NAFPS Forum

General => Research Needed => Topic started by: wajo on April 09, 2010, 01:10:00 am

Title: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: wajo on April 09, 2010, 01:10:00 am
The frauds making out like bandits, by creating non-profits and sitting on fat grants are, these people have no shame, they even made up tribes for themselves when they didin't get along with the other "chiefs", these are all factions of the first group or actual re-enactors, literally:
April St Francis, "chief" st. francis abenaki.
Luke Willard, "chief" nulhegan
Nancy Millitte-Crouger-Lyons-Docet, "chief" koasek, first the coasekm but they all got into a fight and she started her own corporation.
Roger Sheehan "longtoe" chief, Elnu tribe

Fred Wiseman- supposed historian helping them and john moody during the denied fed. recognition issue. he also claims to be Abenaki, but we know otherwise.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: educatedindian on April 10, 2010, 07:46:39 pm
The Nulhegan band, an angelfire and facebook site.

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/lorrsworld/genealogy8.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Newport-VT/ABENAKI-NATION-AT-NULHEGANMEMPHREMAGOG/465071390300

There used to be another page, nulheganband.org, that's now lapsed.

Message on a genealogical board where the leader, Luke Willard, tells someone online she is Abenaki based on her story of a "fifth great grandmother".
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NA-ABENAKI/2009-05/1242967323

VT state doc that recognized these groups.
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/senate/S-369.HTM
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: karen mica on June 26, 2010, 03:34:43 pm
So, their already getting Grants, without ever having to prove that they are indeed Abenakis!


Thursday, 24 June 2010 
Abenaki Indians gets $78,120 federal grant
By The Associated Press
Thursday, June 24, 2010

MONTPELIER — An Abenaki Indian group has won a $78,120 federal grant to support job training and placement services.

The money, from the U.S. Department of Labor, will go to the Abenaki Self-Help Association/NH Indian Council in Vermont.

It's part of $67 million in funds to 256 organizations under the Workforce Investment Act Indian and Native American Program.

The grant was announced Wednesday by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who says the money is intended to help American Indians, Alaska natives and native Hawaiian communities....


There is also a NH group who has gotten an $83,000 Grant for Abenaki language revival

and to date none of these groups has ever been able to prove that they are Abenaki.

In fact they one of them has said that (if proof is ever required) they`ll worry about it then!

This is outrageous!

 

 
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Smart Mule on March 04, 2011, 06:21:12 pm
Regarding April St Francis Rushlow Merrill, chief of the St Francis-Sokoki Band Inc., she's got some explaining to do.

St. Albans, Vermont - February 1, 2011

The leader of Vermont's largest Abenaki band is in trouble with the law.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Department cited April St. Francis-Merrill for exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Investigators say she stole several thousand dollars from an elderly man while handing his finances over the last several years. She allegedly used the money for personal expenses.

St. Francis-Merrill is the chief of the St. Francis-Sokoki Band.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13950728 (http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13950728)

-----

Sheriff’s office alleges exploitation of adult
SWANTON — April St. Frances-Merrill, chief of the St. Frances-Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation, has been charged with felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

According to a statement issued by the sheriff’s office today, the office received a complaint from Adult Protective Services last summer concerning the finances of an elderly man.

The complaint concerned suspicious activity in his bank account over a period of 4.5 years.

“During the course of the investigation… it was learned that April Merrill was taking care of this elderly male’s financial business,” the press release stated.

The press release did not say when Merrill would appear in court to answer the charges.

http://www.samessenger.com/node/1100 (http://www.samessenger.com/node/1100)

-----

April St. Francis Merrill, chief of the Missisquoi Abenaki tribe based in Swanton, is facing a charge of exploiting a vulnerable adult by manipulating his financial records, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

Merrill, 42, of Highgate is due for arraignment March 14 in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans on the felony charge, Sheriff Robert Norris said.

Repeated attempts to reach Merrill at her home and tribal headquarters were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Norris said “several thousands of dollars” were involved during a 4½-year period related to bank and credit-card accounts while Merrill was taking care of the financial business of an elderly man.

Norris said his office received a complaint last summer from Adult Protective Services about “what appeared to be some suspicious activity in his personal bank account.”

Norris said the call came into the Sheriff’s Office because it patrols Highgate. He said during the past several months Detective Kevin Bushey conducted the investigation, which wrapped up Tuesday when he issued Merrill the citation.

Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes, who will be responsible for prosecuting the charge, said he had spoken briefly with the sheriff’s department about the case and plans to meet with Bushey to review the allegations. Hughes said he does not expect to receive the final court paperwork until about 10 days before Merrill’s arraignment.

Merrill is the daughter of Homer St. Francis, the longtime chief of the Missisquoi band who fought for federal and state recognition. He died in 2001.

Merrill, who inherited her title from her father, told the Burlington Free Press in September that tribal rolls include about 2,500 Vermont and New Hampshire residents with Abenaki roots.

Her father began to seek state recognition in 1974 after taking over as chief. It was granted in 1976 by Gov. Thomas Salmon but rescinded the following year by Gov. Richard Snelling. Gov. Madeleine Kunin rejected the request in 1985 because of the legal problems it would create. The Vermont Supreme Court rejected an Abenaki request in 1992 to claim land in northwestern Vermont.

The Legislature was asked last month to recognize two tribes, while two others including the Missisquoi group are not far behind.

“If it weren’t for my father, none of this would be happening,” Merrill said last month of the state recognition effort.

