LEAG Presents: Abenaki Recognition - Celebration and Insight
A video transcript from FACT-TV of Bellows Falls - filmed and produced by Alex Stradling.
From the event flyer:
Living Earth Action Group (LEAG) will be hosting a presentation by Brattleboro/Wantastegok resident and Atowi Project Co-Director Rich Holschuh (with other possible guests), on Sunday January 21, 2024, at 6:30 pm at the Congregational Church of Westminster West. We will discuss the dynamics at work among the Abenaki First Nations Grand Council in Quebec, Canada (representing the Odanak and Wôlinak Reserves) and the four Vermont state-recognized Abenaki bands. Recently UVM, Vermont Public, and VT Digger have provided platforms for the First Nations Abenaki to question the standing of the Vermont Abenaki. To those unfamiliar with place-based Abenaki histories and cultures, and Native-Settler politics through the present-day, this apparent dispute may appear puzzling or confusing. We will examine some of the questions that arise: What is being said and by whom? What is the context? What might be the point? Are there root causes of these differences and how might they be engaged? Join the discussion!
Participants during the presentation, beside Atowi Co-Director Rich Holschuh, included Elnu Abenaki Chief Roger Longtoe Sheehan, Nulhegan Abenaki Chief Don Stevens, Elnu Abenaki Councillor Jim Taylor, Abenaki Arts and Education Center Director Vera Longtoe Sheehan, Nulhegan citizen Joe Blake, with hosting by LEAG member David Mulholland and a reading by LEAG member Michael Daly, of an essay by Abenaki author Andlea Brett entitled “The Winding Path of Reconciliation.”