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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2019)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 MARCH 1, 2019 26 percent of eligible Tribal members register in split-sibling election By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor E ven with an extended period of time during which they could register for the upcom- ing Bureau of Indian Affairs-supervised constitutional amendment election, an average number of Grand Ronde Tribal members will decide the issue. During the last three constitutional amend- ment elections held in 2016, 2015 and 2012, an average of 1,248 Tribal members registered to vote. For the March 22 split-sibling constitution- al amendment election, 1,291 Tribal members are registered. According to the Member Services Depart- ment, approximately 4,880 Grand Ronde Tribal members are 18 or older, making them eligible to register to vote. Twenty-six percent did so. The original Jan. 25 deadline to register for the election was extended to Friday, Feb. 22, after a month-long partial federal government shutdown prompted the BIA and Tribe to post- pone the process. The original Election Day was slated to be Feb. 25. Tribal voters are having their seventh oppor- tunity to amend the Tribal Constitution. Tribal Council voted in October to move forward with a proposed amendment designed to address the issue of siblings who are not Tribal members despite having brothers and sisters who are and have the same parent(s). The proposed amendment to the Tribal Con- stitution would amend Article V to allow for the enrollment of applicants who have enrolled brothers and sisters by the same Tribal parent(s) who were enrolled before Sept. 14, 1999, and who meet pre-1999 constitutional enrollment See AMENDMENT continued on page 8 Photo by Dean Rhodes Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy touches a slice of Tomanowos after receiving it from Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Collections Manager Lydia Heins during a repatriation event held at the museum in McMinnville on Friday, Feb. 22. Piece of Tomanowos comes back home Evergreen Aviation repatriates slice of meteorite to Grand Ronde Tribe By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer M CMINNVILLE — It’s only 4.5 ounces, but a sliver of the sacred meteorite Tomanowos returned to the Grand Ronde Tribe has huge cultural significance. The meteorite slice was repatriated by Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in a ceremony at the museum’s theater on Friday, Feb. 22. Those gathered watched in respect- ful silence as Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy accepted the piece in a red cloth-lined box from Evergreen Museum Collections Manager Lydia Heins. “I want to express my sincerest appreciation for the return of Tomanowos,” Kennedy said. “It is a spirit helper and has healing prop- See TOMANOWOS continued on page 9 Camille Mercier hired as Tribe’s new Human Resources director By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer C amille Mercier’s roots in Grand Ronde run deep. Her grandmother, Margaret Pro- vost, was one of the three key Res- toration figures for the Tribe along with Marvin Kimsey and Merle Holmes. She also spent summers at Trib- al youth events, worked in the Education and Social Services departments as a young adult, and served as Spirit Mountain Casino’s Human Resources director for 15 years before moving out of state. “I wanted to come back home,” Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Mercier says. “But after my grand- ma passed away in August, it became more of yearning. It feels right being here.” When the job of Confederat- ed Tribes of Grand Ronde/Spirit Mountain Casino Human Resourc- es director opened up in the fall of 2018 with the departure of Patrick Dempsey for a job in Washington state, Mercier saw her opportunity to return home. “Most of my professional experi- ence in human resources has been on the casino side of the industry,” she says. “It has been a number of years since I have been on the gov- ernment side of things. This was an opportunity to do something very different and work on the Tribal side of things.” One difference Mercier noticed immediately is having a three-day weekend for Tribal Chiefs Day, something she hadn’t experienced in 20 years. “Casino operations and govern- ment are very different work cul- tures,” she says. Mercier, 48, began her career with the Tribe in the late 1980s See MERCIER continued on page 11 Human Resources Department Director Camille Mercier has returned to working for the Grand Ronde Tribe, succeeding Patrick Dempsey in the position. Her office is located in the Employment Services building.
