Alaska Tribal Leaders to Meet in Summit in Mid-October

Native News Network Staff in Native Briefs. Discussion »

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – The 11th meeting of the Alaska Tribal Leaders Summit will held on October 16, at the Egan Convention Center. This will be followed by the Alaska Federation of Nations/National Congress of American Indians Tribal Forum at the Alaska Native Heritage Center on October 17.

Alaska Tribal Leaders Summit October 16 - 17

Alaska Tribal Leaders have been meeting for the last three years to address the status and security of our Ancestral lands, the loss of our Hunting, Fishing and Gathering rights, the inadequacy of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act VIII, and the status of Alaska Natives born after December 18, 1971.

56 Yupik and 29 other federally recognized tribes have passed resolutions calling for an Alaska Native Restoration Act to:

Restore tribal (aboriginal) title to lands selected by village and regional corporations under Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,
Restore aboriginal hunting/fishing rights "extinguished" by Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Mandate the enrollment of Alaska Native tribal children born after December 18, 1971 into the appropriate Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act village and regional corporations.

Chief Billy Frank, Chairman of Northwest Indian Fish Commission will be the Keynote Speaker along with Alaska Federation of Nations' first president, the Honorable Emil Notti and Chief Paul John of the Association of Village Council Presidents.

A panel of tribal leaders will then discuss the impact that the loss of food security is having on Alaska'â€™s Indigenous People who are beginning to be arrested for hunting and fishing to feed their families.

A report will be given on the Yupik subsistence fishermen who are going to be put on trial by the State of Alaska for fishing during periods closed by Federal and State authorities without prior consultation with the affected federally recognized tribes. This will be followed by panels on the status and security of our ancestral lands, the rights of Alaska Natives born after December 18, 1971, and the relationship between the Tribes of Alaska and the corporations they created as mandated by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.

Zachariah Chaliak, Chief of the Native Village of Nunapitchuk and chair of the Tribal Leaders summit urges all Federally Recognized Tribes to attend "as we have to diligently protect the sovereignty of our tribes from encroachment and continue to defend our ancestral lands, our Subsistence Way of Life, and the rights of our children born after December 18, 1971."

posted August 24, 2012 7:00 am edt