1st document: Alnobaodwa Abenaki National News January 1994 - Volume 94 Issue 1 - Page 1. On November 28, 1993 a Council and tribal business meeting for the alleged/ reinvented Coos-Cowasuck Band was held in Franklin, MA. This was an open meeting for all members. It also served as the annual business meeting for the tribal self-help company, Cowass North America Incorporated.
The other major issues which were brought forth were the cultural events for 1994, land, gambling, recognition, and inter-tribal relations. Several of these subjects will be handled by committees that will be formed in the coming months.
2nd document: Page 2 of this same newsletter. Dee Brightstar of the alleged Missisquoi Tribal Council was invited by the conference to welcome the participants and to provide Native American support to the conference's efforts to protect the temperate zone forests. "Dee" "Brightstar" is an undocumented and unproven person who merely claims to be "Abenaki". Is she REALLY Abenaki, or is she English, and simply appropriating an identity that does not belong to her or her ancestors? Is she another one (like Nancy Millette - Doucet), who will rush out to a DNA lab, and have her blood and bones tested by a DNA lab, so she too can claim that she is an alleged "Native American"?
3rd document: ABENAKI PLAN $13 MILLION COMPLEX BINGO HALL 2,000 *** "Casino Operations Would Require Federal Tribal Status" The Missisquoi Tribal Council is looking for a site in the Swanton area to build a bingo facility with a seating capacity of 2,000. An out-of-state investor is prepared to front $13 million for a new tribal headquarters and bingo hall. Designs for the building are already complete, but details were not available for public comment. Presently, the federal non-profit status that the alleged/reinvented tribe has will allow it to operate a bingo hall.
to expand the facility into a casino would require federal recognition of the alleged/reinvented tribe. A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) spokesperson responded that a tribe operated casino would have to be on reservation or trust land of which the alleged/reinvented Abenaki do not have in Vermont.
Mike Delaney, alleged Missisquoi Tribal Judge reported that the alleged/reinvented Missisquoi are actively trying different ways to obtain federal recognition and that some progress is being made. "High-powered" law firms from Vermont, Massachusetts, and Arizona have been retained to assist in the efforts to obtain BIA Recognition. He stated that if federal recognition is granted, he wanted the tribe to be in agreement on how to proceed with a casino. He did not want the tribe to be divided on the issue such as the case with other tribal groups.
It was also noted that on December 10, 1993 Chief Homer St. Francis and Michael Delaney visited the Mashantucket-Pequot tribe's Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Connecticut. They reported that Foxwoods generates $1 million in gross revenue per day. The Chief stated that the gambling development would make the area richer and provide between 8,000 to 10,000 jobs.
Various local and government concerns were expressed about the potential infiltration of the organization of organized crime and that the primary interest may be to use the Abenaki to launder drug money. Shucks, the late alleged "Chief and or Grand Chief" of the alleged/reinvented "Missisquoi Abenaki" Homer St. Francis Sr. was already used to acting like the Whitey Bulger of Swanton, Vermont so he would have taken to organized like activities, like a duck to water, to my thinking!
***Abenakis Take State To Court*** "Seek recognition as indigenous" Fall River, Massachusetts - Dostou, identified as the United Nations liaison for the Abenaki Nation and Abenaki Council member stated that he represented a group that will be filing suit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for failing to recognize the Abenaki as indigenous to the state.
4th document: Same newsletter Page 4 continuation of Page 3, Dostou was reported to have allegedly addressed the United Nations in November on behalf of the alleged Abenakis to ask the UN to grant Native People a seat on the UN council. he was amazed that the UN listened to him as a alleged representative of the alleged Abenaki Nation but the state will not. He also stated that the Abenaki Council has hired an attorney to represent them against the state.
Tom Dostou said that a 3,000 year old sweat lodge is located in the southern Massachusetts town of Swansea. Abenaki language symbols carved into it verifies the existence of the Nation's settlements in this part of the state.
