Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
03/04/2021 08:00 AM House TRIBAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Layers of Governance | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TRIBAL AFFAIRS
March 4, 2021
8:02 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky, Chair
Representative Dan Ortiz
Representative Zack Fields
Representative Geran Tarr
Representative Mike Cronk
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: LAYERS OF GOVERNANCE
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
FRAN HOUSTON
Tribal Spokesperson
Auk Kwaan
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Welcomed committee to Native tribal lands
before the presentation on Layers of Governance.
RICHARD PETERSON
President
Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Offered introductory remarks ahead of the
presentation on Layers of Governance.
BARBARA BLAKE
Director
Alaska Native Policy Center
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint and answered
questions during the presentation on Layers of Governance.
LIZ MEDICINE CROW
President/CEO
First Alaskans Institute
Kake, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint and answered
questions during the presentation on Layers of Governance.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:02:46 AM
CHAIR TIFFANY ZULKOSKY called the House Special Committee on
Tribal Affairs meeting to order at 8:02 a.m. Representatives
Ortiz, Cronk, Tarr and Zulkosky were present at the call to
order. Representative Fields arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
^PRESENTATION: Layers of Governance
PRESENTATION: Layers of Governance
8:03:42 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the only order of business would
be a presentation on layers of governance.
8:04:05 AM
FRAN HOUSTON, Tribal Spokesperson, Auk Kwaan, Big Dipper House,
welcomed committee to Native tribal lands.
8:06:54 AM
RICHARD PETERSON, President, Central Council Tlingit & Haida
Indian Tribes of Alaska, pointed out the irony in still asking
for tribal recognition when it was so central to the everyday
lives of Native Alaskans. There were 229 federally recognized
tribes in Alaska, he stated, making up half the number of tribes
in the US, and which were still struggling to gain recognition
in Alaska. "Healthy tribes make healthy communities," Mr.
Peterson offered, stating this has been proven by way of top-
tier health care and education systems, as well as critical
infrastructure, especially for rural Alaska.
8:10:30 AM
BARBARA BLAKE, Director, Alaska Native Policy Center, began a
presentation on layers of governance in Alaska Native
Communities. She mentioned schools often fail to teach to the
complexity of the system and "everyone who leads all the way
up."
8:13:58 AM
LIZ MEDICINE CROW, President/CEO, First Alaskans Institute,
thanked legislature for the existence of the House Special
Committee on Tribal Affairs.
8:15:53 AM
A video was shown from 8:15:53 a.m. to 8:16:49 a.m.
8:17:25 AM
MS. BLAKE explained the video exemplified the way in which
decision making without the input of Alaska Native communities
could be unforeseen.
MS. MEDICINE CROW said policy makers needed to be especially
aware of unconscious bias when making decisions that affected
Native people and whole communities. She added sometimes not
only challenges, but opportunities, were missed.
8:20:12 AM
MS. BLAKE shared stewardship by Native people went back 10K+
years, and the notion of Native "geographic intelligence"
related to names being tied to descriptions of places.
Earthquake Park in Anchorage translated to "ground not to be
built upon," she gave as an example. Maybe Anchorage was not
the best place to set up camp, she added, since it was just a
filled-in swamp. The names gave warnings about location, but
also created history and legacy, and described the abundance of
a place. There were over 20 distinct cultures within Alaska
tribes, and it was important to be aware of the differences in
both cultures and linguistic groups, she imparted.
8:24:08 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW added people born in Alaska were responding to
their own unique places. It is a strength for the state to be
able to tap into that diversity, she said.
MS. BLAKE imparted the three sovereigns delineated as tribes,
state, and federal did not work against each other, but rather
created three times the opportunities to help communities "get
everything right." Each sovereign provided services which were
complementary to the others, she said. She pointed out each of
the 229 tribes in Alaska was a distinct nation unto itself, and
the inherent sovereignty of tribes, and tribes' ability to
govern themselves, existed prior to contact.
8:29:55 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW pointed out tribes in Alaska were not "over
half" of all tribes in the US, but almost half.
MS. BLAKE mentioned the notion of "implicit bias," and that
knowledge systems encountered by children dated back
generations. In a similar way, value systems were "pooled" when
it was time to lead. In Alaska, connections to hunting,
fishing, and gathering were not severed as happened to some
Native peoples in the Lower 48, she mentioned. The connection
to the land is the same as it was to Native Alaskan ancestors
seven generations prior, she said; value systems were carried
forward into today's context.
8:33:03 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW mentioned so much more could be known about a
place if the Native names were used, because the "generational
wingspan" of indigenous knowledge would exist therein.
MS. BLAKE showed slide 9 from the Alaska Native Knowledge
Network, a breakdown of the 20-plus distinct cultural groups and
languages which comprised the Native peoples of Alaska,
especially emphasizing the contributions of the Tlingit and
Athabascan nations.
