Holding Our Ground Part
15
"Programs are presented as broadcast in 1985
and 1986. Some of the issues may have changed. A new series is
looking at how these issues have changed over time. For more program
information please contact the producer: Jim Sykes, PO Box 696,
Palmer, AK 99645. The address given at the end of the program
is no longer correct."
TapeAlaska Transcripts, PO Box 696, Palmer, AK
99645
HOLDING OUR GROUND
(c) 1985 Western Media Concepts, Inc.
"THE DREAM VERSUS THE REALITY"
(Part 15 of 16)
[Antoinette Helmer] I, who grew up on welfare wished for the
knowledge of wealthy living. My dreams were grand, indeed.
[Harold Simon] The Native Land Claims Act made me an instant millionaire,
but this was on paper only. I didn't see no money, I didn't have
a clear title to the land.
[Paul Young] What is it we wanted? Why did we want it? I think
we have to get back and step back and look at it and clear our
eyes. We understand the American dream. We know what the American
dream is. What's the Indian dream?
ALASKA NATIVES ARE STILL HOPING FOR MANY CHANGES THEY WANTED BEFORE
CONGRESS PASSED ANCSA, THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT
OF 1971. NATIVE PEOPLES ARE NOW COMPARING THEIR DREAMS WITH THE
REALITIES TO DECIDE A COURSE FOR THE FUTURE. THIS IS HOLDING OUR
GROUND.
FUNDING FOR "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS
PROVIDED BY THE ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT
FOR THE HUMANITIES,
RURAL ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM, THE NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH,
AND ZIONTZ-PIRTLE LAW FIRM.
[Charlie Titus of Minto] ...all the elderly thought it was going
to be the same, same way as it was before. I really was for it
because, what I thought at the time, I thought we'll get the land
we trapped on and nobody will bother us. That's what I thought.
CHARLIE TITUS OF MINTO HAD HOPES FOR THE 1971 ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS
SETTLEMENT ACT LIKE NATIVES IN ALL PARTS OF ALASKA. AFTER ALASKA
STATEHOOD IN 1959, THE NEW STATE BEGAN SELECTING LANDS IN MANY
AREAS.
JOHN BORBRIDGE, ONE OF THE NATIVE LAND CLAIMS LEADERS...
The Natives, were faced with a crisis which threatened the loss of more of
their land, not just the loss of their lands meaning those lands which they
claimed. There had already been significant losses through selections by the
state.
IN 1966 ALASKA NATIVES CONVINCED THE SECRETARY OF INTERIOR TO
FREEZE STATE LAND SELECTIONS. A SHORT TIME LATER OIL COMPANIES
PUSHED FOR A TRANS-ALASKA OIL PIPELINE.
[John Borbridge] Under those pressures, and under a need to work
within the congressional legislative system, the Natives came together
and set aside their differences and sometimes took off the gloves
in board meetings, and then after we got through battling on various
points, went off to the Congress, presenting the facade of serenity
and unity on all points.
STATE SENATOR FRANK FERGUSON REMEMBERED THE LAND CLAIMS DAYS IN
A STATEMENT READ BY REGGIE JOULE.
The Native community, as I recall was after a land settlement because the
Native community saw land and the natural resources as their only way of
survival. Since land is a economic commodity, which the state and federal
government wasn't about to give up without a fight, a compromise was set.
Some form of economic settlement with a smaller portion of lands sought,
was the expedient complex solution.
CONGRESS LISTENED, AND ACTED, AND MADE A SETTLEMENT IN A BUSINESSLIKE
MANNER. DOUG JONES WAS AN AIDE TO ALASKA SENATOR MIKE GRAVEL.
Remember what we were trying to do. We were trying to extinguish a claim
and we devised a notion to do it with a combination of land and money and
the implication of that was that good things would subsequently happen, because
good things generally do happen with abundant land and money. The arguments
for support for the legislation had to do with convincing senators and congressmen
that this was a cost effective way of attending to legitimate social and
economic needs of Alaska Natives.
NATIVE CLAIMS WERE SETTLED QUICKLY WITH RELATIVELY FEW PEOPLE
UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE OUTCOME WOULD MEAN. NATIVE NEGOTIATORS HAD
NOT SEEN A COMPLETE COPY OF THE BILL WHEN THE ALASKA FEDERATION
OF NATIVES ASSOCIATION GATHERED IN ANCHORAGE IN DECEMBER OF 1971.