He said that his nation is hoping to receive federal money for programs which we are ineligible to get without recognition. He also stated that his nation has no plans for a casino if they gain recognition. - Summarized from the November 27, 1993 The Herald News, Fall River, MA, Richard S. Oliveira, reporter.
Please note: Tom Dostou is not a member of the alleged/reinvented Missisquoi nor Coos-Cowasuck Band councils, and it is not known what backing or authority he has from any Abenaki National group or the claims that were made in this report.
Well, let's see here....Concerning Tom Dostou.....Apparently on August 24, 1995, during a Sunbow 5 Foundation event, "called someone at the walk's office in New Hampshire, and she also called _______, the Treasurer of record the Sunbow 5 Foundation. "told us she is still concerned about Tom Dostou' behavior. When he visited New York, in May, July, and then again in August, he was emotionally tempestuous and unwilling to answer questions. She said she's been watching the walk and she is concerned. John Heyman and I share her concern. Where is the money going? The board is legally responsible for reporting on that to the IRS. Tom Dostou has no explanation or accounting of it (donated monies), and becomes angry when asked. Other walkers tell us that they never see any of the Sunbow 5 Foundation money, and that they have little recollection of benefiting much from it. They just don’t know. In fact, they didn’t even know the Sunbow 5 Foundation was sending money to the walk each week, or that Tom had an ATM bank card linked to the Sunbow Foundation’s checking account and that he makes regular withdrawals. ______and I talked at length on the phone about all of this after hearing from . We have both had the experience of having Tom become belligerent with us on the phone when he is asked about the money, even in a general way. Because John and I, and Tom’s wife Naoko Haga, are the only other members of the Sunbow 5 Foundation Board of Directors, along with Tom himself, we have to give these matters our consideration. We have a moral and legal responsibility." http://www.8thfire.net/Day_63.html
Does this sound familiar to what happened between Lynn Menard-Mathieson and "Chief" Paul Wilson Pouliot?! Sure does to me!
According to the internet, Tom Dostou lived at Harwich, Massachusetts with his wife Naoko Haga on Bank Street. Tom Dostou (a.k.a. "Nabesse Pishum"). He worked as a janitor.
Tom Dostou Abanaki (Innu Chief; Subchief of the Algonquin Nation) Fall River, Massachusetts and Port Angeles, Washington (only because he was associating with Ken Littlefish Durant) he was being taught to be a "Road Man" of the N.A.C.
From http://www.treeoflifeguardianship.org/member-background.htm
Tom Dostou has worked with the UN as well as national governments within Europe, Canada, Japan, and Africa. His efforts include initiation and development of a Native American alliance or United Nations of N. American tribes—while serving under the tutelage of William Commanda and Thomas Banyaca—as well as numerous awareness advocacy campaigns for the ‘healing and defense of Mother Earth’. He recently completed a peace walk in the N. Eastern US (summer, 2006) where he led many people in 'a prayer of remembrance' for sacred sites and lands; these sites were once revered as 'temples' by the ancestors of the tribes currently living there. Tom Dostou and Lauren coordinated their efforts, and joined forces with leaders among regional tribes in order to assemble this walk.
Tom Dostou has led many prayer walks over the past 10 years. He and several elders carried the atomic flame from Hiroshima to Chief Seattle's grave and from Suquamish, WA they traveled on foot to the UN building in NY City. From there it was reburied in Red rock, AZ, (by Hopi and Navajo medicine men) where it is believed to have originated.
Tom Dostou spent eight years with a community of Innu people in Quebec, Canada, where he followed the traditional nomadic life style of the tribe. Due to a vision he received in the forests of Quebec, he dedicated his life to the service of God, nature, and humanity, under his traditional elder, Chief William Commanda, and other spiritual leaders such as such as Thomas Banyanca and Martin Gashweseoma. He has worked as an advocate for indigenous people, seeking ways to defend the Earth, and working for the betterment of humanity, ever since.
