This commentary is by Christopher Roy, Ph.D., an anthropologist and scholar of Abenaki studies who teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia
Kritkausky and Schmidt’s commentary, “UVM hosts lopsided presentation about Vermont’s Abenaki,” had lots of problems. Lots of references to eugenics and the destruction of family records which bear little resemblance to what happened in the 1920s and ’30s; in fact, Vermont historians have seen no evidence to show that the Vermont Eugenics Survey and likeminded state leaders targeted Abenaki people.
Lots of shock that “Canadian Indians” might consider land outside of Quebec to be part of their ancestral, unceded territory despite their continued presence in Vermont long predating the international border.
Lots of outrage that some dare question groups that have only ever been really questioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Vermont’s attorney general, and a sociologist, Daryl Leroux, from St. Mary’s University.
All three inquiries, by the way, found that the “Missisquoi,” the first of the “tribes,” didn’t have any Abenaki ancestry; Leroux also critiqued the state recognition process which Abenaki Denise Watso has characterized as more akin to a grant application than a historical reckoning of continuity and Indigenous rights.
But at least Kritkausky and Schmidt didn’t engage in baseless, personal, anti-Indigenous attacks. Sarah Johnson’s letter, “Speakers at Odanak UVM event had no authority or support,” did. How VT Digger could have published it is beyond me. Let me just tackle the two particularly racist accusations:
1) Councilor Jacques T. Watso uses his Abenaki mother’s surname as his own. I know several Abenaki who do so, often employing a father’s surname as a middle name. Does this delegitimize their perspectives and experiences as Abenaki people or Mr. Watso’s position in Odanak’s government? What does this say about a belief in the sanctity of old Euro-American patrilineal naming practices that are increasingly being abandoned by non-Indigenous people? This weird line of attack says much more about Ms. Johnson than it does about Mr. Watso.
2) Ms. Mali Obomsawin was dismissed as “a non-status member of Odanak.” This requires some context and a correction. Under Canada’s Indian Act, the law framing Ottawa’s relationship to First Nations people, “Indian status” is set by federal law and is independent of enrollment in a First Nation such as Odanak, which has its own Citizenship Code. Ms. Obomsawin is both a “status Indian” under Canadian law and a citizen of the Odanak First Nation under Abenaki law. The latter informed her presentation at UVM; the former did not.
Ms. Johnson employed a language of racism and settler colonialism, attempting to deflect attention away from presentations at UVM by attacking speakers’ authenticity.
As for authority and support, Odanak’s Chief and Council were aware of and involved in the planning for this event, as were administrators Daniel G. Nolett and Suzie O’Bomsawin, whose involvement in the event had the backing of the Abenaki government.
One would hope that VT Digger and its readers would strive for an insistence on evidence rather than anti-Indigenous rhetoric and character assassination.