WALTER MEGANACK, OF PORT GRAHAM, WAS ONE OF 600 DELEGATES TO THAT
CONVENTION. THEY HELD AN ADVISORY VOTE ON THE CLAIMS ACT BILL
THAT PRESIDENT NIXON HAD ALREADY SIGNED INTO LAW.
...And a lot of questions asked at that meeting wasn't answered. And it was
very confusing meeting and everybody wonder whether to accept it or not.
We were in a desperate position, because they didn't give us enough time
to explain to our people what we we're getting into.
Many of the leaders back then thought that the land claims would
enhance the tribal government...(DON STANDIFER OF TYONEK)... and
there was promises of land and money. And it was told to me personally,
that is why I voted for the Land Claims when I was 18 years old,
told me that I would receive a great amount of land and great amount
of money. No one ever did tell me that they was going to take the
subsurface minerals, like oil and gas and gravel, and give it to
another corporation called the regional corporation. Nobody told
me that the village corporations would consist only of those people
born before 1971 and that new people wouldn't participate thereafter.
No one ever told me about the State of Alaska enacting their eminent
domain powers, of which they had no jurisdiction previously. If
all of those things were brought to my attention, and if the tribe
voted on this, as we always voted on everything, we usually get
really knowledgeable before we take anything into consideration,
I would never have voted for it.
ONLY THE DELEGATION FROM THE ARCTIC SLOPE NATIVE ASSOCIATION VOTED
AN EMPHATIC 'NO'!
PEOPLE LIVING IN VILLAGES WERE NEVER ASKED TO COMMENT ON THE FINAL
BILL. LILLIAN LLIABAN OF AKIACHAK.
I would like to ask you who voted for ANCSA. Raise your hand if one of you
voted for ANCSA bill. Raise your hand. I would like to see people that voted
for ANCSA. Raise your hand! You see that? We the people of Alaska didn't
vote for that ANCSA bill.
You see, the land claims, in my opinion, was
no more than a mechanism to build the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
It was a mechanism to keep
the oil revenue from going to just the Native people. Right or
wrong, that's the way it worked out and that's what the whole thing
was, and it was a way to get that pipeline corridor through. The
deal was cut and we have to abide by it....(FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE
JERRY WARD)....I went to all the Native families, all the Indian
families, and Eskimos and Aleuts in the Anchorage area and the
Matanuska Valley and Kenai that I could find and helped register
them to whichever region the were in. And I told people that "this
is good." You know, "We're going to have ground. We're
going to have land. We're going to have a place to build a home.
We're going to have some money. We're going to have things that
rightfully belong to the Alaska Natives, and we're not going to
take nothing away from anybody. What we're doing is finally receiving
what is already ours."
ANCSA CONFERRED 44 MILLION ACRES AND ABOUT ONE BILLION DOLLARS
TO ALASKA NATIVES. THE LAND REPRESENTED A SMALL PORTION TRADITIONALLY
USED LANDS, ABOUT ONE-TENTH OF ALASKA. BOTH LAND AND MONEY WERE
DIVIDED AMONG 12 REGIONAL CORPORATIONS AND MORE THAN 200 VILLAGE
CORPORATIONS. LAND WAS NOT GIVEN TO NATIVE GOVERNMENTS OR INDIVIDUALS.
BYRON MALLOT, PRESIDENT OF SEALASKA REGIONAL CORPORATION.
...by that act, by the act of putting the land into the corporations,
the land became an economic asset, under law, under every other
imaginable understanding of what it means to place an asset into
a for-profit business corporation.
INSTEAD OF USING AND OCCUPYING LAND IN A TRADITIONAL SENSE, ALASKA
NATIVES WERE FORCED TO THINK OF LANDS IN WESTERN TERMS OF OWNERSHIP.
[Byron Mallot]...and so immediately we were on a divergent course
as to how that land could best be utilized and how best it could
be maintained on behalf of Native people for the long term future,
because that's not what the land was for. The land was not viewed
as an economic asset. It was viewed as the touchstone and the basis
from which Native people could maintain their value systems and
their cultures and all those things that have brought us to where
we're at today.
CORPORATIONS OWN THE LAND. SHAREHOLDERS IN THE CORPORATIONS CANNOT
SELL THEIR SHARES UNTIL 1992, AND UNLESS THE LAW IS CHANGED, CORPORATIONS
FACE TAKEOVER THREATS. THEY ALSO FACE POSSIBLE TAXATION AND BANKRUPTCY,
THE SAME AS OTHER CORPORATIONS.
