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Kuwesuwi Monihq #IslandBack
Kihtahkomikumon (Our Land)
#IsLandBack i
n
Passamaquoddy
Territory
A
Documentary Short Film by Sunlight Media
Collective
In 2021, by an act of humanism, solidarity, and reparation, the Passamaquoddy tribe
has been reunited with 140 acres of their un
-
ceded Ancestral territory – part of the
largest island in Kci Monosakom, (Big Lake) Maine. To the Passamaquoddy people, it’s
more than land return; it is the return of a stolen family member. In this short fi lm, we
join Passamaquoddy community members who are fi nally able to reunite with their
non-human Relative.
Originally known as Kuwesuwi Monihq (Pine Island), and
renamed "White's Island" by settlers, this place has deep
historical and cultural signifi cance to the
Passamaquoddy community.
The island was included as part of the Tribe’s Modahkomikuk (Indian Township)
reservation in the 1794 Treaty with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as
the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980. Despite treaty agreements, Kuwesuwi
Monihq, or Pine Island, was stolen from the people at some point during the mid-1800s
and renamed White's Island. In fact, it seems to have been stolen by renaming it…once
it became White’s Island on the map, it no longer matched the language of the 1794
treaty, which identifi es
Pine Island
as protected, reserved land. The island fell out of
Tribal stewardship quietly as colonizers bought up parcels. Once the island was
considered privately owned, the Passamaquoddy people were denied access.
Land dispossession is a barrier to Wabanaki people who are practicing their culture
and connecting with their homelands. As Tribal Nations, we are endowed with the
Sacred responsibility to protect the lands we come from. In return, these lands protect
us. This understanding is at the heart of the #LandBack movement, which has taken off
across Turtle Island. Passamaquoddy people can now visit Kuwesuwi Monihq safely,
enjoy their kinship connection to the island, and know that they will not be asked to
leave.
In efforts to heal the Earth and the damaged relationship between Indigenous and
colonizing peoples, the #LandBack movement has already seen the return of millions
of acres to tribes. For the Passamaquoddy, the return of their relative, Kuwesuwi
Monihq, will help them fulfi ll those Sacred responsibilities and heal along with the land
and water.
All our Relations. P'site Elakumukik.
#IsLandBack
Transcript:
Narration: The Passamaquoddy people have lived in the watershed of the Skutik River
(also known as the St. Croix) since time beyond memory. This is where they were
created thousands of generations ago, and where they will remain for thousands of
generations more. The Passamaquoddy tribe is part of a larger network of Wabanaki
peoples, tribal nations from the land where the light of the sun fi rst touches. They
believe that all beings (people, animals, plants, water, earth, stars, and spirits) have
souls, living together as relations, with a shared responsibility to care for one another.
Land dispossession is a barrier to Passamaquoddy people who are practicing their
culture and connecting with their homelands.
In 2021, by an act of humanism, solidarity, and reparation, we are celebrating the return
of 140 acres of the largest island in Kci Monosakom, also known as Big Lake. To the
Passamaquoddy people, it’s more than land return; it is the return of a stolen family
member.
01:13
[Welcome song audio] - Song used here is Greeting Song (Qey-wa-neh-hu) Sung by
Wayne Newell and Blanche Sock
a
basin.
Wayne Newell watching his son Chris speak, intercut with Chris Newell’s interview:
Dawn Neptune Adams: Today Sunlight Media Collective is speaking with Christopher
Newell at the Abbe Museum. He’s going to be sharing his memories of Kuwesuwi
Monihq and Big Lake. Chris Newell: That area is the area where our community is,
where I was raised. And I spent my childhood with my parents fi shing those waters,
exploring those islands. And White's island, or Pine island and the other names that it’s
been known as over the years, is actually an old fi shing spot, a favorite of my Mom’s
and Dad’s. And it’s beautiful, it’s gorgeous. It’s right within sight of the current
Motahkomikuk community.
