Testimony in Support of LD 2007, An Act to Advance Self-determination for Wabanaki Nations
To the Committee on Judiciary
by Rebeccah Sanders, CEO
February 26, 2024
Senator Carney, Representative Moonen, and members of the Judiciary Committee, my name is Rebeccah Sanders, and I am the CEO at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM has been working for more than 60 years on behalf of our 30,000 members and supporters to protect, restore, and conserve Maine’s environment. Today, NRCM testifies in support of LD 2007, An Act to Advance Self-determination for Wabanaki Nations.
The mission of NRCM is to protect, restore, and conserve the woods, waters, wildlife, and communities of the place we now call Maine. In that work, we recognize and honor the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Penobscot Nation who have stewarded these lands for time immemorial. It is well past time for the State of Maine to recognize the sovereignty of the Wabanaki people and restore their right to self-determination.
We are honored to have worked with the Wabanaki tribes to protect the lands and waters on which we all depend: to restore water quality and the health of Maine’s rivers and to remove obsolete dams and other obstacles that have prevented sea-run fish from reaching vital upstream habitat. Recently we stood firmly alongside the Wabanaki people to oppose a proposed mine in the Katahdin region that would have threatened tribal lands and pristine fish habitat, just as we worked with the tribes to end the dumping of out-of-state waste in Maine.
We are deeply grateful for these shared efforts with the Wabanaki Nations to protect Maine’s environment, now and into the future, for all Mainers. But the Wabanaki people have faced centuries of broken treaties and genocide and been denied sovereignty for too long. Without the legally protected right to self-determination, the tribes have limited regulatory control over the natural resources that impact their communities and livelihoods.
Because the tribes in Maine are not treated as sovereign nations, they have limited access to federal funding and programs that are available to all 570 other tribes in the United States. The four tribes in Maine are, unfortunately, in a uniquely marginalized position that has prevented them from accessing at least 151 federal laws passed since 1980 that are beneficial to Indian Nations.¹
This has had a direct, negative impact on the livelihoods of tribal members in Maine, as shown by a Harvard Kennedy School report that found the average per capita income of Wabanaki Nations has risen a mere 9% since 1989, relative to a rise of 61% for members of all other federally recognized tribes in the U.S.² Without access to these federal resources, it is more challenging for the tribes in Maine to effectively support their people, protect their land, and engage in traditional practices.
We also recognize that the conservation community has not always been a good partner to Indigenous tribes, and that includes NRCM’s work here in Maine. Over the years, the conservation of land for environmental protection has often failed to prioritize tribal voices and needs, and in many cases has actively excluded tribal members from participation or access.
Despite these injustices, the Wabanaki tribes maintain spiritual, cultural, and physical connections with these lands and deserve to have their full rights to govern restored. This case is made in full by the final report of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act, released in January of 2020.³ LD 2007 would enact the recommendations made in that report, and in doing so, remove the unjust restrictions currently in place on the tribes in Maine and ensure that they have the same rights to self-determination as other federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States.
NRCM is a proud member of the Wabanaki Alliance, and we stand in solidarity with the tribes as they seek to secure full sovereignty. Relationships are everything to our advocacy work. The Wabanaki people have roots in this land that are deeper than anyone else’s. We trust their knowledge of the land and the needs of their people by providing them with the dignity and respect that would be afforded through recognition of their sovereign rights. For these reasons, we urge the Committee to vote Ought To Pass on LD 2007.
I appreciate the opportunity to provide these comments.
1 Research Findings Requested by the State of Maine Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act, 2019. https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/3616
2 Economic and Social Impacts of Restrictions on the Applicability of Federal Indian Policies to the Wabanaki Nations in Maine, 2022. https://ash.harvard.edu/publications/economic-and-social-impacts-restrictions-applicability-federal-indian-policies
3 Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act, 2020. https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/3815
