We track local, state, and national news coverage and editorials about issues important to the tribes in Maine. Find excerpts from 2024 media coverage below. For more news from the Wabanaki Alliance, visit Latest News on our homepage, our Archive, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Press Herald teams up with Report for America to cover Wabanaki Nations
Portland Press Herald
December 17, 2024
The Portland Press Herald is teaming up with Report for America to hire a reporter to cover the Wabanaki Nations in Maine. This first-of-its-kind beat will examine how Maine’s distinct limits on tribal sovereignty affect more than 9,000 members of the tribes that make up the Wabanaki Nations.
Wabanaki Alliance testifies in Washington about the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women
Maine Public
November 21, 2024
Murdered and missing indigenous women were the focus of a hearing before House Interior Appropriations leaders Wednesday in Washington. Wabanaki Alliance Executive Director Maulian Bryant testified that one in three indigenous women will be the victim of a violent crime in her lifetime. And she said stereotypes about indigenous people silence victims and make their cases more challenging to address.
31,000 acres returned to Penobscot Nation promise conservation without land-use restrictions
Maine Morning Star
November 19, 2024
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land is set to return 31,000 acres purchased from a timber investor in Maine to Penobscot tribal management. It will be the largest return of its kind to an Indigenous tribe in U.S. history, without any easements or other restrictions.
Yale museum may return items to Wabanaki Nations next month
Maine Public
November 13, 2024
Yale University’s Peabody Museum said human remains and other items taken from Maine more than seventy years ago may soon be returned to the Wabanaki Nations. According to two notices in the Federal Register, the museum has established a connection between the Wabanaki Nations and the human remains, which were removed from a shell mound near Oak Point on Deer Isle around 1950.
Wabanaki people have served in the military since before the US was a country
Bangor Daily News
November 11, 2024
For one day each November, we take a moment to remember the people who served in the U.S. military. There is one group of people who live in what is now Maine, however, whose legacy of military service goes back to before the U.S. became a country, and who have served in every American war since: the Wabanaki people.
Joe Biden’s apology for Indian boarding schools is step ‘forward into the light’
Bangor Daily News
October 30, 2024
From an editorial by the Bangor Daily News Editorial Board
Biden’s apology on behalf of the U.S. government, which is overdue as he acknowledged, is a significant step. Yet, it is just the beginning of a new recognition of the history, mistreatment, rights and aspirations of Indigenous Americans.
Wabanaki Alliance looks to the future as Maulian Bryant steps up as executive director
Beacon
October 17, 2024
Maulian Bryant says she has been on the journey to leading the Wabanaki Alliance for most of her life.
Where Maine’s congressional candidates stand on recognizing sovereignty of Wabanaki
Maine Morning Star
October 14, 2024
This article profiles where candidates for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House in Congressional Districts 1 and 2 stand on Wabanaki sovereignty.
Tribes in Maine see progress, but will continue push for full sovereignty
Spectrum News
October 14, 2024
More than four years ago, tribal leaders in Maine joined together to form the Wabanaki Alliance to help everyday Mainers understand their story and to grow their political power… In the time since, the group has made progress in the halls of the State House, with new laws giving them increased power over criminal justice issues, water quality improvements and better relations with state government.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day provides ‘a reason to be joyful and proud’
Bangor Daily News
October 11, 2024
Monday’s holiday is a meaningful day of celebration and reflection. It must also be a day of resolve, one where we recommit ourselves to walking a more collaborative and equitable path together.
Wabanaki Alliance picks Maulian Bryant to lead tribal advocacy group
Bangor Daily News
September 26, 2024
The Wabanaki Alliance has hired Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant as its next executive director, the organization announced Thursday. She will replace John Dieffenbacher-Krall, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Wabanaki Alliance hires Penobscot ambassador as next director
Mainebiz
September 26, 2024
The new executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance will bring a background as ambassador for the Penobscot Nation and organizational experience in human resources, equity and issues pertaining to human rights, the climate and the economy. Maulian Bryant will succeed the alliance’s first executive director, John Dieffenbacher-Krall, who will retire at the end of 2024.
Selected to lead Wabanaki Alliance, Maulian Bryant outlines vision for greater federal engagement
Current tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation intends to bring lived experience, policy background into new role
Maine Morning Star
September 26, 2024
Maulian Bryant has her eye on more than state-level politics in the fight for the recognition of the Wabanaki Nations’ inherent sovereignty as she prepares to assume the top role of the Wabanaki Alliance, a nonprofit charged with advocating for that goal. The Wabanaki Alliance announced Wednesday that Bryant, currently president of the group’s board, will be the organization’s next executive director. Bryant will begin training for the role in the coming weeks as the current executive director, John Dieffenbacher-Krall, prepares for his retirement at the end of the year.
Wabanaki Alliance announces change in leadership
Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant will take over as executive director after the current leader, John Dieffenbacher-Krall, retires at the end of the year.
Times Record
September 25, 2024
The Wabanaki Alliance has hired Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant as the next executive director of the organization. She succeeds John Dieffenbacher-Krall, who will retire at the end of this year.
Sweetgrass harvesting may return to Acadia
Gathering sweetgrass, which the Wabanaki have traditionally used in basket weaving and for ceremonies, has been outlawed in the national park since it was formally established in 1916.
