A petition by Western Catawbas to get on the Catawba Indian Nation’s membership roll has been denied by the BIA. The Western Catawbas are descended from five families who left the reservation in the late 1880s with Mormon missionaries. Whoever is listed on the Catawba roll is eligible for a share of more than $8 million from a 153-year-old settlement of a federal land dispute. “It is not an issue about allotment of the disbursement money, but about a right to fully participate in one’s heritage,” said Cynthia Walsh, a New Mexico attorney who appealed the preliminary roll published in March. The bureau’s ruling came May 8. In a separate action, a Western Catawba had filed a motion in federal court in Denver to stop final publication of the roll. Judy Canty Martin of Colorado believes the bureau is biased against the Western Catawbas. In the motion, Martin alleges that Franklin Keel, the eastern director of the BIA, and other federal officials violated several federal laws, including the Catawba Settlement Act. Catawba Chief Gilbert Blue and other tribal leaders have rejected the Western Catawbas’ efforts to join the roll, saying membership is more than blood and includes heritage and a societal connection with the tribe.
