Love Our Abenaki Neighbors

“Love our Vermont State-Recognized Abenaki Tribal Members and All Abenaki People Living in Vermont” Over the last several years, increasing at an alarming rate over the last several months, there has been a dismaying onslaught of negative statements, presentations and media attacking the integrity and existence of Abenaki people living in Vermont. For many decades Abenaki people in Vermont have worked honorably and effectively to change Vermont from a dangerous place to be Abenaki to a safe and accepting environment for Abenaki children and elders to walk openly among the rest of Vermont’s residents. The recent attacks by some Native people and one UVM-affiliated academic have and continue to cause harm – emotional pain and real physical danger - to the elders, children and all Abenaki people in Vermont and the wider region. This new emergence of an apparent license to harass and intimated Abenaki people in Vermont, based on inaccurate and biased assertions given platforms by UVM and local media, should concern all of us living in Vermont who have a profound responsibility to appreciate and respect those people whose ancestors have lived in these lands since very ancient times. The people making the attacks on Abenaki people in Vermont are affiliated with the Canadian-recognized Odanak and Wolinak Reservations, who are themselves affiliated in many ways with Quebec and Canadian government interests, especially Hydro Quebec. Hydro Quebec is planning on much more development of transmission lines across the international border, on lands traditionally occupied by Western Abenaki people and for which there is unclear title from an aboriginal title point of view. HQ is also in the process of acquiring all of the large hydroelectric dams on the Upper Connecticut River in Abenaki County from central Massachusetts to the headwaters of the Kwanitekw (Connecticut River). Hydro Quebec is concerned about potential obstacles to development posed by dormant aboriginal land claims. See https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-hydro-quebecbegins-talks-for-185-billion-strategy-to-wean-the/ One possible motivation for the aggressive attacks on the Abenaki people in Vermont is that Odanak and Wolinak leadership, with 2 financial and strategic support from HQ, believes in the not-so-distant future Odanak and Wolinak will be able to assert lucrative legal land claims to land currently understood to be Vermont. They have said as much. [See Beyond Borders Conference UVM May 2022 at 1:46 minutes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8t3LxwhBhI] These attacks against Vermont Abenaki people are misguided and dishonorable. It seems that some elements of the leadership in Odanak and Wolinak want all the benefits of their alleged claim to own large swaths of Vermont without having any responsibility to care for that land or the Abenaki people living here. It has always been the Abenaki people in Vermont, not leadership from Odanak and Wolinak, keeping the Abenaki ways alive and protecting the Abenaki culture, lands, waters, sacred sites, and burials grounds within Vermont borders. In truth, all Vermonters owe the Abenaki People and Nation a debt of gratitude for their historic protection of their homelands in Vermont, New Hampshire, western Maine and even northern New York for over 150 years when large European colonial development was urbanizing all of the surrounding Indigenous homelands from Quebec and Montreal to Albany, New York, Boston, and beyond. When Rogers Rangers attacked and burned the Odanak Abenaki village in early October 1759, it was the Missisquoi Abenaki community who took in and cared for many of their Canadian kin. Where was Odanak and Wolinak when the Missisquoi Abenaki leadership were struggling to protect their ancient village and burial grounds and survive against Ira and Ethan Allen and others who had 3 promised that the Abenaki would have their village at Missisquoi if they supported the Vermont and American revolutionary cause? Where was the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak when ancestral burial grounds were being desecrated and the bones and tens of thousands of grave goods of Abenaki ancestors were looted, traded, and held at the Vermont Historical Society, UVM, Dartmouth, UNH, Harvard, the NY State Museum, the Heye Foundation, the Smithsonian, and countless other museums and historical societies in Vermont and around the world? And where was Odanak and Wolinak when the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi led the Abenaki Nation coalition to repatriate and rebury hundreds of Abenaki remains and tens of thousands of Abenaki grave goods and historic materials from the 1980’s to present? Where was the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak when the Abenaki of Missisquoi led the protests against the collapse of the famous Missisquoi pike runs in the 1970’s and 1980’s and won their historic hunting and fishing rights case in the 1980’s before a Vermont judge that issued the amazing 186-page decision detailing how and why Abenaki in Vermont did have Aboriginal rights based on current law and their continuing governmental and cultural existence here? Where was the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak when Abenaki children at Missisquoi and all over Vermont and the homeland were forced to read and memorize racist anti-Abenaki histories in local schools? Where was the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak when the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi stood up in Federal Court to block the destruction of a sacred waterfall and the greater flooding of ancient Abenaki historic sites and burial grounds in the 1980’s? Where was the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak when Grandma Martha Morits Lampman had to take her family into the swamp to hide from white people’s violence, or when a Canadian land developer bulldozed that land for sub-divisions and the community fought back to save it? Or when the Eugenic programs 4 in Vermont focused their dastardly attention on “Indians” in Vermont while denying their true identity and histories out of the profound, racist ignorance of the ancient and continuing Abenaki history, language, culture, and traditions? The answers are that the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak either did not care, were not involved, or when involved, the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak was supporting the actions taken by the Abenaki actually living in Vermont. It should not be surprising that some of the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak and its supporters denigrate the Vermont process that resulted in tribal recognition. In these days it is in fashion to simply attack outcomes that are contrary to one’s desires, without regard to the hard-working, intelligent, and qualified people who made those decisions. One only must look at the Trump felony conviction debacle to see that, these days, many people do not care about the process or truth, but only the outcome being