Maliseets awarded $94,968 grant for tribal cemetery

    HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians have long dreamed of one day having their own cemetery located on tribal land.

    That dream took one step closer to becoming reality last week with the announcement that HBMI received a grant of $94,968 from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families/Administration for Native Americans.

    According to Brenda Commander, HBMI chief, a tribal cemetery is one of the highest priorities of the Maliseet community. Documented since 1999, 83 percent of tribal members prioritized having burial grounds as very important for cultural and historical significance.

    “As a result of this project, the HBMI community will have a Tribal Cemetery Operation Plan composed of a site development plan — of which the Tribe has committed land for — an Operations and Maintenance Plan and Burial Ordnances,” she said.

    The Maliseets are partnering with the Margaret Chase Center from the University of Maine in Orono, who will assist the tribe in the development of a questionnaire designed to solicit the community’s input on the Site Development Plan and Policies and Ordinances.

    HBMI is also partnering with Suffolk Law University — one of the Northeast regions’ largest law schools, with a fulltime faculty of 93 professors serving more than 1,500 juris doctor candidate/students. The Indian Law and Indigenous Peoples Clinic supports the nation-building activities and advocacy efforts of the New England Indian Tribes by providing opportunities to law students to work with tribal governments on legal projects and cases.

    The creation of a Tribal Cemetery Plan will establish the administrative documentation in the form of policies, procedures and ordinances that will enable the tribe to govern the cemetery and meet the inherent need the tribal community places on owning and operating their own tribal burial grounds.