VERMONT TRIBAL NEWS

News From Vermont

Abenaki recognition bill moves to the House

Written by Jedd Kettler
Thursday, 19 May 2005

MONTPELIER: Following two unanimous votes on the floor of the Senate, the issue of state recognition for the Abenaki people is now poised to move into the House.

S.117 would recognize the Abenaki and other Native Americans as minorities in Vermont and codify the state’s Commission on Native American Affairs.

On Friday, May 13, the Abenaki recognition issue saw its first appearance ever on the full Senate floor with a 23-0 vote on S.117. It saw a 25-0 vote of support in its third reading, Tuesday, May 17.

Franklin County Senators Sara Branon Kittell and Don Collins voted in favor of the bill on both days.

“Friday was a big day,” Collins said this week. “It’s certainly a positive step forward.”

There were some strange moments along the way though, including comments made by Rutland District Republican Wendy Wilton on Friday.

In Tuesday’s vote, Kittell asked that the remarks of Sen. Vince Illuzzi, chairman of the Senate Economic Development committee which approved S.117 on April 15, and Sen. Richard Sears, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee which spent several weeks taking testimony and gave a nod to it last Wednesday, be included in the Senate Journal. Until Kittell’s request there had been no specific remarks from anyone but Wilton in the record.

Kittell said she asked for Illuzzi and Sears’ remarks to be included to balance out statements from Rutland District Republican Sen. Wendy Wilton, which were included in the record of Friday’s vote.

Explaining her vote, Wilton said, “If the Abenaki people are successful in obtaining Federal recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then the development of a casino by the Abenaki is possible.” She said this could help fund plans for expanding access to health care and job creation in Franklin, Essex and Orleans counties. “Therefore, I wholeheartedly support recognition of the Abenaki people by the state of Vermont.”

Others, such as Illuzzi and Sears, who have spent considerable time and energy looking into the ramifications of state recognition have concluded there is little connection between the current bill and the ongoing BIA federal recognition process, which may or may not open the way for gambling.

Kittell said she felt Wilton’s comments, the only comments originally included in the journal, mischaracterized the need for state recognition and asked that the comments of Illuzzi and Sears be added to the record.

Collins said he felt the work done in the Senate committees should dispell fears about land claims and casinos that opponents such as the Attorney General’s Office and Gov. Jim Douglas have expressed. “I felt the Senate did a really thorough job,” Collins said.

Despite Douglas’ opposition to state recognition, Collins also expressed confidence that if the bill makes it through the House — where it is expected to be taken up in the fall — and onto the Governor’s desk, that it stands a good chance of becoming law, despite the Governor’s opposition to this point.

“I have to believe that, as well crafted as it is, that Gov. Douglas will sign it if it gets through the house,” Collins said.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 May 2005 )

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Abenaki bill wins preliminary Senate approval

Article published May 14, 2005

MONTPELIER — The Abenaki Indians' long campaign for state recognition won a historic victory Friday with preliminary approval from the Senate.

The Senate unanimously supported a bill that recognizes the Abenaki as a minority in Vermont. The measure will be up for a final vote next week.

"What this means more than anything to the Abenaki ... is that it's one step closer to a state which will celebrate its original Vermonters," said Jeff Benay, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs.

"We've worked long and hard for this," said Debbie Bezio, a member of the Coos Cowasuck band of the Abenaki. "The different tribes have come forward one at a time, and it's time it went forward. I think we're all happy."

Senators supporting the measure urged their colleagues to do what they said was right: to vote to acknowledge the existence of many bands of Abenaki in Vermont.

"This bill intends to recognize the Vermont Abenaki people for who they are and stop denying the obvious. We should no longer deny their existence," said Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, chairman of the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee, where the bill originated.

Sen. James Leddy, D-Chittenden, said he couldn't remember a more important vote in his Senate career than to recognize a people for who they are.

"To deny recognition is in some way to deny a heritage, to deny a people," he said.

Supporters say state recognition would make the Abenaki eligible for education grants and allow them to sell and label their products as Native American.

Critics, including the attorney general's office and the governor, fear state recognition could lead to federal recognition, and possible land claims and bids for casino gambling.

