Council passes several changes to Enrollment Ordinance

Due to the recent completion of the audit of the enrollment records of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the issue of enrollment is on many people’s minds. That topic was discussed during the regular session of Tribal Council on Thursday, June 3 as several changes to the Tribe’s Enrollment Ordinance were approved in the form of Ordinance No. 277.

One of the major changes will be the addition of a DNA test being required for an enrollment application. The ordinance states that the following will be required for an application to be processed, “The results of a DNA test, from a lab acceptable to the Enrollment Committee, establishing the probability of paternity and/or maternity by the parent(s) through whom lineage is claimed for an applicant.”