8:39:43 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW added there was always an opportunity to
support reclamation of Alaska Native languages, not only because
of the vast learning systems which would be uncoded in the
process, but also because of the enrichment that could take
place. In the 2020 census, Alaska also had the most voting-age
Natives in the US, she imparted.
8:42:13 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked for more information about how
understanding in different languages brought about greater
understanding in general.
MS. BLAKE compared it to how travel helped one see things from a
different perspective and allowed one the chance to come home
with different ideas about how to operate in one's own country.
An example of a linguistic opportunity would be how a place name
described not just one person or one aspect, but something about
a place that could be instructive: "the place dangerous for
boating," or "the place with an abundance of salmon/cockles,"
she offered. The titles gave exact references to the world
around people, she stated, and gave clues to what people could
expect when visiting that place. Connecting to a history of
what happened in a location was important as well, she added.
MS. MEDICINE CROW said she was in the process of learning both
of her languages, a process which has helped her understand more
about certain issues, she said. Changing "I love you" with its
emphasis on the way the speaker feels, to "You are loved," with
its emphasis on the speaker, provided another way of thinking,
she provided.
MS. BLAKE added "mother" meant "your mother's sisters," as the
person known as an aunt also provided for a person as their own
mother would. Likewise, there was no word for "cousin," only
"brother" and "sister."
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS said the variability to see things in
another way could stand to help all people, whether they learned
Alaska Native languages or not.
8:50:09 AM
MS. BLAKE pointed out the 229 recognized tribes in Alaska
existing as government entities were recognized before there was
ever any one body governing the state; the tribes had a
governance of their own. Alaska Native people were protected as
people of color, but also by the federal government in terms of
political status, she stated.
MS. MEDICINE CROW added the distinction between the rights
afforded to Native peoples ought to be taught in schools but was
too often not, and therefore assumptions were made that
everything about Native people "was about race," when it was the
political status that was critical for understanding.
8:54:35 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked presenters to speak to the opportunity for
an improved relationship between the state of Alaska and
federally recognized tribes therein.
MS. MEDICINE CROW replied that Russia didn't have the right to
sell Alaska, and yet in the Treaty of Session the US agreed to
treat Native Alaskans with the same set of rights as Native
people down south. Part of the daily practice of the US was to
make agreements with tribes; this was rolled into the
Constitution and recognized by Congress. Native peoples' rights
are inherent; rights were not granted to Native peoples by the
US but recognized by the US so there may exist a government-to-
government relationship.
9:01:57 AM
MS. BLAKE stated three ways to strengthen government-to-
government relationship were through consultation, a "beautiful
opportunity to limit the number of times" tribes must appear in
court regarding a decision, as the state of Alaska has sued
Native people more often than any other state in the US, and is
consistently challenging rights of tribes; through compacting,
an agreement entered into with the state regarding child
welfare, and in which two or more people contract, but in which
the tribe is viewed as a sovereign nation ("How you get there,
we recognize you know best," says the government in this
instance); and through contracting. Tribal healthcare in Alaska
is a beautiful example of compacting, she related anecdotally.
9:08:04 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW added the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, in which
Alaska is setting precedent in our country, is a great example
of Tribal healthcare at work. A critical value of Native
cultures is to care for the entire community, she added, and
this is exemplified with the vaccine rollout.
9:10:06 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS imparted several years ago Indian Law and
Order Commission had identified tribal compacting as a barrier
to public safety, specifically saying when tribal sovereignty
was not recognized, domestic violence perpetrators were not
brought to justice. The state both failed to provide public
safety resources in rural communities and at the same time
failed to recognize communities' own ability to bring
perpetrators to justice. He asked for an elaboration vis a vis
compacting on this failure to bring down to unacceptably high
rates of domestic violence and sexual assault.
MS. BLAKE replied folks were oftentimes reluctant to move into
communities, but the Native concept of care for the area and the
people who live there was deeply rooted. Limitations were
recognized, but the components of compacting already existed so
base line was already high in terms of care. Sometimes it was
better to view from a local standpoint rather than a far-away,
paternalistic, standpoint, she added.
9:14:23 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW said when the state failed to create a
"formal, friendly, and forever" relationships with Alaskan
tribes, the state failed to govern. In Public Law 280 (PL 280),
funding that ought to go to tribes went to the state and tribes
didn't see any benefit, she offered as an example. Someone
taking a moose out of season was noticed more than domestic
violence, she stated. She asked what was in the way of the
state seeing tribes as true partners, because the state
continued to fail tribes in terms of recognition and compacting.
