6
APRIL 1, 2023
Smoke Signals
8The fact that Camille is the first
woman CEO is a fantastic milestone9
MERCIER continued
from front page
an important and high proole job,=
Jenness said. <Camille is eminently
qualioed to take the helm at Spirit
Mountain and create long-term
success for the casino, the Tribe and
the broader community.=
Thomas will stay on at the casino
until May 15, Jenness added.
Mercier began her career with the
Tribe in the late 1980s as an educa-
tional aide. She then transferred to
Social Services and worked in the
Prevention Department. She also
served as the casino9s Human Re-
sources director for 15 years before
moving out of state.
According to her LinkedIn proole,
she has a bachelor9s degree in organi-
zational leadership from George Fox
University in Newberg and a mas-
ter9s in business administration from
Willamette University in Salem.
Before returning as the Tribe9s
Human Resources director in 2018,
she served in a similar role for
Ameristar Casino in Iowa and the
Lucky Eagle Casino in Chehalis,
Wash., which is owned by the Che-
halis Tribe.
She started working as the assis-
tant chief executive ofocer at Spirit
Mountain Casino in September
2021. In that role, she focused
on creating efociencies for Spirit
Mountain9s business operations
through strategic planning, de-
veloping better collaboration and
communication processes, and
evaluating new opportunities.
In addition to being the first
woman hired to lead the casino, she
becomes the third Tribal member
in the job after Thomas and Randy
Dugger.
<The fact that Camille is the orst
woman CEO is a fantastic mile-
stone,= Jenness said. <What is more
important to me is that we got the
right person for the job, and she is
that person.=
Mercier also has served on the
TERO, Health and Royalty commit-
tees and is a current member of the
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
Board of Directors. þ
8This is a hard situation9
ENROLLMENT continued
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surfacing. & As of today, we
have information that out of the
5,620 current living members
of the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde, a minimum of
3,918 members have a sup-
portable blood quantum that is
lower than their recorded blood
quantum. That9s a big number.
As we continue to address the
issues the number of impacted
members will go up.=
Tribal Communications Di-
rector Sara Thompson said in a
press release that the Tribe has
been talking with the member-
ship about ongoing issues with
Tribal enrollment and blood
quantum since 2019.
<We have continuously been
working to resolve these issues=
the release stated. <We now have
additional information on the
depth and magnitude of those
issues. & We are not sharing
this to scare you. We are sharing
this information because the
Tribe cannot ignore the current
state of enrollment or continue
down this same path. Doing so
only compounds the existing
problems and makes the situa-
tion worse.=
A 2012 enrollment audit con-
ducted by New Mexico-based
accounting orm Anuskewicz &
McCabe that became the foun-
dation for a divisive era of disen-
rollment proceedings within the
Grand Ronde Tribe was ulti-
mately deemed unreliable.
<(It) cannot be relied on to
conorm whether an individual9s
blood quantum in the Tribe9s
system is actually correct,= stat-
ed a 2019 Tribal Council mem-
orandum. <The scope of A&M9s
work & did not include looking
at how an error or change in the
blood quantum of one individual
affected his or her family.=
In October 2019, Tribal Coun-
cil approved a maximum $50,000
contract with Arizona attorney
Robert Lyttle (Cheyenne & Arap-
aho Tribes of Oklahoma) to re-
search Tribal enrollment issues
and conduct public meetings,
resulting in a 20-page report
that traced Grand Ronde mem-
bership and enrollment issues
from 1936 to the present. It was
mailed out to Tribal members
and there were four public input
meetings that followed.
The Grand Ronde Tribe has
specioc blood quantum require-
ments in its Constitution. Using
blood quantum to determine
enrollment dates back more
than two centuries, when Indian
agents would do census taking in
Tribal communities and assign
blood quantum amounts to fam-
ilies, with little to no scientioc
process.
Kennedy noted that this was
part of the U.S. government9s
overall effort, dating back to
its orst president, to eradicate
Native American culture and
take land.
<As far back as the orst pres-
ident, the policy of the United
States government was to take
Tribal lands,= she said. <A num-
ber of strategies were used. Blood
quantum was one of these.=
In order to change the require-
ments of enrolling new Tribal
members, the membership must
approve a constitutional amend-
ment. This requires at least 30
percent of all registered voters
cast ballots and two-thirds of
those voting must approve the
amendment.
The three constitutional
amendments that have passed
were the 1999 amendment, which
tightened enrollment require-
ments, an increase in the relin-
quishment period that passed
in 2008 and a 2022 amendment,
which banned disenrollment ex-
cept in cases of deliberate fraud
or dual enrollment.
<We wish the answer to this
issue was an easy one, but it9s
not,= Kennedy said. <Any real
solution will require a constitu-
tional amendment. With a pause
in place, the Tribe will be able to
focus on the next steps. This de-
cision was not made lightly, and
we respect that Tribal members
will need time to process this
information and will want to ask
questions.=
She encouraged Tribal mem-
bers to contact the Tribal Enroll-
ment Ofoce to review their ole
and noted that a Tribal member
cannot look at anyone else9s ole
except with explicit permission
from that member.
There also will be a hybrid
informational meeting at 5:30
p.m. Tuesday, April 4. More in-
formation will be shared when it
is available.
<We are here for you,= Kennedy
said. <This is a hard situation.
It9s an awful feeling not to know
where your child, grandchild
or even you may stand. Please
know that we are committed to
doing what is best for the Tribe
and our Tribal families. We will
get through this together and
come out stronger in the end.=
To watch the entire 2 hour
and 50 minute meeting, visit the
Tribal government9s website at
www.grandronde.org and click
on the Government tab and then
Videos. þ
Tribe offering gas discount
Grand Ronde Tribal members, as well as Tribal and Spirit Mountain
Casino employees, can receive a 30-cent per gallon discount on gasoline
at the Tribally owned Grand Ronde Station convenience store.
There are, however, a few rules. Tribal members and employees must
go inside and show either their enrollment card or employee identiocation
card to receive the discount. þ