1:53
Wayne Newell: Is that all he’s gonna say? He’s done a good job. From the time that
they could be responsible we taught them how to drive the boat, and they could go all
over the place and not worry about them. They all knew how to fi sh, they all knew how
to trap muskrats. So the lake was a very life giving place.
02:15
Dwayne Tomah [outside at Split Rock, in Passamaquoddy with English subtitles]: There
is an island just adjacent to Motahkomikuk (Indian Township). It’s called Kuwesuwi
Monihq (Pine Island). It has returned back to our people. [the following in English]: Kci
woliwon from Passamaquoddy territory, kci woliwon for returning our lands to our
people.
02:3
6
Narration: Now, in 2021, the community is fi nally welcoming this island back home, and
the stories, traditions, and historical signifi cance that it contains are being shared.
Today we join Passamaquoddy community members who are able to reunite with their
own relative, Kuwesuwi Monihq.
02:45
A-Roll flyover sequence: Dwayne walking out to the plane, live streaming about how
the land is being returned and that is historic and signifi cant and to do with building
good relationships, and how he will be flying over ancestral territory. Then he points out
the island and its name, that it’s an honor for him to be sharing this historic and
wonderful event and wonderful that ancestral land is being returned. Ends with: “That
is our ancestral land. So it has been returned to our people. And what an honor to be
above our lands. Wow, what a wonderful thing.
3:44
Donald Soctomah: It’s like a piece of us is coming back. And people within memory
during that time remember the village site that was there. So we need to make sure our
children, the next generations, are able to go to places like this to practice the ways of
the ancestor because it’s part of our family tree. Our DNA is connected to places like
this.
0
4:09
Dwayne Tomah [inside the airport] Kuwesuwi Monihq. That’s what we call it. Kuwesuwi
Monihq. And this particular island was used to store food. There was an underground
root cellar there. For thousand of years our people would go there because it was on
an island and would keep away animals from gaining access to the food.
0
4:29
Dwayne Tomah [outside at Split Rock, in Passamaquoddy with English subtitles]: Just
adjacent from Kuwesuwi Monihq is Muwinwi Monihq (Island of the Bear Clan). This is
where our ancestors died from smallpox. They were infected by smallpox and we
quarantined them there.
0
4:44
Natalie Dana Lolar: Some of the kids were scared of the island, I remember, at fi rst,
because we were always told it was haunted. And my grandmother said, “Don’t be
scared of our ancestors. They’re there to project us.”
0
4:57
Niskapisuwin, Geo Soctomah Neptune: I think that some of my earliest memories of
big lake specifi cally have to do with going to Ceremony and attending Ceremony with
Elders, with two Elders of our Tribe who have actually passed now, with Blanche and
Joan.
0
5:11
Brenda Dana Lozada: Kci Woliwon, thank you very much for dedicating this to my Mom
and Blanche. They traveled everywhere within Wabanaki communities and they were
invited to always pray and sing and…they always worked together.
0
5:27
Wayne Newell: They were two very special, special cultural icons; each in their own
way. Blanche did a lot of singing and a lot of teaching. And I sang with her most of my
life, she taught me a lot of songs. And Joan did a lot of environmental concerns like
keeping the water clean.
0
5:49
Annette Sockabasin: And they were so instrumental, those ladies, in doing and getting
people to recognize the history and the culture.
0
5:59
Natalie Dana Lolar: Ever since I was a kid, my grandmother, at least once a year, would
take me out there. So many memories of just being with her. And just the way that she
looked and how happy she was in the sunlight, it was just amazing.
0
6:13
Brenda Dana Lozada: And my Mom was always…any time that she was at the island,
either island, or close to the water, she alway sang a song too, a water song. She
would say her prayer and then she would sing a song. And that’s something that she
had taught me to do and she felt that was important.
0
6:34
Annette Sockabasin: When I was just a little girl, I think Brenda must have been two or
three, she used to take us on a boat over there to go and cook over there to feed the
Ancestors and give us the history on them islands.
