Alaska Native Government & Policy

In June, the federal government instituted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial trade of African elephant ivory.

Many Alaskans are concerned the backlash from this ban is affecting other ivories.

St. Lawrence Islander Susie Silook is the author of a petition to protect walrus ivory and other marine mammal byproducts from various states’ legislation that would see it banned as a response to the federal ban.

With close to 1,000 signatures, Silook sent the petition and a letter to President Barack Obama, which she read from the main stage at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Fairbanks last week.

“Dear Mr. President,” she said, “I write as a sculptor of walrus ivory and bowhead whale bone from the food sources. I was raised on and as founding member of Sikuliiq, Alaska Native artists’ advocacy group.”

At the AFN convention, during a field hearing focused on protecting walrus ivory, Sen. Dan Sullivan recognized that this federal ban does not affect Alaska Natives and their ivory work.

However, the Senator spoke about how individual states have proposed or passed their own ivory bans that extend beyond the federal one.

“By including walrus, mammoth and whale among the species subject to the ban, states like California and, now, New Jersey, and others are starting to get in line, have gone well beyond the federal standard and created an environment that’s having a chilling effect on the Alaska Native handicraft market that we see is so vibrant just outside the halls of this hearing,” Sullivan said.

Silook also spoke at the hearing about the differences in markings between walrus and other types of ivory.

“They’re saying that a lot of the illegal elephant ivory is coming in disguised as mammoth ivory, and there might be something to that, because I’ve never seen elephant ivory,” Silook said. “You have to remove walrus ivory from those descriptions, because it is visually distinguishable, it doesn’t have a cross hatching, it’s got the cracks on it. When you open it up, there’s a core inside that’s different from other ivories.”

One of the other speakers during the hearing was president of Sealaska Heritage Institute Rosita Worl.

She says even though she doesn’t have data to support it, Native artists’ ivory work is valuable to the art world.

“We know that ivory plays a significant role in Alaska small scale subsistence economies and the annual arts and crafts tourist market that is well over $32 million,” she said. “We know that village artisans can make up to 35,000 to 50,000 dollars annually.”

Vera Metcalf, director of Kawerak’s Eskimo Walrus Commission, said the impacts of states banning walrus ivory could affect more than just the ivory handicraft business.

“If walrus is listed on ESA (Endangered Species Act), it will make it much harder to make the case for walrus ivory based on only the artists’ viewpoint. … But it includes food security concerns that we have because we are so reliant on marine mammals for our subsistence resource.”

Hawaii is the latest state to enact legislation banning the sale, purchase and trade of walrus ivory, whale ivory and mammoth ivory, along with other types as well.

Their state’s ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2017.

Southeast’s largest tribal organization will soon be able to offer an alternative to the court system for some criminal cases.

A pending agreement with the state of Alaska will allow the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska to resolve certain criminal cases in tribal court.

Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth said she has “full faith” the agreement will be solidified soon. Central Council President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson said everything else is in place as far as his organization concerned.

“Our tribal court there in Juneau is really ready. We have everything in place, the judge, staff,” Peterson said.

Peterson said Central Council is following the lead of the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks, another tribal organization that is also close to sealing a similar deal with the state. He said allowing tribes to take responsibility for certain court cases will be more effective than what’s currently available.

“We want to do some alternative sentencing, things that will help them rebuild who they are and do it in a culturally sensitive way, but in a way where they’re also responsible to the community at large,” Peterson said.

Lindemuth said the new partnership between the state and tribal courts is a work in progress.

“Most likely we’ll start with misdemeanor-type offenses and the tribes can take jurisdiction over those and deal with those within their tribal court system.”

The state signed an agreement on Thursday with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe to establish a therapeutic tribal court that will focus on cases involving alcohol and substance abuse. The Kenaitze agreement is the first of its kind in Alaska. Lindemuth said the state is looking forward to working with more tribes on similar agreements.

Southeast’s Joe Nelson withdrew his bid for a leadership position on the Alaska Federation of Natives board citing concerns from some in the delegation that the spot should go to a tribal representative. 

Nelson took the stage Saturday to explain to the convention his withdrawal, calling it a “very tough decision.”

“There’s a view that this seat is a tribal seat, a very strongly held view by a good contingent of our AFN population. So, in that sense, you could say maybe this election is rigged, since I’m not being viewed as a tribal person for this purpose right now,” Nelson said to laughter from the crowd. “I have such respect for the tribes and faith in the tribes that I am going to respect that and not push this to a vote this afternoon.”

Outgoing co-chair Jerry Isaac announced on the first day of the convention that he would not seek another term. Isaac, according to his bio on the AFN website, is president of the Copper River Native Association, a tribal nonprofit. The other co-chair, Ana Hoffman, is president and CEO of the Bethel Native Corp.

Nelson said he wanted to unify the delegation by supporting Will Mayo, a former president of the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks. Mayo thanked Nelson for the withdrawal.

“Those are the comments of a leader and the heart that he brings to this is a very humble heart. I have found that that kind of a heart is the one that people can follow,” Mayo said.

Nelson, who serves on the AFN board, is a Sealaska Corp. board member and vice chancellor of University of Alaska Southeast. He lives in Juneau and is a member of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe.

The Presbyterian Church officially apologized to indigenous people across the country during a gathering of Alaska Native people this weekend at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks.

For decades the church took part in the forced removal of children from their homes and families.

Some of those children came from the Nez Perce tribe.

From 1879 to 1940, they were sent by train to a government boarding school in Oregon, where their braids were cut off and they were forced to wear military uniforms.

Presbyterians missionaries taught at that school and ran others in Idaho as well.

Curt Karns, an executive priest in the church’s Yukon region, read the apology before hundreds of attendees at the 50th annual convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives.

“You did nothing wrong,” Karns said. “You were and are the victims of evil acts that cannot under any circumstances be justified or excused.”

Jerry Isaac, a well-known Alaska Native leader, thanked the Presbyterian church, but also asked for more.

“I sure wish that other entities that were so guilty, come forward and do the same, including the U.S. government,” Isaac said.

The church’s apology is similar to one made last spring for what it called “racist actions” during the civil rights era in the 1960s.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell addressed AFN Friday. Jewell announced a new secretarial order that requires the Department to include Native communities and traditional ecological knowledge in land management decisions.

Earlier in her talk, Jewell reviewed gains made in recent years which have brought federal managers and tribal leaders closer together in collaboration on resource issues, specifically pointing to working toward greater tribal engagement in subsistence issues.

“I’m announcing today a new secretarial order, which encourages collaborative agreements between Interior Department’s land managers and federally recognized tribes,” Jewell said.

“The purpose is to provide guidance to our nation’s public land and water managers to make sure that when we share resources with a special geographical, historical and or cultural connection with tribes, that Natives have a meaningful and substantive role in their management.”

She cited an example of federal managers working with tribes in the Ahtna region on solutions to hunting pressure on moose.

Jewell said her new secretarial order provides guidance to managers that native communities have a meaningful and substantive role in decisions.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan spoke at AFN Friday afternoon about improving water and sewer access in rural Alaska and about helping Alaska Native veterans.

Sullivan said that he is working to raise awareness in Congress about the more than 30 villages that still don’t have running water or sewers.

The federal government will give $1.4 Billion dollars nationwide to build new systems, but Sullivan says they need to start putting the money to work.

“The bottom line is we have to get our federal agencies to stop studying these issues and start helping us build these important infrastructure projects that are going to help our communities.”

Sullivan is also working on a bill addressing military veterans who missed the opportunity to apply for native allotments because they were on active duty. The bill would give the veterans and their families the chance to apply now.