Jay Morin, right, a Keller Williams Realty agent, makes a video recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day for his professional Instagram account with the help of his son Trase on Friday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Jay Morin was busy Friday afternoon, making a video for his professional Instagram account that would recognize Monday as Indigenous Peoples Day.

An associate broker with Keller Williams Realty, Morin made a similar video last year for the nearly 1,200 followers of his social media account, which features home improvement projects. This year, he became the Texas-based company’s “cultural ambassador” for the state of Maine – a role he has embraced.

“I’ve always respected other cultures, especially the Wabanaki people of Maine,” Morin said. “I believe we are all immigrants and we should respect the people who were here first.”

Like local government offices and schools, Keller Williams’ Portland office will be closed Monday in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day – a state holiday since 2019 – out of respect for the Wabanaki Nations in Maine, Morin said. Banks and post offices will be closed because it’s also Columbus Day, a federal holiday since 1971. Many retail and other businesses will be open.

Five years after the state changed the name of the October holiday, workers haven’t gotten an extra day off across the board. It’s one of the most inconsistently celebrated holidays in the U.S., and many Maine businesses recognize the day however they did before. Some are trying to foster greater cultural and historical awareness. 

President Biden has repeatedly proclaimed Indigenous Peoples Day to be a holiday, but it isn’t recognized under federal law. Maine is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia that officially celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day or a similar holiday instead of or in addition to Columbus Day.

Maine replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, recognizing that the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes have lived in the region for at least 13,000 years.

The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce will be closed in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day, said President and CEO Quincy Hentzel.

“It is an annual paid holiday for our employees,” she said. “We believe many businesses within our region will be joining us in observance.”

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce and many of its members also will be closed Monday in observance of the holiday, said President and CEO Patrick Woodcock.

Maine businesses have made progress in recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day, said Maulian Bryant, Penobscot Nation ambassador and incoming executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, which was formed in 2020 to promote tribal sovereignty.

“There probably are businesses that haven’t gotten on board,” Bryant said, noting that some people still call it Columbus Day.

“But all of the education and advocacy work that we continue to do will continue to make progress,” she said. “Not everyone is going to get there at the same time. You never know where the seeds that are planted will grow.”

LARGE EMPLOYERS TAKE NOTE

MaineHealth, the state’s largest private employer with nearly 24,000 employees, recognizes Indigenous Peoples Day in company communications and through diversity, equity and inclusion training programs, said spokesman John Porter.

Employees may use one of 11 paid holidays to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, Porter said. The system’s nine hospitals are always open, he said, but its ambulatory practices are closed on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“We try to recognize all heritage days and events, like Martin Luther King Day and Hispanic Heritage Month,” Porter said. “We also recognize that we have an increasingly diverse workforce and we want people to be able to take time off on the days that are important to them.”

At Bath Iron Works, its 6,900 employees will be working Monday, just as they would have when the state celebrated Columbus Day. However, the company recognizes Indigenous Peoples Day in other ways.

“We are almost a 24/7 operation, with three shifts running each day, plus overtime on weekends, so the yard doesn’t stop working very often,” said spokesman David Hench.

While some exceptions exist, most BIW employees get Presidents, Memorial, Independence, Labor, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days off, he said. Most also get two “floating holidays” to be used at the worker’s discretion, such as on Indigenous Peoples Day.

The company also promotes Indigenous Peoples Day through social media and digital messaging boards throughout the shipyard. Facebook posts highlighted the holiday in 2022 and 2023.

“We also have communications recognizing MLK Day and Juneteenth,” Hench said. “During Hispanic American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and Black History months, we typically run communications connecting people of that heritage to our ships or the shipyard.”

CHANGE TAKES TIME

Businesses typically aren’t leaders of social justice movements, said Tae Chong, a Portland-based diversity, equity and inclusion consultant.

“If there’s community consensus on an issue, they will amplify it,” said Chong, who specializes in multicultural markets and workforce strategies in northern New England.

It usually falls to social justice advocates, educators and civic leaders to forge public policy changes that can transform how people think, feel and act, he said.

In that way, Maine’s adoption of Indigenous Peoples Day has had a significant impact on the Wabanaki tribes, said Bryant, the Penobscot Nation ambassador.

Growing up, Bryant didn’t know Columbus Day was a holiday, she said. In her community, schools, businesses and government offices used to stay open on the second Monday in October.

It was a quiet protest against a historic figure who contributed to the decimation of Indigenous people in the Americas, she said.

Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant speaks to students at Hall-Dale Middle & High School in Farmingdale last September. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Now, Wabanaki communities relish closing up shop and celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day.

“It’s been a really neat shift to see our offices close and our people celebrate the day,” Bryant said.

Many of the nearly 8,700 Wabanaki people in Maine live in Aroostook and Washington counties. In addition to the Penobscot Nation at Indian Island, near Old Town, they include the Mi’kmac Nation in Presque Isle, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Passamaquoddy communities at Pleasant Point and Indian Township, near Calais.

This year, Jay Morin’s Instagram reel for Keller Williams calls attention to special events on Monday in Portland that will recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. They include a free Wabanaki storytelling exhibit at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine; and a free showing at the Portland Museum of Art of “Sugarcane,” a 2024 documentary about the abuse of Indigenous children at a residential Catholic school in Canada.

In promoting the new state holiday, Morin said he avoids debate over the former state holiday.

“That’s why I’m the cultural ambassador this year,” he said. “I’m a diplomat.”

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