This commentary is by Richard Witting of Burlington, a Vermont historian whose research focuses on Abenaki history and the related topics of eugenics, disability, and institutionalization in 20th-century Vermont. On Feb. 19, he spoke at the State House about the rewriting of Vermont’s eugenics history, a concern first acknowledged by the state’s attorney general in 2002.
In 1759, Colonial troops burned the Abenaki village of Odanak (St. Francis). The people there at the time were mostly women and children. This was an actual genocide.
By the late 1700s the Allen family had carved up Abenaki land for their own profit, leading to the founding of the state of Vermont. In response the original inhabitants, the Abenaki People — long allied with the French — moved to a safe refuge in the northern part of their territory, in Quebec. These communities continue there today as the First Nations of Odanak and Wôlinak. Together they comprise the Abenaki Nation, the first people of Vermont.
The Abenaki, however, never ceded their land in Vermont, nor have the Green Mountains ever been absent of Abenaki families who continued to live and travel through our state.
Passing under the gaze of Ethan Allen’s statue on the capitol steps, on Wednesday, February 19, a delegation from the Odanak and Wôlinak First Nations was, for the first time in Vermont’s history, invited by a lawmaker to share their history and concerns at the Statehouse.
In collaboration with scholars, they spoke of their history and presented extensive research and evidence demonstrating that Vermont erred in recognizing four groups that claim to be Abenaki despite lacking Abenaki ancestry. This act has erased and replaced the actual Abenaki people in Vermont’s historical narrative. This is an ongoing ethnocide.
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Throughout the session, these guests and speakers were repeatedly interrupted by members of Vermont’s state-recognized “tribes,” who questioned their credentials, hurled accusations of dishonesty, made childish noises, rude gestures, and heckled them. Abenaki youths were told to “speak English” when they spoke in the Abenaki language. Speakers were taunted to “go back to Canada,” and at one point, someone shouted, “make Canada the 51st state.” The most offensive moment came when members of these groups shout-sang over the guests from Odanak as they performed the traditional Abenaki welcome song.
Among these hecklers were members of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, including Chair Dan Coutu, Vice Chair Jeff Benay and former Chair Rich Holschuh — all appointed by the governor and party to this disgraceful display of hostility.
The Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs was established alongside the deeply flawed legislation of 2010-12 that granted state recognition to four modern groups, consisting of European Americans who have self-identified as “Native American tribes.” The commission is structured to prioritize members of these groups and advance their agendas, ensuring that only those who benefit from the system have a voice within it.
As a result, the VCNAA has become an echo chamber, created by the same law that erroneously made thousands of non-Native people into a state-determined ethnic minority. From this position they maintain an insecure monopoly over Indigenous representation in Vermont and provide misinformation and miseducation about Vermont’s Native history, positioning themselves on boards and councils as a BIPOC community.
Meanwhile, the Abenaki Nation (Odanak and Wôlinak), the Mohawk and the Stockbridge-Munsee — all of whom have historically grounded claims to land in Vermont — are structurally excluded from representation on the VCNAA and therefore from having a voice in the state.
This nepotistic stranglehold on Native relations in Vermont should be an embarrassment to a state that believes it is welcoming to Indigenous people. It is not. This reality was underscored in a 2023 Vermont Public article, further reflected in the governor’s ongoing disregard for Odanak and reinforced by public dismissal of the Abenaki Nation’s concerns by VCNAA members, both in writing and in their remarks on Feb. 19.
The chaos and hostility displayed by members of Vermont’s state-recognized “tribes” and their supporters during this historic event exposed the extent to which the state’s policies on Native affairs have failed.
State Rep. Troy Headrick, who had invited the Abenaki delegation to Vermont, was the one legislative voice willing to call for civility.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, who has publicly expressed regret to Odanak for the harm caused by the state recognition process, did greet and welcome the Abenaki delegation. The title question of the event was “Did we get it wrong?” Senator Ram Hinsdale has been the first lawmaker brave enough to ask that question of her own past actions, for which she should be commended.
Gov. Phil Scott, who has repeatedly brushed off this issue and avoided establishing relations with the Abenaki Nation, was absent. However, his administration was represented by these VCNAA members — standing alongside the hecklers, representing Vermont, and reflecting our policies toward Native Nations.
If the governor cares about Vermont’s relation with sovereign Native Nations, he should immediately investigate the actions and conduct of the VCNAA, call for its members who attended the event to publicly denounce the behavior displayed there, and consider major reforms of that commission.
We as citizens must also stop working with this flawed organization, and call for our state to do better.
By continuing to ignore these historic moments unfolding before us, Vermont’s leaders — governor, representatives, senators — risk aligning themselves with our nation’s colonial legacy of exclusion and disenfranchisement of Native people.
This harm is happening now and is ongoing. It will be remembered if they do not act.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Richard Witting: The shameful state of Native American affairs in Vermont .