Advisory Committee Members: Don Barnaby, Eva Blake, Charles Desmond, Anne Foxx-Whitford, John Sly Fox Oakley, and Autaquay Peters.

Founder and Director: Burne Stanley-Peters

Newsletter Contributors: Anthony Silva and Burne Stanley.

Volunteers, Cooks, & Hunters Needed for the Native Social & Potluck, Middleborough, MA

We need your help. If you live in the Middleborough area and can offer a few hours to set up the potluck supper at our Native American Social, please let us know. We need help in the kitchen and in the dining hall . The event date is Saturday, January 28, 2006. We are also doing something different and exciting this year. For the potluck, we are hoping to offer various "game" stews and meat dishes to our friends. We are looking to get Rabbit, Quail, Pheasant, Moose, Bear, and Deer meat (Buffalo, Duck and Wild Turkey are also welcomed.) Do we have any hunters amongst our Membership and Circle of Friends? If so and if you are going hunting this winter, please let us know if you are willing to share some of your catch with us for the potluck. And finally, even if you don't hunt but you know how to cook wild game meats and are willing to do so, call us. Your help with any of the above are greatly needed and would be appreciated. 617-884-4227 or mcnaa@aol.com

Workshops Offered to Educational Institutions and Civic Organizations

Over the Autumn and Winter months, we were very busy scheduling workshops and speaking engagements with quite a number of Massachusetts colleges & universities. As you might expect, October and November are always very busy months for MCNAA Board Members and members of our speaker's bureau. However, we want to remind you that we offer workshops year round and would like to arrange a presentation with your school or organization any time.

Fundraising/Benefits

Seeking Members For Our Fundraising Committee

Annual Holiday Appeal

Your funds will be used for any of the MCNAA programs that you wish. They include: The Chief Red Blanket Scholarship Program, Emergency Food & Shelter Fund, Fuel Assistance Fund, General Operating Fund, Holiday Food Certificate Fund, and our Youth Empowerment & Cultural Enrichment Program.

As of this writing, we have received contributions from the following members and friends:

	James A. Babson	Dave Josselyn
	Jerrie Campagna	Hank Perkins
	Pumukqien Collins	Lorraine Queen
	T. Helga Edvardsen-Dyck	Eva Brooks & Paul Sharp
	Charles Fischer	Ricardo Simaratana
	Kathy Gill	Linda Watchko
	Karen Graham	Dr. Bert Waters & Family
	Cheryl & Jay Harris	Catherine Williams
	John R. Jones

Many wish to remain anonymous.

We thank all of you who have made a contribution to one or more of our programs and for wanting to share a little of what you have with us.

If you are one who has already received the form in the mail but put it aside and forgot about it, this article will serve as a gentle and friendly reminder to send in your contribution soon. We are accepting funds until the beginning of April so you still have time. We have a number of programs that will benefit from your tax-deductible gift. Although the program that you decide to contribute is entirely up to you, I'd like to mention that it's our Chief Red Blanket Scholarship Fund and the Social Assistance Fund (home heating program) that could use your donation the most.

Scholarships to Native American students will be awarded in late January 2006 at our Annual Social & Potluck Supper. Native American students use their scholarship award to help pay for books, travel expenses, meals, and any other college related expense. This modest scholarship helps to keep the student motivated and in school.

Heating bills for Native families are paid by MCNAA directly to the appropriate heating company. We began making payments in November 2005 and this program runs until the beginning of April 2006. As of this writing we have 20 additional families/individuals on our list who are in need of home heating assistance. Your donation will help keep one of these families warm during the remainder of the cold season.

If you didn't receive a form, please access the on-line gift form that is on our website. Fill it out, print it, and mail it to MCNAA with your desired contribution. If you do not have internet access, simply write a check and indicate which of our programs you'd like your donation to be applied to. Please help us help our Native American constituents. Keep in mind that your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Thank you.

Attn: Native Students - Chief Red Blanket Scholarships to be Awarded at MCNAA Social & Potluck

Scholarships for the 2006 Spring Semester will be awarded a little differently. It'll be fun!

We are inviting our Native students to attend the annual MCNAA Social & Potluck Supper. At this event students will have an opportunity to "draw" for a scholarship. What this means is that all students who currently receive the Native American tuition waiver will have an opportunity to put their name in a jar at the Social. We will then draw four names from the jar and those selected students will get a chance to "draw" a scholarship check from a hat. The scholarship amounts will vary.

