Abenaki in Quebec take identity fraud concerns to the United Nations

Ka’nhehsí:io Deer

A digital billboard lit up New York City's Times Square last week with a message from two Abenaki communities in Quebec: that they are the "sole guardians of Abenaki iden‐ tity."

A delegation of the Abenaki Council of Odanak, Wôlinak and the Assembly of First Nations QuebecLabrador brought the same message to the 23rd session of the United Nations Perma‐ nent Forum on Indigenous Is‐ sues, as part of ongoing ef‐ forts to denounce Abenaki groups recognized in the United States.

"Our nation faces a great injustice," Rick O'Bomsawin, chief of the Abenaki of Odanak, told the United Na‐ tions floor last week.

"Who has the right to say who your people are? My na‐ tion is strong. We know who our people are but yet we have no voice because of this border that was created."

Since 2011 and 2012, the state of Vermont has legally recognized four groups as Abenaki tribes. O'Bomsawin and his say many of the groups' members have no In‐ digenous ancestry and as a result, "exploit" and "unjustly represent" the nation.

"We went to the United Nations for the purpose of making this issue known worldwide," said Sigwanis Lachapelle.

Lachapelle, 26, and her cousin Isaak Lachapelle-Gill, 24, were a part of the delega‐ tion and spoke at a side event called "Identity fraud and Indigenous self-determi‐ nation: Abenaki youth per‐ spectives."

"How can the Wabenaki nation claim self-determina‐ tion, autonomy, and self-gov‐ ernment when our funda‐ mental rights are constantly being trampled underfoot by individuals and groups pre‐ tending to be us?" asked Lachapelle-Gill.

"The answer is clear, we must anticipate and counter this trend to preserve the essence of our identity and sovereignty."

Tribes recognized in Ver‐ mont

Traditional Abenaki territory, or Ndakinna in their lan‐ guage, stretches from southern Quebec to northern Massachusetts, spanning Vermont and New Hamp‐ shire.

Due to colonization and war, Abenaki were forced north of their homelands and settled in what is now Odanak and Wôlinak, near Trois-Rivières, Que. The two communities have over 3,000 members, with most living off-reserve.

In 2011, the Nulhegan band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation and Elnu Abenaki tribe received state recogni‐ tion in Vermont. A year later, the Abenaki Nation of Mis‐ sisquoi and the Koasek Abenaki of the Koas followed.

Following state recogni‐ tion, the groups have been allowed to sell Native Ameri‐ can artwork, repatriate hu‐ man remains, influence state-wide curriculum, access funding for social programs and receive free hunting and fishing licences.

In 2005, the Abenaki Na‐ tion of Missisquoi failed to meet four of the seven man‐ dated criteria for U.S. federal status. The U.S. Bureau of In‐ dian Affairs determined that the 1,171-member band could not prove its members descend from a historical tribe, its existence as an American Indian ''entity'' on a continuous basis since 1900, nor that it maintained politi‐ cal authority over its mem‐ bers.

Research from Darryl Ler‐ oux, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, found that the majority of those members had no Abenaki ancestry, but rather are descendants from French-Canadian immigrants to the United States

He published his findings last year in a peer-reviewed article "State Recognition and the Dangers of Race Shifting" in the American Indian Cul‐ ture and Research Journal.

The genealogy has not been independently verified by CBC News.

'Many tribes'

Leadership of the Vermontrecognized Abenaki call the accusations of race-shifting inaccurate and laterally vio‐ lent.

"It is ludicrous to think that one tribe would claim to have the sole governance over an entire culture when history shows there were many tribes within the Abenaki Nation on both sides of the Canadian border," wrote Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation and executive director of Abenaki Helping Abenaki Inc., in an emailed statement to CBC In‐ digenous.

Rich Holschuh, a spokesperson for the Elnu Abenaki band and chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, called for inclusivity and the need for coexistence. He said he also plans on meeting with O'Bomsawin.

"No one is trying to erase or replace them," Holschuh said.

"It does not need to be us or them, yes or no. It should be coexistence of different bands in different places with different experiences."

He said Abenaki in Ver‐ mont do not wish to pursue federal recognition, calling the process onerous and dis‐ criminatory.

"The respective states, they know that Indigenous people have been there ... and they're trying to find a way to accommodate their citizens and allow them to be seen," said Holschuh.

"That's all we want is to be seen. We're not taking any‐ thing anything from Odanak and Wôlinak. We get no ben‐ efits, no benefits with our recognition. It's a piece of pa‐ per."

Barred from participat‐ ing in state recognition process

Denise Watso is among a few hundred members of Odanak living in Albany, N.Y. She opposed the state recog‐ nition process back in 2011, but said the Vermont senate barred non-Vermont residen‐ ts from testifying.

"We couldn't speak. We couldn't speak on our own behalf," she said about the process.

She said many legislators, including Gov. Phil Scott, have refused to address the issue.

"They're still not listening. They've had time and they've had our voices all these years," said Watso.

"We're projecting this out to the world that this is just a total injustice where we still can't have our voices heard. No one is listening. Vermont legislators are not listening. The governor of Vermont is not listening."

O'Bomsawin said he's made numerous requests to meet with the governor, to no avail. Scott's office did not respond to requests for com‐ ment.

The two Abenaki youth hope speaking at an interna‐ tional forum will help gain al‐ lies for their cause and will continue mobilization efforts to have their communities known and recognized south of the border.