Abenaki in Quebec take identity fraud concerns to the United Nations

A digital billboard lit up New York City's Times Square last week with a message from two Abenaki communities in Quebec: that they are the "sole guardians of Abenaki identity."

A delegation of the Abenaki Council of Odanak, Wôlinak and the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador brought the same message to the 23rd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, as part of ongoing efforts to denounce Abenaki groups recognized in the United States.

"Our nation faces a great injustice," Rick O'Bomsawin, chief of the Abenaki of Odanak, told the United Nations floor last week.

"Who has the right to say who your people are? My nation is strong. We know who our people are but yet we have no voice because of this border that was created." 

Since 2011 and 2012, the state of Vermont has legally recognized four groups as Abenaki tribes. O'Bomsawin and his say many of the groups' members have no Indigenous ancestry and as a result, "exploit" and "unjustly represent" the nation.

"We went to the United Nations for the purpose of making this issue known worldwide," said Sigwanis Lachapelle.

Lachapelle, 26, and her cousin Isaak Lachapelle-Gill, 24, were a part of the delegation and spoke at a side event called  "Identity fraud and Indigenous self-determination: Abenaki youth perspectives."

"How can the Wabenaki nation claim self-determination, autonomy, and self-government when our fundamental rights are constantly being trampled underfoot by individuals and groups pretending to be us?" asked Lachapelle-Gill.

"The answer is clear, we must anticipate and counter this trend to preserve the essence of our identity and sovereignty."

Traditional Abenaki territory, or Ndakinna in their language, stretches from southern Quebec to northern Massachusetts, spanning Vermont and New Hampshire.

Due to colonization and war, Abenaki were forced north of their homelands and settled in what is now Odanak and Wôlinak, near Trois-Rivières, Que. The two communities have over 3,000 members, with most living off-reserve.

In 2011, the Nulhegan band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation and Elnu Abenaki tribe received state recognition in Vermont. A year later, the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi and the Koasek Abenaki of the Koas followed.

As legally recognized groups, they are allowed to sell Native American artwork, repatriate human remains, influence state-wide curriculum, access funding for social programs and receive free hunting and fishing licences. 

In 2005, the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi failed to meet four of the seven mandated criteria for U.S. federal status. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that the 1,171-member band could not prove its members descend from a historical tribe, its existence as an American Indian ''entity'' on a continuous basis since 1900, nor that it maintained political authority over its members.