Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine recognizes that its work and the work of our partner network cannot achieve just and equitable outcomes without acknowledging that we stand on the unceded territory of the Wabanaki people, which includes the tribes of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Abenaki, and Mi’kmaq people, and the impact that colonization, genocide, and displacement has had and continues to have on Maine’s tribal populations.
In acknowledging this, we recognize that Maine’s tribal populations are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. According to a report issued by the Ending Hunger in Maine by 2030 initiative, 29.5% of tribal populations in Maine experience food insecurity, which is above the national average of 27%.
We recognize, too, the history of the water, air, fish, wildlife, plants, and soils that have been hunted, gathered, fished, foraged, harvested, and stewarded sustainably by the tribes of the Wabanaki confederacy for millennia. For thousands of years predating the arrival of European colonists, the people of the Dawnland relied on the soil, forests, rivers, lakes, and mountains of what we now call Maine for subsistence* and food, spiritual, medicinal, economic, and recreational resources. All that we see and stand on, for the Wabanaki people, nourished the whole person and, in turn, nourished the richness and depth of tribal communities, culture, and society.
To this day, the Wabanaki people look to the land and waters, both inland and coastal, for physical, mental, and spiritual sustenance as they have done for countless generations.