tribal nations

Executive order halts shift in federal recognition process for indigenous tribes

KENT — A rule passed in January that may allow the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation to reapply for federal acknowledgment is now on pause due to an inauguration day regulatory freeze issued by President Trump.

The executive order states, “any rules that have been published in the Federal Register, or any rules that have been issued in any manner but have not taken effect, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise,” will be postponed for 60 days.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal agency within the Department of Interior, published a rule on Jan. 15 which “revises the regulations governing the process through which the Secretary [of the Interior] acknowledges an Indian Tribe, creating a conditional, time-limited opportunity to re-petition for federal acknowledgement,” according to the Federal Register.

The regulation was scheduled to take effect on Feb. 14, but is now held for the 60 day review period by the new administration.

President Trump has nominated former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, who would replace Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior under President Biden and an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe. If Burgum is confirmed in the position, which he is expected to be, the DOI will be under his control as it oversees the review of the re-petition rule.

The DOI has held an express ban on re-petitioning since a 1994 revision of the regulations surrounding federal acknowledgement. The ban was upheld in a 2015 revision, with the DOI citing issues of efficiency, timeliness and fairness to other petitioners who have not yet been reviewed as reasons to maintain the ban.

Two cases brought by former petitioners in 2020 challenged the 2015 ruling and were upheld in their federal district courts, encouraging the DOI to reconsider its position.

Following several years of consultation with various stakeholders including former, present and prospective petitioners, federally recognized tribes, and various government representatives and officials, the DOI published a proposed rule on July 12, 2024 to implement a limited exception to the ban.

As presented in the Federal Register, the final Jan. 15 rule states that previously denied petitioners may re-petition if approved by an authorization process in which an unsuccessful petitioner must “plausibly allege” that a previous negative outcome would become positive based on the reconsideration of changes in regulations due to the 1978, 1994 or 2015 revisions, or the presentation of new evidence.

The rule opens a potential pathway for the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation (STN), which was granted federal recognition in 2004 but was stripped of it a year later, to formally re-petition the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Republican American quoted Chief Richard Velky at a September 2024 press conference: “We believe the time has come to correct this injustice, to right the wrong, and finally stand with our brothers and sisters who have also been recognized by the federal government.”

The Schaghticoke were recognized by the colonial Connecticut General Assembly in 1736, which issued the tribe a reservation in the same year.

Among the oldest in the U.S., the reservation once totaled approximately 2,500 acres, spanning both shores of the Housatonic River.

The reservation now sits on about 400 acres of steep, rugged terrain on the west side of the river just north of Bulls Bridge in Kent.

tribal nations

Latest News

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy
Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.
Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
history

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit