In Response to W8banaki Inc’s Geneva Appearance at the 17th Annual UN EMRIP
Comments filed with Vermont Public reporter Elodie Reed, in response to a request for comment following the announcement of the visit by press release from the W8banaki Inc/GCNWA’s public relations firm Seize03, and her intended coverage of the spectacle… The full text is shared here, in the likelihood that very little of the commentary will make it into the final article expected to be released this week.
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July 7, 2024
Kwai Elodie,
I would like to offer a response to your invitation prompted by the Seize03 press release on behalf of W8banaki Inc, announcing their impending trip to the meeting of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) being held in Geneva, Switzerland this coming week July8-12. 2024. I write this as a spokesperson for the Elnu Abenaki, one of the four Vermont state-recognized bands, and a core member of the associated Abenaki Alliance, and who is currently serving as Chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. I continue to be extremely frustrated at the perceived refusal to share our whole perspective, with selected sentences repeatedly excerpted from our statements to fit a limited narrative at the hands of Vermont Public. How are you missing what is being said north of the border - words that that make it abundantly clear why this is happening - in this way, by whom, and why now? Look up Ghislain Picard, Michael Sabia, and many others. Why does Darryl Leroux only work for certain groups on certain subjects? Have you investigated and contextulalized his work? The human impacts are real, and the doubling down of harm to the Land herself is crushing. When is VP going to realize what has been happening?
The United Nations has stated clearly that “Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, Indigenous Peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.” This inclusive acknowledgement necessarily focuses on the actions of States (in a global sense) to cause harm to these cultures and ways of relating and explicitly addresses recommendations to address them through the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).
The primary topic for consideration at the EMRIP conference is discussion of a draft study on measures that States have taken in response to UNDRIP, particularly with respect to Article 38: ““States, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples, shall take the appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to achieve the ends of this Declaration.” This general mandate is elaborated on in other provisions, with specific affirmative measures required from States in connection with the rights affirmed in the Declaration.” This includes, of course, Canada, the US, and all derivative governmental units, including Quebec and Vermont, each through their own legal mechanisms, and all of whom are expected to respond in an appropriate manner. After documenting mixed results on progress toward compliance, on page 18 the draft study provides Expert Mechanism Advice No. 17 (2024), which advocates continued change on all levels of governance, including local, and responsive place-based actions taken through mechanisms such as a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
As a member state within the US nation-state and as one of the governmental entities included in UNDRIP and EMRIP, Vermont has recently formed its own TRC, following 12 years after the state’s own tribal recognition statute in 2010. Both of these actions are instrumental in working toward recognizing the values and achieving the goals of the UN’s policy initiatives, which are intended to address universal human rights. Vermont’s state-recognition process is one of many within the US and can readily be substantiated, despite claims to the contrary. It stands on its own and cannot be waived away with self-serving arguments. That specific dialogue is yet to be had, and it is desired by the Vermont bands. It should be noted that the negative messaging from W8banaki Inc. is being conducted around us, and not with us, for obvious self-promotion. This is telling and the public needs to be cognizant of this aspect.
UNDRIP’s Articles 3 and 33 are clear on the principle of self-determination and come directly into consideration with this attempt by Wobanaki Inc for (in your words) “continued denouncement” of the Vermont state recognition process. These are self-serving unilateral claims and opinions, being offered by assertion of “sole-authority” and must be recognized for what they are. Rather than building upon the goals of UNDRIP for recognition and restoration of the relationships of People to Place, the Declaration’s platform is being weaponized to re-impose the very governmental authoritarian structures that it proposes to deconstruct and reconcile. This runs completely counter to the worthy and long overdue aspirations of UNDRIP.
The Vermont bands do not have the financial and legal motivations to push this agenda. We are not traveling to New York City or Geneva, Switzerland to make a big impact in the global media. We are not the featured guests in a triple series of single-minded symposia at Vermont’s own UVM campus. We don’t have the mind-boggling amount of funds that have been spent already to wage this unilateral attack in the media, on the international stage, and through strategic digital outreach to our friends and neighbors. We are not “fighting”, we do not have “fists raised’, we are not “rewriting” anyone’s history; we are not in competition or challenging anyone else’s authenticity. We are not trying to “erase and replace” anyone, especially those to whom we are related, which – in an ethical and literal sense, is everyone here, a responsibility that our Mother Earth asks us to honor. We have been here doing that work here as best as we can, for so many years. Refer to our friend AJ Ruben’s letter for example, please. Where were the others that claim the only authentic interest?
We are different communities with different lived experiences and current realities, not the “sole guardians” of all Abenaki heritage. We seek dialogue, reconnection, a restoration of sustainable relationships with the places where we dwell, and a better future for all of our next generations, because we are all in this together and we are all of mixed heritage. Government status is simply that: a government status bestowed by those respective governments, but we are human beings who wish to reaffirm our responsibilities to each other within Creation as we have been taught and continue to relearn. It has been stated openly and repeatedly by spokespeople for W8banaki Inc that their intent is to make land claims , seek monetary compensation, and achieve political recognition in Vermont, in great part by renouncing the existence of anyone outside of their own Canadian First Nations enfranchisement, which is an historical impossibility. There are Abenaki all over the world, and certainly many continuing descendants - from many families, not only those who traveled north and stayed - in the traditional homelands which we share. The question is begged: “Why would W8banaki Inc go to these tremendous and expensive lengths to claim ‘sole authority’ for ‘…decision-making power over our ancestral territory’?” It’s not hard to see some answers, if you look for them.
Wliwni, - thank you for your consideration,
Rich Holschuh
Wantastegok tali Sokwakik – Brattleboro, VT