What does it mean to be Passamaquoddy today? I have been asking myself this question for many years. Our tribe's only validation is my blood, yet they quantify it without taking a sample to measure it accurately. Is it simply my blood? Although that is all our tribe seeks, it feels deeply wrong. I don’t have to speak my language, act any special way, or participate in any Passamaquoddy-related activities other than saying who my parents are and my blood as my badge.

I seek spiritual guidance every day to be a voice for our ancestors to help guide us. This is part of the driving force behind why I started the tribal group I administer for Wabanaki communities called Keq Kt’oluhk. It is a place to share community events, prayers, stories, and well wishes; to teach and reinforce tribal values; and, most importantly, to give voice to the people where there is no platform for our people to speak in our villages. Our tribal villages have been in turmoil for many years because we were forced to assimilate, and we were made to believe our ceremonies and language were bad for us. Our reservation schools were similar to the residential schools that have been exposed in recent years, except the church and Indian agents ran our schools and villages. We are losing touch with what is important as a result, and our ceremonies and values have been replaced with the church and the “American dream,” which is only a dream with how they have their government set up.

We have allowed individuals to squander our resources (monetary and natural), and we no longer see resources as relatives or gifts for the collective's betterment and survival. As a young mother, I stood with shaky knees to try to stop the abuse of resources and community, and I was labeled a troublemaker, which, if it is trouble, then it is good trouble in my eyes. I will keep teaching and supporting what my heart leads me to because I believe our ancestors guide me. Our ancestors want to guide us all; we just have to connect and ask.

I am now a Nuhkomis (Grandmother), and I am shaken to my core by the state of our resources (monetary and natural) and, most importantly, by the fact that our Passamaquoddy shared values, the values of our ancestors, are not being honored, especially in the politics of our government and Big Brother’s government. We choose our elected officials, but do they truly speak for us? I rarely see or have elected officials reach out or visit people to seek community input. American ideology is about individualism and self-gain, briefly put. Our ideology is about interdependence, a collective consensus, reciprocity, and inherent sovereignty. Our communities are experiencing hardship, division, languishing, pain, and loss, which I believe directly correlates with this value clash and our failure to uphold our ancestors' values.  We need a time of restoration and revival of these values.

It shook me to see an elected official's endorsement of an American politician who does not support our inherent sovereignty. No elected person should speak for our tribe as a whole in American politics unless the people request it by consensus.  This act really drove home how disconnected we are and how important it is that we take action.

I don't have the answers to this dilemma, but I have been seeking spiritual guidance for many years to help me be a voice for truth in identity as our ancestors see fit. I have ideas that I am ready to share with the collective, so we can have deep conversations about direction. In my opinion, our language and values are most important to our identity, not blood. Blood recognition can be part of identity, but it shouldn't be the only requirement. My heart and soul tell me that participation is lacking in our cultural identity and that if we acknowledge that, then language and values will naturally fall back in line with what our ancestors represented and want us to represent today. We need to discuss how we can build communities that value being Passamaquoddy at its core and move into the future as a true collective.

Are you ready and willing to help our people find a new, yet familiar, way and then participate in that direction? I am ready. Peskotomuhkat nil!