Kent Bush, Citizen Potawatomi public information director, likened the confederation to the National Governor's Association, which met in Oklahoma City last week. That group features governors from all 50 states and five U.S. territories to discuss issues across the country.
Bush said while different Potawatomi leaders may disagree on some subjects, they ultimately gain political strength and influence as a combined entity.
"The original Potawatomi tribe, through normal migration, through forced relocation, each tribe has been pushed apart and pushed into smaller and smaller pieces," Bush said. "This is a way to bring all of those smaller sovereign nations back together and to speak with one voice and to carry that combined weight."
With its admittance into the confederation, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation joins sister tribes in Kansas, Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is the tribe located furthest south.
Two tribes from Ontario — the Moose Deer Point First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation — also signed the articles of confederation last month.
Bush said the confederation will also allow the tribes to share knowledge. But he added the group's impacts have yet to be seen due to its infancy.
"(We're) just excited to play our role, lead where we can lead and learn where we can learn," Bush said. "We just are excited to be a part of this rejoining of the original Potawatomi community."
Next year's Potawatomi Gathering will be held in Shawnee and hosted by the Citizen Potatawomi Nation.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
