The Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Shawnee has formally signed onto a 12-nation Potawatomi confederation stretching from Oklahoma to Ontario, giving one of the group’s largest and southernmost member nations a seat at a new North American table. Chair John “Rocky” Barrett signed the Bodéwadmi Articles of Confederation last Thursday during the annual gathering in Wisconsin. The move turns months of internal approval into a public show of regional unity.
The ceremony took place during the Forest County Potawatomi Community’s gathering, according to KOSU. The Citizen Potawatomi Tribal Legislature had already voted in September 2025 to support membership, and the Nation’s official meeting minutes show the resolution passed 15-0.
Three Potawatomi Nations Added In Wisconsin
The Bodéwadmi Confederation expanded by unanimous approval to include the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Moose Deer Point First Nation and Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, both from Ontario, Native News Online reports. The formal body was established in 2025 at the Potawatomi Gathering in Wayland, Michigan, with an agenda focused on tribal sovereignty, cultural preservation, economic cooperation and political advocacy.
The confederation is meant to give separate Potawatomi governments a standing forum for cooperation rather than replace their individual leadership. A Citizen Potawatomi Nation update said the group will use a rotating Executive Council, with CPN taking the vice chair role because it is scheduled to host the 2027 Potawatomi Gathering in Shawnee.
A Shared Voice From Oklahoma To Ontario
Kent Bush, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s public information director, compared the new alliance to the National Governors Association, telling KOSU that the nations could gain political strength by acting together. “This is a way to bring all of those smaller sovereign nations back together,” Bush said, describing the goal as speaking with one voice after migration and forced relocation scattered Potawatomi communities.
The Wisconsin meeting also put that cooperation into practical territory, with leaders discussing the planned closure of the National Archives at Chicago, Michigan’s permit for the Line 5 pipeline tunnel and proposed changes to federal historic-preservation consultation rules, according to Native News Online. For Shawnee, the confederation’s next major public chapter will arrive when Citizen Potawatomi Nation hosts its sister nations in 2027.
