{"id":31078,"date":"2015-11-16T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/disagreements-threaten-uneasy-truce-between-tribes-maine\/"},"modified":"2015-11-16T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:00:25","slug":"disagreements-threaten-uneasy-truce-between-tribes-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/disagreements-threaten-uneasy-truce-between-tribes-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"Disagreements threaten uneasy truce between tribes, Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLEASANT POINT, Maine \u2014<\/strong> Eighty-one years after a neglected tribal water supply caused a devastating outbreak of typhoid fever and a century after the state outlawed spearfishing of the salmon that fed their ancestors, Native American tribes who trace their history back millennia say their trust in the government of Maine is at an all-time low.<\/p>\n

What has long been an uneasy peace between the state government and the tribes who desire sovereignty has degraded with clashes on issues ranging from fishing rights to new casinos \u2014 a dispute so vitriolic that Gov. Paul LePage withdrew an executive order that sought to promote cooperation between the two sides and some of the tribes abandoned their seats in the legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis marriage between the tribe and the state is little more than a shotgun wedding between unwilling partners,\u201d said Fred Moore, the chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point. \u201cThere\u2019s always value in reconciling, but that requires both sides to want to come to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore said he wants a productive relationship, and will continue working for one, but he is quick to add that \u201cthe honeymoon is over\u201d between the state and his tribe, which had lived in Maine for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived. The Maine tribes\u2019 turbulent history with the state, which ranges from the 1934 disease outbreak to voters\u2019 defeat of a 2003 proposal to open a casino in southern Maine, is documented by the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.<\/p>\n

Moore said the Passamaquoddies are finished \u201cgoing to Augusta asking for things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s recognized tribes \u2014 the Passamaquoddies, the Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Band of Micmacs and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians \u2014 are only a small portion of the state\u2019s population, about 8,000 people from a total population of about 1.3 million. Their legislative representatives are permitted to introduce bills, but their votes are not counted. And doubts linger about whether they will participate in Maine\u2019s coming legislative season after the last one proved tumultuous.<\/p>\n

In April, LePage rescinded a 2011 order directing state agencies and departments to create policies recognizing the sovereignty of the tribes, among other things. His spokesman said efforts to collaborate and communicate with the tribes were \u201cunproductive\u201d and state interests were not being respected.<\/p>\n

In May, the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies abandoned their seats in the Legislature. A day later, with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, they issued a joint document saying they are no longer recognizing the authority of state officials to interfere with their \u201cself-governing rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next month, a pair of key bills \u2014 one seeking shared management of fisheries and another concerning a proposed tribal casino in northern Maine \u2014 failed, furthering the divide.<\/p>\n

LePage did not return a request for comment. State Rep. Walter Kumiega, a Deer Isle Democrat who sat on the legislative panel that killed the tribal fishing bill, said he and other legislators are \u201calways willing\u201d to negotiate with the tribes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a tricky thing, whether they are subject to our laws or not,\u201d Kumiega said.<\/p>\n

The sovereignty struggles in Maine mirror those of American Indian groups around the country.<\/p>\n

In South Dakota, members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe that wanted to open a marijuana resort burned its crop this month due to fears of a federal raid. Tribes dug in for a fight against the government about the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would have crossed tribal lands, but was rejected by President Barack Obama. And murals depicting the lynching of an American Indian in a former Idaho county courthouse have been the source of a disagreement between tribes and the University of Idaho over whether they should be displayed or covered up as offensive.<\/p>\n

The Maine tribes are descendants of the Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples who knew their homeland as \u201cDawn Land\u201d long before it was called Maine. Some of the tribes say they are willing to keep negotiating, even if their leaders doubt the state\u2019s willingness to do so.<\/p>\n

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians chose not to withdraw from the Legislature when the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes pulled their representatives. Henry Bear, the tribe\u2019s representative, said he\u2019ll continue working for tribal economic development opportunities in the coming legislative session, including more control of commercial fishing.<\/p>\n

But Brenda Commander, the Maliseet tribe\u2019s chief, said she doesn\u2019t have high hopes. She said the state hasn\u2019t shown a willingness to help the tribes grow commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into this new year, I\u2019m not feeling too positive,\u201d Commander said.<\/p>\n

Moore agreed, but he added that the tribes and state can\u2019t exist completely separate of one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cTribal sovereignty is not about isolation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLEASANT POINT, Maine \u2014 Eighty-one years after a neglected tribal water supply caused a devastating outbreak of typhoid fever and a century after the state outlawed spearfishing of the salmon that fed their ancestors, Native American tribes who trace their history back millennia say their trust in the government of Maine is at an all-time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-31078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31078"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=31078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}