Here are some of the "titles" I have seen just on the internet for this man:
Tom Dostou, War Chief Algonkian Nation
Tom Dostou, a citizen of the Wabanaki Alqonquin Nation in the Northeast region of Turtle Island
Tom Dostou, Makwa, Midewin Society
Chief Tom Dostou of the Algonquin Nation
Chief Tom Dostou, Waban-aki ( Eastern- Land) Aylnu, Bear Clan, Midewin Society
Tom Dostou Algonquin Elder
Tom Dostou is a man of mixed Wabanaki and Irish heritage. He had come to New York that November in a rage. He was seeking guns and money to support an incipient revolt against the Canadian government on a Mohawk reservation. But he was stopped in his tracks by the elders. http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7152
Tom Dostou, a Native American elder from the Wabanaki tribe
Tom Dostou, Bear Chief, Midewewin Society, Wabanaki Nation of Massachusetts, NAC (Native American Church/ Peyote Way)
Tom Dostou Wabanaki Tribe. Metis, Canadian.
Tom Dostou, a Massachusetts Abenaki
Tom Dostou (Chippewayan/Wabanaki/Irish)
Apparently, Tom Dostou had some previous "associations" with this particular Native Community of Innu People around 1992, as tonight I found this in French: "Barricade on Highway 138 in the area and Maliotenam Moisie "Mr. Perron. Mr. President, once again, the Quebec'ers will pick up a barricade and this is on the North Shore, east of Sept-Iles, all this due to carelessness governmental practice ever since seven years, the policy of double measures. Allow me, Mr. President, on behalf of my party, to denounce Mr. Tom Dostou who, on behalf of the Nitassinan made statements that were crude propaganda precisely to undermine not only the people of Quebec, but Quebec's economy. Mr. President, this is a group of mountains, about 30 people over the 2,000 and Montagnais, Uashat-Maliotenam, who erected a barricade at the intersection of 138 East Seven Islands around the tip of Moses. The Council Uashat-Maliotenam sent a letter denouncing this situation and asking the government to react promptly, also a letter from Mayor Moses said exactly the same thing. Mr. President there was two months less the same group that built this barricade barricaded himself (Tom Dostou) in an elementary school in the reserve. At the request of the head, it has been in contact with him. This is an internal problem of the community who finds a pretext in relation to negotiations that also took place with the Council Attikamekw and Montagnais."
This "Tom Dostou" retrospectively-speaking had associated with Kenneth "Littlefish" Durant, a kind and caring Chippewa/Anishnabe man who lives in my hometown of Port Angeles, Washington. Retropsectively-speaking when there was a Midewiwin ceremony going to take place in mid-July 2002, up along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada in a community called Sept-Iles near the Innu Native community of Maliotenam, Kenneth Littlefish Durant had suggested I ought to learn about William Commanda's "7 Fires Prophecy Belt" and that I ought to go to this Ojibway ceremony up in Maliotenam. So I made arrangements to attend this endeavor.Tom Dostou was driving up through Concord, New Hampshire and picked me up there in his van. It was an interesting ride northward to say the least, not knowing him, and him not knowing me. Yet we both knew Kenneth Littlefish Durant of Port Angeles/Joyce, Clallam County, Washington.
I went up to Sept-Iles not knowing what to expect, but to make a long story shorter, I found the Innu People and most of the people who attended this Midiwin Ceremony there, to very hospitable, nice, kind, and friendly.