9:17:52 AM
MS. BLAKE referenced slide 13, "Types of Alaska Native
Organizations," which lists the following: 229 Tribal
governments; 12 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)
regional corporations; ~195 ANCSA village corporations; 12
regional Native non-profit associations/consortiums; seven
statewide Native non-profit organizations; ~50 cultural and
heritage centers/museums; five marine mammal commissions; one
Alaska Native bird co-management council; and one Indian
reservation (Metlakatla). She pointed out that corporations and
tribes collaborated but where they got their authority was
different as tribes' authority pre-dated the constitution and
corporations were distinctly different, run by the state of
Alaska. She offered as an example the 20+ drastically different
linguistic groups operating independently in terms of tribal
systems that existed within Sealaska Heritage Institute.
MS. MEDICINE CROW added while Native corporations were created
within state law, and paid taxes to the state of Alaska, they
were constructs of federal law still being shaped, and as
constructs they still had components of federal law binding,
meaning not all pieces of legislation had been implemented. One
issue was the landless issue; another was the blood quantum
requirement, she stated.
9:22:38 AM
MS. BLAKE restated though tribes were autonomous and
independent, they were also a part of a greater community, and
as such village corporations and regional corporations had
fundamental relationships with each one another. She mentioned
ANCSA corporations 70% sharing of revenue sharing split among
regional corporations and consequent of this revenue to
villages.
MS. MEDICINE CROW imparted it was important to understand
ANCSA's profit sharing when it came to natural resource
development.
9:27:33 AM
MS. BLAKE referenced slide 17 on PL 280, which gave the state of
Alaska the right to exercise federal authority concurrently with
tribes over some aspects of criminal and civil jurisdiction.
Alaska had one reservation in Metlakatla, but for the rest of
the state there was no reservation system, she stated. In
states with reservation systems in place, the tribe had sole
jurisdiction on the reservation, she imparted, and the state
would have jurisdiction outside of the reservation system. In
Alaska there was an unwillingness by state to recognize tribes'
concurrent jurisdiction, which led to frequent litigation.
Successful compacting would lead to acknowledgement of current
jurisdiction in communities, she added.
MS. MEDICINE CROW stated funding going through a jurisdiction
which did not provide services was an inhibitor for tribes to
grow dynamic systems.
9:31:41 AM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS referenced an Alaska Daily News article in
which challenging tribal sovereignty was litigating on the side
of an abuser, which was heinous and needed to stop.
MS. MEDICINE CROW said this was what could happen when there was
no true partnership, and tribes had to bear the burden of
inequitable public safety in communities resulting in disparate
harm on Native peoples.
MS. BLAKE added the state of Alaska lost most cases which ended
up in court, so unnecessary litigation may be a good place to
start when looking for budgetary reduction.
9:37:27 AM
MS. BLAKE went over Alaska law enforcement: Alaska State
Troopers, Village/Tribal Police Officers operating through
sovereign tribes, which was a pilot program under Senator Lisa
Murkowski, and Village Public Safety Officers operated by the
state of Alaska in partnership with one of the villages or
tribes.
MS. MEDICINE CROW said law enforcement was an example of
contracting, and hands were tied. She urged the committee to
look at law enforcement from a compacting point of view, as the
health system has flourished, to law enforcement, in which
control was struggled over.
MS. BLAKE referenced ties to land which dated back 10K+ years on
"Our Ways of Life" slide. The opportunity to connect with the
land has never been broken, she stated. Native ways of life are
being chipped away, she stated, but the Native way was to care
for future generations.
MS. MEDICINE CROW clarified that Native "ways of life" was not
merely a lifestyle, but a knowing, being, sharing, and doing; a
comprehensive way of being and an emotional, spiritual, and
educational process. The strangling of Native ways cannot be
culturally appropriated, but culturally appreciated, she added.
People can be taught to appreciate and be grateful, she stated.
Learning to look from a "governing idea of abundance" point of
view would shift the whole paradigm, she stated, but people are
not there yet; there was a lot to learn from Native ways of
life, she said, which was very important to consider from a
policy standpoint.
9:47:30 AM
MS. BLAKE emphasized solutions and possibilities for all
Alaskans: utilization of self-determination/self-governance,
federal/state/tribal governments partnering; and the reimagining
of solutions with tribes at the table.
9:50:05 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY reemphasized the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations
in Alaska. With tribal health organizations at the helm, all
Alaskans of every background were able to be vaccinated as an
example of how the acknowledgement of self-governance and
ingenuity of a people can work to the advantage of all. It's an
example of what can be achieved, she stated.
MS. MEDICINE CROW mentioned there were incredible advocates for
compacting in the state of Alaska and partnering in a
government-to-government relationship with tribes could
transform a story of failure to one of success, which would
enhance the lives of all.
9:56:42 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Tribal Affairs meeting was adjourned at
9:57 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska Natives 101.pdf |
HTRB 3/4/2021 8:00:00 AM |