OLD TOWN, Maine — Voters will have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in Maine's referendum elections Tuesday, Nov. 7, on eight referendum questions, one of those being very important to Maine's tribal nations; Question 6.
On the ballot, Question 6 reads "Do you favor amending the constitution of Maine to require that all of the provisions of the constitution be included in the official printed copies of the constitution prepared by the Secretary of State?"
In simpler terms, three sections from Article 10 in Maine’s original state constitution were omitted from official printed copies after a statewide vote in 1875, creating the short-form version of the document that is used today.
Those omitted sections include sections one, two and five, which detail the Acts of Separation that allowed Maine to become an independent state in 1820, separating from Massachusetts. The language in the sections is symbolic of a divorce between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and what is now Maine.
Section five in particular includes language that requires Maine to honor the same treaties that Massachusetts made with indigenous tribes in the 1770s before Maine declared its statehood.
Those three sections have not appeared in official printed copies of the constitution since 1876. By voting yes on Question 6 voters are agreeing to have those three sections restored to the official printed copies of the document.
Ambassadors from Maine's tribal Wabanki Nations said reinstating the three sections in article 10 that were omitted from the historic document can create transparency between the state government and its constituents, and restore parts of Maine's indigenous population's history.
"Wabanaki people are just as much a part of Maine’s constitutional heritage as anyone else," tribal ambassador of the Houlton Band of Maliseets, Osihkiyol Crofton-Macdonald said.
Crofton-Macdonald said he believes the decision to remove the sections was a mistake, and now because of it, treaties that gave indigenous people rights to lands, waters and the rights to carry out their traditional ways of life have been buried within the document.
Although those sections are not visible, the agreements that were made between indigenous people and Massachusetts are still effective.
Maine inherited all of the treaty obligations that Massachusetts signed, and those agreements maintain their legality, requiring the state to fully abide by those contracts.
"This language has always been an aspect of Maine's state legal code," Crofton-Macdonald said. "It was never removed. It was only hidden."
Crofton-Macdonald said working towards passing the amendment has created space for native voices to address native issues.
Penobscot Nation tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant said she and other members of the Wabanaki Alliance work tirelessly to restore hidden language in the constitution.
"Thinking about what my ancestors were going through putting together these treaties and meeting with different people and doing diplomacy at such a high level back then and how hard that must've been, it really is sad to me to think about that history being invisible or kind of tucked away or silenced," Bryant said. "So, to honor their legacy I think it's so important to put it back in the printed copies."
Bryant said the Wabanaki Alliance has received support from other like-minded people who she said believe citizens of Maine should have full access to their state constitution.
Allies like Maine Secretary of State Sheena Bellows testified in favor of the amendment in March saying that not printing the constitution in its entirety is "antithetical to the entire premise of a transparent government."
Crofton-Macdonald, like Bellows, said no one should have to search for what should already be there.
"We should remember that history, and we should celebrate and honor it," Crofton-Macdonald said. "We should have the ability for all people to access that information."
People against the change, like Gov. Janet Mills, argue that the sections were removed from the document to give it a clean read. Mills previously said that reinstating the sections would only create more confusion.
Bryant however, said she believes approving the amendment will restore trust.
"It really added to the feeling of you know distrust with state government and feelings that the relationship wasn’t really worthwhile to them, because here we have sort of our original social contract not even in the printed copies of the constitutions," Bryant said.
Bryant said trying to create a sense of unity between Wabanaki tribes and Maine government and other people and ethnic groups is hard work.
"We have to kind of constantly advocate within systems that were meant to silence us and really eliminate our voices," Bryant said. "So much of that work can be overwhelming and frustrating and we’re always trying to heal from our history here."
Bryant said the Wabanaki Nations have made tremendous success over the years, mentioning the removal of Indian mascots from schools as a win.
She shared that when she worked to get Indian mascots taken out of Maine schools, she found that it's often hard for people of different groups, races and ethnicities to have in-depth conversations that dig into the generational trauma that lingers between minority communities and White/European Americans.
"The folks that we kind of break through to, we did it through shared humanity. It was saying it's not just that it hurts my feelings, this is harming our children and their self-image. This is harming our elders and the things they feel really sacred, you know, our religion and our spirituality," Bryant said. "When you start to break down into human emotion and human experience, that's when people sort of come around. and that can be really hard to do because part of their human experience is that pride and that identity that they've attached to those stereotypes."
She said she counts it as a win any time she is able to get someone to understand how one person's norm can be another person's pain.
"It doesn't have to be about blaming or shaming," Bryant said. "It can be about we're all here right now... so how are we going to walk forward together. And how do we do that in the most truthful, transparent, clear, positive way."
Bryant said she works to ensure that people acknowledge that native people are still here and are still working to build a world where everyone can live alongside each other.
Crofton-Macdonald said tribal nations deserve equal representation in state law.
"We are just as much part of the history of this state as anyone else," Crofton-Macdonald said. "We have a long history on this land, and our state constitution should reflect that."