0
6:44
Narration: Muwinuwi Monihq, Bear Clan Island, was returned to the tribe in 2002 after
Donald Soctomah’s dedicated efforts as Tribal Representative to educate the land
holder, Domtar Industries. Domtar is the largest producer of paper in all of Turtle Island,
and the second largest in the world. They learned from Donald that Muwinwi Monihq
had been a burial place for members of the Bear clan who had been infected by
smallpox. After learning the history of the land that they had acquired from Georgia
Pacifi c, the corporation's executives came to understand that the burial site should be
protected by Passamaquoddy families.
Then in 2006, a 5.5 acre petroglyph site was also returned to the tribe by Maine
Coastal Heritage Trust. Some of the engravings there date 3,000 years old, with
additional older petroglyphs believed to now exist below sea-level. These sites hold
Sacred teachings and memories from Passamaquoddy Ancestors. Now
Passamaquoddy people can visit all of these places safely, learn from them, and know
that they will not be asked to leave.
07:
54
Donald Soctomah: There are many spiritual and cultural sites around the state and a lot
in our homeland. When we are able to access places like this we are able to go there
and not be chased off saying we’re trespassing. Be able to practice our spiritually, our
traditions and our culture in these places. And that’s built right into our DNA. And that
makes us…well for me when I do it, it makes me a full person. It lets me know that I’ve
been there and I am doing what my Ancestors did.
0
8:35
Dwayne Tomah [outside at Split Rock, in Passamaquoddy with English subtitles]: The
foreigners called it White’s island. It's always been Kuwesuwi Monihq to our people. It’s
always been Kuwesuwi Monihq, not White’s island.
08:
55
Donald Sotomah: Our place names are really important because it describes a place,
describes the action of the different layers of what you see and then what you don’t
see. So, it’s really a complicated and really an informed way to describe a location.
0
9:22
Niskapisuwin, Geo Soctomah Neptune: A lot of my memories as a child have to do
with knowing that there were all of these islands, and that there was all of this lake that
went so much farther than I could have ever imagined. Almost like the fi rst time you
realize like how big the Universe actually is—it was a very similar feeling for me,
realizing that our Passamaquoddy territory, our traditional territory, went so much
farther than I was able to reach in my canoe with my best friend.
09:
56
Chris Newell (and his father, Wayne, watching him speak): You know, pre-Federal
recognition and all of that, Passamaquoddy encampments lived all around the lake and
even on the islands as well. And over time those areas were lost.
10:07
Donald Soctomah: This site was listed in the 1794 treaty that the Tribe had with
Massachusetts. The return fulfi lls a portion of the treaty that was carried on into the
1980 treaty, the modern day Land Claims. Even though there were other parcels that
were sold in violation of that treaty, because the land was never to be sold, traded or
leased. The 15 islands in the Saint Croix are still missing…
10:
41
Chris Newell: In times before my father’s generation that was considered
Passamaquoddy land, but somehow over the decades a transference or a disposition
of territory happened and non-Natives moved in and began to own territory within sight
of our own community.
10:
58
Narration: Despite treaty agreements, Kuwesuwi Monihq, also called Kuwesikon
Monihq or Pine Island, was stolen from the people at some point during the mid-1800s
and renamed White's Island. In fact, it seems to have been stolen by renaming it…once
it became White’s island on the map, it no longer matched the language of the 1794
treaty, which identifi es Pine Island as protected, reserved land. The island fell out of
tribal stewardship quietly as private landowners bought up parcels. Once privately
owned, the Passamaquoddy people were denied access. It wasn’t until 1971 that the
tribe began to uncover how the loss occurred and the paper trail is still hard to track
down. While the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act again identifi ed Pine Island
as reserved tribal land, it did not restore its protected status or the tribe’s stewardship
of the island unless the tribe were to get it back on their own.
