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.”

Copy the Story Link

Two years after it was introduced, more than 1,000 people, including many teachers, have completed a University of Maine System course about the history of the Wabanaki Nations in Maine, system administrators announced Friday.

The program, launched in November 2022, allows students to learn about Wabanaki Nations history from the Ice Age through today and earn a digital credential demonstrating their understanding of the subject material.

Called the Dawnland credential, the certification was created by John Bear Mitchell, a lecturer and outreach and student development coordinator for the Wabanaki Center and UMaine system’s Native American waiver and educational program coordinator. A citizen of the Penobscot Nation, Mitchell created it to better prepare Maine’s educators to teach Wabanaki studies.

The state of Maine has required K-12 schools to teach Wabanaki studies for more than two decades. Sponsored by then-Rep. Donna Loring, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, the 2001 Wabanaki Studies Law mandated the subject but did not include funding or resources to support schools in its instruction. The Dawnland credential seeks to fill in some of those gaps.

“It’s great to see there is so much interest in this credential,” Mitchell said in a prepared statement. “My hope, for those who take it, is for them to teach about the tribes that lived on this land before and since Maine became a state from our perspective. To learn about us and to teach about us makes all of Maine a better place to live. By taking away misunderstandings and misrepresented ideology, we can create a true sense of place.”

Many Maine schools have benefited from the Dawnland credential, USM spokesperson Samantha Warren said in a statement. About 300 educators in the RSU 21 district serving Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport have earned the credential.

In addition, all teacher education students at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Augusta earn the Dawnland credential before they begin their student teaching.

“Our System’s Dawnland credential equips educators with essential knowledge about the first people of this land we now call Maine and the ability to share with their students the history, culture and contributions of the citizens of the Wabanaki Nations,” said UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy.

The online course takes about 10 hours to complete and costs $25.

Copy the Story Link

Benjamin Quinn, 38, and Grace Quinn, 2-months-old, right, and Casandra Quinn, 38, and Grace. Photos courtesy of Maine State Police

Authorities have safely located two parents and their 2-month-old child who were reported missing Wednesday, state police announced Sunday.

Family members reported Benjamin and Casandra Quinn, both 38 and Grace Quinn missing to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, state police said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The family was believed to be in the Androscoggin County area at the time.

“At this time, state police is attempting to conduct a well-being check on all three to ensure they are safe,” state police said on Friday.

In an update early Sunday afternoon, state police said the Quinn family had been found safe and thanked the public for their assistance.

Copy the Story Link