On November 18 I sent the PM below to Zoi Lightfoot .
Please provide a way to confirm your identity
« Sent to: zoi lightfoot on: November 18, 2008, 02:26:08 pm »
« Bcc: educatedindian »
Hi Zoi
As you know I am concerned about people in a position of public trust claiming to be someone they aren't.
I'm sorry to be suspisious of you and your organization Treaty House, but when I do a search online I can't find a single official UN webpage or other affiliated professional organization which mentions of a " Zoi Lightfoot " working as a lawyer on behalf of indigenous rights in the UN.
This seems a bit unlikely if you were who you say you are.
There has been inquiries made in the Native community , even with Leonard Peltiers family, and so far I have not found anyone who knows you or your family.
I want to be fair. It may be the people making these inquiries just haven't asked the right person
If you are who you say you are, I would like to confirm this through PMs. I would then post something explaining I have confirmed this along with an publicly posted apology for doubting you.
On the other hand , if I can't confirm that you are who you say you are, and that you are doing what you are doing, with the approval of the Nation you claim, then I would feel the need to start a thread in Research Needed titled "Treaty House" .
Could you please help avoid an unnecesary confrontation by providing me with an email address to someone in the Tribal Council ending with the Tribal Councils
@whiteearth.com
who is willing to confirm you are who you say you are, and that you do have the approval of the Tribe you claim to be starting a 'European Native American Embassy' in the UK .
You could tell them to watch for an gmail from PJ Morgan asking about Zoi Lightfoot.
Please note This PM is "semi private" communication. it is Bcc to Al and I fully intend to publicly post any and all information I receive which I feel may be in the public interest.
Either in confirmation of who you are, or in confirmation of who you are not.
PJ Morgan is an alias and I state this on every email I send under this psuedonom . Please don't think this is my real name.
http://www.indigenouspeople.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=45
"First Nations Gathering
The idea of a 'First Nations Gathering' was broached in June 2007 by the group setting up Treaty House. This will be the largest International Intertribal Gathering ever to be held in Europe, planned for 10 – 16 May 2008. It will be an annual showcase event featuring Native American Film, Art and Music together with educational talks and workshops to raise awareness, challenge stereotypes and to focus on current thinking among the First Nations of the Americas.
The Gathering was inspired by the Treaty House project, originated and led by Native American ex-pats living in the UK, with support and approval from Indigenous elders and communities from the US. It is an idea in the making. A Native American cultural and political centre in London, run by First American Nations, providing a focal point for thousands of ex-pats living in Europe. Treaty House is to be a 'European Native American Embassy', a resource centre, point of contact and a cultural bridge for the host community, disseminating information from source, organising and hosting a variety of cultural and political events and producing publications aimed at promoting a true and contemporary image of Native American Nations into the mainstream.
With this aim, we are organising the international First Nations Gathering for 2008 or 2009. Funds raised from the Gathering will go towards setting up Treaty House.
( The article quoted above continues )
A meeting was held with representatives of Indigenous People, the
Native Spirit Festival, First Nations Gathering and the Synergy Centre
to plan and co-ordinate the event for next year. The FNG team includes
:
· Zoi Lightfoot of the Anishinabe Nation, a lawyer for Native
American rights in the UN, living in London.
· Linda Lou Flewin of the Mi'kmaq Nation, a business
entrepreneur, living in Wiltshire.
· Liz Roemer of the Creek/Cherokee Nation, a retired American
Navy IT professional, living in Berkshire.
· Sanda Kolar, a film / documentary maker with strong links to
American indigenous communities, living in London.
FNG have strong links with the Leonard Peltier Defense Campaign,
and with a large network of indigenous performers and campaigners,
including Warrior Artist Productions, who perform "My Life Is My Sun"
by Lenoard Peltier, accompanied by an exhibition of his artwork.
Strong links also exist with the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble and
associated artists, Blackfire and the Jones Benally Family and Joanne
Shenandoah among other Native American performers, artists, spiritual
leaders and intellectuals confirmed for this years Gathering. "
I have yet to recieve any reply from Zoi .
