Tribal members weigh use of $12 million in settlement funds

While petitions have been signed by several hundred members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe to have a recent multi-million settlement award from the U.S. government distributed among the tribal members, tribal councillors are pointing out that the money has not yet been received and that a transparent process to decide on how the money will be used will take place after the tribe obtains the funds.
In December, the U.S. Department of Interior presented settlement offers to 60 tribes to resolve tribal litigation cases alleging mismanagement of trust assets, and on March 6 the Passamaquoddy Joint Tribal Council voted to accept a $12 million settlement offer. Previous offers for lower amounts had not been accepted by the council. The settlement funds, which amount to about $10.2 million after legal fees are deducted, have not yet been received by the tribe. A U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia is expected to approve the settlement soon, according to Passamaquoddy Chief Clayton Cleaves of Pleasant Point.
The case began six years ago and involves funds from the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act that were to be used for land acquisition but instead were used by the U.S. government to purchase and sell gold, according to Sipayik tribal councillor Ed Bassett. He adds, "It wasn't the intent of the use of those funds." Other funds were also mismanaged, he says.
The petition that was circulated at Pleasant Point and Indian Township asks to have all of the proceeds from the litigation disbursed to all tribal members, to have all information about the decision about the funds released and to implement "a community engagement process of apology." The petition states that the tribal council has "engaged in a covert effort to keep this information from the people."
Tribal member Mary Creighton, who started the petition drive, says 167 people at Pleasant Point and 249 at Indian Township signed the petition. She says neither the Pleasant Point nor the Indian Township tribal councils want to recognize the petitions. A new petition is now being circulated that is asking the tribal government to place the issue of disbursing the funds out to referendum.
She comments, "People are very disenchanted with the tribal government. They've been snowballed too many times." If funds were invested wisely by the tribal government, tribal members would be "very happy," she says. Concerning the settlement, she adds, "They didn't want to release any information to the tribal members."
Chief Cleaves says an attorney/client confidentiality agreement has prohibited tribal officials from commenting on the case until the agreement is approved. According to Bassett, the Sipayik Tribal Council did meet with a group of tribal members in March to discuss points they raised about the distribution of the funds, but he says, "I don't know if or when we'll get the money." He believes, therefore, that the petitions about how the funds should be distributed are premature. Cleaves says no decisions have been made about how the settlement monies will be used, but he notes that the tribe will have to comply with certain stipulations in the agreement. When the funds are received, Bassett says an open and transparent process will be conducted with the members of the tribe concerning the distribution of the funds.
Bassett says there are three possible uses: to disburse the funds among the tribal members; to use the monies for tribal government purposes to improve the lives of tribal members; or to place the funds back into land acquisition, for which the monies originally were intended. Any decision could involve all three possibilities.
The intent of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act was to provide funds to the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Nation and the Houlton Band of Maliseets for the purchase of lands that had been "stolen from the tribes," Bassett says. Of the $81.5 million awarded, $54.5 million was established as a Land Acquisition Fund, with the Passamaquoddys receiving $26.8 million for land acquisition. The Passamaquoddy Tribe currently has 128,000 acres of trust, fee and reservation land in Maine. The settlement act "envisioned our purchasing 150,000 acres of trust land" says Bassett, and since 10,000 of the presently owned acres are fee lands, he says another 32,000 acres could be purchased to be placed in trust, under the settlement act.
Bassett himself favors using the funds for purchasing land instead of disbursing it or using it to fund tribal government operations. "Land is forever, but money will go quickly," he says. In response to requests for the distribution of funds, the tribal council previously has disbursed funds from the settlement act to tribal members, including $1 million from the Land Acquisition Fund in 1992 and $5 million to 1991.
Noting that the tribe has now run out of funds for land acquisition, he states, "We need to keep in mind the importance of land for our people, especially for future generations. What are we going to leave to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren?"