Frank Cloutier serves as chief of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan. Photo from Facebook
The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan continues to remove people from the rolls amid concerns about per capita payments. After winning an appeals court ruling last year, the tribe reopened disenrollment proceedings against more than 230 people, some of them deceased. Many contend the process is unfair because the tribe had previously closed their cases. "They should ask themselves who’s next," Kristi Potter, who is a descendant of a chief who signed three tribal treaties, told The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun. About 60 members of her family have been disenrolled or are in the process of being disenrolled, she said. The paper quoted a September 21 letter from Chief Frank Cloutier in which he warned of shortfalls in per capita payments to tribal members. The tribal council agreed to shift some funds to cover any shortfalls, the paper reported. Earlier this year, Cloutier announced a decrease in per capita payments, with most adults due to receive $60,000 a year. Removing people from the rolls could help address further shortfalls. Some disenrollment cases are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit in tribal court. Read More on the Story:
Tribal judge to decide fate of disenrollment case (The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun 10/19)
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