SENATE BILL NO. 130 "An Act establishing in the Office of the Governor an advisory council for the preservation, restoration, and revitalization of Alaska Native languages." 10:15:36 AM DAVID SCOTT, STAFF, SENATOR DONNY OLSEN, gave a brief sponsor statement. He conveyed that the bill sponsor was unable to be present; however, the sponsor wanted the committee to know that Alaska Native languages were dying. He furthered that Alaskans were aware that their Native languages were dying and that they feared this occurring. LOREN PETERSON, STAFF, SENATOR DONNY OLSEN, introduced SB 130. Good Morning members of the Senate Finance Committee. For the record, I'm Loren Peterson, staff to Senator Donald Olson. Last year, Senator Olson's office received a resolution from the NWAB supporting the formation of an Alaska Native Languages Commission at the state level. The original resolution is part of the packets in front of you. It is felt throughout the indigenous tribes statewide that Alaska Native Languages (ANL's) are threatened by extinction. The intent of SB 130 is to preserve, maintain, and restore ANL's. Indigenous languages are the most critical components in terms of preservation of cultural identity. The most recent case regarding the disappearing of native languages is the the Eyak tribe that lost its last native fluent speaker, Chief Marie Smith Jones, who passed away in January of 2008. An article on this unfortunate loss is also provided for you in your packets. Now, more than ever, is it imperative that steps be initiated at the state level to support ongoing effective language restoration efforts statewide. SB 130 supports efforts to preserve ANL's and would establish an Alaska Native Language & Advisory Council. This council will then assess statewide language policy and programs, with a mission to seek the most cost effective programs in communities where preservation is most critical. Mr. Chairman, We have 3 language and cultural experts either here or online to testify. Dr. Rosita Worl: Sea Alaska (in person) Julie Kitka: President of AFN Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle: Kawerak Eskimo Heritage Program Director Also Available for Question & Answer: Dr. Rosita Worl: Vice Chair of Sea Alaska Corp & Pres. of Sea Alaska Heritage Scott Ruby: Director of Division of CRA Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, this concludes my presentation. Thank you and more appropriately, Quayana, for your time and consideration for the passage of this very important piece of legislation. 10:19:40 AM JULIE KITKA, ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), expressed the Alaska Federation of Natives' (AFN) support of SB 130. She stated that the AFN felt that the legislation was something that was long overdue in Alaska and that it was important for cultural survival. She furthered that the revitalization of Native languages would benefit young Alaskan Natives. She noted that the AFN wanted the committee to be aware that SB 130 was in line with the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the United States announced support for in December of 2010. She furthered that the U.N. declaration contained a number of articles that supported language restoration and revitalization. She stated that the AFN would like the legislation to include a provision to allow pilot demonstration projects in the different cultural areas in order to advance revitalization efforts in a quicker fashion. 10:23:01 AM ROSITA WORL, PRESIDENT, SEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE, spoke in support of SB 130. She gave a brief statement in Tlingit and shared her Tlingit names, as well as her personal clan, moiety, and house heritage with the committee. She stated that Tlingit names embodied social identities, cultural values, established a bond with ancestors and a responsibility for future generations; furthermore, these things were not taught in school. She offered that it had taken her years to try and reconcile the conflicts that Native children had growing up in a non-Native world. She opined that the legislation would go a long ways towards reducing the kinds of conflicts that Alaskan Native children endure. She stated that the bill was a significant step by the state towards acknowledging cultural and linguistic diversity and that it sent a strong message to the world that Alaska valued linguistics diversity. She furthered that the bill also sent a message to Native peoples that Native languages were not inferior or evil. She pointed out that the bill had been originally brought to the AFN as a resolution by a young man named Tim Argetsinger and related that she wanted to recognize his efforts. She stated that linguistic diversity was a rich resource of this state that was often undervalued. She offered that integrating Native language and culture into schools improved academic achievement. She discussed studies that were conducted by Bill Demmert, which showed that integrating Native language and culture in education systems improved academic achievement. She shared that there was a study being conducted in the Juneau schools, in which the Tlingit language had been integrated in the Harborview School. She related that the heritage institute was conducting a longitudinal study of the Harborview students who were about to graduate, but that the institute was confident that the studies would show that integrating Native language into the school had improved academic achievement. She shared that poor academic achievement resulted in social and fiscal costs and stated that language integration gave people positive self-identity, which could lead to improved academic achievement. She pointed out that there was a difference between language studies and language restoration and stated that there were questions regarding if the council would replicate the work of the Alaska Native Language Center. She related that the Alaska Native Language Center had been in existence for 40 years and that it had done a great job in terms of documentation; however, the center's efforts in language restoration had not been as successful as its documentation efforts. She noted that the heritage institute's linguists had indicated that learning different languages stimulated brain activity. She continued that another benefit of integrating languages into schools was place-based education and offered that learning was enhanced for students who were able to learn about their own environment. She stressed that although Sealaska supported the restoration of Native languages, its programs were also designed to stimulate critical thinking, as well as to advance knowledge and science. 10:33:32 AM BERNADETTE ALVANA-STIMPSLE, KAWERAK INCORPORATED, NOME (via teleconference), expressed support of SB 130. She gave a brief statement in her Native language and shared that she had not learned English until she had attended school at age five. She offered that SB 130 would encourage Native peoples to continue to think in their own, first language. She mentioned that she was the Co-Chair of the Alaska Native Education Association, which was a statewide organization of Native educators and stated that the association fully supported the bill. She stated that the Native language council was needed at the statewide level for assessing the state's native languages and admitted that although she had heard a number of fluent Native speakers, she had not seen a formal survey for five years or more. She related that formal surveys were needed in order to determine which of the Alaska Native languages were still spoken fluently and which ones were in the most critical state as a dying language. She pointed out that one of the projects she had undertaken as the Eskimo Heritage Program Director was the revitalization of the Fish River Inupiat dialect; there were only about four fluent speakers of the Fish River dialect within four communities in the region. She shared that forming the advisory council would enable the communities to establish new programs and projects for a Native language revitalization movement. According to the 2007 Alaska Native Language Population and Speaker Statistics, only 22 percent spoke a Native language fluently.[The comment was made in respect to the percentage of Alaskan Natives that were fluent in a Native language.] She shared that Alaska Natives were losing their cultural foundation and identity, but that through the legislation, the state was acknowledging that Alaska Native languages were needed in the communities and villages. She concluded that Kawerak Incorporated and the Alaska Native Language Education Association fully supported the passage of SB 130. 10:37:13 AM CARL ROSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASSOCIATION OF ALASKA SCHOOL BOARDS, expressed the association's support of the committee substitute for SB 130. He related that the association was resolved in support of Alaska's Native languages and culture being addressed in the schools. He stated that the indigenous languages in Alaska were the cultural base for Alaska's first peoples. He shared a quote from John Atchak, who was from the Kashunamiut school district in Chevak, Alaska; the quote stated, "Our Language tells you who we are and where we are from." 10:38:13 AM SB 130 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.