The Abenaki sought federal recognition initially in 1980, withdrew the application in 1985, and reapplied in 1992. The Bureau of Indian Affairs denied a petition in 2005.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110202/NEWS02/110202015/Prominent-Abenaki-leader-accused-of-exploiting-vulnerable-adult (http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110202/NEWS02/110202015/Prominent-Abenaki-leader-accused-of-exploiting-vulnerable-adult)

I wonder if Zoi Lightfoot is going to represent her.  From what I understand, the number of charges she is facing continues to increase.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Diana on March 04, 2011, 07:44:49 pm
I'm not surprised, these questionable non-indigenous derelicts often have shady backgrounds.  ;D



Lim lemtsh,


Diana
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: naparyaq on March 04, 2011, 08:49:14 pm
Ha!  :D
More Suzy Chaffee noble savage crap! Unbelievable!

http://www.snow-riders.org/info_pages/abenakination2.html
Oct 22, 2006
Vermont Ski Hall of Fame Inducts Billy Kidd and Warren Witherell
Two Native Americans Honored as MVP's of Skiing.
"Warren Witherell (L- Apache) and Olympic skier Billy Kidd (R- Abenaki) at induction into the Vermont Ski Hall of Fame. Koasek Abenaki Chief Nancy Lyons (L) presented Billy with an eagle feather and Olympian Suzy Chaffee a hawk fan for doing wonders for Indian youth."



"Born to an Olympic family in Rutland, VT, her ski career started at two when she tried to step into her mothers skis. Her first coach, at age five, was Joe Jones, an Abenaki Indian. Skiing in the Green Mountains connected her with her inner voice that has guided her life."
There's no "Joe Jones" and her story changes by the day.

http://www.snow-riders.org/info_pages/abenakination5.html
Famous Abenaki
"Chief Nancy Lyons (in blue) of the Vt Koasak Abenaki at April meeting with Governor James Douglas (center) with L-R, Vt legal advisor Susanne Young, VT Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee, Mark Mitchell, Vt Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Olympian Rick Chaffee. "It felt like we got the Governor up to speed with how other states comply with federal laws in recognizing their tribal artists to bolster Vermont's Cultural Tourism, its No. 1 draw," said the Chaffees."

I'm trying to just laugh and not be mad. This is part of Suzy Chaffee's "Olympic Natives" that showed up at Whistler during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and demanded to do some kind of "ceremonies" on the mountain, be considered part of the whole Native Olympic scene, film themselves, and have their junk be aired as official Four Host First Nations broadcast.
They actually got people to contribute thousands of dollars to their "Olympic Native Athletes" initiative.


Totally CRINGE-WORTHY!!! I offer heartfelt apology to all First Nations people. These guys were NOT us!
Suzy Chaffee has completely made up names of organizations that really and truly DO NOT exist, even on paper. There is no such entity as the "US Native American Olympic Team Foundation." It simply does not exist. It's her money-laundering scheme. It's how she makes a living. She's been doing it for years!

In the meantime, several very wonderful, very real Olympic moments celebrated for First Nations people and Alaska Natives.
Caroline Calve
Callan Chythlook-Sifsof

I'm sorry. This woman and the people she surrounds herself with are absolutely batshit crazy and fraudulent.
She shamelessly and falsely namedrops a whole roster of Native American leaders names as supporting her. When they do NOT.
"NAOTF is now guided by some of the most respected Native leaders in America, like NAOTF's Co-chairman, Brian Wallace, leader of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. In November, we are so honored, that Tex Hall, was elected President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). As chair the 3 Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and the Great Plains Chairmen' Association, he sponsored our Native Blessing Ceremony at the Park City's America's Pre-Olympic World Cup, (with Wildhorse Casino of the N.W. Umatilla Confederacy) which resulted in their best snow ever!
His cousin Ed Hall, Director of Tourism for the BIA, is one of the most influential Natives in Washington D.C.
Iroquois Chief Oren Lyons founded the international Green Cross with Gorbachev and was instrumental in persuading Sweden to shift from nuclear to alternative energy; Medicine men, Lakota Wallace Black Elk and Navajo Lenny Foster have shared their Earth People Way of Life at the United Nations and are leaders at human rights conferences in Geneva and spiritual conferences around the world. Plus leaders from tribes across America.
Another NAOTF Board member is Lloyd Bald Eagle, an actor, reenactor, champion Native traditional dancer, and international unity leader from the Minnecojou Lakota Tribe of South Dakota.
The words of our tribal brother Nelson Mandela keep ringing in my ears this Olympic year when our people are being honored, reminding me that the sky's the limit," said Lloyd."


All lies. All nonsense.

What enrages me and causes me to feel that this is more serious than the plastic shaman stuff is this: she not only exploits Natives and disadvantaged Native athletes, but she's using CHILDREN to generate money. She's using Native children to generate donations to herself. Not only does no one stop her, but there are Natives who are encouraging it. This is beyond bad! This is illegal, targeted intentionally exploitative behaviour.

Tex Hall and others DO support her, but they haven't done their homework. Her "career" as an athlete has been grossly exaggerated. She had a mediocre, less than two-year stint on the US Ski Team, 1967-1968. She was on the US Olympic Team to Grenoble, but did not compete in the Olympics. She posted some of the worst times in the preliminary time trials and failed to qualify for competition. She did not return to the ski team after the Olympics and she never ski raced again.
She is famous because she was on a Chapstick commercial and became a celebrity figure because of famous boyfriends and a role in a ski movie. That's all. She's like Paris Hilton and Sarah Palin. Famous for being famous.

