Court puts hold on disenrollments within Nooksack Tribe

Thursday, January 23, 2014  

The appellate court for the Nooksack Tribe of Washington has put a hold on disenrollment proceedings against 306 people.

The court stopped the proceedings in order to hear claims raised by attorney Gabe Galanda. The 306 people say they are being unfairly targeted for having mixed Indian-Filipino heritage.

Two council members are among those facing removal. However, Michelle Roberts and Rudy St. Germain were removed for allegedly missing too many meetings.

The meetings took place at an odd time -- three consecutive days over the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend. When Roberts and St. Germain didn't show up in person, Chairman Bob Kelly replaced them with people who support the disenrollment effort, The Bellingham Herald reported.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the Nooksack Court of Appeals case, Lomeli v. Kelly and Roberts v. Kelly.

Get the Story:
Ouster of Nooksack tribal council members triggers new lawsuit (The Bellingham Herald 1/23)
Nooksacks move ahead on revoking tribal memberships (The Bellingham Herald 1/18)

Michelle Roberts: Nooksack Tribe persecutes its own people (12/17)
David Wilkins: Disenrollment case devalues tribal sovereignty (11/07)
Opinion: Human rights at stake with Nooksack disenrollments (10/09)
Opinion: Put end to disenrollment disputes in Indian Country (09/30)
KUOW: Protest against disenrollments within Nooksack Tribe (09/23)
Nooksack Tribe barred from mass disenrollment proceedings (08/28)
Nooksack Tribe set to begin mass disenrollments this week (8/26)
Nooksack Tribe will move forward with mass disenrollments (8/21)
KUOW: Court stops Nooksack Tribe from removing 306 people (8/16)