Sen. Richard Sears, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his committee amended the bill to allay some of those fears by adding a line that says state recognition does not give the Abenaki claims to lands or any other rights not included in the bill.

He also said research by the legislative counsel showed that state recognition was not vital to federal recognition.

"But it is vital in terms of our recognizing the Native Americans who lived in Vermont long before our ancestors arrived," Sears said.

Fred Wiseman, who has presented evidence to lawmakers about the existence of the Abenaki, praised the committees for independently reviewing the issues.

He said the late Sen. Julius Canns, R-Caledonia, first talked to him about state recognition in 1996 or 1997.

Canns died in February.

"It's a shame that Julius had to pass before this had to happen," he said.

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Defending Abenaki identity

Tribe decries attempt to remove their name from state contract

By Maryann Ullmann | Special to the Vermont Guardian

Posted April 15, 2005

Although the ties of modern Abenakis to their ancestors are being politically challenged in Vermont, it is the future of their youth that has them most worried.

The Vermont Attorney General’s office has edited out the word “Abenaki” from a state contract between the University of Vermont Department of Social Work and the Vermont Department of Children and Families, formerly known as Social and Rehabilitative Services. The contract deals with a program meant to ensure Abenaki foster children get placed in homes that honor their heritage and culture.

“We’re not naive here,” said Abenaki Child Welfare Project Coordinator Gary Widrick, “but we were surprised they did this in a unilateral fashion without talking to us.”

Chief Assistant Attorney General Bill Griffin told the St. Albans Messenger that he was responsible for the change. He said contracts like this can be used to fulfill Bureau of Indian Affairs criteria for the pending Abenaki federal recognition petition, which he says could lead to land claims and casinos.

“It’s racism,” responds Chief April Merrill of the St. Francis/Sokoki band of Abenaki in Swanton. “He’s trying to erase our culture and our heritage.” A press release issued by the tribe declares Griffin’s action as an attack that “seems to target indigenous Vermonters’ most endangered resource — their children.”

The Abenaki Child Welfare Project got off the ground in 1993 when Abenaki leaders expressed concern that too many of their children were ending up in foster care outside of their community, losing their way, and dropping out of school or winding up in jail. The project takes preventative measures by training social workers and foster parents in “cultural competency knowledge” which helps them understand and respect the need for Abenaki youth to maintain cultural and community ties.

“You don’t just pull a kid out of the Abenaki community and find a warm bed for them anywhere in the state and hope for the best,” said Widrick.

He said it breaks their connection with the culture, and they can become disaffected and angry. Widrick pointed out that this affects everyone in Vermont, because if they end up in the criminal justice system, they become the responsibility of society.

Approximately 50 percent of children who wind up in DCF custody are Abenaki, according to Jeff Benay, chair of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs. “To the Abenaki, young people are sacrosanct,” said Benay. “The future is with the children — to

have opportunities their elders never had. That’s why this is so painful.”

A syllabus for a UVM course developed with tribal members quotes an Abenaki elder: “Culture is not just about survival for Indians nowadays, but a path to guiding our youth to a better future.”

Widrick said that while UVM stays out of the politics, it has to work within the context of a long struggle for social justice between the Abenaki and the state of Vermont that continues to the present day.

The fear, common among tribes, is that over time, native children are more likely to be adopted by Anglo families, he said, and that over time, Native American culture will wither away. “It’s not an idle threat. Historically, that’s been the case. There’s a lot at stake.”

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the federal government took native children away from their homes and put them in boarding schools as part of a policy of assimilation. In the 1950s and 60s, the national Adoption Project again took native children away from their homes, placing them with primarily white families.

In Vermont, said Benay, the Abenaki have been through the genocide of the 1860s and eugenics movement that began in the 1920s. “And now, in the year 2005, it’s frightening for them in terms of the similarities,” he said. “As a Vermonter, I can understand their concern.”

“Bill Griffin says his responsibility is to protect all Vermonters,” Benay added. “But you look back at the language used by proponents of eugenics and see similarities. This is very, very scary.”

The federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was passed to reverse the trend of policies like the Adoption Project, ensure sovereign tribal jurisdiction over custody of their youth, and protect them from insensitive state agencies and social workers. But ICWA only protects federally recognized tribes.