If this woman comes to town, looking for child athletes to groom, SHUT HER DOWN. TURN HER AWAY. SHE'S A PREDATOR AND STEALER OF SPIRIT.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Smart Mule on March 04, 2011, 08:50:01 pm
I agree Diana.  I also think that with April, this is just the beginning.  She doesn't pay taxes ad blames it on a dead woman.  She blows the funds of people she is supposed to be caring for and takes credit cards out in their names.  One of the individuals she was caring for that passed away didn't even have funds available for burial.  I really hope the courts look into where and how all of the federal, state and private funding was spent that the St Francis-Sokoki Band Inc obtained via grants and donations.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: tuschkahouma on March 05, 2011, 03:50:38 am
Having been to Odanak and to Wendake (Huron) in the summer of 2003 in Quebec and read the "Original Vermonters" and harrassed
Howard Dean over the Abenakis and read about the Sokokis and having seen pictures of Indian looking people in that book the Original Vermonters
one must take your hammering of these people as the final truth...really....??? It helps to see the areas firsthand doesn't it?
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: snorks on March 05, 2011, 04:14:58 pm
How do "Indian-looking" people make a bonefide tribe?  My son and I are "Indian-looking" but we are White.  Also, there are White families in these rural areas who have been there a long time.  Few intermarried, and if they did, they remained White.  In short, it is ancestory and nothing more.  Makes for interesting conversation but nothing else.  Like saying you are Irish, but your connections to Ireland are a few generations back, and you have no living relatives in Ireland.  And all you know of Ireland is what you read.  Doesn't really make you Irish.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Kestrel on March 06, 2011, 02:12:49 am
If you have any question about the "Abenaki" groups being hammered you should read the BIA report. Its also important to note they have a large fulltime staff dedicated to Indian genealogy. They have the most extensive records of Indian genealogy anywhere. It speaks for itself. Of the 1700+ people of the Missiquoi/Sokoki less than 1% have any indian genealogy !
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: BlackWolf on March 06, 2011, 02:55:15 am
If you have any question about the "Abenaki" groups being hammered you should read the BIA report. It speaks for itself. Of the 1700+ people of the Missiquoi/Sokoki less than 1% have any indian genealogy !


Here it is Kestrel. 

Proposed Finding on the St. Francis/ Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont

http://www.bia.gov/idc/groups/xofa/documents/text/idc-001532.pdf

Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgement of the St. Francis/ Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont.

http://www.bia.gov/idc/groups/xofa/documents/text/idc-001527.pdf
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Kestrel on March 06, 2011, 03:51:58 am
Thanks BlackWolf, I have read the BIA report cover to cover and there are also 2 reports by the Vermont state attorney general that concur ! We also have done many genealogies of the suspect groups members and "Chiefs" nothing works, so few have any Indian genalogy let alone Abenaki ! They are not genealogically documented Indians by any stretch of the imagination. Fraud is the word !
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Smart Mule on June 12, 2012, 10:50:05 pm
http://www.necn.com/06/11/12/Vt-Native-American-leader-faces-embezzle/landing_newengland.html?blockID=723104&feedID=4206 (http://www.necn.com/06/11/12/Vt-Native-American-leader-faces-embezzle/landing_newengland.html?blockID=723104&feedID=4206)

"(NECN: Jack Thurston, Swanton, Vt.)  - April St. Francis Merrill, 44, pled not guilty Monday to allegations she stole from the very Native American tribe members she once served as chief. Before the hearing, she completely ignored questions from New England Cable News as she walked into the criminal court in St. Albans, Vt.

St. Francis Merrill is a familiar face in northwestern Vermont, having pushed for decades along with her late father for formal recognition of her band of Abenaki, based in Swanton. The Missisquoi band won state recognition last month. But by then, St. Francis Merrill had stepped down as chief, citing personal reasons.

Franklin County prosecutor Jim Hughes said those reasons may possibly include knowledge of a police investigation into her alleged embezzlement from the tribe. Police accuse the former chief of siphoning more than $34,600 from tribal accounts through ATM withdrawals, grocery shopping, flower purchases, and even the installation of a deck on her own home.

Detectives said in paperwork filed with the court that the money for the deck came from an "Operation Santa Claus" charity fund meant to benefit children at an annual Christmas party. "There were many other things purchased on that account that never went to the party, and were alleged to have gone into her possession" said Jim Hughes, the State's Attorney for Franklin County, Vt.

The former chief faced similar charges in March 2011, for allegedly pocketing money from an elderly man whose finances she was supposed to be minding. That man is now dead and prosecutors have tabled the case, admitting it'll be very difficult to prove guilt without the man's testimony.

St. Francis Merrill denied three new embezzlement counts Monday. Conviction could mean time in prison and a call for restitution."
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Diana on May 06, 2022, 08:14:30 pm
Follow the link to hear the conversation with Mali Obomsawin and Jacques Watso Abenaki representatives from theOdanak First Nation.


https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2022-05-05/odanak-first-nation-denounces-vt-state-recognized-abenaki-tribes-as-pretendian


Odanak First Nation denounces Vt. state-recognized Abenaki tribes as 'Pretendian'
Vermont Public Radio | By Elodie Reed, Mitch Wertlieb, Karen Anderson

Published May 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM EDT



Last week, Abenaki representatives from the Odanak First Nation – which has over 3,000 members, and is currently based in southern Quebec – gave a presentation at the University of Vermont.

Odanak government officials and citizens spoke about their history, and how colonization forced them to assimilate their language and culture – and to move to where they live today.

They spoke about their territory, N’dakinna, and how it transcends the borders of Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

And they spoke about Vermont’s state-recognized tribes, addressing an uncomfortable, long-simmering dispute. Odanak First Nation citizens and officials said prominent tribal leaders in Vermont are misrepresenting themselves as Abenaki – and profiting from it – when they are not Indigenous.

Hundreds attended the presentation, both in person and over a livestream. Titled “Beyond Borders: Unheard Abenaki Voices from the Odanak First Nation,” it called attention to a phenomenon known as “Pretendians,” which scholars say is widespread in Canada as well as the U.S., including in Vermont and New Hampshire.

