After nearly an hour of public comment, Brunswick Town Council voted 8 – 1 to designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which would occur the same day as Columbus Day. The decision, coming soon after the City of Portland’s Monday decision, makes it the fifth municipality in Maine to recognize indigenous people on that day, following Belfast, Bangor, Orono, and Portland.

The concern was brought to the council by the Midcoast Indigenous Awareness Group and was sponsored by councilors Sarah Brayman, Jane Millet, and Steve Walker. Council was quick to point out that the decision does not eliminate Columbus Day – which recognizes Italian explorer Christopher Columbus for his arrival in the New World in 1492 – as it is a Federal holiday, but is intended to recognize indigenous cultures, too.