Grand Portage Tribal Chair Norman Deschampe administers the oath of office to new Grand Portage Tribal Chief Judge Christina “Tina” Deschampe.
The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has its own Tribal Court. On May 20, 2011, in the historic Old Log School gym/meeting room, Grand Portage Tribal Chairman Norman Deschampe swore in the new chief judge for Grand Portage Tribal Court. The new judge is Christina “Tina” Deschampe.
Tina Deschampe is a member of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and has lived on the Grand Portage Reservation her entire life except for the seven years she was away pursuing her education. She graduated from Cook County High School in 2003.
Tina received her Bachelors Degree in 2007 in Criminal Justice from Hamline University and graduated from the University of Minnesota in May 2010 with a Juris Doctorate degree. During those seven years at college, she returned each summer to work in her home community.
At the ceremony, Grand Portage community members thanked former Judge Rochelle Ducheneaux for her eight-plus years of service with the Grand Portage Tribal Court.
Ducheneaux is a senior judge for her home Reservation, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. During her tenure, she traveled to Grand Portage to hold court at the Old Log School and to help Grand Portage build and maintain the codes of the Grand Portage Tribal Court.
The Cook County News-Herald asked Judge Deschampe what sort of cases are heard at the Tribal Court. Deschampe said the Grand Portage Tribal Court hears all actions arising under the Grand Portage hunting, fishing, and trapping code, all actions under the land use and zoning ordinance and all civil causes of action arising at common law. This includes, but is not limited to contract claims, tort claims, insurance claims and claims arising from commercial dealings.
The Grand Portage Tribal Court has jurisdiction over all band members and over persons whose actions involve or affect the Grand Portage Band or its members.
In her speech to the people present at the swearing in, Judge Ducheneaux said she was happy that the Grand Portage Band and Tribal Court now has Tina Deschampe to serve as chief judge for her home Reservation and wished her the best.
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