Session 6 – Religious and Ethical Respect for Water Resources

Morning Session – Arnold Room (North Wing, 1st floor)

Co-chairs: Hugh J. Curran, Lecturer, Peace & Reconciliation Studies, UMaine; John Banks, Director, Dept. of Natural Resources, Penobscot Indian Nation

The panel will discuss religious and ethical respect for water resources which are rooted in tradition and reinforced by storytelling. Indigenous people such as the Penobscot & Passamaquoddy have strong historical, ethical and spiritual connections to water resources. Other traditions that are in agreement with Maine indigenous views and ethical principles, concerning water, will be included in discussions.

Panelists:

Sherri Mitchell was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maine, and received her Juris Doctorate and a certificate in Indigenous People’s Law and Policy from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Sherri is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador program, and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship program. In 2010, she received the Mahoney Dunn International Human Rights and Humanitarian Award, for research into Human Rights violations against Indigenous Peoples. In 2015, she received the Spirit of Maine Award, for commitment and excellence in the field of International Human Rights. In 2016, Sherri’s portrait was added to the esteemed portrait series, Americans Who Tell the Truth, by artist Robert Shetterly. And, she is the recipient of the 2017 Hands of Hope award from the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine. Sherri was a longtime advisor to the American Indian Institute’s Healing the Future Program and currently serves as an advisor to the Indigenous Elders and Medicine People’s Council of North and South America. She is the Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the global protection of Indigenous rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. Prior to forming the Land Peace Foundation, Sherri served as a law clerk to the Solicitor of the United States Department of Interior; as an Associate with Fredericks, Peebles and Morgan Law Firm; and a civil rights educator for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and; she was the Staff Attorney for the Native American Unit of Pine Tree Legal. Sherri speaks and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change. Her broad base of knowledge allows her to synthesize these many subjects into a cohesive whole, weaving together the legal, political, and spiritual aspects surrounding a multitude of complex issues. Her work is featured in the documentary film titled Dancing with the Cannibal Giant, released in October of 2017 by New Story Film, and her first book Sacred Instructions will be in print in February of 2018. Sherri is also the cohost of the radio program Love (and revolution) Radio, which focuses on real-life stories of heart-based activism and revolutionary spiritual change

John Yasenchak, Ed.D., LCPC, LADC grew up playing in the coal company waters of the Little Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania. As a clinical counselor, he served the Penobscot Nation on the banks of the Penobscot River for twenty years. He is currently Associate Professor of Graduate Counseling at Husson University. In 2013, he traveled to India where he was moved by the conditions of the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers. He received the Social Justice Award from the North Atlantic Region Association for Counselor Education and Supervision in 2014. He is passionate about the connection between mental health and social justice. He has studied Vedic philosophy with the Oxford University Hindu Studies Program and Bhaktivedanta College, Belgium. He continues to relate his professional and personal interests to the study of dharma.

Hugh Curran was born in Donegal, Ireland, and afer moving to Canada, did undergraduate work in Nova Scotia then moved to the U.S. He lived for five years as a  Zen monastic and as an assistant to Philip Kapleau, the author of The Three Pillars of Zen. After moving to Maine he did graduate studies in Irish literature and became a founding member of the Morgan Bay Zendo where he is on the Board of Directors and guides retreats. He also founded the Friends of Morgan Bay (which works closely with Blue Hill Heritage Trust) overseeing five nature preserves. During the 1990s Hugh became the Director of a homeless shelter in Downeast Maine and and has published articles on homelessness. In the past sixteen years he has been a lecturer in the Peace & Reconciliation Studies Program at the University of Maine where he co-organized a number of Peace Conferences and can continues to teach courses on Deep Ecology & Spirituality as well as Nonviolence. Hugh has co-written a book on local history with Esther Wood and has published poetry in various poetry journals and a classroom book on Nonviolence in classics & modern literature. Hugh was invited to be a speaker at the Summer 2017 Oxford University Animal Ethics Conference where he spoke on A Buddhist Interpretation of Animal Ethics.

John Banks is the Director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Penobscot Indian Nation, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Maine. Mr. Banks has served the Penobscot Nation in this capacity since 1980, following the enactment of the Maine Indian Land Claims settlement Act of 1980. As Natural Resources Director, Mr. Banks has developed and administers a comprehensive Natural Resources management program for his tribe, which advances an integrated management approach, in recognition of the inter-connectedness of all things in the natural world. Mr. Banks has served on many local, regional, and national organization boards including the National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, National Indian Policy Center, and the Tribal Operations Committee with US EPA. Mr. Banks has a BS degree in Forest Protection from the University of Maine, where he was awarded an Indian Fellowship from the office of Indian Education in Washington DC.

Hans Carlson is the Executive Director of Blue Hill Heritage Trust. An environmental and forest historian by training, he is an avid outdoorsman who has canoed, hiked, and snowshoed throughout New England and eastern Canada. He has done research work with the James Bay Cree, in central Quebec, concerning issues of forestry and hydroelectric development. He is the author of Home is the Hunter: The James Bay Cree and Their Land. Carlson is a woodworker and boatbuilder. He holds degrees from the University of Vermont and the University of Maine, and has taught in the SUNY system, the Pennsylvania state university system, and at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. His recently released book, Walking Toward Moosalamoo: A Natural History of Terre Nullius, is focused on environmental politics and ethics.