STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FOUR
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE MAINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE UNITED
STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REPORT ON
FEDERAL AND STATE SERVICES AND THE MAINE INDIAN
WHEREAS, in December 1974, the Maine Advisory Committee to the United States
Commission on Civil Rights published a report entitled "Federal and State Services and the
Maine Indian"; and
WHEREAS, in the report, the committee found that Maine Indians were being denied
services provided to other Indians by various federal agencies, that Indians in the State were
entitled to these services and that their continued denial constituted invidious discrimination
against Indians in the State; and
WHEREAS, the committee also found that 1/2 of the Indians in the State were not
receiving state services because they lived off-reservation and recommended that the State
develop an integrated program of services for members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe,
Penobscot Nation, Mi'kmaq Nation and Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians regardless of their
residency on-reservation or off-reservation; and
WHEREAS, the committee found that both state and federal services had been withheld
from a people whose need for assistance was tragically evident, and that withholding was the
result of long-standing assumptions, policies and practices of discrimination against the Indian
population of the State; and
WHEREAS, in addition to its investigation of the denial of specific Indian services, the
committee reviewed the various state and federal programs for which Maine Indians were
generally eligible as citizens and found that Indians had seldom been included in the planning
or decision-making processes that affected their lives; and
WHEREAS, the committee expressed the overriding concern that every state and federal
entity that may possibly have an impact on Indian people in the State should have Indian
representation and structural input in the development and provision of services and that there
should be expansion of social services from both state and federal levels to allow Maine Indians
to enjoy full and equal citizenship under the Constitution of Maine and the United States
Constitution; and
WHEREAS, among many policy recommendations, the committee recommended that, as
a matter of basic principle, both State and Federal Governments reexamine their policies toward
Indians in the State and elsewhere and affirm the inherent right of Indian self-determination
and tribal sovereignty; and
WHEREAS, the committee pledged to work diligently at the federal, state and local levels
to further the recommendations of the report and called upon all citizens of the State to join
them; and
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 WHEREAS, then-Governor of Maine Kenneth Curtis wrote as a foreword to the report
that it was the intention of his administration to "continue to work to guarantee that the Indians
of Maine have equal access to the quality of life to which all Maine people aspire, but until that
access is fully opened and free of obstructions, there is no question that the 'trail of tears' will
go on and its specter will haunt us, and Maine and the nation will have failed to fulfill their just
obligations to the Indians of this state"; and
WHEREAS, this report joins a legacy of advancement of the sovereignty and self-
determination of Wabanaki Indian nations, tribes and bands in the State, who have endured
systemic discrimination and racism by this State and other governmental entities, by
recognizing present inequities in light of their historical roots and by issuing recommendations
to repair these inequities in future policy and legislation; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Legislature now
assembled in the Second Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to recognize the accomplishment of the Maine Advisory Committee to the United
States Commission on Civil Rights report entitled "Federal and State Services and the Maine
Indian," honor the commission's commitment to long-standing principles of equity and justice
in the State and recognize that there is still much work to do to accomplish the committee's
recommendations and create a fair and just partnership with the Wabanaki Indian nations, tribes
and bands who live in the State and have existed in the State since time immemorial.
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