Abenaki peoples speak at the United Nations about Indigenous identity fraud in Vermont
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-04-18/abenaki-peoples-united-nations-indigenous-identity-fraud-vermont-billboard
(7:55 min. audio at link)
Abenaki peoples speak at the United Nations about Indigenous identity fraud in Vermont
Vermont Public | By Elodie Reed
Published April 18, 2024 at 11:29 AM EDT
At exactly 7:02 p.m. Tuesday, above the heads of tourists, performers and costumed superhero imitators, a digital billboard in Times Square flashed maroon for sixty seconds.
It read: Stop identity fraud, Abenaki of Odanak and W8linak sole guardians of Abenaki identity.
Elodie Reed / Vermont Public
For what they say only cost $500, the Abenaki Councils of Odanak and W8linak and the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador bought a billboard in Times Square for one minute of every hour on Tuesday, April 16.
[...]
It was the same message that the Abenaki Councils of Odanak and Wôlinak and the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador delivered Wednesday to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
There, two youth Abenaki representatives spoke during a side event titled: "Identity Fraud and Indigenous Self-Determination: Abenaki Youth Perspectives."
[...]