Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic: Report on Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act

Key Discussion Points:

1) Today we hear part of a March 2nd presentation before the Maine State Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, on new report examining the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, authored by the Suffolk University’s Indigenous Rights Clinic and commissioned by the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission.
2).The report, “The Drafting and Enactment of the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act: Report on Research Findings and Initial Observations”, includes a compilation of documents and communications from the time of the Settlement Act negotiations, with particular examination of such issues as reserved rights to resources, unabrogated treaty rights, conflicts of terminology between sustenance and subsistence, “internal tribal matters”, and the application of federal Indian law in Maine.
3). We hear interviews from the four of the five Wabanaki tribal chiefs present.

Guests:
Nichole Fredricks. Report author, Suffolk University’s Indigenous Rights Clinic, www.mitsc.org/documents/157_2017-2-22Suffolk.MICSAReport.Final.Feb2017.pdf
Chief Kirk Francis, Penobscot Nation, www.penobscotnation.org/
Chief Brenda Commander. Houlton Band of the Maliseet, www.maliseets.com/index.htm
Chief Charlie Peter Paul. Aroostook Band of the MicMac, www.micmac-nsn.gov/
Chief Ralph Dana, Passamaquoddy at Sipayik, www.wabanaki.com/

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

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