Editing Abenaki (section)

===United States===

====Maine: federally recognized tribes====
The [[Penobscot|Penobscot Indian Nation]], [[Passamaquoddy]] people, and [[Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians]] have been [[List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States|federally recognized]] as tribes in the United States.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OIS/TribalGovernmentServices/TribalDirectory/index.htm#m| title=Tribal Directory| publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs| access-date=December 26, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223043510/http://bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OIS/TribalGovernmentServices/TribalDirectory/index.htm#m| archive-date=December 23, 2012}}</ref>

====Vermont: state-recognized tribes====
[[Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation]], [[Koasek Abenaki Tribe]], [[Elnu Abenaki Tribe]], and the [[Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe]] are, as of 2011, all [[state-recognized tribes in the United States]].

The Missisquoi Abenaki applied for federal recognition as an Indian tribe in the 1980s but failed to meet four of the seven criteria.<ref name="State-Recognized Tribes">{{cite web |title=State-Recognized Tribes |url=https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx#State |website=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=March 20, 2022 |archive-date=October 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025051136/https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx#State  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bureau of Indian Affairs |date=July 2, 2007 |title=Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis / Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/07/02/E7-12727/final-determination-against-federal-acknowledgment-of-the-st-francis-sokoki-band-of-abenakis-of |journal=Federal Register}}</ref> The [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] found that less than 1 percent of the Missisquoi's 1,171 members could show descent from an Abenaki ancestor. The bureau's report concluded that the petitioner is "a collection of individuals of claimed but mostly [[Blood quantum laws|undemonstrated Indian ancestry]] with little or no social or historical connection with each other before the early 1970s."<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Robinson |first=Shaun |date=November 14, 2023 |title='A false narrative': Abenaki leaders dispute the legitimacy of Vermont's state-recognized tribes |url=http://vtdigger.org/2023/11/14/a-false-narrative-abenaki-leaders-dispute-the-legitimacy-of-vermonts-state-recognized-tribes/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |website=VTDigger }}</ref>

State recognition allows applicants to seek certain scholarship funds reserved for American Indians and to for members to market artwork as American Indian or Native American-made under the 1990 [[Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990|Indian Arts and Crafts Act]].<ref name="Abenaki Turn to Vermont Legislature for Recognition">Hallenbeck, Terri. [http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110120/NEWS02/110119025/Abenaki-turn-to-Vermont-Legislature-for-recognition Abenaki Turn to Vermont Legislature for Recognition ''Burlington Free Press'']{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011</ref>

In 2002, the State of Vermont reported that the Abenaki people have not had a "continuous presence" in the state and had migrated north to [[Quebec]] by the end of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dillon |first1=John |title=State Says Abenaki Do Not Have "Continuous Presence" |url=https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/state-says-abenaki-do-not-have-continuous-presence/ |website=Vermont Public Radio |date=March 20, 2002 |access-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-date=January 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131015556/https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/state-says-abenaki-do-not-have-continuous-presence/  }}</ref> Facing annihilation, many Abenaki had begun emigrating to Canada, then under French control, around 1669.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pritzker |first=Barry |title=A native American encyclopedia: history, culture, and peoples |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-513877-1 |edition=3. [print.] |location=Oxford}}</ref>

====="Race-shifting" controversy=====
The Abenaki Nation, based in Quebec, claim that those self-identifying as Abenaki in Vermont are settlers making false claims to Indigenous ancestry.<ref>{{cite news |last=Abenakis of Odanak |date=June 2, 2023 |title=Letter to Vermont conservation groups |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24164298-letter-to-vermont-conservation-groups?responsive=1&title=1}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Fennario |first=Tom |date=September 12, 2022 |title=Abenaki Nation in Quebec says tribes bearing its name in Vermont should not be recognized |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/abenanki-nation-in-quebec-says-tribes-bearing-its-name-in-vermont-should-not-be-recognized/ |work=APTN News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Rancourt |first=Joanie |date=November 25, 2019 |title=DÉNONCIATION DE GROUPES AUTOPROCLAMÉS ACTIFS SUR LE NDAKINA |url=https://caodanak.com/denonciation-de-groupes-autoproclames-actifs-sur-le-ndakina/}}</ref> While the Odanak and Wolinak Abenaki First Nations in Quebec initially believed claims from residents of Vermont who said they were Abenaki, the Odanak reversed their position in 2003, calling on the groups in Vermont to provide them with genealogical evidence of Indigenous ancestry.<ref name=":0" />

Scholars have not been able to find credible evidence of the Vermont Abenaki's claims of Indigenous ancestry.<ref name=":0" /> Anthropological research from the first half of the 20th century indicates that no Abenaki community actively existed in Vermont during that time period.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Leroux |first=Darryl |date=July 14, 2023 |title=State Recognition and the Dangers of Race Shifting |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5gr0t78t |journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal  |volume=46 |issue=2 |doi=10.17953/aicrj.46.2.leroux |issn=0161-6463}}</ref>

Researcher Darryl Leroux characterizes the Vermont Abenaki's claims of Abenaki ancestry as "[[Pretendian|race-shifting]]", arguing that genealogical and archival evidence shows that most members of the state-recognized tribes are descended from white [[French Canadians]].<ref name=":1" /> Leroux found that only 2.2 percent of the Missisquoi Abenaki membership has Abenaki ancestry, with the rest of the organization's root ancestors being primarily French Canadian and migrating to Vermont in the mid-19th century.<ref name=":1" /> The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi's shifting claims about its root ancestors as well as loose membership criteria are consistent with race-shifting patterns.<ref name=":1" />

Leroux's research prompted renewed calls by the Abenaki First Nations to reassess Vermont's state recognition process.<ref>{{cite journal|date=July 31, 2023 |title=Press release: ''ABENAKI'' GROUP OF MISSISQUOI: RESEARCH FINDINGS REVEAL TROUBLING IRREGULARITIES IN THE STATE OF VERMONT'S RECOGNITION PROCESS|url=https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/0e/a2/d9a3e53b4964bbf1dbf002349f08/abenaki-heritage-press-release-dleroux-research.pdf|journal=Abenaki Heritage}}</ref>

====New Hampshire and minority recognition====
[[File:Keewakwa Abenaki Keenahbeh Oblique 20160911.jpg|thumb|A {{cvt|36|ft}} statue of ''Keewakwa Abenaki Keenahbeh'' in Opechee Park in [[Laconia, New Hampshire]]]]

New Hampshire does not recognize any Abenaki tribes.<ref name="State-Recognized Tribes"/> It has no federally recognized tribes or state-recognized tribes; however, it established the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commission on Native American Affairs |url=https://www.dncr.nh.gov/commission-native-american-affairs
|website=New Hampshire Department of Natural & Cultural Resources |access-date=March 20, 2022}}</ref> The various [[Cowasuck]], Abenaki and other Native and heritage groups are represented to the commission.

In 2021, a bill was introduced to the New Hampshire legislature to allow New Hampshire communities to rename locations in the Abenaki language.<ref name="lac">{{cite news |last1=Ramer |first1=Holly |title=Bill promotes Native American history through NH place names| url=https://apnews.com/article/new-hampshire-native-americans-language-concord-87c9e43b7247f677b38077fa13a4c2fe |work=Associated Press |issue=161 |date=January 21, 2021}}</ref> This bill did not pass.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Hampshire Senate Bill 33 (Prior Session Legislation) |url=https://legiscan.com/NH/votes/SB33/2021 |website=LegiScan |access-date=March 20, 2022}}</ref>