Alaska Native Government & Policy

The state House unanimously passed a bill Friday morning that would create Indigenous Peoples Day on the 18th of October every year. It coincides with Alaska Day, one of the state’s official holidays.

Anchorage Rep. Harriet Drummond proposed the bill.

“In times of challenge, let’s remember those who have gone before us,” she told the House floor. “Who faced far greater challenges than we do. And who adapted and engineered and created and survived in this land we call home.”

Rep. Bennie Nageak from Barrow told the House he applauds the declaration but reminds the representatives that it doesn’t heal all wounds.

“Setting aside a day will not get rid of the many problems that indigenous people face every day in Alaska,” Nageak said. He listed problems like violence, alcoholism and substandard housing.

The original bill suggested the day coincide with Columbus Day, a federal holiday. Gov. Bill Walker declared Oct. 12, 2015, Indigenous Peoples Day, but it was a one-time designation.

The bill also creates Katie John Day on May 31 in honor of the Ahtna elder who fought to protect subsistence rights. It now goes to the Senate.

The State of Alaska must recognize and enforce the Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s child support orders, according to a state Supreme Court decision issued Friday.

Central Council President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson says that while the court decision is an important milestone, there are still more issues the tribe is working on when it comes to how it serves tribal children, namely how it administers Indian Child Welfare Act cases with other tribes.

Earlier this month the Central Council signed an agreement with the state that lets the tribe oversee custody and funding for tribal foster children.

Peterson says there are families in Juneau that encounter issues when it comes to their children and foster care — they may live in town but are still under the jurisdiction of their home tribe. Because local tribes also receive federal dollars to oversee child welfare, Peterson said the Central Council must be careful to not overstep its bounds.

“That’s a hurdle we’re still trying to get across,” Peterson said. “A lot of our folks want us to step in and solve the problem but we’re really going to have to work with some of the tribes to work out jurisdictional issues and come to agreements. We’re always going to uphold the sovereignty of other tribes and we’re not going to push our weight around.”

Peterson says the court decision sets a precedent for other tribes that may want to more actively oversee their own child support programs.

Read the entire decision below:

Correction: A previous version of this story referred to an agreement signed earlier this month by the tribe and state that concerns tribal children in foster care, but mischaracterized it as being related to tribal child support. We regret the error.

Tribal members in Juneau will have to recast their votes this week for delegates to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribe of Alaska’s 107-member Tribal Assembly.

President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson says a special election is necessary because the firm hired to assist with the original election was unaware of a rule that prevents people from acquiring absentee ballots for someone other than themselves.

Peterson said he learned Wednesday evening of a tribal member who posted on Facebook that he had extra voting materials for anyone who needed them. After looking into it, the council found that multiple individuals were able to acquire additional ballots and the official envelopes that accompany them. Because enrollment numbers are published, Peterson said someone could easily forge the envelopes to appear legitimate.

Peterson also said that he was advised that the election could — and likely would — be challenged.

“It’s incredible, very disheartening,” Peterson said. “There were multiple mistakes made, I think predominantly on the side of our audit firm. Not to throw them under the bus but I also have to be transparent and factual to my tribal citizens and also to those who are running (to be a) delegate. They deserve to know that. They deserve a fair election.”

Thursday was supposed to be the last day of the election. Peterson said the Juneau delegates’ election was the only one compromised and that elections for other communities “went off without a hitch.”

Tlingit and Haida tribal members elect Tribal Assembly delegates from their own communities every two years. The Tribal Assembly’s annual meeting is scheduled to be held in Juneau April 20-22.

Peterson said this was the first year they’d used a third-party to oversee the election. He said Central Council would “come to some conclusions” this week about how to move forward with future elections.

Tribal members can recast their vote several different ways, including online.

 

Alaska Native knowledge is becoming more valued in Sitka’s schools but there’s still much work to be done toward racial equity. That’s the message members of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood delivered to the Sitka School Board at its regular meeting Monday night.

The Sitka School Board assembles once a year in the ANB Founders Hall — both to hold a regular meeting and to listen to a status report from the Sitka Native Education Program.

Compared to meetings in years past, there was a consensus that things had improved.

“I’ve been associated with you coming here to the ANB Hall for board meetings for a very long time. And in that very long time, I tell you I see progress,” said lifetime ANB member Nels Lawson.

Lawson was appreciative of the efforts of the school district to host a paddle-making workshop for a ceremonial canoe trip later this spring, and for participating in a recent discussion with the First Alaskans Institute on working together to better serve all students.

ANS member Patricia Alexander also saw positive change.

“I have to say that I like the tone of the relationship between the school board and the Native community. I think that it hasn’t really been a day at the beach for you all trying to balance the budget. I think we’re aware of it.”

But the good words were balanced by advocacy for continued work on Tlingit language revitalization, and for dialogue on racial awareness.

ANS member Marsha Strand told the board that she considered Tlingit an endangered language. She wanted the school district to take a lead role in its preservation.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if the school district could brag of being on the cutting edge of the best local teaching of Tlingit in Southeast?”

Strand also wanted the district to continue to build racial awareness into teacher training. Her sentiments were echoed by former ANB president Tom Gamble, who is planning a two-day meeting April 1 and 2 as part of the First Alaskans program Advancing Native Dialogues on Racial Equity.