“There has been a rising movement of race-shifting or Pretendians, groups of white people that may have a Native ancestor from long ago, deciding to form communities around this hobby,” said Mali Obomsawin, an Odanak First Nation Abenaki citizen. “It is perpetrated by groups of people, like I've mentioned, and also individuals, particularly in academia, where they see an opportunity to further their career, or get social capital or political capital by identifying this way.”

This is harmful, she says: “When other people that aren't from the community – that don't have cultural continuity – claim to speak for us, our information and our teachings are diluted and they're inaccurate … and frankly, it is a form of minstrelsy, Redface and reenactment.”

More from NPR: The race-shifting of 'Pretendians'

According to Odanak First Nation Councilor Jacques Watso, the people who are doing this are also profiting. Under federal law, for instance, members of state-recognized tribes like those in Vermont can market arts and crafts as made by Indigenous people.

“They started commercializing our culture and heritage,” Watso said. “And that went through all these traumas … where we were denied access to our own culture.”

Obomsawin says it’s confusing for everyone involved.

“It disrupts the movements and healing that is going on in real Indigenous communities,” she said. “And it disrupts our ability to learn our own culture… They make it harder for actual Indigenous people to reconnect.”

Obomsawin encouraged individuals who have familial relations to the Odanak First Nation to reach out and “rejoin the circle.”

As for those who do not have those documented connections, she was blunt: "There are so many ways to respectfully and appropriately be a part of a Native community without having to become Native yourself.”

Odanak First Nation does not recognize any of Vermont’s Abenaki tribes. Vermont’s tribes are not federally recognized either – despite one Vermont group applying several decades ago. Four of Vermont’s tribes do have state recognition, under a law passed in 2010.

But Watso, the Odanak First Nation councilor, says his members were shut out of the state Legislature’s debate on whether to recognize Abenaki tribes in Vermont. State records show only one Odanak member from Newport was listed to testify back during the 2011 and 2012 legislative hearings on state recognition.

“We were shut out and told to shut up, n’est-ce pas?” Watso said. “Because we're not from the state of Vermont. It was purely a political decision to go through this process.”

Watso argues that the Vermont Legislature doesn’t have the power to recognize whether a community is Indigenous or not.

“State legislators should go back and do their homework and revoke the whole thing,” he said.

VPR reached out to the state’s four recognized tribes. We received responses from Don Stevens, Chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, and Rich Holschuh, a citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe.

Holschuh said he was dismayed that the UVM event only included the perspectives from the Odanak First Nation.

“The problem being that this was a large scale platforming, with a single voice, there was no other voices there and no other perspective,” he said.

Chief Don Stevens said: “When they use an institution, to use their voice to suppress someone else … then it's not an educational event anymore, it just – it's used as a way to suppress other people.”

Stevens was one of the people personally called out at the event as someone misrepresenting themselves as Abenaki.

“No other nation, no other tribe, no other people should tell us, or try to approve who we are, that’s what’s called sovereignty,” he said. “We have gone through a process, whether they like it or not, we have gone through the processes needed to to be recognized as an Indian.”

Holschuh was also personally called out.

“It's not anything new, and it's not anything that I feel really carries any credence,” he said. “Now we have to find a way to provide a response, or to answer with some – to bring some balance.”

VPR’s Mitch Wertlieb spoke to Councilor Jacques Watso and Mali Obomsawin this week. Their conversation below has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mitch Wertlieb: Councilor Watso, let me start with you. The Abenaki Council of Odanak issued resolutions first in 2003, again in 2019, indicating it did not recognize groups representing themselves as Abenaki in Vermont. I'm wondering how the timing of this UVM event fits in with that. I mean – why give this presentation now in 2022?

Jacques Watso: It was an event put forth because the four tribes of Vermont were celebrating the 10th-year anniversary of their state recognition. We went to the state Senate in 2011, and we were asked, politely asked to leave, because we were not Vermont electors, and our voice should not be heard.

But we are always outspoken, because these people, they came to Odanak to learn our culture, our language, our stories, our heritage, our way, our dances, our songs. And once we started asking questions about their heritage, as Indigenous people do all across America, they gave us the runaround. And it was – we quickly found out that they were not who they were claiming to be, they were claiming a ancestry from colonial time, from the 1600s. And some had zero connection, but had French Canadian ancestry.

Mitch Wertlieb: Let me turn to Mali Obomsawin now. Mali, what is your response to Chief Don Stevens’ comment about who does and who does not get to determine indigeneity?

Mali Obomsawin: Indigenous nations determine who is part of the community. The line that the people in Vermont are trying to walk is, they're asserting themselves as sovereign nations, when for hundreds of years, they were just not known as Indigenous. And so in the last 20 to 40 years, they're coming forward and saying, "We're sovereign nations, we get to define who we are."

But even Don Stevens has admitted to the press, right – this is printed – that he didn't know that he was Abenaki until much later in his life. And so how can you say that you speak for the Abenaki when you had to go to the state of Vermont in order to have any kind of legitimacy?

Mitch Wertlieb: Mali, this is so interesting. And I apologize for sort of playing catch up here, because really, I'm on the outside looking in as many Vermonters will be on this issue. How is this all determined? In other words, you have your own ways as a tribe of determining who is true Abenaki, true Odanak. Have you ever sat down with some of these folks here in Vermont and said, “OK, this is why we believe that we are the true representation here, and why you, in fact, do not have the same links to this heritage that we do.”

Mali Obomsawin: Listen, we have invited the groups in Vermont time and time again to show us how they are related to us, because – and this is an important point – Wabanaki people are related to each other. The tribes in Maine are related. And you can – it's documented – you can see and trace how we are related at Odanak to the Penobscot or to Passamaquoddy. And we have recent and ancient, you know, kinship with the Mi'kmaq, right, that's what it means to be Wabanaki, that we are all related. And that's literal.