1
2:02
Wayne Newell: I sat next to a guy, he’s gone now, he operated the Princeton gas
station, Esso Station, and he sat next to me, and he said, “If I had my way, I’d line you
all up and shoot you.” I said, ”Well, at least you don’t hide your feelings.” So that’s…
Those are some of the living conditions. Things just don’t happen, they happened for a
reason. And the beautiful part is that we get to live on this beautiful spot and we get to
enjoy what the creator gave us. In spite of all of the problems that we faced—don’t
forget steady contact with the white man since 1604, probably some before that,
Vikings and stuff like that. Now in a sense, it’s harder, because we’re trying to fi ght for
the survival of our culture. We’re trying to fi ght for the survival of our language! Just
getting back to the importance of even White’s Island coming back into our
possession…There'll be another generation of caretakers if they listen to the teachings
of the Elders. And I think they will.
13:25
Narration: When the island was advertised for sale, Motohkmikuk's elected leadership
contacted First Light, a collective of conservationists and advocates whose work is
dedicated to bridging the gap between conservation groups and Wabanaki Nations.
According to First Light's website, 90
%
of Wabanakik (now called Maine) is considered
privately owned, 23
%
is owned by conservation organizations, and only 1/10th of 1
%
is legally stewarded by the Wabanaki people.
The First Light Initiative seeks to aid in the restoration of land access, stewardship, and
kinship connection, to Wabanaki nations.
14:05
Chief Nicholas: I can't wait until we have a Ceremony out on the island soon, and that
we're able to dance with our ancestors and enjoy that. You got to look at the island for
what the signifi cance of the island is, and the land of the Passamaquoddy
and... ...generations beyond all of us, to be able to have that cultural signifi cance and
understanding of what the island and the land means to the Passamaquoddy people.
There is no doubt that the ancestors are jumping all over the place over there.
14:
34
Narration: As Tribal Nations, we are endowed with the Sacred responsibility to protect
the lands we come from. In return, these lands protect us. This understanding is at the
heart of the #LandBack movement which has taken off across Turtle Island.
Land return enables the Passamaquoddy Tribe and all Indigenous peoples to uphold
kinship with our human and nonhuman relatives. Every time access to our Wabanaki
homelands is improved, we are able to connect more deeply into our history, our
traditions, and our future. The return of land stewardship to tribes has resounding
spiritual and health impacts not only in this generation, but for many generations to
come.
15:
18
Niskapisuwin, Geo Soctomah Neptune: One of the most interesting things about
growing up in this generation is that now “Land Back” is not necessarily just something
that we’re hoping to obtain, it’s actually slowly becoming more and more of a reality.
This is a sign of a very much changing political climate that we are in. And it’s really
exciting to think that it’s a climate in which Indigenous people won’t be invisible
anymore.
1
5:48
A-roll second part of flyover sequence: Dwayne Tomah singing during the flyover with
combination of flyover footage and go-pro. Starts with the words “We’re getting back
our lands folks. Our Ancestral lands are being turned back over to our people. What a
wonderful thing, eh? and ends with drumming/singing, the plane landing, and Dwayne
walking out of the plane, looking really happy, saying “Wow” and nodding in a
signifi cant way.
17:
37
Dwayne Tomah [outside in front of plane right after landing]: Honor our Ancestors that
are continuing the work that needs to be done and to educate our people about how
important it is to be able to share, and to care, and to show compassion and to love
one another.
1
7:53
Wayne Newell: [speaks in Passamaquoddy] This is my favorite part. Tokec Kcicihtuwon
Tama Kuci Peci Kocicihtunc Tan Eliyayin. If you know where you’ve been, you’ll
generally know where you’re going. And that seems to sum up that decolonization
curriculum that we were just talking about. Tokec Kcicihtuwon Tama Kuci Peci
Kocicihtunc Tan Eliyayin.
18:
25
Music: Koselomol Neqtelakutulticik (Love Of The Family) sung by Blanche Sockabasin.
