Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe

The Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe is also known as the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi. They have also gone by the name St. Francis-Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, the Abenaki Tribal Council of Missisquoi, and the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi.[4]

Vermont recognized the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe as 2012.[6][7] The other state-recognized tribes in Vermont are the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, Elnu Abenaki Tribe, and the Koasek Abenaki Tribe.[5]

In 2015, the group created Maquam Bay of Missisquoi, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, based in Swanton, Vermont.[1][2] Their registered agent is Richard Mendard.[8]

Their mission is "To promote wellness in the Abenaki community through holistic approaches that integrate health, education, and the environment."[2]

The Maquam Bay of Missisquoi board of directors are:

• April Lapan, treasurer
• Brian Barratt, director
• John Lavoie, director
• Holly Lafrance, director and secretary
• John Lavoie, secretary
• Chris Lafrance, director
• Cody Hemenway, director
• Arthur Blackhawk, director..[8]

The Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe is the only Vermont state-recognized tribe to have petitioned for federal recognition.

Under the name St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont, the group applied for federal recognition first in 1980, then 1992, and finally in 2007.[9] Two of them were denied and one of them was withdrawn due to legal issues with the State of Vermont. The group applied for but was denied federal recognition as a Native American tribe in 2007.[10] The summary of the proposed finding (PF) stated that "The SSA petitioner claims to have descended as a group mainly from a Western Abenaki Indian tribe, most specifically, the Missisquoi Indians" and went on to state: "However, the available evidence does not demonstrate that the petitioner or its claimed ancestors descended from the St. Francis Indians of Quebec, a Missiquoi Abenaki entity in Vermont, any other Western Abenaki group, or an Indian entity from New England or Canada. Instead, the PF concluded that the petitioner is a collection of individuals of claimed but undemonstrated Indian ancestry 'with little or no social or historical connection with each other before the early 1970's'...."[11]

The Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe is one of four state-recognized tribes in Vermont. It had 60 members in 2016.[12]

St. Mary's University associate professor Darryl Leroux's genealogical and historical research found that the members of this and the other three state-recognized tribes in Vermont were composed primarily of "French descendants who have used long-ago ancestry in New France to shift into an 'Abenaki' identity."[6]

In 2002, the State of Vermont reported that the Abenaki people had migrated north to Quebec by the end of the 17th century.[13]

The Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe participates in Abenaki Heritage Weekend, held at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont.[14]

The Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe maintained a USDA food shelf for the local community and held a BIPOC COVID-19 vaccine clinic in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vermont H.556, "An act relating to exempting property owned by Vermont-recognized Native American tribes from property tax," passed on April 20, 2022.[15]

• State v. Elliott, 616 A.2d 210 (Vt. 1992), Vermont Supreme Court decision

• Leroux, Darryl (2019). Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. ISBN 978-0887558979.

• Official website
• Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs
• Petitioner #068: St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont, VT, U.S. Department of the Interior
• State v. St. Francis