It is a red flag that these groups in Vermont, except for a handful of people who are actually descendants of Obomsawins, distant descendants, except for them, they haven't been able to show us or willing to show us how they're related to us, for one.

Two, because we've requested their genealogies and their proof of their claims and they haven't given us anything, we have actually had to do their genealogies ourselves. So we know – we haven't publicized these things, but we know for at least for many of the prominent families, what the genealogies are.

And third, my father as well as several people from Odanak were going back and forth with Missisquoi in the 80s and 70s. And my father had the computer that had all of the genealogies of the people there on it, and so he has also had access to those.

Mitch Wertlieb: Councilor Watso, how should not just the state of Vermont as a government, but as a people, as a culture, how should we be moving forward with this? What would you like to see as a statewide governmental and cultural response to the claims that you're making here?

Jacques Watso: Well, that's a big question. But what now, is to go back to all these scholars to say, “You've gotta stop. You're harming the Indigenous voices. You're taking the space of Indigenous voices within the academic sphere.”

And we're leaving the door open to say, to acknowledge – that maybe you were misled, a lot of people were misled. Because behind all of these groups, they go get grants. And those grants are paid for by the Vermont taxpayers, and they're being fraud. It's a fraud, to receive grants on a false pretense.

Kianna Haskin provided production assistance for this story.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Smart Mule on May 08, 2022, 11:34:26 pm
https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/larivee-going-to-prison-for-eight-months-in-abenaki-fraud/article_7d09ca31-b27e-50f1-a5db-90c20e3737ce.html (https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/larivee-going-to-prison-for-eight-months-in-abenaki-fraud/article_7d09ca31-b27e-50f1-a5db-90c20e3737ce.html)
May 06, 2022
The Rutland Herald Newspaper
By Mike Donoghue
Larivee going to prison for eight months in Abenaki fraud
BURLINGTON – A former program director at the now-defunct Abenaki Self Help Association Inc. in Franklin County has been sentenced to eight months in prison for embezzling more than a $100,000 from a federal grant given to the tribe.
Louise Lampman Larivee, 63, of Swanton, who served as the tribe’s director of the U.S. Department of Labor grant program from March 2013 to May 2017, will be under federal supervision for three years once freed from prison.
Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford told Larivee, the mastermind of the scheme, she needs to make $96,725 in restitution for her part of the fraud.
Co-conspirator Candy L. Thomas, 64, of Swanton is under court-order to make $20,000 in restitution for her part. Thomas, who had worked for ASHAI as a bookkeeper from about February 2013 to April 2017, admitted her guilt immediately when confronted and is serving three years on federal supervised release.
Thomas, who testified against Larivee, began making restitution before she was sentenced. She is required to pay at least $200 a month.
In contrast, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory L. Waples noted Larivee had not made a single restitution payment since pleading guilty in November partway through her trial in Rutland. She admitted to one of two felony fraud charges on the third day of the trial after the government had only one minor witness left to testify.
Larivee, who pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment, fought the case for 2½ years before she folded. The government had presented 10 witnesses, several from the tribe, to paint a clear picture of the long-running fraud Larivee executed, records show.
Larivee admitted that between 2013 and continuing until about April 2017 she “knowingly and intentionally embezzled, stole, obtained by fraud and converted money” that was under the control of ASHAI.
The government maintains Larivee, after pleading guilty, posted a Facebook message the next day telling the niece of one of the most damaging witnesses that her aunt had lied on the witness stand and that was the only reason she changed her plea.
Waples argued the court should reject Larivee’s recent claim that she get credit for acceptance of responsibility for her criminal conduct due to her guilty plea. Waples said Larivee was not entitled to a lighter sentence after making the false claim about the witness.
Crawford agreed. He said he could not give Larivee acknowledgement for acceptance of reasonability after she dishonestly wrote a witness had lied in open court one day earlier.
Even with a recent letter from Larivee admitting she was wrong to send the social media message and to falsely claim a woman lied at the trial, Crawford said it did not change the harm inflicted.
Crawford agreed to allow Larivee to self-surrender on July 5 at a federal prison, likely in Danbury, Conn.
During the hearing Larivee offered an apology to the tribe, family and friends.
“I am truly, truly sorry from the bottom of my heart,” she said during the nearly two-hour sentencing hearing.
Larivee noted she is most disappointed because her father, a former tribal chief, in his final days, told her she needed to take care of Abenaki Nation.
“I feel like I let him down. I feel like I betrayed him,” said Larivee, who asked for no prison time. She said she was concerned for her daughter’s medial issues and wellbeing.
The federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, calculated that a defendant with Larivee’s history and criminal conviction should be imprisoned somewhere between 21 and 27 months.
Crawford, in imposing the eight-month sentence, said he had gone into the hearing expecting to impose a stiffer sentence, but was swayed by two character witnesses at the hearing. Larivee also had a series of letters submitted by friends, including several from out of state.
Abenaki Chief Richard Menard, of Swanton, testified that while Larivee had stolen from the Tribe, he thought that she had done considerable service that had gone unrewarded. He also said she was a big help when he found himself taking over as Chief in October 2019 when his predecessor walked out. Larivee knew the tribe’s history.
Professor Lisa Brooks of Amherst College, who grew up in Swanton, said she had known Larivee for 30 years and had worked alongside her on Abenaki issues, including preserving the “Grandma Lampman” land.
Crawford asked both witnesses during their testimony – and later quizzed Kirby – how they each reconciled all the civic good they said Larivee had done through the years in contrast to stealing from a fund designed to help needy Abenaki tribe members. The annual federal grant was designed to help provide employment and training activities for Abenaki members.
Each year, ASHAI, which received tens of thousands of dollars in grant money from the Department of Labor, functioned as the service arm of the Abenaki Nation. “The main goal of ASHAI has been increasing the self-sufficiency of the Native American community by promoting economic and social development via program efforts in education, employment and economic development,” court records note.
Crawford also said nobody had been able to tell the court where the money went.