Narration (ending): In efforts to heal the Earth and the damaged relationship between
Indigenous and colonizing peoples, the #LandBack movement has already seen the
return of millions of acres to tribes. For the Passamaquoddy, the return of their relative,
Kuwesuwi Monihq, will help them fulfi ll those Sacred responsibilities and heal along
with the land and water.
For the next seven generations and all our Relations. P'site Elakumukik.
19:
01
Music: Koselomol Neqtelakutulticik (Love Of The Family) sung by Blanche Sockabasin.
Dedication to Joan Dana and Blanche Sockabasin:
Text beside painting by Joan's son Martin Dana, while music plays.
Dedicated in Loving Memory to Passamaquoddy Cultural Icons:
Joan Dana
(February 25, 1937 - November 24, 2020)
Koselmol (love) to the woman everyone knew as Uhkomi; (Grandmother) an
embodiment of Mother Earth herself.
and
Blanche Sockabasin
(July 19, 1935 - May 24, 2019)
Her songs still echo across the water for the love of her family and her communities.
19:
23
LandBack graphic with Passamaquoddy word "Nit tehpu" under it. (The End)
19:
30
Credits
Sunlight Media Collective logo animation
20:
35
End
Credits:
A Sunlight Media Collective production
Filmed by Dawn Neptune Adams, Nolan Altvater, and Bryan Wentzell
Facebook live video courtesy of Dwayne Tomah
Produced by Dawn Neptune Adams & Meredith DeFrancesco
Edited by Joanna Weaver
Written by Mali Obomsawin
Narrated by Dawn Neptune Adams
Production Assistants: Sierra Henries, Mali Obomsawin, Lokotah Sanborn & Annette
Sockabasin
Graphic Design by Lokotah Sanborn
Historical and Cultural Advisor: Donald Soctomah
Passamaquoddy Language Advisor
:
Dwayne Tomah
Photographs courtesy of Donald Soctomah, Matthew Dana II, Dawn Neptune Adams,
Natalie Dana Lolar, Brenda Dana Lozada, the Passamaquoddy Cultural and Historical
Preservation Department
, and the Nature Conservancy in Maine
Painting of Joan Dana & Blanche Sockabasin, and painting of Passamaquoddy Hunter
in Canoe by Martin Dana, son of Joan Dana.
Music from Peskotomuhkati Petakihik (Passamaquoddy Thunder)
Honoring the Family in Songs, by permission of Donald Soctomah.
Qey-wa-neh-hu (Greeting Song) sung by Wayne Newell & Blanche Sockabasin.
Koselomol Neqtelakutulticik (Love Of The Family) sung by Blanche Sockabasin.
&
Esunomawotultine (Let's Trade) sung by Dwayne Tomah
Map courtesy of The Nature Conservancy in Maine.
Images of 1794-75 Treaty between the Passamaquoddy Tribe & The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts are from Digital Maine Repository (contributed by Maine State Archives)
and are in the public domain.
Exterior of the Abbe Museum recorded by Joanna Weaver for the Abbe Museum in
2014.
Special thanks to pilot Bryan Wentzell (Executive Director of Maine Mountain
Collaborative), and advisors Corey Hinton and Esther Anne.
Featured in order of appearance:
Wayne A. Newell, Ed.M. Passamaquoddy Tribal Elder, Teacher, Consultant
Chris Newell, Passamaquoddy Tribal Member, Executive Director of Abbe Museum
Dwayne Tomah, Passamaquoddy Language Keeper
Donald Soctomah, Passamaquoddy Tribal Historic Preservation Offi cer
Natalie Dana Lolar, Passamaquoddy & Penobscot Tribal Member, Bear Clan,
Granddaughter of Joan Dana.
Niskapisuwin, Geo Soctomah Neptune, Passamaquoddy Tribal Member, Two-Spirit,
Master Basketmaker (They/Them)
Brenda Dana Lozada, Passamaquoddy Tribal Member, School Teacher, Bear Clan,
Daughter of Joan Dana
Annette Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy Elder & Language Keeper
William J. Nicholas Sr, Chief of Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk (Indian
Township)
