Federal decision leaves Vermont's Abenakis in limbo
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: June 26, 2007
MONTPELIER — The final federal decision to deny acknowledgement of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki leaves the tribe's members little, if any, farther ahead than they were decades ago when they began the process.
State recognition last year of the existence in Vermont of Abenaki and other American Indians — the first time since a one-year recognition of the tribe by then Gov. Thomas Salmon in 1976 — gave supporters of the band a boost. State officials and American Indians in Vermont are still working out what that bill — signed into law by Gov. James Douglas — means practically.
But last week's decision by the federal government, although expected, dealt a serious setback to the Abenakis' hopes for acknowledgement as a sovereign nation.
The federal ruling was not a surprise, said Jeff Benay, who has testified in the Legislature in favor of Abenaki recognition and is a former chair of the state commission on Native American affairs
The federal government had issued a preliminary rejection of the tribe's recognition petition in November 2005. But Friday's final determination by the U.S. Department of the Interior makes it much less likely the tribe will gain federal acknowledgement. Although an appeal is possible, or the tribe could seek recognition through another avenue, the federal final decision closes one door.
The tribe failed in four of the seven criteria to gain recognition, including not demonstrating that it existed continuously since 1900, that the petitioning group had been a distinct community since historical times, maintained political influence over its members and that its members descended from a historical tribe.
"Unfortunately recognition petitions are not always judged on merit," Benay said. "Am I surprised? No. Do the Abenaki have a good petition? Absolutely. It was strong in 1982 when it was first submitted. It only got stronger."
Indeed the chance of a successful recognition petition seems to be related to how much money can be spent in support of it, Benay said.
For instance the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's petition gathered dust for a decade before financial backers put up $8 million which helped bring the petition to the top of the heap, according to the Cape Cod Times. The tribe's petition was approved earlier this year.
"The Abenaki were not approached by well-heeled groups so they did not have the $8 million the Mashpee had," Benay said. "We learned that money talks."
In a statement, Interior Department officials said the decision to deny recognition to the Abenaki was based on evidence that the tribe ceased to exist and that some of the members of the modern band are not its descendants.
"The available evidence does not support these claims. Instead, it indicates that the petitioner is a collection of individuals of claimed but mostly undemonstrated Indian ancestry with little or no social or historical connection with each other before the petitioner formally organized in the 1970s," according to the agency's statement. Phone calls to officials in the department were not returned Monday.
"The problem with recognition in general is that the standard is very, very high and it is biased towards tribes west of the Mississippi who have the shortest contact with Europeans," said Brian Gilley, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont. That is because tribes with the longest contact with European settlers tend to have the greatest damage to their social and political structures, said Gilley.
"The people who grant recognition are historians, anthropologists, they are not politicians," Gilley said. "Their decisions are supposed to only be influenced by the evidence of a proposed tribe meeting the requirements as set out by the law."
State governments — including Vermont's Attorney General's office — often oppose recognition in part because of fears that such acknowledgement of tribes will lead to casino gambling or land claims by tribal members.
Officials of the Attorney General's office did not return calls for comment on the decision.
But that is not a realistic worry in Vermont, given the remoteness of the state and the amount of money it would take to establish gambling here, Gilley said.
Mostly federal recognition would have meant more access to health care, education and scholarship programs, they said.
And federal law now requires state legislative and gubernatorial approval before gambling can open even by federally recognized tribes, Benay said.
The federal decision will have little bearing on his work as chairman of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, said Mark Mitchell, an Abenaki himself.
"I find it personally has no bearing on what this commission does or does not do at all. I work with the state government, not the federal government," Mitchell said.
His goals are to establish the rules around state recognition of tribes in Vermont for purposes of selling arts and crafts and drafting a guide for American Indians in the state who want to seek assistance with schooling and other programs, Mitchell said.
There have been some beneficial developments, compared with even recent history, however, he added.
"Today the doors are open, the native voice is at the table with state government. I find that kind of refreshing compared with the early 1990s," he said.
The bill made into law last year which acknowledged the presence of American Indians in Vermont did not go as far as some supporters had hoped.
"The original bill was a shadow of itself. Now, with federal recognition being denied, they are not much farther ahead than they were in the 1970s," said State Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans. "I don't think there is any dispute that they inhabited this part of the world, now known as Vermont, thousands of years ago. They have received nothing over the past 30 years."
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