The Social & Potluck Supper is scheduled for Saturday, January 28, 2006 and will be held at the VFW in Middleboro, MA. The VFW is just off Route 105 in the Center of Town. The doors open at 5PM. Our potluck will consist of various "wild game" stews and meat dishes as well as macaroni & cheese, salads, rice dishes and other American fare. There will also be drumming, singing, inter-tribal dancing and socializing.

All students who are interested in attending the social & potluck supper and participating in this "draw" should e-mail me by January 20th with their name, address, city, state & zip, the college they are attending, and their tribal affiliation.

Once I hear from the students and confirm that they are attending college, their names will go on the list as Native American students who will be attending the social. Then at the Social, their name will be put in a jar. Students whose names are picked will then get to draw a check out of the hat. Four students will win a scholarship at this event. Pretty simple and FUN!

Students, who must be present to participate, may use the funds toward travel expenses, books, meals, and any other college-related expense. You must be present to participate in the "scholarship draw".

2006 List of Native American Pow-Wows and Special Events

MCNAA's Wish List

1. Reams of ink jet paper
2. Postage stamps
3. New computer and flat panel monitor
4. New photocopy machine
5. Memorial Gifts - When a friend or relative passes, honor their memory and send a tax deductible contribution to MCNAA. Your contribution will be acknowledged by MCNAA to you and to the family.
6. A Building - Donate a useable building for MCNAA's permanent administrative offices and programs. Certain tax benefits may apply.
7. We will also accept a parcel of land that will be used as financing leverage to build our Center. Any size or location within the I-495 belt is acceptable. Certain tax benefits may apply
8. A travel trailer or motor home to be used as an on-site office, resting place, at MCNAA pow-wows.

Other News & Info in and Around the Region

Panel Discussion Held at Harvard University

Harvard University's Native American Program and the Department of History presented a panel discussion entitled "Native New England Now". It was held on Monday, December 12, 2005

In attendance were Al & Marianne Curtis, Sandy & Steve Sodano, Dolores Crofton-McDonald, Sister Carol, myself and other MCNAA Members as well as University students. We all attended to listen to experts from New England's Native American organizations and tribal nations discuss issues of contemporary relevance to the region, including federal recognition, economic development, and Native American identity.

Panelists included:

• Joanne Dunn (Mik'maq, Executive Director, North American Indian Center of Boston)
• Sterling Hollow Horn (Lakota, North American Indian Center of Boston)
• Jim Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag, Executive Director, Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs)
• Cedric Woods (Lumbee, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation)

Malinda Maynor-Lowry, faculty at the History Department at Harvard, did a commendable job moderating and directing the discussions. She is from the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a MCNAA Member.

The event was very well attended and discussions were very informative.

Abenaki Chief Blasts AG For Opposing Federal Recognition Bid

"Despite the best efforts of the Attorney General's Office to harass, hinder and block our petition, the Abenaki Nation will proceed," Merrill said during a news conference at Abenaki Self-Help Association headquarters. "We will rebuff the efforts of the AG's office."

On November 10, 2005, the Bureau of Indian Affairs turned down the petition for recognition of the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki, saying the group failed to satisfy four of seven criteria for recognition. The bureau found there was not evidence the Abenaki remained a "distinct community" in northwestern Vermont through history. Federal recognition would allow the Abenaki access to a variety of federal grants and legal rights.

The Attorney General's Office, citing concerns about possible land claims and casino gambling, has long opposed recognition. Attorney General William Sorrell said Merrill's attack on his office was off-base. "It's unfortunate she won't stay on the facts of the case," he said. "I don't apologize for our office doing its work. If the Abenaki met the legal test, they would be entitled to recognition."

Merrill said she remains hopeful that her group's bid for federal recognition ultimately will be successful and said some of the deficiencies in the group's petition are easily correctable. She said the bureau failed to receive some key genealogical information for reasons she could not explain. "I don't know how they didn't get it, because we sent it," she said. "I know that because I was the one who sent it."

