From Letters from the Commissioner:
This report describes the process and findings, discoveries and recommendations of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission, whose mandate was endorsed in February 2013. The governor of Maine and the five tribal chiefs signed as equals to authorize the Commission to investigate whether or not the removal of Wabanaki children from their communities has continued to be disproportionate to non-Native children and to make recommendations, as the Declaration of Intent exhorts us, that “promote individual, relational, systemic and cultural reconciliation.” This Commission is the first in the United States in which two parties agreed to come together to pursue answers to difficult questions, and it is one of the first in the world to examine issues of Native child welfare. While our commission does not involve an entire country as did the process brought to prominence by Nelson Mandela in South Africa, it nonetheless marks a historic moment, one we have been proud to steer and witness.
Source: The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) ” Beyond the Mandate: Continuing the Conversation.” Report of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. June 14, 2015. http://www.mainewabanakitrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/MaineWabanaki-StateTRC-Report_061415a-opt.pdf
