Chief Dana's Speech

Mr. President, Mr. President Pro-Tem, Mr. Speaker, Madame Chief Justice, members of the Legislature, Governor, Tribal members of Maine’s Tribes, distinguished guests and people of Maine, Kkwey, Hello.

To all who are present here today and to those who may listen on the radio or TV, I ask that your ears hear my words so that you will know what I have said. I ask for your minds to be open so that you will understand my intent. I ask that your hearts feel my commitment to bring honor to my family, my tribe and to our state, a place we all share, a place we all call home. Woliwoni. I thank you.

It is an honor and a privilege as Sagama, the Chief of the Penobscot Nation, to be here on this historic day, addressing the joint session of the 120th legislature. Woliwoni. I thank you.

Today symbolizes what I truly believe to be a new era in Tribal/State relations. Relationships are based on communication. Today we have the opportunity for direct communication. Perhaps, our greatest days are now upon us.

Niyan Penawepskewi. I am Penobscot.

Niyan Penawepskewi. I am a human being from the Penobscot River.

My grandfather was a pack basket maker, a river guide, a hunter and worked on the Penobscot log drives. My grandmother, along with raising a large family, tended a garden, and braided sweet grass for the fancy basket makers. In my youth, I was fortunate to have spent many hours with them, hearing their stories of the old days. From my grandparents, as well as the other tribal elders, I learned my culture. Though these elders have joined our ancestors, their values, and their passion for preserving our traditions live on in the pride of my people.

Niyan Penawepskewi. I am Penobscot.

Talamisi Wic Nikawas. I am thankful for my mother.

I am thankful for my mother, a proud Penobscot woman. In her 60 plus years of living on the Penobscot River, she has witnessed many changes for our people. She faced the bitter winds of winter, while walking across the ice, and paddled across the quick spring currents to go to and from school, she later drove her first car across the infamous one lane bridge. My mother worked as hard as any man in the Old Town shoe factories, she later become a dedicated Penobscot Nation Tribal Clerk of 19 years. She has always supported my endeavors. I can remember her standing in the cold November rains at my High School football games (you know, she could never quite understand why 22 young men would fight over a funny shaped small ball). She has always strived to make a better life for her family and her people. Though she could not be here today due to a slight heart attack, she is watching on public TV. Please join me in honoring a proud Penobscot woman, recognize my mom.

Neyan Penawepskewi. I am Penobscot.

I would like to recognize another outstanding Penobscot, who in keeping with our proud history of being an effective Statesman has been most successful in bridging the gap of misunderstanding between our two governments. The dedication of this individual is apparent with the passage of such bills as: PL 625 – where the tribes received the extension on trust land acquisition.

Co-sponsoring the efforts to include portraits of outstanding Indians in the State House, by co-sponsoring PL 613, an act to remove offensive place names and by being a primary sponsor of PL 403 LD 291, an act requiring the teaching of Maine Indian history in primary and secondary schools. To bridge the gap of communications and cultures, our children need to know the history of our people, so we can all go forward together and create a collective history that benefits all. Today is now a part of that history and I am sure that her efforts made this possible. Her work has risen to the level of Ambassador.

Please join me in honoring the Penobscot Nation’s Representative to the Legislature, Donna M. Loring.

Over the last two years, our people and our concerns for the environment, especially the rivers in the State of Maine have been in the news. We have a special historical relationship with the Penobscot River. In Maine we all live along or close to a river. However, Penobscots’ not only live on the river, we are actually a part of the river, living on Indian Island. The river is ingrained in our history, our culture, and our values.

It was once told to me by an elder that, before there was a river there were streams, from the upland into the valley. But one day, the water in the valley became a trickle and it disappeared and the people grew thirsty. A young hunter went to find out what had happened. He entered the forest and walked for days until he came to the place where the streams converged, and there he saw Kci Cekwalis, a giant frog. The frog grew bigger and bigger as it lapped up the little streams. The people sent for Gluskabe, our hero. Gluskabe followed the trail and when he came to the frog he called out, “There are others who are thirsty too. You must learn to share.” “I won’t stop,” croaked Cekwalis, because I am the biggest and most powerful, I can do what I want.

Gluskabe pulled up a giant white pine, and lifting it high over his head he brought it down, striking the frog on the back. Kci Cekwalis burst into a thousand pieces. The water shot up into the air and landed in the deep furrow in the ground the tree had made, and the water began to flow. And that is how the Penobscot River came to be.

For centuries our history and culture have been shaped by our direct daily interaction with this powerful moving force of nature. For this reason, my people have always viewed the regulation and protection of our natural resources as our obligation, our stewardship to Mother Earth. We still use the river as a source of life. Our traditions are still tied into this powerful flowing source. Though Kevlar and Rogallex have all but replaced birchbark canoes we still use the water ways of the Penobscot to journey north to our sacred monument, Katahdin. Katahdin is the center of our spirituality. We also continue to gather plants from the river’s sediments and use them in our medicines. We still take our children upriver to enjoy the traditions of our people. We pray for the return of the salmon so our subsistence rights can be realized.

