Letter to Editor regarding Draft of Membership Ordinance

There is a move to pass a Membership Ordinance. We need one, but not this one. Participate! Attend meetings and give your input. Demand a referendum. Vote “NO” on this proposed SRMT Membership Ordinance if it does not get changed. I oppose the proposed membership qualifications as written, and oppose the dis-enrollment provision buried in this proposed Ordinance. This Draft Ordinance has many typos, is incomplete, but worst of all seeks to dis-enroll current SRMT Tribal members. Dis-enrollment is not traditional to SRMT. What is the purpose of dis-enrollment here? Lowering numbers of enrolled SRMT members will result in: • fewer people eligible to live on the Reserve • decreased qualified opportunities for federal grant money. The Tribe will LOSE money – and may have to pay some back if SRMT dis-enrolls many people, as proposed by this Ordinance. Read the proposed Ordinance. Will you or your children or grandchildren be dis-enrolled? This Proposed Ordinance reads as if it seeks to require a minimum blood quantum of 50% (see IV(2)). As written, this Ordinance does not do that. If the “4 great grandparents who are Mohawk” are quarter blood SRMT Mohawks, then a child of only 1/8 blood could enroll, but a currently enrolled Mohawk with one full blood grandparent would be dis-enrolled the way this Ordinance is written! That is not at all the result the Proposed Ordinance seems to seek! Plus the Ordinance doesn’t define who is ‘Mohawk’ • Is that simply a Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe member? • Is anyone from the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne or neighboring Mohawk communities excluded? Since this Ordinance does not define who is ‘Mohawk’, are Mohawk members from the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne or neighboring Mohawk communities Included? This Proposed Ordinance also bars a child whose parent did not enroll from being enrolled. Do we want this to happen to our children, grandchildren? We should remember that quantum requirements, as originally introduced by the United States, Canada and other countries with Native tribes, and lands settled by Europeans used this rule as a ‘white man’s way’ to weaken tribes by decreasing our numbers with any method possible. It is a ‘paper’ form of genocide. This Ordinance ignores traditional Mohawk adoptions. Think back to the Tarbell family and how the non-Indian Tarbell boys were raised in the Tribe, married into it, and had children. All of their children were considered full blood Mohawks. All of those children had clans, too, because the children were from Mohawk women and the clan was handed down that way. Traditionally, tribal membership followed the maternal blood line just like clan does now.

This Proposed Ordinance ignores our tribal traditions and replaces it with the United States and Canadian blood quantum rules. This Ordinance, if passed, is “a duly adopted Tribal law or ordinance, which may specify removal” as described under Section IX.A. See also Section III.6. “‘Dis-enrollment’ means an official action done pursuant to the provisions of this Ordinance which removes [any] St. Regis Mohawk Tribal member from the SRMT Tribal Rolls.” As I read these two sections, it seems that if not half of a member’s half of grandparents were SRMT members, this member could be ‘dis-enrolled’. Given that my mother was removed from SRMT as a child by the US Government, this Ordinance as written seems to help the US government along in its original intent of termination of tribes. It was many years before I learned about my mother’s history and her family. I am very proud to be a member of St Regis Mohawk Tribe and have brought my children up to our lands and taught them about our traditions and the importance of preserving our Tribe. Also concerning is that, if passed as written, this Ordinance lets the Membership Board make its own rules, bylaws, and procedures (subject to approval by SRMT Tribal Council); and does not require them to be subject to the Ethics Ordinance. Read Sections X.C. and X.K. This Ordinance leaves it up to any future Tribal Council to decide who they want enrolled and who they want dis-enrolled, with no voice from the Community. Our chance to speak for ourselves and future generations is lost and the future generation voices would be lost. PLEASE: • ATTEND THE MEETINGS AND HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD! • I URGE YOU ALL TO TELL OUR TRIBAL COUNCIL YOU WILL VOTE ‘NO’ ON ANY REFERENDUM FOR THIS ORDINANCE AS WRITTEN.

Thank you all, Sherry Conrad, Enrolled Tribal Member Daughter of Catherine Conrad, Enrolled Tribal Member