Submitted by the Office of the Attorney General on behalf of Tribal Council.
The information below was presented to the Tribal Council of the Eastern Band on April 26, 2010.
During the March 17, 2010 Enrollment Committee Work Session, the Committee discussed additional information the Tribe requested from the auditors. We requested:
• Item 1: A breakdown into categories of the 303 people listed as not having a link to the Baker Roll.
• Item 2: A breakdown of the files listed as having incorrect blood quantum.
• Item 3: The number of total files still missing birth certificates (both living and deceased members.).
• Item 4: A list of the members who failed to submit birth certificates as requested in the letter issued last July.
• Item 5: A breakdown of the 683 files listed as “not meeting the enrollment requirements”.
• Item 6: A breakdown into categories of the 1,405 files listed as “actionable” in the analysis report.
Last week the Auditors provided me with information on all of the above items except item five. They told me information on that item would be forthcoming. You will find a synopsis of the information they provided in report form below.
303 Members Showing
No Link to the Baker Roll
Of the 303 members listed as having no link to the Baker Roll the following categories were provided. They are listed with the number of members falling into that category.
• Four are adopted and do not have a physical link to the Baker Roll,
• Eight claimed a link to the Baker Roll through an ancestor who the Auditors could not find on that Roll,
• Nine are categorized as, “Birth Certificate of a non-enrolled ancestor is unavailable. The audit needs a copy of the birth certificate.”
• 247 are categorized as having a “Non-enrolled Ancestor. A copy of Ancestor’s birth certificate is required to verify the parents.”
• 35 are categorized as having “Two non-enrolled ancestors. A copy of Ancestor’s birth certificate is required to verify parent.”
629 Members with Incorrect
Blood Quantum
The Auditors provided the following breakdown of the 629 members who are credited with the incorrect blood quantum:
• Nine files which currently reflect a calculated blood quantum should be changed to no blood degree as the individual was adopted,
• 185 files require a higher blood degree than currently credited with,
• 435 files require a lower blood degree than currently credited with.
Of the 435 files that should be changed to a lower blood degree, 50 of those members would then reflect a blood degree that was not high enough to qualify for membership at the time they were enrolled.
Members Lacking
Birth Certificate Document
The Auditors are prepared to share a list of the names of all members who are lacking a birth certificate in their official enrollment file. Currently, 442 members (both living and deceased) are missing a certified birth certificate. That has a downstream effect on 1,848 other members.
Of the 733 letters which went out to living members missing birth certificates last July, 568 have sent in the requested document to date. Currently there are 165 living members who have not submitted a birth certificate as requested.
2,251 “Actionable” Files
The October analysis report supplied by the Auditors found there were 1,405 files defined as “actionable”, meaning there was some change or action that needed to be taken in completing or correcting the file. However, the Auditors current 60 page report identifies 2,251 files as actionable. The current report breaks those files down into fourteen categories. I have listed them below.
1. Adopted person –biological parents birth certificate may not be available,
2. Birth Certificate has been altered,
3. Parents’ full names missing from the birth certificate,
4. Challenge pending,
5. Conflicting information within the enrollment file,
6. Person has two enrollment files,
7. Application denied at one time, needs reviewing,
8. Proper authorization/signature missing – no notary,
9. Missing Enrollment Date on Action Form,
10. Missing one or more documents from the enrollment file,
11. Parent used in the blood quantum calculation not listed on the birth certificate,
12. Missing Social Security Number card,
13. Special Circumstance, addition identification needed, and
14. Need verification of non-enrollment from other Tribe.
This additional information supplied by the auditors presents items on which we can take some action. Specifically we could take steps to address the issue of missing birth certificates. Of the 442 files still missing birth certificates, it appears that 277 of those individuals are deceased. Council may want to consider the idea of contacting the Division of Vital Statistics in Raleigh to request certified copies of as many of those birth certificates as can be found in their records.
In the last month, three of the communities on the boundary have held community club meetings to discuss the results of the enrollment audit. Big Cove, Painttown and Snowbird invited representatives from the enrollment and legal offices to attend these meetings. Currently, there are two more meetings scheduled over the next few weeks, Yellowhill and Wolfetown. The meetings have all been well attended and have encouraged a spirited discussion among those attending.
