Dear John,

MCV supports the growing movement to recognize the sovereign rights of the Wabanaki nations. This issue is central to protecting the air, land, water, and our shared climate future in Maine.

The Wabanaki Tribes, including the Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and Aroostook Band of Micmacs, have lived in what is now Maine for thousands of years. Throughout those millennia, the Tribes have lived in close relationship with the land and water, protecting natural resources so that future generations could thrive. 

For the last 40 years, however, the Wabanaki Tribes have been denied the right to regulate land use and natural resources on their own land as they deem appropriate because of restrictions in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and the Maine Implementing Act. The State of Maine has used these acts to limit tribal sovereignty in multiple ways, harming the tribes, putting the environment at risk, and leading to legal disputes.

None of the other 570 federally-recognized tribes in the United States live under the same restrictions as the Wabanaki nations. They are excluded from federal legislation that ensures tribes’ inherent rights to govern themselves and have not benefited from over 150 Federal Indian Laws passed since the Maine acts. These benefits include funding for river protection and for building better roads and bridges, which would help not just the tribes, but also the rural Maine communities that neighbor them.

Maine has a chance to begin to set tribal-state relations right and fully recognize the sovereignty of the Wabanaki nations. There's a bill headed to the Maine Legislature sponsored by Assistant House Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross that would restore the Wabanaki Tribes’ inherent rights to self-govern. This bill is based on the recommendations of a bipartisan task force of legislators to change the Maine Implementing Act. 

The Wabanaki Tribes are the original people of this place. There is no better way to protect tribal lands and waters than to restore tribal sovereignty. 

Over the coming weeks, we’ll share more information about this important issue and what you can do to support it. Right now, please support the Wabanaki Alliance — the tribes’ coordinated effort to restore their sovereign rights to self-govern — by signing their petition and considering a donation.
 
Thank you,

Maureen Drouin, MCV Executive Director

Learn more:

• Click here for the Wabanaki Alliance’s Website
• Click here for Wabanaki REACH Resources on the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980
• Click here for our Lunch & Learn with Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Dana and Passamaquoddy Tribal Citizen and Attorney Corey Hinton 
• Click here to read Rep. Jared Golden’s recent Bangor Daily News opinion piece on why “It’s time to modernize Maine’s tribal-state relations”