I have a number of concerns .
In my dictionary the definition of the word "Embassy" is
1 The position of an ambassador:also his official recidence
2 an ambassador and his assistents
and the definition of ambassador is;
1 A government agent of the highest rank representing his countries
interests at a foriegn capital
2 any representive or agent charged with a special mission
If Treaty House is to be an "Native American Embassy" in Europe it
seems there needs to be at least a few federally recognized tribes which officially endorse and support this idea. So far I haven't found one.
If this so called "Embassy" does have the approval of the tribal Nations , as is claimed it seems "the public" should be able to easily confirm that the organizers of this do in fact have this approval. Instead, my requests for a way to verify this have either been ignored or met with verbal abuse and threats. After emailing an organization in Europe asking if they knew Zoi I learned my inquirey had been passed on to Zoi and Linda Lou Flewin and I recieved an email from Linda Lou threatening to "track me down" and "deal with me". This is not an appropriate response when people have questions about the legitimacy of Treaty House.
My next concern is that everbody I have seen associsted with Treaty House seems to be only marginally connected with any Native community.
Linda Lou has posted quite a bit of her genealogy and life story on line over the years, and according to her she has Mi'kmaq blood through her mother and was adopted by a family in the UK , where she was raised. As an adult she has visited the Mi'kmaq community where she has been accepted by some of the people as family. I'm not sure about some of the details, but peoples private lives and personalities aren't really the concern of this message board. I see no reason to doubt the basic story Linda Lou tells, but I do question her right to create a political organization referred to as an "Native American Embassy " representing Native people in the UK, and to be the "Consular Director of Canadian Affairs " for this organization.
Liz Roemer was affiliated with the Blackwater Muskogee. A thread on that group is here;
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1735.0On page 4 in reply Reply #86 there is emails recieved from the federally recognized Muskogee saying they do not recognize the Blackwater Muskogee as a tribe or a Nation and they have no right to represent them in Europe.
Although Zoi retracted her support when it could no longer be denied this group was making bogus claims , both Zoi and Linda Lou were adamant supporters of these distant descendents right to call themselves a tribe and a Nation and attacked the people questioning this right.
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1739.0Zoi has also been a defender and supporter of the person who was posting here as Tsisqua. This is especially concerning as this support appeared to be given even after it was pointed out Tsisqua's organization NAU was stealing the names of incarcerated American Indians to create the illusion of having associates and relatives in the Native community. One of my initial concerns about Tsisqua and NAU , was it's claim to be uniting Native voices for political purposes, when there seemed to be no way of verifying how many of the members of NAU were actually enrolled NDNs. Without any way to confirm this, it looked more likely to be a group uniting wannabes into a potentially political voice. Bear Warrior one of the Chiefs of the so called United People of the Cherokee Nation was listed as a member of NAU and his contributions were posted on NAU's webpages. Zoi Lightfoot and Linda Lou Flewin were also listed as members of NAU.
While every online group has a problem with people misrepresenting themselves, NAU members were very defensive of all their members right to claim a political identity as NDN.
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1674.0To see Zoi defending Tsisqua and NAU see reply #13
and Reply #72 page 3 , reply #77 page 4
and also the thread
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1751.25page 2 see reply 47 and 48 and page 3 reply #53
Zoi once again repeats this pattern of being associated with questionable groups claiming to be political entities when she seems to be claiming to know and be involved with Chief April St Francis Merrill
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1722.25Reply #45
Zoi Lightfoot
I DO accociate with the Abenaki as well as other communities and Nations,due to my UN work and the europeon based consular facility OWNED by the Indian Nations(of which I am its current legal director)
Reply #46
Zoi Lightfoot
Direct question here Paul,and i am just the messenger this time.
Question:
"Who is your Chief? and what is your tribe?"
That comes from
Chief April St Francis Merrill
Abenaki Nation.
Reply #52
Zoi Lightfoot
i will send you deatils of the gathering of our nations in the uk next year when the dates been finalized as we should have the Abenaki (and others) chief present
I don't know if this below is true ... But if it is, this Abenaki tribes legitimacy sounds
very questionable ...