Tribes without federal status must rely on cooperative programs like the Abenaki Project to keep their young in the community. The project is viewed both nationally and internationally as a creative and successful model.

The Abenaki Project was arranged through UVM so that the state would not have to contract directly with the tribe. It uses federal funds, and the contract has run for five years using the word “Abenaki” with no previous objections.

“Out of nowhere, the Abenaki contacted me and said they got some disturbing news that the language of the contract has been changed,” said Benay. “It was absolutely numbing in terms of how frightening it was that every reference to the Abenaki was deleted and replaced by ‘indigenous’, ‘Native American,’ or ‘Indian Education.’ It was outrageous.”

Widrick said that he was concerned that this might affect the Abenaki-specific nature of the cultural competency trainings, but UVM received adequate assurance that nothing would change before signing the contract. They plan to iron out the language deviation in next year’s contract.

Benay said the governor’s office had no prior knowledge of the language change and is investigating the feasibility of changing it back.

Meanwhile, the Abenaki have sent a letter to the Vermont Human Rights Commission in hopes that the incident can be addressed as a human rights violation. But while the commissioners may be sympathetic, their ability to act may be limited since the Abenaki do not have even minority status.

After three hearings, Vermont Joint Senate Res. 9, which recognizes the Abenaki people as a minority group, is still sitting in the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee — even though the majority of senators are cosponsors. Committees have buried similar resolutions in the past.

“Bill Griffin has been making the same argument for years, scaring legislators,” Benay said, mentioning land claim and casino fears. He charged that Griffin is using this as an excuse to change the contract, even though the tribe has other adequate documents to fulfill federal recognition criteria. “This is all part of the campaign saying the Abenaki don’t exist.” “I’m Abenaki, and I’m not going to disappear when Bill Griffin takes the word ‘Abenaki’ out of things,” said Chief Merrill. “Whether we’re state or federally recognized or not, I’m still Abenaki.”

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Abenakis argue for recognition

Article published May 5, 2005

BURLINGTON — A Senate committee tried Wednesday to carve out what effect state recognition of the Abenaki Indians would mean for the tribe and for Vermont.

In a second day of testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from representatives of the Abenaki, scholars and state officials about a bill that would set up a process under which the Abenaki could be officially recognized by Vermont.

Supporters say state status would make the Abenaki eligible for federal education grants and allow them to label and sell their crafts as Native American.

Critics, including the attorney general's office and the governor, fear state recognition could lead to federal recognition, and possible land claims and bids for casino gambling.

The committee set out to address those fears Wednesday.

"I'm saying to you in no uncertain terms state recognition does not lead to federal recognition," said Jeff Benay, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs, who stated he was testifying as an individual and not as chairman of the commission.

Benay also told the committee that the Abenakis had a "slim chance" of earning federal recognition because of what he described as the legal vagaries of the process.

But if federal recognition were granted, any casino gambling would have to be approved by the Legislature and governor, he said.

Assistant Attorney General William Griffin said the bill before lawmakers is being used in the petition for federal recognition by the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki.

"What it (state recognition) does is that it creates proof that is and will be used in the federal case," he said.

The bill would allow a commission appointed by the governor to grant official recognition to the Abenaki for two purposes: making the tribe eligible for federal education, cultural and housing grants; and allowing it to sell crafts with a label saying they were Indian-made.

"We're just asking for the same rights every other social group has," said Debbie Bezio, a member of the Coos Cowasuck band of the Abenakis in Brownington. "To educate our children, to sell our crafts."

A pervading sense of frustration hung over the two and half hours of testimony.

Committee Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, lamented that the panel did not have enough time or resources at the end of the session to address the bill thoroughly. Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, said he was offended at being called a racist for questioning the bill and representatives of the Abenaki were upset about newspaper editorial this week that urged lawmakers to reject the bill because it said the Abenakis did not meet the federal standards for recognition.

"I don't appreciate my ancestry being analyzed and dissected and told I'm not a native American," said Fred Wiseman.

The committee hopes to take more testimony next week.

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Last updated on January 25, 2006