As we enjoy Maine’s recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day, it is especially important, on this day as every day, that we be ever mindful that UMPI’s sites and facilities are located on the ancestral homelands of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet nations, who are connected through kinship, alliance, and diplomacy to the other Wabanaki Tribal Nations– the Penobscot and Passamaquody– on these lands that today we collectively call Maine.  The Mi’kmaq Nation and the Houlton Band of Maliseets are distinct and sovereign peoples and it is with gratitude and humility that we share this land with those who have lived and worked on it from time immemorial.