It was posted here
http://indianz.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31372http://threeoaks.dakotablogs.com/2008/03/27/iaca-board-under-attack-for-supporting-pl-101-64"The decade of the 1970's started an amazing series of events that
included thousands of individuals across the Eastern Coast and
throughout the Southeast suddenly sticking their heads out from the
underground and proclaiming to be American Indian. The whole show
reminds me of little groundhogs who, instead of determining if winter
will last longer, poke their heads up to see if they can be "Indian"
or not.
It didn't take long for organizers to gather up complete strangers and
form Indian "bands" that "existed from time immemorial". One such
group, formed in Vermont during the mid-1970's, called itself the St.
Francis /Sokoki Band of Abenakis. It didn't take long for the
organization to add it's name to the clogging arteries of the BIA
Federal Recognition folks. After extensive studies of the
organization, it's claims, and it's individuals, the BIA declined to
recognize the group as a "tribe" in 2007.Besides failing four out of
the seven mandatory criteria for acknowledgment, it was found that
only eight individuals out of the 1,171 members could demonstrate
descent from a Missisquoi Abenaki Indian Ancestor. Non of the other
members could document ancestors from the Abenaki, or any other Indian
tribe. All eight descended from the same person, Simon Obomsawin
(originally from Canada) . In addition, these eight did not become
involved with the group until the 1990's."
I don't mean to take away from peoples connection with their ancestors. But when this becomes mainly non native people claiming a political identity , this does become a problem , and is seen as a threat to recognition and the soverienty of many indigenous Nations.
http://taskforce.cherokee.org/"Welcome To taskforce.cherokee.org
Cherokee Nation (Fraudulent Indian) Task Force
A battle for what it means to be an Indian tribe and a struggle for
benefits provided to Indians is currently being waged by groups
seeking to take away the identity and benefits that have been reserved
to federally recognized Indian tribes. Hundreds of false Indian groups
are claiming to be sovereign tribes and are teaching their own
fabricated culture and history as if it were Indian. They apply for
and receive aid from the same sources that fund the historic treaty
based obligations intended for Indians. Yet they do not measure up to
the credentials required of true tribes.
Excerpt from "Sovereignty At Risk" document
The Task Force consists of volunteers from various areas of Cherokee
Nation as well as volunteers from other organizations and tribes. The
purpose of this task force is to provide information to the general
public and local/state/federal government representatives, expose
false Native American tribes, also referred to as wannabe's, and
defend the Sovereignty, History, and Culture of federally recognized
tribes."
Here is another description of how these people wrongly assuming Tribal identities are affecting true First Nations ability to have their rights and very existence recognized
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/05/mohawk-nation-news-algonquins-land.htmlZoi has repetedly said she is working in the UN on behalf of indigenous peoples. I haven't seen much evidence of this, but if she is , when I see Zoi defending so many bogus groups claiming to be indigenous political entities I find that a bit scary.
Someone wrongly representing colonists and settlers who over time can claim some distant native descent , as oppressed indigenous Nations and peoples to the UN , could create a lot of confusion and muddy the issues when it comes to people abroad being able to recognize the rights and very existence of the true continuously existing and long suffering indigenous Nations on this continent.
On the positive side , I have found evidence that Zoi has been involved in the LPDC over in Europe for at least 15 years, and one European organization had good things to say about her. However , it is not for this European organization to give their approval for a Native American Embassy.
I am still concerned that no one in the North American Native community seems to know who she is or knows her family. That seems very odd.
And I doubt having been involved in the LPDC and confronting frauds or being a member of NAFPS gives people the right to claim to be an Native American Embassy in Europe.
I would really appreciate it if Zoi could provide some way of confirming that this organization Treaty House really does have the support and approval of a number of federally recognized tribes or First Nations.
As i don't think members of NAFPS have a right to approve such an organization , I would ask that online friends don't jump in to say how much they like Zoi and associated people as that is really beside the point. This approval needs to come from federally recognized Tribal councils.
If this is a legit organization the run around and abuse i have recieved trying to verify that this approval exists is really appauling.