Kirby had asked the court to consider no prison time and placing Larivee on probation or home confinement. That would allow her to help take care of her daughter, who is severely disabled by PTSD, and her three children, Kirby said in court papers.
Even a short prison sentence would endanger the welfare of the family, Kirby wrote.
Waples, who has handled many of the significant federal embezzlement cases in recent years, reminded the judge he has said in past cases that deterrence is critical for the criminal justice to be successful. He said the only way deterrence is served in through punishment.
He said Larivee’s good work in the community is an aggravating factor in her case because she knew all the social and economic challenges the Abenaki tribe had to deal with and she decided she wanted to steal the money.
While he did not give a specific sentence recommendation in open court, Waples listed in his sentencing memorandum the sentences imposed in 39 other federal fraud cases. He said the one that came close with the facts was the $165,000 stolen from Hunger Free Vermont that netted Sally Kirby a 15-month prison sentence.
Waples said a probation sentence would neither serve the interests of fairness nor consistency. He also noted that Larivee, who just finished paying off a $40,000 vehicle, has a negative cash flow.
“Paying restitution will not be a meaningful form of punishment in her case because she has few assets or income streams with which to pay restitution. She is not likely to be ostracized or estranged from her community in ways that might be ordinarily expected,” Waples wrote in his sentencing memo.
Waples said the government has become aware that “many member of the Abenaki community either do not blame for Larivee for her unthinkable breach of trust or are prepared to forgive her transgressions. Larivee’s defiant protestation of innocence, even after admitting her guilt in open court, suggests the stigma of shame has not sunk deeply under her skin,” he said.
“Larivee should be punished in some way that will be meaningful to her and viable to the public at large,” Waples said.
The prosecution and defense had sparred at the start of the hearing over the actual loss to the Abenaki nation. The U.S. Probation Office had pegged the loss at $156,000, including $22,276 in falsely inflated mileage reimbursement claims, court records show.
The defense objected to Waples assertions about false mileage claims. Crawford said he gave more credit to arguments by Waples because Larivee had destroyed files and records that might provide the actual amounts.
There also was some question about a $5 an hour raise that Larivee received, but there were questions about whether it had been authorized by all the proper parties.
Crawford also expressed doubts about claims by the defense that when money was taken from the bank account that it was used to pay bills, including water and power. The judge questioned why checks would not be written and instead Larivee would stop by and pay in cash or seek money orders to pay Abenaki bills.
There were disputes about the actual number of hours Larivee claimed. A federal investigator wrote Larivee had claimed as many as 80 hours a week for certain time periods. The director that served from about 2011 to January 2013 before Larivee took over said it was impossible.
“There is no way that job would include that many hours,” she said. “There were days it was deader than dead because people were not coming in,” she told an investigator.
The Swanton-based tribe continued to employ Larivee after her indictment with a similar job with Maquam Bay of Missisquoi. Larivee lost that job in March 2020 after the U.S. Department of Labor pulled the federal grant, Menard has said.
Abenaki is considered one of the most prominent early Indian tribes in Vermont.
There are more than 3,600 members in the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe, according to Menard. The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi is believed to be the longest continuous kinship-related Abenaki tribal community in existence in the United States.
May 6, 2022
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Vermont
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Louise Larivee Imprisoned for Non-Profit Embezzlement
The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Louise Larivee, 63, of Swanton, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington upon her guilty plea to a charge of federal program embezzlement.  Chief U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford sentenced Larivee to serve 8 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  The court also ordered Larivee to pay restitution in the amount of $96,700.  Larivee had pleaded guilty on the third day of her jury trial in Rutland last November.  The court ordered Larivee to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on July 05, 2022 to begin serving her sentence.
In June 2019, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned a two-count indictment charging Larivee with conspiracy and federal program embezzlement.  Candy Thomas, 64, also of Swanton, a separately charged co-conspirator, had previously pled guilty to the federal program embezzlement charge.  According to the indictment, between 2013 and 2017, Larivee was employed by the Abenaki Self Help Association, Inc. in Swanton as the director of a federal grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.  ASHAI functioned as a service arm of the Abenaki Nation, promoting economic and social development through programmatic efforts in education, employment and economic development.  Each year, ASHAI received tens of thousands of dollars in grant money from the Department of Labor.  During that same period, Candy Thomas worked at ASHAI as an office worker and bookkeeper.  Thomas had check signing authority on ASHAI’s bank accounts.
According to the indictment and testimony at Larivee’s trial, between 2013 and 2017, Larivee and Thomas conspired to embezzle, and did embezzle, more than $100,000 from ASHAI.  Thomas aided the commission of this theft by issuing checks and giving cash to Larivee, at Larivee’s request, in amounts that significantly exceeded Larivee’s authorized compensation.  Larivee also received travel reimbursement checks based upon fraudulently inflated mileage claims.  Thomas helped cover up this fraud by sending tax forms to the Internal Revenue Service that concealed the true amount of ASHAI funds that were being paid over to Larivee. 
Thomas, who testified at Larivee’s trial, was sentenced to probation in December and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $20,000. 
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General.
Larivee is represented by David Kirby.  Thomas was represented by the Office of the Federal Public Defender.  The prosecutors were Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Spencer Willig.
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: Smart Mule on February 24, 2023, 11:26:34 pm
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-02-13/vt-native-american-commission-official-says-shes-resigning-over-members-false-claims-of-indigeneity-misogyny (https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-02-13/vt-native-american-commission-official-says-shes-resigning-over-members-false-claims-of-indigeneity-misogyny)

"Last week, a member of the nine-person Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs announced by email they were resigning.

