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Wabanaki Confederation: An allied group of tribes in northeast New England and southeast Canada, including Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Pennacook, Sokoki, Cowasuck, Missiquoi, and Arsigantegok.
N’dakinna: The traditional homelands of the Abenaki People, encompassing lands that are today Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, plus the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick, Canada.
Native people continue to work and live in the Merrimack Valley. Pennacook people, and members of other tribes, continue to speak native languages, practice cultural traditions, and keep alive the memories of their ancestors.
The following is an excerpt from the 2009 Goals Statement of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook, Greater Abenaki Nation of the Wabanaki Confederation of N’dakinna.
“There is a growing effort to bring history back into focus and to correct many misconceptions about the relationship of Native People, such as us, and the founding of the United States. We were not killed off by disease or warfare and did not disappear with the colonization of this country. Many of us became the individual fibers of the weave that made the cloth of the United States and Canada. We are among you, working beside you in all walks of life. Unless we told you who we were, you would probably never know us.”
Today, the Greater Lowell Indian Cultural Association (GLICA) seeks to preserve and celebrate native heritage by hosting events that bring people of native descent together to practice song, dance, and trade. They also work with other local organizations to educate and provide services for the community.