The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, also known as the MWTRC, was a commission looking at events relating to Wabanaki children and families from 1978, when the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed, until now. The Commission was officially established on February 12, 2012 and issued its final report on June 14, 2015. The MWTRC's mandate was to find Truth, Healing, and Change by giving the Wabanaki people and others involved within the Maine Child Welfare System a place to voice their stories and experiences. The final report addressed findings made by the commission and provided recommendations to improve compliance with the ICWA.
Background
The "Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki People" have occupied many of the Maritime areas in Canada (Quebec, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova-Scotia and New Brunswick) and the United States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts) for thousands of years. According to the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, the Wabanaki people share a history of experiencing discriminatory policies. The Doctrine of Discovery (DOD) is one of the policies which was cited a number of times by individuals interviewed by the MWTRC as "the foundation of oppression of Wabanaki Tribes." It has been institutionalized in United States Law by Supreme Court Cases and was responsible for giving Christian Colonizers the power to enslave Indigenous People and take control of their lands. The DOD was also responsible for the creation of the Indian Schooling Board System in the United States which developed schools like the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879-1918) whose main purpose was to assimilate Indian children into mainstream culture. More than 10,000 aboriginal children attended Carlisle, 186 of whom died while attending.
In 1958, the Indian Adoption Project (IAP) was put in place by the help of the United States federal government, the Child Welfare League and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The IAP replaced the institutionalization of Native Children within Boarding School "with a policy of placing Native children for adoption into white homes." In 1966, the IAP was replaced by the Adoption Resource Exchange of North America (ARENA), which continued the work of the IAP by placing Native Indian Children in white homes. Although official numbers cite the IAP as being responsible for the adoption of 395 Native Children, others have argued that in its scope (IAP & ARENA) it has been responsible for the adoption of over 12,486 Native children between 1961 and 1976.
In 1978, the United States Federal Government put in place the Indian Child Welfare Act in response to the crisis affecting Native children and families. Research had found 25% to 30% of Native children were being taken from their homes and that 85% of these children were being placed outside of their families and communities even when relatives deemed fit and willing were available. The ICWA was created to protect "Indian Children's best interest" while promoting "the stability and security of Indian tribes and families".
MWTRC mandate
When the Maine Wabanaki-State Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created, it had seven objectives:
giving a "voice to Wabanaki people who have had experiences with Maine state child welfare", giving a voice to those working in tribal and state welfare system as well as care providers and those involved in the legal system with regards to their experiences with Wabanaki families, establishing a more complete history "of the Wabanaki people in the state child welfare system", collaborating with TRC Community and Convening Groups "to provide opportunities for healing and deeper understanding for Wabanaki people and state child welfare staff", improving child welfare practices and creating sustainable changes which strive to create the best child welfare system, ensuring that lessons learnt by MWTRC are not forgotten by providing recommendations to tribal and state governments and "to further the objectives of the Commission", and to "Promote individual, relational, systemic and cultural reconciliation."