* m a sk UB RAW HISTOR'CM- TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OVERVIEW ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS VOLUME XIV OVERVIEW PAPERS FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 16, 1984 ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Alaska Native Review Commission HON. THOMAS R. BERGER COMMISSIONER KF 8208 .A46 198*+ vol. 1*+ TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS OVERVIEW ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS VOLUME XIV OVERVIEW PAPERS FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 16, 1984 ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Transcripts of the Alaska Native Review Commission are produced in two series. Those in Roman numerals are for the Round­ table Discussions. Those in Arabic numbers are for the Village Meetings. All original transcripts, audio tapes and other material of the Alaska Native Review Commission are to be archived at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701. Acknowledgements: The Overview Roundtables were supported by funding from the Ford Foundation, the Alaska Humanities Forum, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the North Slope Borough. This publication is a companion to the thirteen-volume transcript of proceedings of the Alaska Native Review Commission's Overview Roundtable Discussions held in Anchorage, Alaska, February 27 - March 16, 1984. The four papers contained here were prepared to provide a framework for discussion, and are therefore integral to the record. Table of Contents 1. THE SPIRIT OF ANCSA: NATIVE EXPECTATIONS AND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT. By Ann Fienup-Riordan, pages 1-34. (Reference Volumes I & II of transcripts.) 2. A COMMENTARY ON INSTITUTIONS AND LEGAL REGIMES ARISING FROM THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT AND THE ALASKA NATIONAL INTEREST LAND AND CONSERVATION ACT. By Walter B. Parker, pages 1-15. (Reference Volumes III, IV, & V of transcripts.) 3. NATIVE AMERICAN CLAIMS TO RESOURCES IN THE LOWER 48, AND UNITED STATES' POLICIES. By Joseph G. Jorgensen, pages 1 - 48. (Reference Volumes VI, VII, VIII, & IX of transcripts.) 4. THE RE-EMERGENCE OF INDIGENOUS QUESTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW* AND A COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL CR0N0L0GY OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS. By Douglas Sanders, pages 1 - 35. (Reference Volumes X, XI, XII, & XIII of transcripts.) * Reprinted from Canadian Human Rights Yearbook, 1983 Carswell, Toronto. \ THE SPIRIT OF ANCSA: NATIVE ASPIRATIONS AND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT by Ann Fienup-Riordan for Overview Roundtable Discussions Alaska Native Review Commission February 27 through 29, 1984 Anchorage, Alaska Suite 304, 429 "D" Street Anchorage, AK 99501 THE SPIRIT OF ANCSA: NATIVE ASPIRATIONS AND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT by Ann Fienup-Riordan Introduction The following essay is an attempt to summarize the spirit of ANCSA as it is revealed in testimony given by Alaska Natives at hearings before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs held in both Alaska and Washington, D.C. prior to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. It speaks to the issue of how Natives felt the settlement of land claims would address present problems identified within their communities, as well as help to provide a solution which would also benefit future generations. The Native aspirations and expectations as revealed in the formal testimony considered were born of a definite historical moment. During the 1960s, a concerted effort was begun by Alaska Natives to preserve their land rights: Traditionally living and functioning in small isolated groups, the Eskimo began to learn from the more politically experienced Southeastern Indians the importance of union. Regional Native organizations began to multiply around the rim of Alaska from the Northslope to the Gulf of Alaska and in the upper reaches of the Yukon and Tanana rivers for the purpose of protecting Native rights in land matters, protesting the adverse effects of the proposed two billion dollar Rampart hydro-electric project and demanding greater self determination for the residents of the Pribilof Islands (Edwardson, 7/68, p.606). In spite of early diversity among Alaska Natives, the common threat of land loss, which reappeared with the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act, began to forge a unified front. During this period there was also increased communication among Natives from different regions as they gathered together in government sponsored advisory committees spawned by the war on poverty on the national level and dealing with health, housing, and educa­ tional programs