Indigenous Peoples

The $14 million Perry Center for Native American Art will house more than 500 items from nearly 400 Indigenous nations. The museum is contacting hundreds of tribes and taking other steps to consult with Indigenous peoples.

Plus, Courtney Lamdin with Seven Days updates us on a proposal to increase police presence in Burlington’s City Hall Park.

Brink spent most of her life in Vermont's Washington County. She first got exposure to Abenaki language and traditions through her grandmother, Elvine Obomsawin Royce, and other relatives, who would make baskets and share family stories.

The exhibit features new interactive sound art installations for visitors to explore.

The banquet, called Wlipogwat, offered a taste of animals and plants harvested on Abenaki territory. It's part of ongoing efforts by Odanak and Wôlinak First Nations to protect their knowledge, culture and homelands.

That’s as the state recognition law faces increasingly vocal criticism from the only two federally recognized Western Abenaki Nations, which say Vermont has legitimized people who haven’t adequately demonstrated their Abenaki heritage.

Difficulties include recent federal funding cuts to state health equity work and a dispute over Indigenous belonging in Vermont.

The project dates to the fall of 2022, when the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs announced it was getting $50,000 from the foundation of the Burlington-based company Seventh Generation to create materials about Abenaki peoples for K-12 students.

Made Here presents the series premiere of the award-winning 1993 film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, from Indigenous Quebec filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. The film documents a historic confrontation over a proposed golf course to be built on Mohawk lands.

The bill would give nominating power to state recognized Native American groups with historical ties to New Hampshire, all of which are based in Vermont.