what they want it to be. Some people are willing to attack and destroy the reputation and wellbeing of those involved in the day-to-day work that brought about an outcome that is disliked. This is the case with the leadership of Odanak and Wolinak and the Vermont State Recognition process. In fact, much like the Trump trial, the people (Vermonters) involved in the comprehensive State recognition process did their best to serve the common good and did a very good job. The evidence received by those involved in the decision to recognize the four tribes in Vermont was determined to be appropriate and sufficient by our elected leaders and those appointed by them to carry out the legislative mandate. The process included genealogical, scholarly, and testimonial evidence. The leadership of Odanak and Wolinak was absolutely involved as demonstrated by the official records of the proceedings that documented at least two Odanak representatives testifying or 5 submitting testimony. That process, for which all Vermonters should be proud, worked as it was intended and resulted in a just and fair outcome. Disgustingly, but not surprisingly, many non-native peoples, including UVM professor David Massell and University of Ottawa associate professor Darryl Leroux, have jumped on the “Hate Vermont Abenaki People because they are frauds and destroying native culture while stealing money that should go to real natives”- band wagon. These people spew the hateful and dangerous message that Vermont’s recognized tribes should be attacked, without apparent thought to the harm these reckless and inaccurate assertions cause. And by leaving out the most important facts. Through these harmful and erroneous actions, these non-Native people seem to be motivated by their desires to gain notoriety and power within their non-Native academic communities. This dynamic also seems to be a hallmark of social relations today. Let us all take a breath and remember what values and behaviors we cherish and want to convey to our children – including grace, compassion, adherence to facts, and respect for other people, including being especially careful when asserting positions that harm historically disenfranchised communities. Let us all love our neighbors who understand themselves to be part of the great Abenaki people and listen to them rather than attack them. Let us focus on the facts and discuss them together to assure mutual understanding and acceptance. These aspirations will provide for the outcomes that benefit the majority of people and limit the harm done to others. In conclusion, please consider the following facts when thinking about the recent intensification of the rhetoric attacking our Abenaki neighbors living in Vermont: Fact One – The State recognition process that recognized the four tribes in Vermont was created by and carried out by our elected legislature after serious and exhaustive consideration and comprehensive information received from many sources, including Odanak and Wolinak, and from many descendants of Odanak families in Vermont who supported, and still support, these recognitions. [There are countless citations to this assertion including one in the 6 Burlington Free Press yesterday – Saturday/Sunday 6/22-3/2024 on the front page]. The process was structured, informed and appropriate for what it was intended to do, recognize legitimate Abenaki tribes in Vermont for purposes other than land claims and legal jurisdictional purposes. Those latter issues are left to the Federal Government, not states. Unlike Federal recognition, the State process had nothing to do with land claims, judicial systems, or the right to run casinos (all aspects of federal recognition). Rather, the State process was intended to identify and honor the Indigenous people of Vermont and their ongoing social and political structures. The State process also facilitated funding to support health, education, cultural, and economic development in the Abenaki communities identified. Fact Two – Since long-before State recognition, and on an ongoing basis, the four tribes and hundreds of other Abenaki extended families, leaders, and elders have cared for and worked to support their communities. The State recognized Abenaki tribes and hundreds of other Abenaki families, leaders, and elders have consistently and honorable worked to preserve and promote their culture and appreciation for Vermont’s Indigenous people, through community education, healthcare initiatives, and economic development as well as environmental, site, and burial protection activities in Vermont. The four tribes have used State recognition to strengthen these social services and further preserve and promote their cultural heritage. Historically, the Odanak, Wolinak, and other related Abenaki and Wabanaki Peoples have had extensive and continued, respectful, familial relations with the Abenaki in Vermont and the wider region. The leadership at Odanak and Wolinak have done nothing substantial themselves, ever, to benefit Native people in Vermont (other than assist with projects initiated by Abenaki people in Vermont). Fact Three – It is likely that the leadership at Odanak and Wolinak and their supporters are attacking Vermont State recognized Abenaki at least partly because of a desire to assert a future land claim over Vermont land based on Hydro Quebec’s need to settle land claims on both sides of border, gaining millions of dollars for Odanak and Wolinak’s tribal government. Odanak and Wolinak leader Daniel Nolett stated as much at the 2022 Beyond Borders UVM conference when he said, “After we settled our land claims filed with the government of Canada, to address the situation of recognition in the 7 United States, that will be a major task to take on…so this is a comprehensive land claim…[that] would lead to a negotiation and signing of a modern treaty.” See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8t3LxwhBhI Fact Four – To the extent that there is a dispute between the Abenaki people that live in Vermont and leadership from Odanak and Wolinak, that dispute should be resolved between the Native peoples involved. Efforts by leadership from Odanak and Wolinak to engage UVM, the United Nations and other large organizations in their attacks on Abenaki people living in Vermont are wrong and unfair. All of those attacking Abenaki people in Vermont should consider the impact these attacks have on the substantial number of historically threatened, injured, and marginalized Abenaki people living in Vermont. Such consideration should yield more grace, compassion and understanding when engaging on the topic of Indigenous peoples in Vermont and the Northeast. Hopefully, a deeper consideration of the facts and the real life, real time impacts of the current attacks on Abenaki people living in Vermont will yield a return to a more positive, safe, and productive environment for all of us who call Vermont home. Thank you for your efforts to learn about, understand more about, and act to support our Abenaki neighbors. A.J. Ruben, attorney Black Bear Legal Services Pittsfield, Vermont Jul7y 4, 2024