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MAY 19, 2000

The Connecticut towns of Ledyard, North Stonington, and Preston held a forum yesterday evening to update residents on their latest efforts opposing the federal recognition of the Eastern Pequot and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribes.

One of those efforts includes a letter sent by the towns to the Bruce Babbitt and Kevin Gover, alleging the tribes received preliminary recognition in March despite not meeting some of the mandatory criteria spelled out in the acknowledgement process of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Specifically, the towns charge that the two tribes have not met the criteria of political and social, or tribal, continuity.

The towns base their allegations on reports and documents received from the BIA under a Freedom of Information Act request. They cited a BIA document which said the tribes failed to meet all seven criteria.

But a study of publicly available documents indicates potential conflicts between their allegations and official documents published by the BIA's Branch of Acknowledgement and Research, or BAR.

While the BIA reports that evidence submitted by the tribes for the period of 1883 to the 1920s could be improved, they conclude that the the tribes do meet the mandatory criteria.

The BIA states that "the continuous existence of the Eastern Pequot tribe as a state-recognized group with a continuous land base since colonial times" is sufficient evidence for their conclusion that both tribes have maintained a continuous community and have maintained political authority from historic times to the present.

The conflict between the towns' allegations and the BIA could indicate the towns are relying on earlier documents and not the most recent findings issued in March. After submitting a petition to the BIA in 1989, the Eastern Pequot responded to deficiencies in 1995. The Paucatuck submitted their petition in 1994.

The tribes have petitioned the BIA as two groups due to a political split in the 1970s but the documentation for both is much the same since both descend from the same state-recognized tribe, the Eastern Pequot Tribe.

For the tribes, the split is their biggest obstacle to receiving recognition.

"There are insufficient evidence and analysis in the record to...determine that the petitioners formed a single tribe" from 1973 to the present, according to the BIA.

BIA director Kevin Gover believes the tribes would benefit by becoming one a single tribe again, but Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Chief James A. Cunha says his tribe wants to remain separate. A final determination by the BIA will settle the two tribes or one question.

The towns also reiterated their request that Gover be removed from the decision making process.

"We seriously question why it is that Mr. Gover’s evaluation of the petitions departs so seriously from the record, the recommendations of the BIA’s technical experts, and the towns’ analysis," write the towns.

Gover, who previously represented another Connecticut tribe, the Golden Hill Paugussetts, has recused himself from their petition for federal recognition.

Relevant Links:
No need to file an FOI request. You can read the BIA's findings on the tribes online:
Eastern Pequot Preliminary Recognition
Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Preliminary Recognition

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