Portland Press Herald
July 24, 2024
The Wabanaki Nations may be allowed to gather sweetgrass in Acadia National Park for the first time in over a century, the National Park Service announced Wednesday. Harvesting sweetgrass, which Wabanaki citizens traditionally use in basket weaving and ceremonies, has been outlawed in the area since the park was formally established in 1916, the park service said. The Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawn,” include the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribes at Pleasant Point and at Indian Township.
Wabanaki Nations, allies celebrate progress in continued fight for sovereignty
Maine Morning Star
July 12, 2024
The Wabanaki Nations embody what Carol Wishcamper characterized Thursday night as patient persistence. Wishcamper, a founding supporter of the Wabanaki Alliance, was one of three people honored at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor at Nihkaniyane, the second year that members of the alliance and allies have come together to recognize the coalition’s work and the relationships that make it possible. Each of the honorees spoke to this ability — being able to hold a vision, despite setbacks and slow progress, toward the overarching goal of having the state of Maine recognize the sovereignty of the Wabanaki Nations.
Wabanaki veterans have stepped up to serve even when the US failed them
Bangor Daily News
June 28, 2024
Passages from an editorial by the Bangor Daily News Editorial Board
For more than a decade on June 21, Maine has celebrated Native American Veterans Day. As noted in state law, this day is observed “in remembrance of the courage and dedicated service of Native American members of the United States Armed Forces.”…This remarkable service echoes throughout U.S. military history. So too do the many ways that the federal and state government have failed tribal citizens. This duality should inform not just our understanding of history, but the work that remains today to better recognize, respect and support Tribal Nations in Maine and across the country.
People of Wabanaki Nations stress proper representation, importance of language
Note: The Wabanaki Alliance Media & Style Guide can be found here.
News Center Maine
June 6, 2024
While many people in downtown Bangor are admiring a new mural that highlights Wabanaki culture, people from the Wabanaki Alliance and of Wabanaki Nations are working behind the scenes to stress the importance of respecting those represented by the artwork and urging others to use proper language when referencing Wabanaki people… The Wabanaki Alliance issued a media style guide to more than 250 organizations, news, and media outlets that it interacts with on Wednesday, the same day the mural was completed. The media style guide educates organizations about how to respectfully refer to, interact with, and reference various Wabanaki tribes and people of Wabanaki Nations in media.
They’re not ‘Maine’s tribes’: A new guide for writing about the Wabanaki Nations
Note: The Wabanaki Alliance Media & Style Guide can be found here.
Bangor Daily News
June 8, 2024
The Alliance believes it’s important for Maine media to get it right because its reporting can either perpetuate incorrect, hurtful terms, or more precise and respectful ones among readers, viewers or listeners. Moreover, the Alliance hopes getting the language right can be a potential first step toward wider understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples living in Maine and, ultimately, the restoration of full tribal rights.
Harmful misinformation can’t distract from tribal progress in Maine
From a guest editorial by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis and Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant on the importance of the passage of LD 2007, An Act to Advance Self-Determination for Wabanaki Nations, which was sponsored by Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross and signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills.
Bangor Daily News
May 9, 2024
It was upsetting to tribal communities that in the midst of this achievement between the tribes, the speaker, the governor and the attorney general who all collaborated on this positive development, we were met with a floor speech against the bill from Rep. Jennifer Poirier from Skowhegan that contained incorrect information and has the potential to harm our people. Whether knowingly or not, the speech casts doubt on the integrity of our tribal court, social services department, tribal administration, tribal council and the tribal citizens who trust and make use of these services or are employed by them. Rather than give space to the harmful speech, we wanted to take the opportunity to shed a positive light on the good work our programs do and the great progress we have made with the passage of LD 2007.
Maine tribes and state have opportunity for a more equitable relationship
From a guest editorial by Rev. Marvin M. Ellison, the Willard S. Bass Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary.
Bangor Daily News
April 4, 2024
As an ordained Presbyterian minister and educator, I’m grateful that people of faith across the ecumenical and interfaith spectrum are encouraging the Maine legislature to pass LD 2007, An Act Regarding the Criminal Jurisdiction of Tribal Courts and to Extend the Time for the Penobscot Nation to Certify Its Agreement to Public Law 2023, Chapter 369. This bill will help correct serious harm that Native peoples have long endured.
Maine and tribes should keep taking steps forward together
Bangor Daily News
April 3, 2024
From this editorial from the Bangor Daily News Editorial Board:
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.
Opinion: Internet gaming will empower Wabanaki Nations, benefit us all
A guest editorial by Rep. Laura Supica (D-Bangor), who represents House District 22 and serves as the House Chair of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.
Portland Press Herald
March 15, 2024
We all do better when we have the freedom and resources to choose the best path for our families and communities. Across the United States, many Indigenous nations have been able to move toward this self-determination through tribal gaming. But over the last four decades, the Maine Legislature, Maine courts and even Maine voters have blocked the Wabanaki Nations from accessing the same tools, all while allowing large, out-of-state corporations to operate slots and casinos. This year, we have an opportunity to upend this dynamic and empower the Wabanaki Nations by authorizing internet gaming in Maine.
