Wabanaki Issues

The Permanent Commission strongly supports legislation that recognizes the inherent rights of Wabanaki Nations. For too long, the state of Maine has denied Wabanaki Nations the rights and protections available to every other federally recognized tribal nation in our country. Maine stands alone, decades behind the rest of the country in respecting the will of Indigenous communities, maintaining a system that keeps the Wabanaki Nations subservient to the state. Recognizing self-determination is the bare minimum to begin repairing the theft of land and the violence our laws have inflicted on the Wabanaki Nations and their people.

This refusal to recognize Wabanaki sovereignty hasn’t harmed tribal citizens alone. It has blocked Wabanaki Nations from accessing resources for environmental protection, economic development, and disaster relief; programs that would benefit their citizens and the rural Maine communities around them. The Permanent Commission supports returning land and water stewardship rights to the Wabanaki Nations, and we recognize their expertise in what their communities need. The bills we testified on in 2026 reflect these priorities.

Criminal Legal System Reform

The Permanent Commission approaches policy to reform the criminal legal system with the understanding that our current system is failing us all. Research suggests that as many as half of violent crimes in the US¹ and two-thirds of all crimes in Maine² go unreported because people don’t trust the system.

The Permanent Commission’s Policy Committee broadly supports legislation that make systemic reforms to Maine’s criminal legal system, including those that address racial profiling and targeting, heal harm, repair trust, and reduce imprisonment through restorative justice diversion programs, support communities and people through the re-entry process, and remove barriers to housing, employment, and civic responsibility after reentry.

Food Deserts in Maine

Food deserts, or low-income areas where residents also live far from a grocery store and may not have a vehicle, are concentrated in both rural communities and urban neighborhoods, cutting across lines of race and geography.⁹ Darker color indicates increased difficulty in accessing food.

Food Access

The Permanent Commission’s Policy Committee broadly supports legislation aimed at addressing food insecurity in Maine. Access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food is at the center of all human wellbeing. This is a concern in every Maine community, with 1 in 7 Maine people and 1 in 5 Maine children facing hunger in 2023.³ Hunger falls unevenly across our communities, with notable disparities among racial groups and rural communities.^4,5 In some parts of rural Maine, more than 1 in 6 people and nearly 1 in 3 children face hunger.⁶ Households of color face hunger at a rate of 28%, Black households at 40%,⁷ and white households at 13%.⁸

This has many causes, including a lack of accessible food retailers, lack of access to land for farming and cultivation, and wealth and income inequality. These systemic factors overlap and compound to cause unique challenges for different communities. For new Mainers who have bravely overcome challenges to build new lives as our neighbors, that means facing additional barriers to earn a stable income or to get help with accessing food. Our Wabanaki neighbors also face additional barriers stemming from the theft of their land and the state’s refusal to recognize their sovereignty. And Maine children face some of the worst consequences since experiencing hunger as a child can lead to development and learning challenges.

When everyone is fed, we all benefit because people are able to bring their full attention and energy to their jobs, their families, and their communities.

Federal Immigration

The Permanent Commission supports legislation that protects our neighbors from government weaponization.

New Mainers have shown extraordinary courage to build safety and opportunity as our neighbors, and nobody who has done that should live in fear going about their day. But fear is now a reality for many communities in Maine. New Mainers and Mainers of color are living under constant threat of abduction by ICE agents who have been targeting schools, healthcare facilities, libraries, childcare facilities, and other locations where Mainers access essential resources and services.

When the government can take people off the street without cause, it makes all of us less safe. People stop showing up¹⁰ for work. Workers lose their income overnight and businesses struggle. Families skip meals¹¹ instead of risking trips to the grocery store, food bank, or community suppers. Kids lose access to school lunch because their parents keep them home.¹² Children notice when armed agents stand near school entrances and classmates stop showing up. Survivors of violent crimes think twice before calling for help. People stop going out¹³ altogether. This is how fear reshapes communities. Nearly every aspect of public life becomes more risky, especially for people of color, including Wabanaki people and other tribal citizens,¹⁴ as well as U.S. citizens who are wrongly profiled¹⁵ or simply protesting government oppression.

Childcare

Maine is in the midst of a child care crisis. High costs and a shortage of providers leave many families — especially families of color —with no options, while child care providers struggle to make ends meet and to retain staff.

The costs are stark. Child care in Maine averages twenty percent of a family’s annual income – $12,500, and can be as high as $19,000.¹⁶ For Maine families of color, whose median income is significantly lower than that of white families¹⁷ and who are more likely to have irregular work schedules,^18,19 that cost is often simply out of reach.

This affects all of us. In 2023, the primary reason 22,000 Mainers were not working was a lack of child care.^20,21 When families can’t find care they can trust and afford, parents leave the workforce, employers lose workers, and communities lose what people bring when they’re able to show up fully. The Permanent Commission’s Policy Committee broadly supports legislation that makes child care affordable and accessible for every Maine family.

Housing

Every Mainer should have a safe, affordable place to call home. Too many Mainers do not. As of 2023, Maine had the nation’s lowest rental vacancy rate at 2.1%,²² and the cost to purchase a median-priced home has far outpaced what most Mainers can afford.²³

This housing crisis touches every Maine community, but it doesn’t hit everyone equally. Decades of discriminatory lending, exclusionary policy, and compounding wealth inequality have shaped who gets to own a home in Maine.^24,25 Only 31% of Black Mainers are homeowners, while 75% of white Mainers are.²⁶ Maine ranks 42nd out of 50 states on the national housing equity index.²⁷ When homeownership is out of reach and rentals are scarce, people lose housing altogether. 31.6% of Maine’s unhoused population come from Black communities, despite those communities making up only 1.7% of the overall state population.²⁸

These disparities tell the story of what happens when systems designed to exclude people are left in place long enough. Solving the housing crisis means building systems that will support people and strengthen our families and communities. The Permanent Commission’s Policy Committee broadly supports legislation that addresses housing affordability, expands access to homeownership, and makes sure that the communities hit hardest are centered in how those solutions are built.

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