Sculpture Project Draws Burlington Into Abenaki Identity Controversy

A band of Abenaki in Québec plans to ask the Burlington City Council to reject a donated sculpture of a Native American meant to be installed in Battery Park, saying it’s not only inauthentic but offensive.

The wood sculpture was commissioned by a Vermont band, the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi. It is meant to replace a similar wooden carving that stood in Battery Park for 42 years until it was removed because it was rotting.

Daniel Nolett, general manager of the Odanak Band Council in Québec, said his group was not consulted about the replacement, and a representative will address the Burlington City Council to explain its specific objections.

Members of the band believe that most members of Vermont-based Abenaki bands are not, in fact, of genuine Abenaki descent and that their claims amount to cultural appropriation. Scholars in Canada have said that, in most cases, they can’t find genealogical evidence of the Vermonters’ assertions. The Odanak band points out that colonization and war pushed the Abenaki north from their Vermont settlements into French Canada, where they were granted land on the St. Francis River and have lived since.

The Vermont bands vehemently disagree. They contend that their ancestors remained behind, hiding in plain sight during centuries of discrimination. They note that they have been officially recognized by the State of Vermont, although not by the federal government.

This disagreement over Abenaki identity has become increasingly heated in recent years. State Rep. Troy Headrick (I-Burlington) has questioned whether the Vermont legislature erred in recognizing the Vermont bands and in February hosted a contentious forum on the issue at the Statehouse. It devolved into a shouting match between representatives of the Québec and Vermont groups.

Increasingly, third parties are being drawn into the debate. Abenakis based in Québec this year criticized eco-friendly cleaning-product manufacturer Seventh Generation for underwriting the development of an education curriculum for Vermont schoolchildren that supports the Vermont tribes’ perspective.

The Burlington City Council in 2022 adopted a resolution stating that in its dealings, “the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi/St. Francis Sokoki tribe … will be the tribal authority to represent Abenaki matters.”

The latest controversy arose after removal of the so-called Chief Greylock statue from Battery Park. It was carved by Peter Wolf Toth when the itinerant sculptor toured the country in the 1970s and ’80s creating statues to honor Native Americans in every state — what he called his “Whispering Giant” series. The 34-foot-tall artwork had stood sentinel in Battery Park since 1984.

A plaque at the base of the old sculpture identified it as 18th-century Abenaki Chief Grey Lock, who spent part of his life in Swanton, where the Missisquoi band is based. (Most sources, including abenakination.com, the site of the Missisquoi band, use “Greylock.”)

But in a telephone interview last week, the Florida sculptor, now 77, said his statue was intended as an abstraction of a Native American, not to represent Chief Greylock specifically, although he was aware of the chief’s importance in Abenaki history. According to the Burlington City Arts website, Abenakis in Vermont chose the name.

Over the decades, the elements took a toll on Toth’s work. A six-foot wooden feather atop the statue fell off in 2019. The work was removed on July 24, leaving only the stone foundation.

To replace it, the Missisquoi Abenaki offered a statue they had earlier commissioned from Brandon Wilson of Jay. Like Toth’s work, it features a Native American’s face. Carved beneath that are the words “Missisquoi Abenaki.” It’s 16.5 feet tall — half the size of the original sculpture.

The value of the statue is listed as $20,000 on city documents. A $25,000 allocation from the city’s Public Art Commissioning Fund would cover the cost of potential repairs to the existing stone foundation.

When Headrick, the state representative, learned of the city’s plans, he wrote to Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak urging city officials to consider the perspectives of the Odanak before acting.

“Public art and education are powerful tools,” he wrote. “If developed without the involvement of legitimate Indigenous nations, they risk reinforcing false narratives and erasing those with authentic historical and cultural ties to this land.”

In a July interview, Headrick said the Odanak and another band based in Québec, the Wôlinak, should be at the table. “We continue to exclude them when we are taking steps that have an impact on their identity,” Headrick said.

Missisquoi Chief Brenda Gagne had a different view. It didn’t make sense to consult the Odanak “because we are [in] Missisquoi territory,” she said. She also defended the replacement statue.

“There’s nothing we could do to save [the old one]” she said, except “have it replaced with something of a totem that represents Missisquoi more so. But … anything we do is for all people.”

“We don’t do it just for us,” she repeated. Gagne declined to discuss on the telephone the Odanak assertion that the Missisquoi band is not Abenaki, saying she would do so only in person at a later date.

Nolett said the Odanaks also object to the replacement itself.

“To us, it feels like it’s propaganda for the Missisquoi band,” Nolett said last week. The sculptor, Wilson, who is not Native American, could have visited the Odanak and met with members of the band who are descended from Greylock before carving it, he said.

“It would have been the proper gesture to reach out to us,” he said.

“I mean, it’s like a caricature … He took a picture of a cartoon, or an old Western movie character like Geronimo or something, and made something out of it.” The sculptor could not be reached for a response.

City Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) declined to discuss the issue.

Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District), said allowing input from Abenakis in Canada is valid, noting that they’re descendants of people who likely lived in Vermont.

Most other councilors did not immediately return phone calls from Seven Days.

The mayor’s office has delayed asking the council to formally accept the statue but only because it needed to evaluate the state of the foundation, according to Joe Magee, deputy chief of staff.

“The goal right now is to bring it to the August 25th meeting,” he said. “Our primary consideration is not wanting to take ownership of the piece without having a full understanding of where it is going to go.”

He acknowledged, without offering details, that city officials have heard from some Odanak members.

“The city generally wants to ensure we are engaging with Indigenous folks appropriately honoring the history of these lands,” he said.

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2025.

Got something to say?

Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!