Maliseet tribal courts to decide child welfare cases

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — At the recent Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC) meeting, Tribal Chief Brenda Commander said she was “encouraged by the support the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (HBMI) had received from the Judiciary and MITSC to begin tribal courts within our own community.” She said it took a couple of years to understand the process and produce legislation to attain the same rights already enjoyed by the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Indians.
    The new court, according to Commander will start with jurisdiction over cases involving child welfare, emphasizing the importance of keeping them in native American homes. Previously, she said too many children were removed from tribal land. Now, thanks to legislation that passed in October, Commander asserted that HBMI, as a sovereign nation, will have a Maliseet court based on Maliseet laws, traditions and culture.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
COURT NEWS — The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians will soon start hearing child welfare cases in their own courts on tribal land. Maliseet Chief Brenda Commander attended the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC) meeting held Nov 19 at the Maliseet gym. She is seen with Paul Bisulca, MITSC chairman at that meeting in Houlton.
    It will, she says, start off by deciding the fate of families and children when it comes to child welfare in addition to determining community policing issues. “It’s important to us. We have been working to develop codes and we have appointed Sarah LeClaire of Presque Isle as our chief judge.” The court will expand in the future to other legal issues such as criminal cases.
    Commander asserted that in the past, the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was largely ignored when Indian children were removed from their homes and placed “outside the community. And, no matter what anyone would do, it just didn’t seem to help their situation. No matter what they did to get their children back didn’t seem to matter at that time.”
    She acknowledged support of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indians in achieving a working relationship with the State to achieve compliance with the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.      
    Paul Bisulca, chairman of MITSC, said: “Having your own court is an expression of sovereignty and your own independence. It’s consistent with the Settlement Act so that children would not be assimilated and retain their own culture. The children are the future of a people and keeping them within the tribe is very important.”
    MITSC is an inter-governmental entity created by the Maine Implementing Act of 1980. Four members are appointed by the State, two by the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, two by the Pasamaquoddy Tribe, and two by the Penobscot Indian Nation. The eleventh, who is the chairperson, is selected by the 10 appointees. The Commission operates on a part-time basis.