Beverly Little Thunder has served on the Commission since 2019. And as part of that official body, she was tasked with developing policies and programs to benefit Vermont's Native American population.

In her email letter, Little Thunder said she was stepping down because of “deceit and dysfunction.”

And in her time there, she says she’s witnessed male commissioners being dismissive of their female colleagues.

Little Thunder, who is Lakota, also alleges members of the Commission are falsely claiming to be Indigenous.

She isn’t the only one to level these allegations. Two Abenaki First Nations in Quebec claim that Vermont’s state-recognized tribes, to which many of the Commission members belong, have not provided the genealogical and historical evidence to show they are Abenaki.

State-recognized tribes counter these claims by saying they went through the state recognition process.

Beverly Little Thunder recently spoke with Vermont Public reporter and producer Elodie Reed, who has been following this story. Their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Elodie Reed: Beverly, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. I want to talk about your resignation letter, and you said you wanted to join the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs to provide a voice for all Native Americans living in Vermont. I'm just wondering, after sitting on the Commission, you said that you didn't find that to be the case? And can you explain that a little bit?

Beverly Little Thunder: Well, when I joined the Commission, I had met a lot of other Native people from different nations that were pretty much silent. And at the time, I didn't know much about the history of the four bands of Abenaki that are here. And I, you know, I wanted to support — to support them.

And once I got on the Commission, I began doing some more in-depth research, and finding out that what was on the surface, and what was being presented to the general public, was not actually the case. And I was very, very uncomfortable.

I'm just wondering, from your perspective, how you define Indigeneity, and sort of how that lines up with what you saw in your fellow commissioners.

For me, it can go back, you know, five – five generations. But the local tribes that I discussed it with, said three, you know, direct descendants three times removed. And active participation within that tribe.

When this new Commission was seated, I looked around and I realized that no one in the room really fit that definition. And the person who was elected — Rich Holschuh was elected chairperson — and I questioned.

Beverly Little Thunder: “Last year, we had a — we had a Zoom meeting. And you were directly asked if you were Indigenous, and you said that you were not Indigenous?”

Rich Holschuh: “I do solemnly affirm that I am of Indigenous heritage, it is not within three generations. And those are my exact words at that time.”

And that was not a satisfactory answer for me. I knew that to challenge it further at that time would only ensue in a heated discussion, and that he would be backed by all the men that were there. So I stayed silent. That was the last Commission meeting I went to, I have not attended any since then.

In your letter, you also mentioned misogyny that you experienced when you were on the Commission. And I'm just wondering if you could talk a little more about what that looked like, and how it impacted your work on the Commission.

Well, when I initially got on the Commission, it was primarily women. And then towards the end, we had a couple of men who came on who took up a lot of space. And it was almost as — we would say something or make a statement, and they would shoot it down. And there are Indigenous women in Vermont who are strong, but whose power has been just cut off at the knees by these men. And it's hard to speak out. And one of the reasons why I chose to leave.

You in your letter ask the governor and lawmakers to hold the Commission accountable and to look deeper into the claims of who is Abenaki here. Do you think — I guess like, what are your expectations for those officials to follow through on that request?

I don't expect Gov. Scott to do anything. I don't think he really cares. I don't expect anyone is going to sit down and really look at the claims, that probably should have been looked at when they had state recognition.

You mentioned that you haven't been to a Commission meeting I think since September, that was the last one. And I'm just wondering why you chose now to announce your resignation and to, really, speak out.

I have been working on this since then. And I have followed my spiritual practices of Lakota people. And I've taken some time to pray about it. And answers don't come just overnight.

What do you hope happens moving forward?

I think my intent is to educate the public, to let people know my experiences, and to get them to thinking. Let them make their decisions.

As I said with the Legislature, I wish that they would look and rescind some of those bills. So that the Vermont people are not supporting something that is false, a false claim.

But there are many people who have drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak, and who feel, you know, their white guilt, and they want to do something to minimize that guilt to what their ancestors did.

And hopefully, some of them will really, really rethink.

The response to the email

Vermont Public reached out to Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs chair Rich Holschuh for a response to Little Thunder’s email.

Holschuh shared the written statement below:

I have not yet seen an official filing of Beverly Little Thunder's resignation letter but unexpectedly I have been informed of it privately by you. I can only respond to this request as an individual person and to the degree I have knowledge of situations experienced in my capacity as a previous member of the Commission for the statutorily-limited two terms from mid-2016 til mid-2020 and, since re-appointment in September 2022 through the present, during which tenure I have been chosen to serve as Chair. Beverly joined the Commission in Oct. of 2019, 8 months before I stepped down.

During that overlap in appointments, I attended 6 regular meetings at which Beverly was present for 4. I worked with Beverly on legislative initiatives during that short time. which I appreciated. During the entirety of the those first two terms, including the brief period where our terms overlapped, the VCNAA was chaired by a woman colleague, and, with the exception of the first 3 months served, Vice-Chaired by another woman colleague. Beverly has attended 1 of the last 5 meetings. I have had very little interaction with Beverly and only in regular meetings, other than the aforementioned legislative efforts but I believe it was always cordial. I attach a photo of one such moment when collaboration was the motivation, something for which I strive. I do consider myself a feminist and I believe the women I am privileged to have in my life will attest to that.

In September when I was nominated to the position of Chair, there was an open discussion about my eligibility to serve in that position, since it had been a topic of discussion in previous meetings. It was established that I did meet those expectations and the nomination was approved.

