MAINE PUBLIC • December 8, 2022
Three researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School have released a report that says Maine's Indian tribes have suffered financially under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. The act has had the affect of blocking federal laws that have helped the economic development of Indian tribes elsewhere in the country. Chief Kirk Francis of the Penobscot Nation said, “We understand that trying to re-litigate the last 40 years, and 150-plus laws that have been passed by Congress is a non-starter for the political powers that we need to partner with to get something passed. So what we want to focus on is, how do we get a new paradigm in place where the tribes are working in more of a self-determining way, and are able to gather the tools that every other tribe in the country will have available to them going forward.