By Jenny Whidden, Report for America corps member
Granite State News Collaborative
After more than half a year without being able to officially vote due to a lack of members, the state Commission for Native American Affairs gained four new members appointed by Gov. Chris Sununu.
As of November, the state Commission on Native American Affairs didn’t have enough members to officially vote, in part because the group hadn’t had a new public member appointed by Gov. Chris Sununu in two years.
Last year, the Commission lost four members whose terms ended in 2021 and who chose not to reapply. Though the body had six people, it needed nine to reach a quorum — the minimum number of people needed to vote. The commission submitted four applicants for approval between June and October, but still hadn’t seen any movement or appointments until the governor's office made the four appointments last month.
Members expressed frustration at the time, but said “communication has improved a lot” and recently saw progres.
Commission Chair Anne Jennison said she is feeling optimistic and hopes the body will have its first public meeting of the year sometime in March.
Created by the legislature in 2010, the Commission “promotes and strengthens Native American heritage and furthers the needs of New Hampshire’s Native American community through state policy and program,” according to its website.
Without a quorum, the commission couldn’t make decisions, such as accepting draft language of legislation and sending letters to express the views of the Commission.
Under law, the Commission was able to meet, but not vote on anything. Its last official meeting took place in June.
Responsibility to field and send applications to the Governor’s Office ultimately lands on the Director of the Division of Historical Resources at the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, who had cited mailing issues as cause for the delay.
Historical Resources Director Ben Wilson declined to comment.
“Our office has been in contact with the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to ensure that appointments move forward in a timely manner in the future,” said Benjamin Vihstadt, Gov, Sununu’s spokesperson in an email. “Since last year our office has moved quickly to appoint new members upon receiving recommendations from DNCR.”
Vihstadt said that the Governor’s Office is currently reviewing additional recommendations and expects more appointments to be made in the coming weeks. He added that in the time between appointments, the office had not heard from any member of the Commission concerning quorum issues.
Jennison said the commission had been dealing directly with the Division of Historical Resources at the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, regarding the issue.
New commission members and looking ahead
The four newest members to the commission include Cherie Pernaw, Christine Nih’shaw, Deborah Calabrese and Bridget Herrera.
One of the proudest things Pernaw’s father ever did was become a citizen of the Ko'asek (Co'wasuck) Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation, she said. After he died in 2014, Pernaw knew she wanted to follow in his footsteps.
“It made him happy, and he felt like he belonged,” she said. “To honor him, I went and applied.”
Pernaw gained her citizenship with the tribe in 2019. Not long after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Still looking to get involved, Pernaw ended up serving as secretary for her tribe’s nonprofit, Koasek of Turtle Island, which helps organize services like education for its members and the larger indigneous community.
When she heard from her Chief, Paul Bunnell, that the state Native Affairs Commission was looking for members, she felt compelled to apply.
“I felt like this is something I could do for my people and actually for the state of New Hampshire,” Pernaw said. “Because there's no such thing as just a Native American issue. It's all our issues, and I think that that's important.”
Pernaw, whose paternal great-grandparents had to hide the fact that they were Native for their own safety, said amid a growing culture and national acceptance, “this is a really exciting time to be Native American.”
“It's nice to give ancestors a little voice, a little hope,” she added.
Nih’Shaw, who writes and illustrates bilingual books to help preserve indigenous languages, said she wanted to join the Commission to aid with public education.
“I was really excited. I didn't even know we had a commission. I was really excited to get involved,” she said. “The preservation of our ancestral language and culture and public education of the issues facing Native Americans is of vital importance to me.”
Nih’Shaw added that she hopes to lessen the disconnect between people who are Native and people who are not Native.
The addition of the new members means that the Commission has now filled nine of its 15 total seats.
By law, three of those seats have to represent the State Council on the Arts, the Division of Travel and Tourism Development, and an archeologist appointed by the director of the Division of Historical Resources. Those roles are currently filled by Kayla Schweitzer, Estlin Loparto and Sheila Charles, respectively.
Also according to law, one other member must be from the Native American Program at Dartmouth College — a seat that Jennison said the Commission is close to filling.
Jennison is also working on getting an additional representative from the Indigenous Studies minor program at the University of New Hampshire.
There are two more applications pending in the Governor’s Office, Jennison said, and an additional two prospective members are considering applying or working on their application.
Apart from the four seats that must be filled from specific organizations, the remaining 11 members are appointed by the governor from the public at large. Those members must live in New Hampshire and have Native American heritage, according to the law that created the Commission.
As far as any additional qualities, Jennison said professional or volunteer experience doesn’t matter — it’s how much someone has been active in the indigenous community that really counts.
“So far, everybody who's applied has got quite a track record. A good one,” she said.
Jennison is holding off on holding the Commission’s first public meeting until after the new members go through a brief orientation period to learn more about their roles and the Commission.
“We’re at the beginning, and we’re going to have to get organized and build a cohesive group,” she said.
While Jennison plans to consult with the other Commission members to build the body’s first agenda, she does expect discussions to include pending legislation.
She said the Commission will likely focus on House Bill 1357, which would “formally acknowledge the native land on which the state of New Hampshire is located,” and House Bill 1261, which would ban Native mascots in public schools.
For her part, Pernaw is hopeful.
“I'm really looking forward to seeing where I can fit in,” Pernaw said. “We have issues and problems, but we as a community maybe can aid some of those problems and smooth them out and make our little corner of the world a little better.”
Those interested in applying to the Commission can reach out to Jennison at nhcnativeamericanaffairs@gmail.com or Wilson at preservation@dncr.nh.gov for more information.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative as part of our race and equity project. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.