S MOKE S IGNALS
FEBRUARY 1, 2019
11
Two educational meetings remain
BIA continued
from front page
Community Center, attracted ap-
proximately 50 people.
At the time, the federal govern-
ment was in the midst of its longest
partial shutdown in history and
it was unclear whether Bureau of
Indian Affairs employees would
return to the job in time to create a
voter list for the scheduled election.
Approximately 800,000 “non-essen-
tial” federal employees had been
furloughed since the shutdown
began on Dec. 22 and ended on
Monday, Jan. 28.
“We are now in the registration
period, which was already arranged
before the shutdown for the packet
to go out,” Tribal Council member
Kathleen George said. “We want ev-
eryone to submit those registration
packets. If the government isn’t
operating by (January) 25th, there
could be a postponement or pause
in the process if the BIA is not there
to create the voter list.”
Tribal members must specifi cally
register to vote in BIA-run constitu-
tional amendment elections. Being
registered to vote in annual Tribal
Council elections is insuffi cient.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs con-
tinues to run Tribal constitutional
amendment elections because a pro-
posal to remove the federal govern-
ment from the process was defeated
in March 2015 by a vote of 381 to 230.
There remains a chance that
federal workers will once again be
furloughed on Feb. 15 if Congress
cannot reach an agreement on bor-
der security issues that President
Donald Trump will accept.
Tribal members are being asked
to vote on whether nonTribal sib-
lings who have brothers and sisters
enrolled in the Tribe and have the
same parents, and who meet the
membership requirements under
the Tribal Constitution before Sept.
14, 1999, should be allowed to en-
roll to resolve the split-sibling issue
affecting some Tribal families.
“This idea of a grandfather clause
is very important to our members,”
Tribal Council member Michael
Langley said. “The other (thing) was
to keep the language in the amend-
ment simple and easy to understand.
… What it is saying is, if you have a
sibling who is enrolled and the same
parents, you will be enrolled.”
Former Tribal Council Chairman
Reyn Leno asked what the time-
frame is for the BIA to certify the
election if the government is shut
down.
Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Former Tribal Council Chairman Reyn Leno raises a concern about changing the defi nition of Grand Ronde blood
during a Constitutional Amendment Election educational meeting held in the Tribal Community Center on
Wednesday, Jan. 16. The meeting was for Tribal Council to answer questions and concerns from Tribal members.
“If we get to the point where BIA
is not back to work, when they do
come back there will be a discussion
of how to pick back up and conclude
this,” Tribal Attorney Rob Greene
said. “We are using our best re-
sources. Nobody when they wrote
regulations thought about the
longest shutdown in government
history. Once the BIA comes back
to work, we will sit down with them.
We don’t have anything in the reg-
ulations to deal with this.”
Tribal Council approved an au-
thorization to proceed in October
to move forward with a proposed
amendment to address the issue of
siblings who are not Tribal members
despite having brothers and sisters
who are and have the same parent(s).
Tribal Council was encouraged to
move the proposed constitutional
amendment to a vote by a positive
Sept. 8 advisory vote result. Tribal
voters favored a similarly worded
proposal 839 to 365, for a 69.7 per-
cent majority. To amend the Tribal
Constitution, a two-thirds majority
of those voting is necessary.
Only two proposed constitutional
amendments have ever received
suffi cient yes votes to pass — the
July 1999 enrollment requirements
that created the current split-sib-
ling situation and a February 2008
proposal to increase the relinquish-
ment period from one to fi ve years.
Other constitutional amendment
proposals have either failed to gar-
ner the two-thirds majority man-
dated by the Tribal Constitution or
have been defeated.
Tribal member Veronica Gaston
suggested that Tribal Council can-
cel the election because of a BIA
error in the original registration
packets sent to Tribal members
that included an incorrect informa-
tion sheet stating that there would
be a vote on a possible change to the
defi nition of Grand Ronde blood.
The offi cial BIA election ballot will
contain the correct amendment
language to be voted on.
“The best thing we could do now is
cancel this election,” she said, amid
shouts of “No!” from some audience
members.
Tribal Elder Jennie VanAtta
said she has siblings who are not
enrolled due to the current regu-
lations.
“We all grew up here and all had
the same crazy mom,” she said. “We
all have the same blood quantum.
For me, split families are a huge
issue. My siblings still don’t quite
understand why they can’t enroll
when they come to visit me. This
will fi x that.”
Tribal Elder Debi Anderson said
that the 1999 amendment had
negative unintended consequences.
“These people are family,” she said.
“Their blood is the same as their en-
rolled siblings. I applaud council for
going through with this. This is about
families and healing families. It has
hurt too many people for too long.”
In the run-up to the Feb. 25 elec-
tion, Tribal Council had planned
four educational sessions, including
a Jan. 30 event held at Portland
State University. The two remain-
ing educational sessions scheduled
for Eugene and Grand Ronde will
be rescheduled, said Deputy Press
Secretary Sara Thompson. n
Laura Lund, left, Nancy Renfrow and Rich
VanAtta listen to the discussion during a
Tribal Council-led Constitutional Amendment
Election educational meeting held in the Tribal
Community Center on Wednesday, Jan. 16.
Tribal member and Maintenance Technician Robert
Wiggs listens to the discussion during Tribal Council-led
Constitutional Amendment Election educational meeting
held in the Tribal Community Center on Wednesday, Jan. 16.