Maine Native Americans updates from the Wabanaki Tribes

Wabanaki is a large nation of Native Americans - First Nations peoples- located in what is real world North America. Wabanaki places emphasis on consideration and compassion for not only all of the people in its nation but as well as those who are not Wabanaki.

Update about the status of Maine's Native American tribes, reported by Representative Dr. Sam Zager, of Portland in his legislative newsletter:

For the first time in more than 20 years, state lawmakers convened in March for a Joint Convention of the Maine Legislature to hear from the leaders of the Wabanaki Tribes.

In their address, the chiefs of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and the Penobscot Nation spoke directly to the Legislature about the current state of the Tribes for the first time since 2002.

Watch Maine Public Broadcasting’s coverage of the full event here.

To understand why this is a historic moment, here are some big picture details. For around 100 centuries, the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet, and Mi’kmaq people have dwelled in the land we now call Maine.

For almost all that time, until around four centuries ago, there were no Europeans here. In the 1600s, European trappers and traders, and then European migrants, arrived and began to settle along the coast and inland rivers. In 1776, the British colonies in America severed political ties to the European Old World with the noble but yet-unrealized notion that all were “created equal.”

Two centuries ago, in 1820, the State of Maine amicably separated from Massachusetts and joined the Union as a “free” state to balance out the establishment of the “slave” state of Missouri. At the same time, the United States government was pursuing a policy of war (the “Indian Wars” from the East to the West throughout the 1800s), land confiscation (e.g. “The Trail of Tears”) and cultural annihilation (Indian Boarding Schools to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”). At times, U.S. troops perpetrated what we now would call war crimes (e.g. massacring non-combatant women and children at Wounded Knee in December 1890), according to the U.S. government’s own investigation a century later. Federal legislation permitted members of Native American tribes to vote in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until 1967 that the State of Maine permitted them to vote in state elections. There were members of the Wabanaki tribes who were serving in the U.S. military in Vietnam that weren’t allowed to vote for their state leaders. Maine and U.S. relations with the American tribes have been turbulent throughout history.

By the 1960s, as a result of these government policies, members of Native American tribes were severely impoverished and suffering far worse economic, educational and health outcomes than their white counterparts. The federal government began to act. In the early 1970s, President Nixon started to open up opportunities for economic development among the tribes. However, in settling land claims in 1980, the State of Maine retained a peculiar power over the four federally recognized tribes in our state. The effect was that fifty years of federal programs intended to improve economic, educational and health outcomes did not particularly benefit Maine’s Wabanaki people. 

A recent detailed analysis by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Kalt et al, Dec 2022), reported the per capita income of the Wabanaki nations grew just 9% in the three decades until 2018, far less than the 62% growth among non-Maine tribes during the same period.

The Kalt report said: Today, all four of the tribes in Maine—Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot—are stark economic underperformers relative to the other tribes in the Lower 48 states. Unique to Maine, the federal Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 (MICSA) empowers the state government to block the applicability of federal Indian policy in Maine. As a result, the development of the Wabanaki Nations’ economies and governmental capacities have been stunted.

I bring all this up because there is a big opportunity to rectify Maine’s policy towards the Wabanaki nations this session. Having all the tribal chiefs address the Legislature a few weeks ago was meaningful, and there is a lot of substantive, bipartisan work going on in the State House to set things on a far better course. 

Democratic Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross has been an incredible leader in this regard, and has been joined by Republican House Leader Faulkingham. I look forward to the Legislature’s continued work with tribal leaders to support efforts that recognize the Tribes’ inherent right to self-government and build a better future for all who call Maine home.

It remains a privilege to serve you in the Maine House of Representatives. As always, please feel welcome to reach out to me for help with navigating services, connecting with state agencies, or if you would like to share your ideas about our work at the State House.

Sincerely,
 Sam Zager, MD,  Serving House District 116

Sam.Zager@legislature.maine.gov