We have always been wealthy. It is only since Land Claims that
our wealth has declined. The land we hold in trust is our wealth.
It is the only wealth we could possibly pass on to our children.
(ANTOINETTE HELMER FROM CRAIG).
LANDS TRADITIONALLY USED FOR SUBSISTENCE LIVING WERE VERY LARGE
AND GENERALLY OUTSIDE CORPORATE BOUNDARIES. DOUG JONES.
We probably misjudged the fierceness with which the Native community cared
about the land portion of the Settlement being as much as it could be, and
not very substitutable for dollars as we maybe thought they might be.
BARRY JACKSON IS AN ATTORNEY WHO HELPED WRITE THE LAND CLAIMS
LEGISLATION.
It seemed to me at the time that the corporate structure was the
closest thing under Western law terms to tribes. And that the tribes
in Alaska, the villages in Alaska had held the land essentially
in common, not by individual ownership, and by utilizing the corporate
form we would be able to carry on that tradition, that system,
and at the same time have all the other advantages of a full body
of law which establishes the rights, duties and responsibilities
among the members of the corporation. One of the advantages I saw
with the settlement was the vesting of large amounts of land and
money in Native corporations, especially the regional corporations,
would create a political power.
WHILE THE REGIONAL CORPORATIONS HAVE ACQUIRED A CERTAIN AMOUNT
OF POLITICAL POWER, ONLY HALF OF THEM HAVE MORE MONEY THAN WHEN
THEY STARTED. VILLAGE CORPORATIONS HAVE DONE POORLY IN GENERAL
TERMS.
LARRY MERCULIEFF IS PRESIDENT OF THE VERY SUCCESSFUL TANADGUSIX VILLAGE CORPORATION
OF ST. PAUL ISLAND.
Most ANCSA Corporations had no major positive effect on their shareholders.
This is not surprising considering the host of obstacles in their paths:
little seed capital, lack of local business opportunities, lack of infrastructure
adequate for business development in the community, lack of human resources
trained and/or experienced in the business arena, the leadership spread
too thin by the numerous demands placed on them from inside the village
and out, political pressures to invest in something despite odds of succeeding
or risk, the biases of the business community, internal and external conflicts
brought about by ANCSA ambiguities, and unrealistic shareholder expectations.
VILLAGE PEOPLE TENDED TO HOPE FOR JOBS AND A LOCAL ECONOMIC BASE.
THERE IS LITTLE REASON FOR MANY CORPORATIONS TO INVEST IN RURAL
ALASKA WHERE THE LOCAL CASH ECONOMY IS MADE UP MAINLY BY A STORE
AND A FUEL STATION.
CREDITORS ARE DEMANDING LANDS PLEDGED AS COLLATERAL FROM BOTH
VILLAGE AND REGIONAL CORPORATIONS. LANDS NATIVE PEOPLES HAD HOPED
TO SAVE FOR MANY GENERATIONS. CORPORATIONS ARE STILL LOOKING FOR
WAYS TO SAVE THEMSELVES AND THE LAND. THEY ARE TAKING STEPS TO
KEEP STOCK RESTRICTED AND LOOK INTO THE POTENTIALS OF LAND BANKS.
TAXATION AND BANKRUPTCY STILL REMAIN AS THREATS TO THE LAND.
JOHN BORBRIDGE IS ONE OF THE FIRST LEADERS OF SEALASKA REGIONAL
CORPORATION.
The clear intention of the Native framers of ANCSA was that the land of
our forefathers would be preserved for all of us including those who will
come after for some while into the future. I think if we look for one entity
that has a timeless quality it is the tribal governing body. For a tribe
to ask the question of where do we want to be in fifty or a hundred years
is not all that big a question, because it is consistent with the existence
of a tribe, where there is no beginning and no end. And it appears that
the next logical consideration is to combine the timeless quality of the
tribe with the land resulting in a tribe that is land based. I feel strongly
that cultural identity and integrity and a land base are essential.
TOM ABLE IS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED TRIBES OF ALASKA, A STATEWIDE
ORGANIZATION ENCOURAGING DEVELOPMENT OF TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.
