Leaders of four groups recognized by the Vermont state government as Abenaki have created new school curriculum on the history of their communities — but the material, they say, contains few references to the two Quebec-based Abenaki nations.
The difference is notable because the Quebec-based leaders of these nations continue to say that many members of the groups in Vermont cannot claim legitimate aboriginal descent. Instead, leaders from the Odanak and Wolinak First Nations say members of the Vermont-based groups are appropriating Abenaki identity and culture.
As are the nations residing in Quebec they made their homes even more emphatically in recent years they have drawn sharp rebuke from leaders of Vermont groups who have moved, they say, to defend their culture from attacks by former allies.
These groups based throughout Vermont are the Elnu Abenaki, the Nulhegan Abenaki, the Koasek Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation, and the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi.
The new curriculum, announced last month, is called the “Abenaki American Curriculum.” Its development was overseen by the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, a branch of state government tasked with advocating for state-recognized groups. Some commissioners are also members of these groups.
Educational materials include numerous digital resources and discussion topics for students in grades 3-12. year. His central question, according to their websiteis, “How did the Abenaki people survive and adapt to their environment for thousands of years?”
The Odanaka and Wolinaka tribal governments in Canada claim they were wrongfully excluded from the development process for these materials. While the First Nations are headquartered north of Montreal, they have members in what they maintain is unceded territory in the northeastern US, including Vermont.
The governments of both nations issued a joint statement attacking the American Abenaki curriculum, calling it a “rewriting of history.”
“There is no such thing as ‘American Abenaki,’ because Abenaki identity and Ndakina—the ancestral homeland of the Abenaki people—predate colonial boundaries and cannot be redefined by modern administrative categories,” the nations press release said.
“To present a curriculum in the name of a reconfigured identity to meet institutional imperatives is tantamount to trivializing the rewriting of history and normalizing cultural appropriation in the public and educational spheres.
The authors of the new curriculum said at a Dec. 18 press conference that they did not include leaders from Quebec-based nations because they focused on a history unique to the groups recognized in Vermont. The curriculum includes some of the same resources the groups submitted to the state when they applied for tribal recognition, the authors said.
The curriculum is meant to focus “on the experiences of Vermonters,” said Dan Coutu, chairman of the state Commission on Native American Affairs. The Odanaka and Wolinaka leaders “have their own voice,” he said, while the Vermont groups “have our voice.”
“They have their voice to speak freely, just like them. And now it’s our turn,” Coutu added.
Vera Sheehan, a member of the Elnu group and one of the authors of the curriculum, said her website is largely complete, but more “bells and whistles” will be added in the coming months. The authors plan to create a printed version of the materials and launch a national information campaign for teachers, according to a news release from the Commission on Native American Affairs.
The press conference announcing the new curriculum became contentious towards the end. After two reporters asked questions about the material, Denise Watso — an Odanaku citizen who lives in Albany, New York and said she was participating “as an observer” on behalf of the First Nation’s government — stood up to criticize the biography as misleading.
At that moment several people started talking at the same time. Two other people then stood up and criticized the presentation, saying it was not right that the Odanaka and Wolinaka First Nations were not consulted. Watso was escorted from the room by security.
The introduction of the curriculum is likely to spark at least some discussion in the Vermont Statehouse, too, after lawmakers return to session this month. That’s because Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, plans to introduce a bill that, if passed, could prevent the material as written from being used in schools.
Under the bill, Headrick’s legislation would require Odanak and Wolinak to consult with — and agree to — any Native history curriculum before the material could be used in any Vermont school.
“We gave these state-identified groups a foothold in the state recognition process,” Headrick said in an interview. “And they’re using that foothold in a pretty significant way — they’re taking control of the narrative in ways that completely erase any narrative provided by the Abenaki in Odanak and Wolinak.”
Headrick said his bill has two other co-sponsors, one Democratic and one Republican, though it’s not clear the bill will have a clear path forward this session.
Headrick introduced a separate bill at the start of the 2025 legislative session, which ended this June, it would create a task force to review past state tribal recognition decisions, among other things. account, House 362received only a short initial hearing this year and saw no substantive committee discussion.
Conor Kennedy, chief of staff to Democratic House Speaker Jill Krowinski, said Tuesday that he is not yet sure whether Headrick’s legislation will see more committee attention in the upcoming legislative session.
The release of the curriculum comes as Odanaka and Wolinaka leaders made serious appeals in Vermont this fall, including to state lawmakers, to reconsider past tribal recognitions.
In October nations published a comprehensive report which used public records to research about 15 generations of ancestry for five prominent members of Vermont’s recognized groups, including Don Stevens, head of the Nulhegan group; Brenda Gagne, Chief of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi; and Shirly Hook, head of the Koasek Group.
The report also examined the heritage of some members of groups that claim Abenaki ancestry in New Hampshire but are not recognized by the state government. It was concluded that all the people examined were almost 100% European.
Genealogical research for this report was conducted by Darryl Leroux, associate professor at the University of Ottawa. who has previously published research with the conclusion that many members of Vermont’s state-recognized tribes have no ancestral ties to historic Abenaki communities.
In a column published in November, Stevens, Gagne and Hook blasted the report and its findings as “junk science, compiled with bias and full of factual and interpretive errors”.
Odanak’s tribal government emailed a link to the report to all state legislators in Vermont and New Hampshire, according to Suzie O’Bomsawin, the government’s assistant general manager.
Meanwhile, First Nations have launched a campaign on some of Vermont’s major television stations — ABC22, FOX44, WCAX and Vermont Public — proving that state-recognized tribes are not legitimate aboriginal communities. According to the press release, the campaign is to be broadcast for one year.
“It is imperative that everyone understands the reality of our identity,” Jacques Watso, one of the tribal councilors of the Odanaku First Nation, said in the release. “We will continue this work with consistency and determination. The truth cannot be ignored.”
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This story was originally published by VTDigger and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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