Gamble told the board, “When people are given the opportunity to discuss their experience about race and racial inequity, it gives everybody the sensitivity to say, Look, whatever my actions, they may or may not impact somebody. It just happens with dialogue.”

Gamble urged board members to support the meeting — possibly by hosting it in a school building — and by attending in person.

Board member Cass Pook — an Alaska Native — agreed that racism was more prevalent than most people believe and more insidious.

District cultural director Nancy Douglas responded that upending negative racial attitudes was a major benefit of the Sitka Native Education Program.

“When you think of racism, it’s thinking of changing people’s views of who we are as Natives. And we’re doing that. When you have little kids running up to me at SeaMart saying, Mom, this is the lady who taught me how to weave today — from the non-Native kids! It brings tears to my eyes, no matter if it’s our Native kids or our non-Native kids. Because that means to me that we are becoming valued in the Sitka School District.”

Douglas recalled learning from elders when she herself was a student in SNEP. The message Douglas was taught: “It is our responsibility to make our kids shine.”

The board listened to ANB/ANS members’ issues but took no official action. They briefly discussed making Elizabeth Peratrovich Day a school holiday but agreed that the more powerful way to celebrate the civil rights leader would be to gather students in school for a “teaching moment,” and then release them early to attend the local parade.

Southeast Alaska’s largest tribal government is pressing for an intensive environmental analysis of the region’s health. It’s part of a larger push for protection of transboundary rivers, which flow from British Columbia into the region.

The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska wants to document the region’s waterways so it can measure any damage that might be caused by mines on those rivers.

Council official Will Micklin said it’s lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices to fund a three-year, $4 million effort.

“We believe that there needs to be a sustained environmental analysis and data collection and modeling and the development of key indicators that determines what the environmental quality and health of the ecosystem exists in Southeast Alaska,” he said.

Micklin spoke at a recent Native Issues Forum on transboundary mines at Juneau’s Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall.

He said council officials have been meeting with the EPA, the State Department and other federal agencies.

He said the council understands there won’t be any new appropriations. But it’s come up with a plan to shuffle existing budgets to get the study going.

“We have put forward our analysis and we are expecting back from them in a very short time what sort of cooperation and collaboration we can pursue,” he said.

The central council has joined fisheries and environmental groups, as well as the Walker-Mallott administration, in lobbying the federal government to get involved in the issue.

The concerns focus on the Unuk, Stikine, Taku and other rivers that flow into Southeast Alaska waters.

Council official Rob Sanderson Jr. said mine development on the B.C. side of the border could pollute those waterways, damaging commercial fisheries and tourism.

“But the most important part, I believe, is our way of life. Protecting everything from the fish to the smallest organism in the river,” he said.

British Columbia mine developers and supporters have said they’ve built or will build safeguards to protect regional watersheds.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott has been reaching out to Canadian officials overseeing such issues. After his election in October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed new ministers to agencies overseeing Environment and Climate Change, and Fisheries and Oceans.

Mallott said he asked about a frequent request of mine critics, that a cross-boundary water-issues panel called the International Joint Commission take up Alaska’s concerns.

He said he heard more interest in consultations and agreements already underway.

“The bilateral process that British Columbia and the state of Alaska are now engaged in would be the most likely place that an issue or question might suggest a referral to the IJC,” he said.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and B.C. Premiere Christy Clark signed a memorandum of understanding in November that increased the state’s role in provincial transboundary mine decisions. Work also continues on a more detailed agreement.

The lieutenant governor also said he’s also pursued International Joint Commission referral with the State Department. He said officials made it clear it’s not the direction they want to pursue.

But he’s asking for a more detailed explanation.

“We would like to have clarity, not so much for ourselves, but for all of the stakeholders engaged in this whole issue to hear a clear statement from the State Department as to their view of the place of a potential IJC referral,” he said.

Only one transboundary mine, the Red Chris, is in operation. Most others are under exploration, on hold or waiting for financing.

Alaska Native leaders held a press call Thursday urging Alaska’s senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, to give a fair hearing and a timely vote to President Barack Obama’s forthcoming Supreme Court nomination.

The seat was left vacant when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February.

Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, says leaving the seat empty could harm Native people.

“Tribes are affected by the federal courts to a greater degree than almost any other group in the country,” Pata said. “So it would not be good for Native people and our tribal governments if the Supreme Court is caught in a 4-4 tie for the next two years. NCAI has adopted a resolution urging both the president and the senate to move forward to nominate and consider a replacement.”

Pata pointed out that the court regularly hears cases involving subsistence on federal public lands, protection of children under the Indian Child Welfare act and tribal programs under the Indian Self-Determination Act. She said important legal questions could be held in limbo if the seat is left unfilled.

Julie Kitka, President of Alaska Federation of Natives says filling the vacancy on the court is critical.

“The U.S. Constitution spells out quite clearly that it is the president’s responsibility to nominate a Supreme Court nominee and the senate’s duty to hear and vote upon the nominee,” said Kitka.

Both Pata and Kitka discouraged Alaska’s delegation from joining in the obstructionist rhetoric of Republican Party leaders who have said they may block the president’s nomination.

They say they hope the president will consider nominating a Native American from the western United States who has grounding in federal Indian Law. They urged the nomination of Diane Humetewa, a member of the Hopi tribe from Arizona.