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Defend Our Health is profoundly disappointed with the Maine legislature’s failure to override Governor Janet Mills’ veto of LD 2004, “An Act to Restore Access to Federal laws Beneficial to the Wabanaki Nations,” which would have put the Wabanaki Tribes in Maine on the same footing as other federally recognized Tribes. Defend Our Health’s vice president of programs and policy and citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Chris Chavis, responds: 

“This legislation was an opportunity to right the wrongs perpetuated by the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. Tribes are distinct sovereign entities, whose existence predates the United States and whose relationship with the federal government is enshrined in the United States Constitution. While the states can be valuable partners to Tribes, the sovereign-to-sovereign relationship is explicitly between the federal government and Tribal nations. However, because of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act the relationship between the Wabanaki Tribes and the federal government is different than every other federally recognized Tribe. The Governor and members of the legislature failed to take steps towards righting this historic wrong by failing to support LD 2004.

The ability to control your own natural resources and protect your people is essential to the any nation’s sovereignty. Tribal nations are not town or cities, they do not derive their sovereignty from the state. Defend stands ready to work with our Tribal partners to right this wrong. The full sovereignty of Maine’s Tribal nations must be acknowledged.”