[or-roots] Requirements for Tribal enrollment

[cklooster at aol.com]

Marilyn is right about this.  Tribes are sovereign nations and have the absolute right to determine who is a member of or eligible for membership in the specific tribe.  The rules and cultural tradition about tribal membership vary considerably from tribe to tribe.  Some tribes in the early thirties adopted "boilerplate" BIA generated constitutions under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act; other tribes have older tribal rolls (often based on treaty or allotment rolls) and tribal enrollment regulations.  Tribes can also change their rules for membership...or can actually take away the membership of an individual tribal member.  Most tribes today (but not all) have formal constitutions that address membership eligibility...including petitions for membership by members of another tribe.  This might occur when someone marries a member of a different tribe and goes to live on the reservation or within the tribal jurisdiction of their spouse's tribe.  The non-member spouse may apply for membership in their new spouse's tribe.  Some tribes permit this.  Some do not.  Some tribes permit dual enrollment.  Some do not.  Some tribes take an inclusive view and allow enrollment of all descendents of original tribal members no matter what the blood quantum.  Some tribes limit enrollment those who meet or exceed a specific blood quantum.  Some require residence on or near the reservation.

BIA, on the other hand, administers a variety of congressionally mandated program
s to certain members of certain tribes.  BIA programs have various requirements, depending on the program, but many require that to be eligible, an applicant must be enrolled to a tribe and have at least 1/4 blood quantum.  This interesting thing to note here is that the blood quantum can come from several different tribes but the total must be 1/4.  For some programs the eligible beneficiary may apply to the closest BIA or tribal office.  For others, the application must follow the tribe...For BIA education funding, for example, the applicant must apply to the tribe to which they are enrolled no matter how far they live from that tribe.

Indian Health Service has a different requirement (several different requirements, actually, depending on how the health services are funded by congress) that does not include blood quantum but does include tribal enrollment and residence on or near a reservation or in Indian country.  Urban Indian Health programs are funded differently.

The important thing to know is that there is no such thing as "Indian money" nor is anyone eligible for programs or services based on Indian blood quantum. Services and programs are always tied to membership in a tribe.

Carla

  


-----Original Message-----
From: Marilyn Schwartz <familyismytreasure at comcast.net>
To: 'or-roots mail list' <or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Sent: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 1:45 pm
Subject: [or-roots] Requirements for Tribal enrollment (was: Need a look up in 1930 census)





Glen,

 

I have heard that some Tribes are changing the “blood quantum” requirement from ¼ to less than that for tribal enrollment.  The logic I’ve heard for this is because many Native Americans are marrying people of other ethnic backgrounds, consequently fewer of their children are certifiably of ¼ Native American heritage.  Thus, some tribes are decreasing in numbers.  

I did a little internet search regarding blood quantum and tribal enrollment requirements, and found that the quantum requirement varies greatly from Tribe to Tribe.  An article from the National Indian Law Library says the following:  “Tribal Requirements:  Indian Tribes are sovereign and set their own rules regarding tribal enrollment and membership. In order to find out what requirements your Tribe has, contact the Tribe's main office or tribal enrollment office.”  (See the entire article at http://www.narf.org/nill/resources/enrollment.htm.)

You may be interested in another article I found, “Native American Roots, Once Hidden, Now Embraced,” by Carol Morello, Washington Post, 
Saturday 7 April 2001 (found at http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/391.html).  It explores the issue of those with some distant family history of Indian heritage seeking their roots – and tribal enrollment.

 

Marilyn S.

 




From: or-roots-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us [mailto:or-roots-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of glenkc7mbm at comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2008 8:14 AM=0
ATo: or-roots mail list
Subject: Re: [or-roots] Need a look up in 1930 census


 


<I hate to tell you this, unless the descendents were born or lived on the reservation, they cannot be registered, this is from the BIA, they also need to be at least 1/4 blood. 

 

Glen Jones Portland>

 





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