Several Odanak citizens had requested time on the agenda at this week's meeting. O'Bomsawin attended the VCNAA meeting along with other officials and citizens of Odanak First Nation and one citizen of Wôlinak First Nation. Vermont Public Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs Chair Rich Holschuh allowed time for Abenaki officials and citizens of Odanak First Nation to speak at the VCNAA's meeting on Wednesday, March 8. And when we have people that are calling us names, and not living in a traditional way of just talking like we are, in a peaceful way, but trying to eliminate us to raise themselves." "Where our problem is, is when people try to push us out of our own homeland, too. "We have our history, and you have yours as well, and we are all kin," Stevens said. The 2002 state's attorney general office report found little evidence for this claim.Īt the meeting Wednesday, Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation Chief Don Stevens said that he appreciated the face-to-face conversation with O'Bomsawin. In the past, members of Vermont state-recognized tribes have said that Abenaki people were targets of the Vermont Eugenics Survey, and hid their identities because of it, including on official documents. We want to know, if we have - if we truly have family members here in the United States, we want to bring yous home. "We're looking for our true history, who we are, our real being. "When we say to someone and someone says to us, 'We're Abenaki,' and we ask who your ancestors were or who your family was, please, this is not - we're not trying to insult you, OK? This is a question that's asked on every Native reservation across the frickin' United States and Canada," O'Bomsawin said. state-recognized tribes while Odanak reps continue to denounce themĬhief O’Bomsawin said while that was possible, paper documentation has been around for a long time, and anyone claiming to be Abenaki should be able to show a familial link to those First Nations. More from Vermont Public: UVM officials apologize to Vt. "They never got up there and got their names put on the rolls," Longtoe Sheehan said. The chief of the southern Vermont-based Elnu Abenaki Tribe, Roger Longtoe Sheehan, said on Wednesday that not every Abenaki person fled to Quebec during colonial times, and that’s why their families don’t have a paper trail leading to Odanak or Wôlinak.
Vermont Public Odanak First Nation Chief Rick O'Bomsawin invited Vermont's four state-recognized tribes to visit the Abenaki reserve in Quebec during the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs meeting on Wednesday, March 8.īut those who are part of the four tribes Vermont formally recognized in 20 continue to say they are indeed Abenaki. The Bureau of Indian Affairs said “less than 1%” of the individuals cited in the application demonstrated Abenaki ancestry. That petition for federal recognition was ultimately rejected.
This comes in the midst of Odanak First Nation as well as Wôlinak First Nation - another Abenaki community based in Quebec - continuing to assert that Vermont’s state-recognized tribes have not shared the genealogical and historical evidence showing they are Abenaki.Ī 2002 report by the state attorney general's office, when one group was applying for federal recognition, came to the same conclusion.
VCNAA Chair Rich Holschuh said the body would like to consider the invitation. “I'm giving you guys a formal invitation to come to Odanak to meet with our council," O'Bomsawin said. The chief of Odanak First Nation has invited Vermont’s state-recognized tribes to visit the Quebec-based Abenaki community.Ĭhief Rick O’Bomsawin did so at the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs (VCNAA) meeting Wednesday.