Merrill, speaking with 30 tribal members standing silently behind her, also said she would be asking Gov. Jim Douglas for help in funding her tribe's effort to persuade the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reverse its decision. She said the Abenaki has less than $5,000 in its bank account to fund legal work on its petition. "We have very little money," she said, "but we will do the work that needs to be done." She estimated Sorrell's office spent $400,000 to oppose the Abenaki bid. Sorrell, contacted later Monday, said Merrill's estimate was wrong and that his office had spent $86,800 on legal work involving the Abenaki petition.

Meanwhile, a gubernatorial spokesman said later Monday that it was unlikely Douglas would provide the Abenaki the kind of financial help Merrill was seeking. "Given the stage of the process and the BIA's very strong response, it is more likely the governor would authorize funding for economic development and education than provide resources for the Abenaki to hire attorneys," Jason Gibbs said.

On a related matter, Sorrell said late Monday his office would support legislation giving state recognition for the Abenaki, so long as the language of such a measure made clear that recognition would not lead to casinos, land claims or other actions detrimental to the state. He said a measure passed by the Senate in May lacks that sort of specificity.

"Now that federal recognition has run its course, we can turn to the issue of state recognition," Sorrell said. "We do not oppose state recognition."

Shinnecock Tribe Update

From here, U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt must hold a trial to determine whether the Hampton Bays land that the Shinnecocks own and want to build on is their ancestral land, and whether they have a right to build a casino on it, experts said.

"The tribe is halfway there," said Robert Anderson, director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law. "They're a tribe. Now it's just a question of this land they're occupying."

The move by Platt was unusual enough that even U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officials said yesterday they weren't sure exactly what his decision meant. "We're still digesting what it means," said BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling. "This decision is really out of the ordinary for us so we have our people reviewing it."

In the usual process of an Indian community seeking recognition from the federal government, a group applies to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition as a tribe. If its members are granted recognition, they must then go through a second process with the BIA, and also negotiate with New York State before opening a casino. However, Platt Monday cut through what is often a years-long process at the Bureau of Indian Affairs by declaring that the Shinnecock are a tribe. Now, several experts said, the tribe must set about proving that the Westwood property - a 79-acre tract in Hampton Bays west of their Southampton reservation - was once part of their ancestral holdings, was wrongfully taken from them before the tribe bought the land back, and should still be considered tribal land.

Government officials, though, say the next step for the tribe may not be as simple as it sounds. They believes that, in spite of Platt's ruling, the tribe will still need to get onto the BIA's list of recognized tribes before moving forward with any casino. However, Anderson said that although the BIA doesn't like people circumventing their process, it will be very hard for them not to add the Shinnecocks to their list.

Since this is the first time a judge's decision has been tested in this way, however, experts also acknowledge that what happens next is anybody's guess because they've entered some uncharted territory.

Native Inmates at MCI-Norfolk are Seeking Support

They are also asking for volunteers to attend their sacred hoop gatherings to teach the old ways, ceremonial songs, drumming, flute music, and stories of the past. The days for this are every week on Tuesdays and Fridays from 1PM to 3:30 PM.

To become an approved volunteer, you must contact Mr. Michael J. DeVine, Director of Treatment Programs at 508-660-5900.

Family Fun at the Haffenreffer Museum Bristol, RI

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 11AM - 2PM
Looking for a fun activity with the kids during winter break? Drop by the Museum and hike to Mt. Hope looking for signs of animals; enjoy hot chocolate by the fire in the wetu; listen to stories from the frozen North, play games, make a craft, and more.

During Spring break, bring the kids and enjoy hikes to King Philip's Seat, outdoor scavenger hunts, crafts, and fun for all ages

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 1PM - 3PM
Explore Archaeology - get down and dirty while learning about archaeology in their simulated site. Space is limited. Please call for reservations. 401-253-8388

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1PM- 3PM
Explore the Culture of the Natives of the Plains - sit by the fire in the tipi and learn about Plains Nations and their cultures past and present.

Thursday, April 19, 2006 1PM - 3PM
Explore Native New England - sit in the wetu and listen to stories of life in Southeastern New England in the 1600s and 1700s.

Activities are free with Museum admission. For additional information, call 401-253-8388.

2006 Upcoming Events for MCNAA

April 2 17th Year Anniversary Celebration & Banquet, Randolph, MA Tickets: $25.00 in advance. Must RSVP 1PM

May 27-29 Annual Spring Planting Moon Pow-Wow, Marshfield Fairgrounds, 140 Main St. Marshfield, MA