Basically we have, I think, an action plan that's designed to work with our
village corporations and regional corporations in such a manner that the benefit
that is accrued to both are going to be real, substantial...And basically we
need the corporations in some aspects. And we can also demonstrate to them
that there is a great deal financial benefit available to all of us if we can
present ourselves in such a manner that we are working in tandem rather than
in cross purposes. We don't intend to be taking over corporate business, however,
we would like to develop a defined and controlled relationship with our corporation
such that they are guaranteed some measure of success, rather than constantly
being in a crisis management situation and constantly bleeding off assets to
survive and continue their operations.
GLORIA STICKMAN FROM TAZLINA
We can't really expect our corporation to take care of our cultures, keep up
our land. It's something we have to do as a people.
ALASKA NATIVES HAVE ADAPTED MANY WESTERN TOOLS TO THEIR WAYS OF
LIVING. SOME PEOPLE WONDER IF CORPORATIONS ARE MORE THAN TOOLS
AND QUESTION WHETHER NATIVE CULTURES ARE CHANGING TO ADAPT TO THE
CORPORATION STRUCTURE.
DENNIS DEMMERT RUNS THE NATIVE STUDIES PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF ALASKA.
The philosopher Ortega made the point that one thing that takes place over
time is that we have some aspirations, we have some ideas for change, there
are things that we want, and once we get them, those aspirations, as he
says, change into appetites. And what is happening with us in this change?
I don't know that we're standing outside of the situation adequately to
see what we're doing. But I'm very fearful that the kind of aspirations
that we're developing are for assimilation. Whether we intellectually reject
it or not, it's kind of an insidious sort of thing that's taking place.
And I'm very fearful of Native people simply becoming brown white men.
You see generation gaps developing where there
never used to be any and language barriers developing between
grandparents, parents,
and grandchildren. (RONALD BROWER OF BARROW.) You'll find the eldest,
who may speak only Iñupiaq, and on the other hand, their
grandchildren speaking only English. So we are presently in the
Arctic slope experiencing a very different form of a degeneration
of our society, both physically, mentally, economically, spiritually,
and culturally. The damage is evident, you just have to look at
it.
THREE YUP'IK VILLAGES IN SOUTHWEST ALASKA HAVE BANDED TOGETHER
TO FORM THE YUPIIT NATION. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN SCHOOL DISTRICT
AS A PART OF THE STATE EDUCATION SYSTEM. THEY WANT TO NARROW THE
GENERATION GAPS.
WILLIE KASYULIE IS PRESIDENT OF THE NATIVE GOVERNMENT IN AKIACHAK.
We are trying to involve the Elders in our schools, we're also involving
our Elders as far as survival skills--going out to the tundra and have
them show the students how to set traps, even shelters in cases of emergency.
I guess the other aspect would be to look for places, where, like subsistence
game, like the fish in the lakes, where to go, how to set traps and whatnot.
THE TRADITIONS ARE RECOGNIZED WITH INCREASING IMPORTANCE AS NECESSARY
TO DEAL WITH THE FUTURE.
We are still here, still fighting for what we believe in, still
a proud people, with a deep culture still intact, despite what
was done to us.
THE ALEUTS LIVING ON THE PRIBILOFF ISLANDS WERE ORIGINALLY ENSLAVED
THERE BY RUSSIAN FUR TRADERS. THE SYSTEM WAS PERPETUATED BY THE
UNITED STATES.
LARRY MERCULIEFF.
Through what may be called the conflict model of education, we have developed
an attitude that if we must survive in a mainstream society we can only
do it by learning its rules, its language, its systems, its institutions,
as well as the best of those from that society. But at all costs, protect
our rights to the land and the culture and lifestyle we have chosen to
evolve.
CLAIRE SWAN OF THE KENAITZE TRIBE
We certainly cannot return to the past, but we are what the past has made us,
we've brought it with us. One of the most important things is to find out
what a tribe is. We were here first. We were here 3,000 years ago, and ANCSA
was written because we are here, because the tribal people were here. It
is not the other way around.
We had some very great hopes...(RONALD BROWER)...in that we would
be living a better life as a result of ANCSA and that we would
be reaping some of the benefits. That has not been the case.
HARVEY SAMUELSON OF DILLINGHAM.
Really this Native Land Claims was a landmark deal because it gave our people
recognition, the right to their land. A lot of people say Native Land Claim
was no good and everything else. These Monday morning quarterbacks. But,
dammit, it was the first right we got to our lands and gave us some sort
of identity.
ROY EWAN ...As far as the overall land claims, I see a prouder
Native people than we did, say, before 1971. They know that they
have something.