at the local level (Arnold 1976:109). One of the results of these meetings was that Natives from different parts of the state began to realize how widespread many of their problems were, especially the problems of land and hunting rights, employment, and education. By 1966, with the formation of AFN, what had begun as a plethora of isolated and politically powerless complaints began to coalesce into a finite number of problems identified by group which were beginning to wield political clout. The increasing leverage of these nascent political bodies was directly related to oil development, which had been at issue even before 1960. However, not until the mid 1960s was there the general recognition by both the state and federal governments, as well as the oil industry, that the land issue had to be resolved before anything else could go forward. By 1967, 39 protests had been filed by different Native groups protesting the transfer of almost the entire state, basing their claims on aboriginal use of the land. The first two bills intended to resolve these claims were intrpduced into Congress in the summer of that year, followed in January of 1968 by a bill recommended by the Land Claims Task Force introduced by Senator Gruening. At this point the formal hearings under consideration here began. By the time these early bills were introduced, the organizational focus on land was explicit. Subsequent testimony was increasingly unified, and a broad and diverse Native constituency journeyed to Anchorage, Fairbanks and even Washington, D.C. to say their piece. However, although land claims was the issue to be resolved, Native and non-Natives alike recognized that much more was at stake. Their testimony bears clear witness to the breadth and depth of their concerns. Since the testimony was given, the Native community has won many of the goals for which they fought in the late 1960s. The position of the Natives, economically and socially, has changed dramatically. However, many of the essential concerns of the testimony continue to apply. Although clear changes have occurred, the same issues of dependence vs. independence and cultural amalgamation vs. cultural integrity continue to shape current Native aspirations and policy decisions, and for this reason are well worth careful scrutiny. Methodology and Scope of Findings The basic source upon which the following discussion is based is 2,000 pages of testimony given by a combination of Native elders and young leaders representing distinct Native groups at federal hearings held during the period between February 1968 and October 1969 (see bibliography). Of this material, the most valuable testimony proved to be the earliest, specifically that given in Anchorage during the period between February 8th and 10th, 1968. This testimony proved to be particularly rich because it was the very first formal testimony taken after the introduction of a land claims settlement bill into the U.S. Congress, so that it was more concerned with aspirations tied to the settlement as a whole than with the mechanics of a particular bill. Also, the February testimony preceded the publication of the Federal Field Committee's "Alaska Natives and the Land," a critical document in the history of the settlement which dramatically focused much of the future testimony, helping to realize an expressive unity which was not as pronounced in the earlier testimony. The breadth of the testimony of February 1968 was also enhanced by the participation in the hearings of a considerable number of Natives, both recognized leaders as well as unaffiliated individuals with a desire to speak their mind (see Table IA). This was possible because the hearings were held in Anchorage, Alaska, while all but one of the future hearings took place in Washington, D.C. 2 TABLE IA Native Testimony Given in Alaska Before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, February 8, 9, and 10, 1968 Amedias, Frank, Bethel Native Association Anderson, Ralph, Chugiak, Alaska Brenwick, Lucy, Copper Center, Alaska Charley, Walter, Ahtna Tannoh Ninnah Association, Copper River Indians Chichenoff, Katherine, Kodiak Area Native Association Deacon, John, Grayling, Alaska Degnan, Frank, Unalakleet, Alaska Delkittie, Mike, Nondalton-Lime Hills Indian Group Demientieff, Claude, Galena, Alaska Demaski, Andres, chairman, Council of Nulato Evanoff, Bill, Nondalton-Lime Hills Indian Group Floresta, Helen, Nondalton-Lime Hills Indian Group Frank, Richard, president, Fairbanks Native Association Franz, Charlie, president, Alaska Peninsula Native Association Goodlataw, Joe, chief, Copper River Tribe Hensley, William L, a Representative in the Alaska Legislature Hopson, Alfred, Arctic Slope Native Association Hopson, Eben, Arctic Slope Native Association Isaacs, Andrew, chief, village