Council statement says enrollment audit findings were improperly entered into Tribal files

A statement issued by Tribal Council during its Wednesday, July 25, meeting says that the findings from the 2012 enrollment audit conducted by New Mexico-based Anuskewicz & McCabe were not properly inputted into Tribal member files.

“At the beginning of this year, significant problems in the management and operation of the Tribe’s Enrollment office came to light,” the statement says. “Among other things, we found that Enrollment staff had reduced the Grand Ronde blood quantum of some Tribal members. In addition, blood quantum and other information had been entered incorrectly in the Tribe’s enrollment database, known as Progeny.”

In February, the top two employees in the Member Services Department were removed from their positions.

The enrollment audit resulted in more than 10 Tribal members being disenrolled for violating the dual enrollment clause in the Tribal Constitution and also identified 67 members who descended from Willamette Valley Treaty signer Chief Tumulth for disenrollment because he did not reach the Grand Ronde Reservation to appear on an official roll or record created by the Department of the Interior before being executed by the U.S. Army.

The Tumulth descendants eventually won a long and divisive legal battle when the Tribal Court of Appeals ruled in August 2016 that the Tribe had waiting too long – more than 20 years – before attempting to disenroll them.

After an initial investigation, it was determined that the audit of enrollment files did a “good job” of identifying missing documents in individual enrollment files. However, a “poor job” was done in making corrections to the files based on the audit findings and it did not consistently identify errors in blood quantum calculations.

In reaction to these findings, the Tribe has limited the use of Progeny because it is “unreliable because wrong information was entered in it” and the Tribe is now searching for new enrollment software. In addition, all new enrollment applications will be researched using original documents in the files of lineal ancestors and family members and a “comprehensive” review of all enrollment files has been initiated to ensure their accuracy.

“It has been suggested that the 2012 audit findings should be fully implemented before proceeding with any additional review of enrollment files,” the statement says. “This suggestion ignores several issues: 1) many corrections from the audit have not been made; 2) additional errors were made by Enrollment staff in implementing some corrections; and 3) all files in each family line must be reviewed to address blood quantum discrepancies among family members.”

The statement also says that not all blood quantum has been accurately calculated or recorded, not all eligible sources of blood quantum have been properly identified and blood quantum changes were not applied consistently to all lines of a family.

Moving forward, Tribal Council said in its statement that it will be guided by several principles that seek to heal a divided Tribe, promote the common good and see to “the best interests of all Tribal members and the stability of our Tribe to provide a secure foundation for the next generation.”

“Since the enrollment audit was initiated in 2012, Tribal members have lived through an anxious time and, in some cases, hardship in relation to their enrollment status,” the statement says. “Enrollment issues have pitted Tribal member against Tribal member. The council has no intention of extending this difficult episode in our Tribe’s history.”

In addition to finding new enrollment software, the Tribe is seeking to hire a new Member Services Department manager, encouraging Tribal members to review their enrollment files, developing proposals for fixing enrollment file problems that do not involve disenrollment proceedings and eventually submitting a report to the membership.

For more information about Tribal Council’s enrollment statement, contact Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez at 503-879-2304 or stacia.martin@grandronde.org.