Welcome to the MITSC library. We are building a comprehensive collection of documents relating to Tribal-State relations in the state of Maine.
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This article contends that the unusual jurisdictional structure created by the 1980 Settlement was problematic and ineffective from the outset and should be fundamentally amended in accordance with the basic concepts of federal Indian law.
MITSC has recently completed and published a new special report, Sea Run, which addresses the impact of Maine policies and activity on the quality and quantity of traditional tribal fish stocks and sustenance lifeways practices, spanning from the time of first contact between Europeans and the Wabanaki Nations to the present day. This report provides a broad overview of actions and inactions by the State of Maine, whether those actions/inactions were based on express policy, informal policy, or on decisions simply not to have any policy at all. The report includes specific recommendations for implementation that are intended to promote discussion and cooperative action.
This summary was prepared by MITSC in 2022. It covered the legal and historical background that led to the Land Claims, the negotiation of the Settlement, the basic elements of the Settlement legislation, the post-Settlement legal disputes, and the distinct legal status of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation as of the time the summary was written.
Twenty-one years after the Maine Legislature passed a groundbreaking law requiring all schools to teach Maine K-12 students about Wabanaki territories, economic systems, cultural systems, governments and political systems, as well as the Wabanaki tribes’ relationships with local, state, national and international governments, four organizations are releasing a report analyzing the law’s implementation thus far and suggesting ways to improve compliance at the state and local level.
This is the final report (in PDF format) from the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act.
Seminal law review article that describes the history and legal arguments that eventually formed the basis for the Maine Indian Land Claims.
