Bangor: Tribes, state to amend acts
By Aimee Dolloff
Thursday, October 04, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
BANGOR, Maine — The state’s Wabanaki American Indian tribes
remained focused Wednesday on four main issues that they
hope to address while studying differences in the
interpretation and understanding of the Settlement Acts
between the tribes and the state.
The Tribal-State Work Group, created in 2006 by Gov. John
Baldacci, met Wednesday at the University of Maine System
Office to continue discussions about potential changes to
the act.
"All we are asking is respect for our culture and an
opportunity to live that culture," Butch Phillips,
Penobscot Nation tribal elder and work group member, said
at Wednesday’s meeting. "Self governance is the most
important right of the tribe."
As originally charged by Baldacci, the work group is in the
process of developing recommendations for how the
Legislature might reconcile the issues in a manner that
benefits both the tribes and the state.
The recurrent themes discussed Wednesday included the
concept of sovereignty; the definition of internal tribal
matters; how disputes between the state and tribes should
be settled; and what is meant by language stating that
tribes are similar to municipalities.
The Maine Settlement Acts date back to 1979 and include the
Maine Implementing Act, which implemented in part a land
settlement agreement among the state of Maine and the
Penobscot Indian Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. They were ratified by
Congress in 1980. Subsequently, the Maine Legislature
enacted, and Congress ratified, the Micmac Settlement Act
regarding the Aroostook Band of Micmacs.
"Unfortunately, it has not worked out as we intended,"
Phillips said.
Over the last 27 years, although the poverty level among
Maine’s American Indians has improved, other aspects of
their lives haven’t.
As presented Wednesday, issues such as health care, the
ability to freely practice their cultures and traditions,
social equality, and access to higher education are just a
few of the issues that have plagued Maine’s tribes since
the acts were implemented.
"The Settlement Act doesn’t work because it tries to make
us something we are not," Phillips said. "We are first,
last and always Indian tribes, not creatures of the state."
The group is scheduled to meet again at 11 a.m. Friday,
Nov. 2, in Augusta to hear from Tim Woodcock and John
Patterson. Both men were involved in creating the act.
The tribes intend to a have a draft of what they would like
to see changed ready for the November meeting. The group is
under a Dec. 5 deadline to submit its report to the state.
The 123rd Legislature then will consider the findings
during the second session.
Members of the work group include six state
representatives, two state senators, eight representatives
from the Wabanaki tribes, a representative from Baldacci’s
office, and another from the Maine Indian Tribal-State
Commission.
"If you let the tribe have the means to go forward, we can
do amazing things," Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Chief Rick
Phillips-Doyle said, noting that the Settlement Act didn’t
change the way the tribes view themselves.
"The people still believe in their tribal governments," he
said.
Notation: For further study:
Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Chapter 601 - 1979
Federal Maine Indian Claim Settlement Act of 1980
For more information and further study please visit the Maine Indian-Tribal State Commission's website at MITSC
The additional information provided here by MTBW is from the MITSC'S website's resources of invaluable information.
Contents
October 2007 Reports
Last updated on October 4, 2007