AG withdraws opposition to state Abenaki recognition

January 5, 2006
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER — The state Attorney General's Office is withdrawing much of its objection to state recognition for the Abenaki Indians after the tribe was turned down for federal recognition.

That could make it more likely that such state recognition, passed last year by the Senate, could make it past the House during this lawmaking session.

But both Bill Griffin, chief assistant attorney general, and Abenaki member Debbie Bezio, who testified Wednesday before the House committee addressing the issue, said that the recognition bill should be expanded to include all American Indians living in Vermont, not just the Abenaki.

State recognition would help the Abenaki and members of other tribes gain respect, qualify for loans and grants and sell their crafts, proponents said.

Federal recognition would have more significant implications. The tribe's government would be treated more like a sovereign state by the federal government than as part of Vermont. Some tribes have built gambling casinos after gaining federal recognition.

But the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in November rejected an Abenaki petition for federal recognition in a preliminary decision, saying the group did not meet the criteria to be federally recognized.

The final decision is expected this year, and could be different than the preliminary result, and leaders of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki, who filed the petition for federal recognition, have said that they will work to convince the BIA it made the wrong decision.

Griffin told the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday that he does not think that will happen.

"I would be very, very surprised if the bureau changed its finding," said Griffin, whose office has opposed federal recognition of the Abenaki.

That is part of the reason why the Attorney General's Office is not opposing state recognition as it did during the last lawmaking session, Griffin said.

At that time, when the federal government was still considering the Abenaki petition for recognition, state recognition could have been used to bolster that case, Griffin said.

Indeed, tribal leaders sent the bill passed by the Vermont Senate to the BIA, he added.

Griffin also said the House should broaden the bill passed by the Senate — for example, allowing tribes other than the Abenaki to be represented on a commission that would oversee state recognition of tribes.

"There are a lot of native Americans in Vermont who are not Abenaki," he said.

Bezio, an Abenaki who is a member of the Coos Cowasuck Band of Abenaki based in Orleans County, agreed.

"We are all here, there is no reason why we should not all be included," she said.

Bezio told lawmakers that American Indian children, including her 13-year-old son, are treated badly at school because of their ancestry, something she hopes state recognition would change.

Rep. Francis Brooks, D-Montpelier, said his committee has just begun taking testimony on the issue of state recognition. The committee will probably continue to work on the issue through the month at least, and the House Judiciary Committee may also look at the bill.

The text of the bill may be more inclusive than it appears from its title, "An Act Relating to State Recognition of the Abenaki People," Brooks said.

Brooks said that the kind of discrimination made against American Indians has hurt the state and country.

"It is a burden both on the person who gives it and the person who receives it," he said. "It deforms society for a long, long time."

Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans, a lead proponent of the bill in the Senate, said he thinks increasing its scope may be a good idea.

"A mechanism should be set up to allow different tribes to seek and obtain state recognition," he said.

Sen. Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden, said the recognition of the Abenaki remains the most important aspect of the bill.

"The reason it seems to me such a critical piece is they are really central in Vermont's early history," she said.