Anyway, I went up there. I met some very kind persons, Anahee and Trueheart of Chatham, Ontario (?), (who also FALSELY claimed to be "Abenakis" ,,, neither of whom were or are) and a wonderful Innu moccasin maker named Christiane St. Onge, and kindly I recall Annishnabe Traditional Elder Robin Robert Sr. Greene of Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation, Ontario Mauchibinance (Ma-Chi-Biness) Moose Dotem who was born May 16, 1932 and sadly passed away April 25, 2009. Regretably, because of Tom Dostou's negativity, aggressiveness, etc., towards my person and other persons, and because the transportation situation as it was seemed very likely in question in my returning back home, there were five (5) Abenaki descendants (which included myself) who picked up, removed ourselves from the Mediwiwin Ceremonies and left Sept-Iles, Quebec, Canada. I also met with Robin's son Robert and Robin's wife Kathleen Greene who were conducting the Mediwiwin Intercessor's; both were also very kind people.
From what I recall of that partiuclar trip and event almost from the beginning there was tension, hurtfulness, and there was confusion, in amongst all the good that was there. Then Tom Dostou's van wouldn't start once we got up to where the Ceremonies were going on into the 2nd day; so he cursed, he fumed, he yelled, he threw negative energry all over the place, looking at me and telling me to "fix it". I told him to pray on it and walked away.
Anahee, Trueheart, a guy by the name of "Wolf", and another man by the name of "Chief" Thomas Wounded Bear of Somerset, MA got up and began packed their things, and said their goodbye's, intending very much to leave the Mediwiwn Ceremony and that place altogether. I decided to get my stuff and leave with them, having been dropped off kindly (while they were enroute to Chatham, ON) at the Montreal Greyhound Bus Station to head back to Boston and then travel back up into New Hampshire.
Perhaps people will conclude this was rude to remove ourselves from that ceremony, yet for me it was the right thing to do. Whatever was to happen there just outside of Sept Ilse, Quebec, I knew I was not to be a part of it nor associate with it, whatever it was, any further.
I have researched how this so-called Seven (7) Fires Prophecy Belt held by William Commanda of Maniwaki, an Algonquin Native Community, has been transfered from one human-being to another. To my own awareness, that Wampum Belt is a Seven Fires Confederacy Belt; not a Seven Fires Prophecy Belt. But that's another story for another day.....in why I, myself, come to this conclusion.
So when I read this January 1994 Paul Wilson Pouliot Newsletter, with Tom Dostou's name in it, and according to Paul Wilson Pouliot stating that "Tom Dostou is not a member of the alleged/reinvented Missisquoi nor alleged/reinvented Coos-Cowasuck Band councils, and it is not known what backing or authority he has from any alleged/reinvented Abenaki National group or the claims that were made in this report." well let's just say.....it jogged my memory of the pne-time encounter I had with this man Tom Dostou. He did seem to know of my relative Michael Edward Woodward (one of the relatives with a so-called Laurentian Alliance Metis and Non-Status Indians, Inc. Membership Card #2528, from up in Magog, Quebec and Timmons-Foluiet, Ontario who was desendant from Parker Preston Woodward and Sally Pilsbury). After hunting through all of these documents all over the place in this apt. this wee hour of the morning, I recalled the name of the fella (who sat in front passenger seat, in Tom Dostou's van in July 2002) as being "Chief" Thomas F. "Wounded Bear" Snizek Jr. of Somerset, MA and subsequently I "google'd his name. Thomas Snizek had a brother Henry "Rick" Snizek of Fall River, MA (they were sons of Thomas F. Snizek Sr. and Lillian Richotte - Snizek) who was named "Three Hawks". He was a member of the "Abenaki Nation of Vermont", and a member of the Wolf Tail Drum and the Dighton Inter-Tribal Indian Council.
So the names, the eventful trip in mid-July 2002, and the "associations" between persons, connect quite readily, if persistently.
Anyway, the main point I am trying to make in this post is that the late Homer St. Francis Sr. (right along with the late Michael Delaney as well) put the State of Vermont into having the distinct awareness, that IF these particular alleged/ reinvented Abenaki groups gained specific State or Federal Recognition, then Gambling was very likely in the future of Vermont's population. Whose fault was it? Well, its right in these group's newsletters what they intended! The State of Vermont wasn't blind nor stupid.