of Tanacross John, Peter, spokesman for Minto village Katchatag, Stanton, Anchorage, Alaska Kelly, Phil, president, THEATA Kelly, Walter, Bethel Native Association Ketzler, Alfred R., spokesman from Nenana, Alaska Kignak, Ernest, Arctic Slope Native Association King, George, Nunivak Island, Alaska Klashinoff, John, Cordova, Alaska Kvasnikoff, Sarjus, English Bay, Alaska Laumoff, Ewen Moses, Kodiak Area Native Association Lekanof, Flore, president, Aleut League Matfay, Larry, Kodiak Area Native Association Meganock, Walter, Port Graham, Alaska Miller, Dave, first vice president, Takotna-McGrath Native Assoc. Mizak, Ivan, Bethel Native Association Naanes, Elva, secretary, Alaska Federation of Natives Nicholls, Hugh, first vice president, Arctic Slope Native Assoc. Northway, Walter, chief, Ajunk Northway village Notti, Emil, president, Alaska Federation of Natives Nylin, Ernest, Seward Peninsula Native Association Ondola, George, chairman, Village Council of Eklutna Oquilluk, William, Seward Peninsula Native Association Oskolkoff, Larry, president, Kenai Peninsula Native Association Oskolkoff, Father Simeon, Orthodox priest, Tyonek village Pancak, Simon, Arctic Slope Native Association Paul, Frederick, Arctic Slope Native Association Paul, William, Sr., representing Tlingit, Haida, and Arctic Slope Natives Paukan, Moses, president, Association of Village Council Presidents of the Lower Kuskokwim and Yukon villages 3 . TABLE IA (continued) Peratrovich, Frank* Alaska Native Brotherhood Pillifant, Thomas H., Eklutna, Alaska Rexford, Herman, chief, Village Council of Kartovik, Alaska Sackett, John, Huslia, Alaska Samuelson, Harold Harvey, Akiakhak, Alaska Semple (Simple), Peter, spokesman from Fort Yukon Seton, Joe, Bethel Native Association Severson, George, Nondalton-Lime Hills Indian Group Smith, William de Ville, Nondalton-Lime Hills Indian Group Soboleff, Rev. Walter, president of Alaska Native Brotherhood Stick, Edna, Kenai Peninsula Native Organization Tansy, Ruby, spokesman for Cantwell village Thiele, Mrs. Flora, Kenai Peninsula Native Association Topsekok, Frank, Seward Peninsula Native Association Trigg, Jerome, Seward Peninsula Native Association Wright, Donald R., president, Cook Inlet Native Association Letters or Statements Luke, John P., secretary of Tanacross Council, Tanacross, Alaska Oskolkoff, Grassim, Ninilchik, Alaska Peterson, Frank R., Old Harbor, Alaska Sargent, Alvin, Kodiak, Alaska 4 TABLE IB Native Testimony Given in Alaska Before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs October 17 and 18, 1969 Ahmaogak, Walton, president, Arctic Slope Native Association Ahvakana, Mrs. Lucy, Beechy Point, Alaska Ahvakana, Nelson, Barrow, Alaska Anderson, Nels, Names Association Bristol Bay Native Association (plus map) Brower, Thomas P., Sr., Barrow, Alaska Brown, Agnes, for the Native village of Tyonek Brown, Alice E. Carter, Harry, President, Kodiak Area Native Association, Kodiak, AK Charlie, Neal, Minto, Alaska Chilkat Indian Village (Klukwan) Demientieff, Nick, Fairbanks, Alaska Esai, Bobby W., Sr., and the Upper Kuskokwim Athapaskans of Nikolai, Telida, Medfra, and McGrath, Alaska; accompanied by Ray Collins Ezi, Peter, treasurer, Village Council of Eklutna George, Jimmy George, Mrs. Jimmy Guy, Phillip, president of the Association of the Village Council Presidents, Inc. ; s Jack, Noah, Kipnuk, Alaska Jacobs, Mark, Sr., Sitka, Alaska James, George, Eagle Tribe, Angoon Johnson, A.P., local president, Tlingit and Haida Indians, Sitka Johnson, Samuel, chairman, Tlingit and Haida of Angoon Johnson, Tom, president, Northwest Granger Processing Co., and Northwest Native Association member Joseph, Peter and Nina Joseph, Rosalie and-Stanley Kagak, David, Wainwright, Alaska Kito, Edward R., president, Theata Club, University of Alaska Kito, Richard, Petersburg, Alaska Kito, Sam, president, Fairbanks Native Association Matumeak, Warren, Barrow, Alaska Miller, George, president, Kenaitze Indian Tribe, Kenai, Alaska Moore, Martin, Emmonak, Alaska Nageak, Vincent, Thomas Akootchook, Mrs. Myrtle Akootchook, Perry Akootchook, and Mrs. Elizabeth Frantz, Barter Island (Kaktovik), AK Nathaniel, James, Fort Yukon, Alaska Negovanna, Weir, James Kagak, and Samuel Agnassaga, Wainwright, Alaska Nelson, Charles, first vice president, Central Council, Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska Notti, Emil, president, Alaska Federation of Natives plus information supplied for the record Painter, Kelly, Ruby, Alaska Paneak, Simon, and Elijah Kakingak, Anaktuvik Pass Paneak, Simon, Anaktuvik Pass (additional) Panigeo, Wyman, president, City Council, Barrow, Alaska Peterson, Larry, Fort Yukon Native Association Player, Anna, on behalf of Flore Lekanoff, head of the Aleut League Rock, Howard, editor, Tundra' Times, Fairbanks, Alaska 5