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The amended version of LD 2007 is not the same sweeping tribal rights bill that was originally proposed. Negotiations between the Wabanaki tribes, the offices of the governor and attorney general, and lawmakers yielded a modest but necessary agreement based around tribal court authority.
This updated bill should become law, and it should become another building block on which to base continued engagement and action. The Maine House took an initial step Tuesday by voting to pass the amended bill.
Incremental progress can often feel insufficient. And it often is insufficient, especially on matters of civil rights and equality.
When a group of people have experienced generational injustice, as the Wabanaki tribes have in Maine, anything except comprehensive change can seem to fall short.
To say we live in an imperfect world would be a massive understatement. But within that imperfect world, and the imperfect systems and political realities therein, taking small steps forward together is almost always better than inaction.
“I hope that you can appreciate that work and also know that is not the end of the conversation, that we will continue to discuss these pieces and really get to the place where the restoration of sovereignty is a reality in the state of Maine,” Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, the bill sponsor, told fellow lawmakers about the amendment at a March hearing, as Maine Public reported in March. “But please know that this is not easy but people put a lot of work into reaching this agreement.”
We appreciate that work, and we hope that all parties involved recognize that much more collaborative work is both needed and possible.
“We definitely, I think, have a lot more work to do but I appreciate where we have been able to come this far,” said Clarissa Sabattis, chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
“Today was a big win but a small step moving forward so a big thanks and appreciation goes out to all that supported us on both sides of the aisle. We still have so much work to do and education to accomplish. LD 2007 is a step in that direction,” Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative Aaron Dana said in a Tuesday press release from the Wabanaki Alliance. “Maybe one day the Wabanaki Nations can reclaim their inherent right to self-governance and be allowed their ability to succeed or fail on their own terms. We are a very proud Wabanaki Confederacy, and we will always move forward in a good way. We will always look to our ancestral teachings and be the warriors our ancestors fought on behalf of and prayed so hard for us to be!”
Dana and four other tribal leaders wrote a column last week calling for passage of LD 2007 as amended. That column was part of an ongoing effort with the Wabanaki Alliance to share tribal perspectives in the Bangor Daily News opinion pages.
“LD 2007 as amended will create safer tribal communities, help us combat the raging opioid epidemic and give us more capacity to protect and provide for the health and well-being of tribal communities. We urge the Legislature to enact this bill quickly,” Dana wrote along with Houlton Band of Maliseets Tribal Ambassador Osihkiyol Crofton-Macdonald, Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant, Sipayik citizen Rena Newell and Mi’kmaq Vice Chief Richard Silliboy.
We agree with their call for speedy enactment of this compromise legislation. Lawmakers should pass this amended bill, and critically, all policymakers in Augusta should remember that this is but one incremental step in the ongoing work to rebalance the tribal-state relationship.
