Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco
Issue: Environmental and Social Justice
Program Topic:
Maria Girouard of the Penobscot Nation gives an overview of the historic conflict over Wabanaki territory and sovereignty between the state and tribes, up to present
Key Discussion Points:
1. Penobscot Nation member Maria Girouard spoke to a class at the Maine Maritime Academy, in Castine, titled “Communities and Conflict.”
2. Girourad spoke on the impacts of historical, or intergenerational, trauma, explicitly how past and unfolding policies of colonization have impacted the Wabanaki tribes present within Maine’s borders.
3. Maria Girouard gives an historical overview of the conflict between the state and the tribes concerning Wabanaki territory, and the state’s continuing position on tribal land, water, fishing rights and sovereignty, including the current case in US District Court, Penobscot Nation vs. State Attorney General Janet Mills, et al
Guest:
Maria Girouard, member of the Penobscot Nation, environmental activist, community organizer. She is currently the Welness Coordinator for Maien Wbanaki REACH ( http://mainewabanakireach.org ), the organization facilitating the work of the Maine Wabanaki State Chile Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Girouard served as the Penobscot Nation’s director of Cultural and Historic Preservation 2006-2011, and was a member of the Penobscot Tribal Council 2012-to 2014