Our stewardship and protection of the river comes naturally to me and my people. We have a deal, Mother Earth provides for us, and we protect her. This traditional value goes beyond laws and regulations. This is a deal that transcends governments, profits, and the perception of power. And this is a relationship our people will never break.

Our rivers, our waters are not just a resource, they are sacred, sacred to the Penobscot, sacred to the Passamaquoddy, the Maliseets, Micmacs and sacred to the people of Maine. Thus, enforcement of the Clean Water Act is absolute and must be addressed. People’s daily lives and health, who live along the Penobscot River from Millinocket to Searsport, must be protected. I am please to say that we have the Governor’s pledge to give the Tribes a substantial and useful role in the process of Waste Water discharge permits affecting our reservation.

On behalf of the Penobscot Nation I commend the Governor for that. I pledge to work on a government to government basis with Attorney General Steven Rowe to work out our differences to find common ground and to find a solution that benefits all of Maine. We need to have high standards for the cleanliness of the water, we need adequate protection for all those who rely upon those waters including the people of my Tribe, the people of Maine and all life forms living within the river’s ecosystem, the eagle, the turtle, the dragonfly. These are our relations. We are all connected and to protect this connection for now and forever means that Maine’s high standards must be enforced. Our lives are at stake, our environment is at stake. The reputation of the State of Maine is at stake, and as leaders we all have an obligation to protect our most precious and sacred resource. This should be our legacy. As inherent as our obligation to protect our environment is our dignity as a tribe. Now sovereignty and the right of self-determination are important to us, but need not be intimidating for you. The Penobscot Nation as a Tribe and a government pre-dates the State, and the United States. Since 1820 the State of Maine has recognized us as a Tribe but did not recognize our Federal Indian rights. This changed in 1975 when Federal Judge Edward Gignoux ruled that the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Nations have the same sovereign status under Constitution and the laws of the United States as Tribes in other parts of the country.

In 1980 we settled our land claims after four long and often bitter years of negotiation. The settlement confirmed our inherent sovereignty and our protection as Tribes under Federal Law. The plan of the Settlement was that the Tribes and the State would work out their destiny together. The Federal government gave its advance blessing to any agreements worked out between the Tribes and the State. We haven’t done this enough. Too often, it seems that we are still locked in the ancient struggle of the land claims-era. We need to work together as partners. Lets creatively use the tools available to us for the benefit of all. We need to ensure Maine Tribes are never again deprived of the honor that other Tribes receive. We can do this within the context of our unique relationship, a new era of mutual respect, government to government.

The very essence of Tribal Sovereignty is the ability to be self-governing for the protection of the health, safety and welfare of our people. We are a distinct people with a unique history. For thousands of years, the bones of our ancestors have been laid to rest along the shores of the rivers and the ocean. We will continue to safeguard these rights to preserve our future. We are proud of our history and we are hopeful for our future. We, the people of the Penobscot Nation are still here.

Neyan Penawepskewi.

The Penobscot Tribe is strong culturally and stands resolved on our ideals of self-determination and this is good but we also have the day to day needs that we struggle to meet. How do I tell my elders that the Tribe cannot assist them in fixing their roofs because there aren’t enough funds? We must continually deny health services to our own members because there is not enough money. How can we protect our culture when our members are having to move out of the State to find work to support their families? There has to be a change. There has to be a better way. Economically, we must do better. We deserve the same opportunities to move from poverty to prosperity as our Indian brothers and sisters across the country have and we believe that working as partners will benefit all of us.

Pockets of poverty, help no one. There is no high side to being underpaid, underemployed and underserved. I believe we can work together to create more opportunity and more hope for my people and the people of Maine. The Penobscot Nation has been extremely successful in educating our Tribal members. Many of our youth have gone off to college and they have done well. But, they would like to do well at home, near their families and within our culture. Without being able to provide jobs and opportunities for our people, we only get the opportunity to see them when they come home for ceremonies and holidays. I want to bring my people home, to adequate jobs and adequate housing. I want to provide health care for my elders, and all Penobscots. I want to be able to create a federally licensed museum, so that we can return the bones and artifacts of our ancestors to their rightful home, so that our children, and their children can learn and take part in the preservation of our culture and our way of life and we need to be able to invest in the future. It is important that we have the resources to be able to protect our environment so our children can eat the fish of the Penobscot River and participate with their elders in collecting the edible and medicinal plants that the river provides. We need to have the resources to protect another precious inherent right, the right to speak our Penobscot language. Our language is tied to every aspect of our culture land our way of life. We need the resources to move together into the future as a strong autonomous nation, working together with our neighbors to make our home everything we have always wanted. And this can be done. And it needs to be done now.

It is time to unlock the chains of fear that stifles our Settlement Act today, and to boldly move forward to make the necessary changes to take us forward together. It is time. It is time to move forward.

Neyan Penawepskewi. I am Penobscot…..but I am also of Maine. What is good for the people of the Penobscot Nation is also good for the people of Maine. Today marks a new era for us all. Let's keep it strong, for the sake of our children.

On behalf of all my relations, the birds, the fish, the turtles, all the four-legged, the insects, the plants, the air and water and the spirit that moves through us all.
All my relations

Ni Alac That is all Woliwani. I thank you.

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