The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations

Thirty years ago, in Wabanaki territory — a region encompassing the state of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes — a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals came together to explore some of the most pressing questions at the heart of Truth and Healing efforts in the United States and Canada. Meeting over several years in long-weekend gatherings, in a Wabanaki-led traditional Council format, assumptions were challenged, perspectives upended, and stereotypes shattered. Alliances and friendships were formed that endure to this day. tells the moving story of these meetings in the words of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. Reuniting to reflect on how their lives were changed by their experiences and how they continue to be impacted by them, the participants share the valuable lessons they learned. The many voices represented in offer insights and strategies that can inform change at the individual, group, and systems levels. These voices affirm that authentic relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples — with their attendant anxieties, guilt, anger, embarrassments, and, with time, even laughter and mutual affection — are key to our shared futures here in North America. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we come together to reimagine Indigenous-settler relations. Mawopiyane: Gwen Bear Shirley Bowen Alma H. Brooks gkisedtanamoogk JoAnn Hughes Debbie Leighton Barb Martin Miigam'agan T. Dana Mitchell Wayne A. Newell Betty Peterson Marilyn Keyes Roper Wesley Rothermel Afterword by Dr. Frances Hancock To reflect the collaborative nature of this project, the word Mawopiyane is used to describe the full group of co-authors. Mawopiyane, in Passamaquoddy, literally means "let us sit together," but the deeper meaning is of a group coming together, as in the longhouse, to struggle with a sensitive or divisive issue — but one with a very desirable outcome. It is a healing word and one that is recognizable in all Wabanaki languages.