Meeting held at Point Lookout Resort, Northport, ME. Our goals for the day are to set a foundation for the learning journey on the following:
- A history of Native land loss in Maine,
- An individual analysis of power and privilege,
- An honest sharing about what’s difficult about this work and ways as white people that we can use our privilege and our professional roles to expand Wabanaki access to land and water.
Peter’s reflections on his motivations for beginning the learning journey
Agenda:
8:30 Coffee and arrivals at Point Lookout
9:00 Welcome with overview of the day and introductory exercise on story.
9:30 Barbara Kates, Carla Hunt, and Susan Howe of Maine-Wabanaki Reach will lead us in two interactive learning exercises. One is about the history of the relationship of Wabanaki people and Europeans or people of European descent here in Wabanakiland/Maine. The other is about understanding the concept of privilege. Through these learnings, we aspire to better understand our current relationships as conservationists to Wabanaki people.
12:30 Lunch at Point Lookout
1:00 Deb Bicknell leads us in dialogue about power of place and power of history, and how do we move forward with the history? What is difficult and hard about this work? What might help you to feel like you can move through this?
2:00 “This I believe” panel discussion among Lissa Widoff, Penthea Burns and Peter Forbes about what can do from our various places of privilege as foundation officer, educator and conservationist.
What is your work? How is it connected to today’s discussions? What is the source of your personal motivation to understand Wabanaki experience and to act upon that? What has been hard and what has been rewarding about acting on those values? What do you most ask of yourself today around this topic?
3:15 Break and time for integration
3:45 Small group discussions on desires, challenges and needs. What are some of the organizational ideas and goals they have started to think about in terms of action.
4:45 Peter and Ciona: what’s ahead with the learning journey? Final comments from the learning journey participants: What can I do next? What encouragement or validation can they offer to others?
5:15 Adjourn for the day.