The Maine Legislature is moving forward with the most important tribal-related legislation since the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act of 1980.
In the weeks ahead, our Justice Commission, and all of its member groups: Maine Episcopal Public Policy Network, Climate Justice Council, Committee on Indian Relations, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and the Racial Justice Council, will coalesce around the number one legislative priority of the diocese which is to support tribal sovereignty through LD1626. The bill is up for a public hearing on Tuesday, February 15th at 9:00 am in the Judiciary Committee.
Now is the time for all supporters of tribal sovereignty in Maine to take action!
FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO
Testify to the Legislature in favor of LD1626
The Judiciary Committee has begun accepting written testimony from the public in advance of the February 15 hearing.
The Wabanaki Alliance, the group organizing in support of LD1626, has created the comprehensiveresource herethat walks individuals and organizations through how to write testimony for the public hearing and how/where to submit it. The bill itself, with a summary at the end, can be found athere. Some of the tips shared include: make your testimony personal, indicate your town and any organization that you represent, focus on a particular aspect of the bill that you may be familiar with and care about, and keep it short - about one page.
It is also possible to provide oral testimony, which is an opportunity to speak directly to members of the Judiciary Committee via Zoom. The order of oral testimony will be legislators first, then tribal leaders and elders, and then other members of the public in the order called by the committee co-chairs. Oral testimony could continue for several hours. If you can only do one thing, written testimony is the most important.
Participate in an online forum "Restoring Tribal Sovereignty"
On Sunday, February 20, 2:00-3:30pm. Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Dana, President of the Wabanaki Alliance, will be the keynote speaker in a webinar titled“Restoring Wabanaki Tribal Sovereignty: Why a Faithful Response is Important: and What You Can Do". Find out where we stand after the Judiciary Committee’s public hearings, and what we need to do next. This webinar is sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Maine, and organized by the Diocese’s Committee on Indian Relations and Racial Justice Council, and by Christ Church in Gardiner. The webinar is free and open to the public. Passamaquoddy language translation will be provided. Arrangements are under way for American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. The webinar will be recorded and available for later viewing. Pre-registration is required.
The Judiciary Committee will hold a second hearing, on four other tribal-related bills, on Thursday, February 17 at 9am, and is now accepting written testimony on those, too. The most important is the second one to be heard that day, LD 906 An Act to Provide Passamaquoddy Tribal members Access to Clean Drinking Water. The bill language may not yet be available on the legislature’s website, but it should appear soon, here. (The procedure for submitting written testimony and registering to give oral testimony on LD 906 is the same as for LD 1626, as indicated above. )
LD 906 is sponsored by Passamaquoddy Representative, Rena Newell, to address long-standing problems with unsafe drinking water at the Passamaquoddy Tribe's Sipayik (Pleasant Point) community. This problem has persisted because of barriers to tribal sovereignty contained in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Acts. Short-term, the Tribe has a well on land that it owns in the Town of Perry, but the Town of Perry has prohibited the tribe from using the well, which it can do because of provisions in the Settlement Acts. And long-term, the solution to the drinking water problem could be found with help from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the Settlement Acts prohibit the tribe from working with the EPA. This bill would specifically address both these problems in existing law. For decades, tribal members at Sipayik have been dependent on bottled water (purchased or donated) for drinking and many other uses. The unsafe drinking water issue clearly demonstrates the limitations to tribal sovereignty regarding a basic human need. Water is life!
Attend a webinar about the book The Gatherings
On Tuesday, February 22, 7:00-8:15pm, two of the fourteen authors (Shirley N. Hager and the Rev. Shirley Bowen) of The Gatherings: Re-imagining Indigenous-Settler Relations will discuss the book. The webinar title is “Upisktwo and the Art of Reimaging”. Upisktwo is a word in the Mi’kmaq language that means “let us return to that original place, and let’s try again.” Mawopiyane, in the Passamaquoddy language, literally means “let us sit together”, with the deeper meaning of coming together to struggle with a sensitive or divisive issue. In this book, these Wabanaki words recognize the collaborative effort of Wabanaki and settler participants in a series of meetings over several years to struggle together over differing understanding of Wabanaki-settler relationships.
The book is a product of a collaboration between seven Wabanaki and seven non-indigenous participants in these gatherings, each speaking in their own voices, as well as together. Once you’ve heard two of the authors of The Gatherings talk about this book, you’ll definitely want to read it! Attendance at this event, sponsored by the Maine Council of Churches, is free (donations accepted). Pre-registration is required.
Help engage as many people as possible in advocacy for justice for the Wabanaki peoples!
There are many books, websites, films and other resources available to deepen our understandings of the Wabanaki tribes and of tribal-settler relationships. A list of these resources, highlighting sources by Wabanaki authors, can be found on the Committee on Indian Relations' webpage under "Resources".
Maine Voices: People of faith urge legislators, Gov....
The Mi'kmaq word "upisktwo," often translated as "forgiveness," actually means "let us return to that original place and try again." There are many reasons church people need to seek upisktwo with our Wabanaki siblings, the people of the...