Home VCNAA Commission Commission Meeting Minutes Vermont Indian Commission Minutes - October 19, 2010

Vermont Indian Commission Minutes - October 19, 2010

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 28 October 2010

Vermont Indian Commission Minutes - October 19, 2010 Posted: 10.28.2010 Members Present: Luke Willard, Chair; Charlene McManis, Secretary; Melody Walker Brook; Dawn Macie; Takara Matthews; David Vanslette; Fred Wiseman. Absent: Nathan Pero; Shirly Hook. Staff: Diane McInerney, Executive Administrative Assistant, DHP; Giovanna Peebles, SHPO/State Archeologist. Guests: Dave Skinas, USDA/NRCS; Chief Nancy Millette Doucet, Koasek; Charles Delaney Megeso, Mazipskiwiki Abenaki; Diane Mueuller, Burlington; Lisa Rathke, AP; Jeff Benay, Indian Education; Fred Wiseman, Archeologist/Johnson State College. Luke brought the meeting to order at the State House, Room 11 in Montpelier, Vermont and welcomed everyone. OLD BUSINESS 1. Approve minutes of September 28, 2010 The minutes were reviewed. Melody moved to accept the minutes as written. Fred seconded. All agreed. 2. Rules of Procedure The commission reviewed a draft “General Consensus” Rules of Order model that Luke prepared. He read the rules. Some discussion was held. DHP will mail out handouts to absentee commission members. Fred moved to accept the draft of consensus rules as written. TK seconded. All agreed. Vice-Chair Luke suggested a Vice-Chair be elected in case he was not available to preside over any meetings held. Otherwise, the moderator would be the secretary who is quite busy recording. Luke nominated Melody as Vice-Chair, stating she has a clear understanding of our process. TK moved to accept Melody as Vice-Chair. Fred seconded. Melody will be able to put more time after March when her schooling is completed and accepted the nomination. The vote was held and all agreed. 4. American Indian Heritage Month in November Charlene began the discussion with some background. This special month began in 1990 by President Bush. It has been proclaimed every year by Congress and the President. Charlene made some suggestions: create posters promoting Native American Month, ask the local library to set a display of Native American books, or talk about Native Americans at a local school. • Luke suggested the Commission promote this event on their website. • Dave Skinas offered to send posters to Commission members from the USDA promoting Native American Month. • Chief Nancy suggested Governor Douglas sign a proclamation. • TK will be collaborating with the National Guard on this event. • Giovanna suggested media releases through the State of Vermont. More discussion was held. Luke recommended a work group. Charlene, Fred, David and TK will be on the work group. The group will come back with suggestions for this year and next year. 5. Testimony by Professor Fred Wiseman. Fred shared a deep overview and history of the state recognition issue in Vermont. Fred explained the concept of native identity in the United States. Fred also discussed group identity politics. Fred urged the commission to remember that natives are on their own when applying for recognition. Luke thanked Fred for his testimony. Some discussion was held. 6. Review Panel Instructions & Reference Guide Luke presented a draft entitled, Review Panel Instructions & Reference Guide. • Giovanna suggested the information be placed on our website. • It was agreed to add a line in the draft specifically instructing the review panel to address all criteria in their report to the commission. Charlene moved to adopt the draft with the added line. Dawn seconded. All agreed. Discussion of a policy to instruct recognition applicants to submit documents relating to genealogy in sealed packets, marked as such, was held. TK moved to adopt the policy. Melody seconded. All agreed. 7. Testimony by Jeffrey Benay Jeff passed out to each commission member the New Dawn: The Western Abenaki: A curricular Framework for the Middle Level by Linda Pearo, Fred Wiseman, Madeline Young, and Jeff Benay. A CD/ROM, Against the Darkness: The American Abenaki Experience was also distributed. Jeff gave an overview of Title VII Indian Education in regards to Missisquoi. The main focus of Jeff's testimony focused on networking and partnerships with state agencies and many other organizations and institutions in order to accomplish greater achievements. Discussion was held. The New Dawn binder went out to all the schools in Vermont but has not been implemented. Luke asked “How can we get the schools to utilize the resources available?” Create educational programs from the ground up instead of the top down. 8. Consider findings of ‘Review Panel’ work group Melody passed out the list of 8 scholars willing to review recognition applications. Many experts have not committed or are still considering. This is still a work in progress. She discussed her report. Giovanna suggested that there may be a conflict of interest with Scott Dillon because of his employment with DHP. • David asked if tribes could bring in their own scholars for research. It was decided to have these scholars contact Melody to be vetted and considered. • Dawn reaffirmed that members of the applicant tribe cannot be considered or appointed to the applicant's review panel. • Fred suggested having bullet points for scholar’s expertise and criteria. Charlene moved to accept the scholar list. Fred seconded. Discussion held. Charlene amended the motion to accept the scholar list excluding Scott Dillon until there is a better understanding of Giovanna's concern. Fred seconded. All agreed. NEW BUSINESS 1. Website The outline of the contact page the movement of the September 3rd news release to somewhere other than the home page was discussed. Also: • General content on what the commission is. • Calendar of the commission/native activities. • Policies and procedures on tribal recognition. • Consolidated list of native resources. • State email accounts for commission members. 2. Location of the next 3 meetings Meeting locations were discussed. Next meeting will be November 16, 2010, 1pm to 3:30pm in Newport. This will be the first of many “Public Forums” held around the state to more effectively communicate with native communities and other interested parties. Public Forum and a potluck will begin at 12noon. 3. Testimony by Chief Nancy Doucet, Koasek Chief Nancy gave a passionate testimony regarding concerns that tribal rolls and specific street addresses as public records could bring harm to tribal members. Luke mentioned that he did a brief search online and could not find any tribe's current rolls, much less the street addresses of each member. After much discussion, it was apparent that more information must be gathered on the topic of personally identifiable information. 4. On Site Burial regulation. Giovanna passed out the newest on-site burial regulation policy for review. The meeting was adjourned at 3:55pm. Respectfully submitted by, Charlene McManis, Secretary

 

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