At that same September meeting, a previewed letter from the Commission to the Administration at UVM, expressing recent concerns about recent events there and asking for dialogue was read aloud and approved by consensus, including Beverly, with one abstention by a member who had not had time to review the letter herself. All of these things are recorded and available in the minutes which are a matter of public record and posted on the Commission's webpage.

A state official confirmed that to resign, Little Thunder must submit an official letter to the Commission.

Vermont Public did not immediately receive responses from the governor or leaders in the Vermont House and Senate."

cross posted here - http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1209.msg48921#new (http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1209.msg48921#new)
Title: Re: Abenaki VT Frauds
Post by: NAFPS Housekeeping on August 02, 2023, 08:12:57 pm
Press release from Odanak and Wolinak https://abenakiheritage.org/press-release-abenaki-group-of-missisquoi-research-findings-reveal-troubling-irregularities-in-the-state-of-vermonts-recognition-process/?fbclid=IwAR0LgMpv6ofB5WNYqyS17ng_jUo9ggsdCSwvOBGA6X_bp19GgOZaHE_4HSI (https://abenakiheritage.org/press-release-abenaki-group-of-missisquoi-research-findings-reveal-troubling-irregularities-in-the-state-of-vermonts-recognition-process/?fbclid=IwAR0LgMpv6ofB5WNYqyS17ng_jUo9ggsdCSwvOBGA6X_bp19GgOZaHE_4HSI)

"PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
‘’ABENAKI’’ GROUP OF MISSISQUOI: RESEARCH FINDINGS REVEAL TROUBLING
IRREGULARITIES IN THE STATE OF VERMONT’S RECOGNITION PROCESS
Ndakina, July 31st, 2023 - In light of the recent research findings presented by Dr. Darryl
Leroux in his groundbreaking article, State Recognition and the Dangers of Race Shifting,
Abenaki Heritage wishes to draw attention to the recognition of the ‘’Abenaki’’ Group of
Missisquoi and of its three offshoots by the State of Vermont, and to raise serious concerns
about some potential conflicts of interest and irregularities in the State’s recognition
process.
Even more troubling, Dr. Leroux's research, published in the leading, peer-reviewed
American Indian Culture and Research Journal of the University of California in Los Angeles
(UCLA), reveals that nearly 98% of the members of these groups have no Abenaki ancestry
nor any Indigenous ancestry whatsoever.
The historical backdrop behind the controversy is intriguing: In the early 1700s, a
significant village, Missisquoi, was created in present-day Swanton, just a few miles south
of the US-Canada border. This community and its ties with the Abenaki of Odanak are well
documented. Also widely acknowledged is the fact that after the American Revolution, the
real Missisquoi Abenaki moved to Odanak (approximately 100 miles north of Swanton) in
Quebec to reunite with their relatives, and that Missisquoi village was abandoned by the
year 1800.
Over time, the Abenaki of Odanak returned, both occasionally and permanently, to their
ancestral territory, establishing their presence in areas like Orleans County, Albany, and
Waterbury. However, in 1974, a new group identifying as Abenaki emerged in Swanton. In
1982, this group filed a petition for federal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
which, after a long process, was ultimately rejected in 2007. Despite this federal rejection,
the group we now know as the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, along with its three offshoots,
the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe, the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, and the Koasek Traditionnal Band,
were granted state recognition by Vermont in 2011 and 2012.
Dr. Leroux's research examines the claims to an Indigenous identity made by the four state-
recognized ‘’Abenaki’’ tribes in Vermont through an analysis of their petition for federal
acknowledgement and applications for state recognition, as well as decades of census
records and centuries of vital records. A detailed analysis of their claims demonstrates that
these groups are not Abenaki tribes, but instead are comprised of the descendants of
French Canadians who immigrated to the Champlain Valley of northwestern Vermont in
the mid-nineteenth century. In this case study of what the anthropologist Circe Sturm has
called “race shifting,” Dr. Leroux demonstrates “how the politics of recognition, which do
not include the kin-making and relations of Indigenous nations, serve the interests of settler
colonialism under the guise of decolonization”, and attributes the emergence of race
shifting along three vectors: the move away from white identity post-Civil Rights era; the
lack of a tribal presence in Vermont; and the flaws in the state recognition process.
These revelations are significant and cast a shadow of doubt on the state recognition
process, which is meant to honor Indigenous communities. Instead, the process in this case
appears to have been misused, therefore leading to the recognition of groups unrelated
to the real Abenaki, causing potential harm to the genuine heritage and cultural identity of
the Abenaki Nation.
“We call on the relevant authorities to investigate these irregularities in the state
recognition process and to take appropriate actions to rectify any injustice caused. In light
of this new, overwhelming evidence, we insist that there needs to be a transparent and
fair reassessment of the recognition status of the ‘Abenaki’ group of Missisquoi and its
offshoots”, expressed Rick O’Bomsawin, Chief of the Abenaki Council of Odanak and
spokesperson for Abenaki Heritage.
About Abenaki Heritage
Abenaki Heritage is an organization founded by the Abenaki Councils of Odanak and
W8linak and by the Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki Inc. (GNCWA). The latter,
founded in 1979, is the Tribal Council that brings together the Abenaki bands of Odanak
and W8linak and whose mandated committee has identified its mission’s three main
elements: Representation, Development, and Administration. Through Abenaki Heritage,
the political representatives of Odanak and W8linak, supported by the GCNWA, are
responsible for the ongoing mobilization campaign directed at its members residing in the
United States of America.
- 30 -
Source: Abenaki Heritage https://abenakiheritage.org/
For information and interview requests:
Émilie Deschênes
Responsible for Media Relations
(873) 662-8558 | e.deschenes@seize03.ca"