Opinion: Janet Mills is focused on tribal sovereignty — just not in the way you think

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 6, 2026

The 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act took away two-thirds of the state of Maine from the Wabanaki tribal nations. It also placed Maine in a position to veto much of what Wabanaki peoples attempt to do as sovereign Indigenous nations. Within that history of colonial dehumanization of American Indian peoples, Wabanaki tribal nations — Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy — are the only federally recognized tribes in the United States who are forced to request that a state (i.e., Maine) grant them permission to do business within their tribal nations. Janet Mills is part of a long history of Maine stripping Wabanaki nations of their authorities to determine what is best for their lands and peoples. ~ David Shane Lowry, assistant professor of anthropology at USM and a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina