BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – New rules for the recognition of Native American groups could ease the way for Montana’s Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians to be formally acknowledged by the U.S. government, according to the tribe’s chairman.

The new recognition rules appear to give more allowances for tribes that don’t have a defined homeland, according to representatives of the tribe. Members of the Little Shell wandered northern Montana and southern Canada after being denied a reservation in the late 1800s.

“This has been a long, long, long fight for us,” Little Shell Chairman Gerald Gray told The Associated Press. “We’re the can that’s been kicked down the street every few years for more than 100 years.”

The changes announced are meant to reform a process widely considered to be broken after recognition petitions from the Little Shell and other tribes languished for decades.

The Little Shell petitioned for recognition through the Interior Department in 1978.

Gray and other members trace their drive for recognition back to the 1860s, when the related Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians signed a treaty with the U.S. government that was later ratified by the Senate.

In 1892, when the government created a commission to negotiate for a land cessation for some Chippewa, Chief Little Shell refused to accept the terms. His people were later carved out of the agreement.

Chief Little Shell’s descendants were later forced into Canada, where some married into communities of French-Canadian fur trappers. That influence can be seen today in the tribal song, a fiddle jig.

The tribe received a preliminary positive finding on its petition in 2000, only to have it denied in 2009. The matter is now on appeal with the Interior Department.

Federal recognition renders tribes eligible for education, health care, housing grants and other benefits.

The state of Montana formally recognized the Little Shell in 2000.

Montana’s congressional delegation has introduced bills in the U.S. House and Senate that would bypass the Interior Department and recognize the tribe by law.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat and vice chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, said the changes announced last week provided more transparency and a more efficient path for tribes seeking recognition. But he said most importantly, the Little Shell and other tribes need to be treated fairly by a bureaucracy that has held back their efforts.