Charlie Delaney, Chair VCNAA
My name is Charles Delaney-Megeso, and I am a resident of Burlington. I thank you for allowing me to testify before you today. I am the Chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs (VCNAA). Although the testimony I am about to give is primarily my own, I do first want to represent the sentiments and efforts of the Commission over the past year and since S.222 was published.
All of the Members – and some of those who served in the past – have a strongly held view that the Commission simply does not have any sort of legal authority to fulfill the responsibilities we were given in §852. A significant example is the Act 250 situation at Burlington’s Intervale.
The VCNAA was specifically created “in order to recognize the historic and cultural contributions of Native Americans to Vermont, and to protect and strengthen their heritage”. Yet, when a known, highly valuable and significant, Abenaki site is at stake, neither the Commission nor any of its Members could get party status.
At the beginning of 2009, the VCNAA submitted a proposed “vested authority” bill to the Legislative Council in order to be able to conduct the appointed §852 duties “including the creation of State policy toward and programs for Native peoples, and the oversight of all other affairs affecting Native American peoples in the State.”
It has been explained to us that the State Assembly does not confer “vested authority” on any Commission to do its work; nevertheless, we need to be given something that gives us standing in the areas of our responsibility. How this can be done to everyone’s satisfaction has yet to be agreed upon.
Specifically in terms of the bill S.222 before us, I have been speaking with my fellow Commission Members. We have not taken a position as a Commission on the bill, and have not yet decided whether to make it part of our current agenda. Of course, each of us has our view of it. Members of the first term of the Native American Affairs Commission stand behind the Indian recognition criteria they developed after much research. It mirrors federal requirements, but, as part of the S.369 bill in 2008, caused a great deal of contention with Native leaders, spokespeople, and advocates.
Another thread of thought concerns the decision by the Odanak Abenaki of Quebec to extend membership along the matrilineal bloodlines. This means many more recognized Abenaki in our state, and raises questions about legal interaction between the Canadian-recognized Vermont Indians, our state government, and other Native people in Vermont.
One member would like to see this bill tabled.
Because I continue to exercise my right as a Vermont resident to testify on issues that concern me, such as Indian rights, one of the Native Affairs Members has declared that I’ve committed treason.
And so, on that note, I now speak only for myself.
complete article - http://vcnaa.com/
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
