Nicole Ducheneaux. Photo courtesy Big Fire Law and Policy Group
Nicole Ducheneaux, partner at the Big Fire Law and Policy Group, offered the following statement to Indianz.Com in connection with litigation over the $8 billion coronavirus relief fund. The firm represents six tribes in the CARES Act lawsuit.
“Of paramount importance to the Sioux Tribes and the Alaska Native Tribes in this ligation was the question of whether ANCs are Tribal Governments. The court properly ruled that they are not.”
“Native people and the Governments that serve Native people are entitled to these life-saving funds; not for-profit corporations.”
“We won today, but we will keep fighting if we must,” said Ducheneaux.
Ducheneaux is part of a team of all Native women attorneys who are representing the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Nondalton Tribal Council, the Native Village of Venetie and the Arctic Village Council.
“The tribes that I represent in this case among the poorest tribes in the nation, which comprises the poorest people in our country, period,” said Ducheneaux, a Cheyenne River citizen.
“The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has no casino or economic development engine to speak of,” Ducheneaux added. “The efforts of ANCs to diminish our share of lifesaving COVID-19 funds is criminal and immoral. We won’t stop fighting.”
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