Local/Vermont

Today, a Senate committee will decide whether to take them up on it.

Representatives of three of the state's larger bands recommended to the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee on Thursday that legislators grant them outright recognition. Smaller bands would be able to apply to a state commission for recognition.

The move is meant to fix a 2006 law that granted state recognition to Abenaki, but because it didn't recognize specific bands did not satisfy federal laws regarding who may sell their arts and crafts as native-made. Disagreement among bands about who is legitimate has made the issue tricky to navigate.

The three bands -- the St. Francis/Sokoki band in Swanton, the Koasek Traditional Band in southern Vermont and the Nulhegan band in the Northeast Kingdom -- have a long history in Vermont, said Jeff Benay, former chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs, who helped negotiate the proposal.

"This is as inclusive as we've ever gotten," Benay said. "We have every band on board that we could."

"We humbled ourselves to make this happen," said Luke Willard of the Nulhegan band, which combined forces for the first time with the other two bands in hopes of settling the issue.

The proposal drew opposition from others who said it wouldn't be fair to those from smaller bands to have to go through a more extensive recognition effort.

"We need to have the same process for everybody," said Judy Dow of Essex, a member of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs who is a member of a small family band of Winooski Abenaki.

She argued that no other states have granted official recognition without a process and that it would not satisfy federal rules.

Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans, chairman of the committee, said the panel will make a decision today, the deadline for passing bills out of committee that need to go to the other chamber.

He said he believes the state has the authority to grant outright recognition, although he might be inclined to add a caveat that the state Attorney General's Office or Human Rights Commission could contest a band's status within 90 days of granting recognition.

"At some point somebody has to make a decision," Illuzzi said. "I think there is some merit to their argument that 'We've been around here.'"

Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 229-1297 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/NEWS02/803140307/1007