I think Native people today, I think one of the greatest attributes
of the Act (PERRY EATON) is that we can stand up as Native people
today and deal with Native problems as Natives. And that was not
true on Kodiak Island fifteen years ago. In many cases of the state,
it has been the rebirth of the people. I have faith in the people.
I think that we will deal with the problems and because of the
renewed vigor and the renewed identity and the pride that we have
today, that we did not have fifteen years ago. I think that we
will overcome the problems.
Native people have created, and the Claims Settlement Act has
created the opportunity for us to destroy ourselves...(BYRON MALLOT)...by
having us use our own institutions and fight with our own people
without looking outside to where some of the real obligations for
our circumstance and for our future lies. The Claims Settlement
Act was basically a land settlement. It became much more than that,
certainly, but that's what it was really all about at that time.
And what has happened is that many Native people have transferred
all of their hopes and all of their aspirations and all of their
frustrations, and all of their anger to ANCSA. We wanted institutions
that we would control and we wanted to control our own destiny,
and then ANCSA was a way to do that. Well, doggone it, ANCSA isn't
a way to do that. ANCSA can do certain things but it can't do everything.
CLAIRE SWAN.
Maybe the only significant benefit that any of us are going to get out of it
is that it caused us, as Native people, to look, to think about who we are
and where we are, what we're doing. But the identity is the important thing.
WILLARD JONES OF KASAAN.
...so if the intent of the Act was to have the Indians fit into the mainstream,
or acculturation or whatever terminology wants to, so that we can become
a self-sufficient people, it has not happened yet. So for our dreams, I guess
it would be called the great American dream, that is still something we're
looking for.
LARRY MERCULIEFF.
An Aleut story comes to mind at this point. There was a two hundred year old
man named Koyux. Koyux lived in a band which became a village, which became
a city. Before his leaders were Elders in the councils, and now they are
IRA presidents, city mayors, and corporate presidents. Before land was used
for communal benefit, owned by no one, and now it is in lots and blocks owned
by individuals. Before, his home was made of the free earth, with energy
from the earth, and now he must make money to keep the house habitable, and
apply under some law or with some expense for the land to build a home. Before
all his food came from hunting, fishing, and gathering, and now some or most
of it comes in wrappers filled with chemicals which he must buy. A little
boy asked Koyux what he must do to control his future, and Koyux replied; "This
world is not of our people's making, but it is not too late. White man's
words have as many meanings as there are seals in the world's oceans. Study
it, and choose the road you wish to take or it will never be of your own
making. Do not reject the other worlds, take the best from it and mold it
into yours, and above all do not follow your mind, let your mind follow your
heart. Your heart contains your people's spirit and courage of generations.
Your mind is what you learn today. Do not give up for with every problem
there is a solution."
ROBERT MULLUK OF KOTZEBUE.
We always have to try to determine our future. Otherwise, we will get too caught
up in one simple thing, or one matter or one problem. We have got to look
at it from all angles. So this is what we gotta do is we've got to look beyond
the horizon.
EDGAR NINGEULOOK OF SHISHMAREF WROTE....
We are the only ones who can save ourselves. We keep looking to the outside
world for someone to come and do it, and it's not going to happen. We are
expecting someone out there to save us and in fact, there is nothing in the
outside world that is really that important. I think our people ought to
understand that it is possible to maintain their identity and their spirit
and their language and their traditions and their history and their values
and still function in the twenty-first century.
FOR HOLDING OUR GROUND. THIS IS ADELINE RABOFF.
THIS PROGRAM IS PRODUCED BY JIM SYKES, WRITTEN
BY MARY KANCEWICK AND SUE BURRUS, EDITED BY SUE BURRUS, AND RESEARCHED
BY FRANKIE
BURRUS. SPECIAL THANKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF GAMBELL FOR DANCING,
SINGING, AND DRUMMING. ALSO THANKS TO THE INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE,
AND ALASKA NATIVE FOUNDATION. EDGAR NINGEULOOK'S WRITTEN REMARKS
WERE READ BY CHARLES OXEREOK. "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS
A PRODUCTION OF WESTERN MEDIA CONCEPTS WHICH IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE CONTENT.
FUNDING FOR "HOLDING OUR GROUND" IS PROVIDED BY THE ALASKA HUMANITIES
FORUM, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, RURAL ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION
PROGRAM, THE NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH, AND ZIONTZ-PIRTLE LAW FIRM.
[Western Media Concepts no longer exists. Please Contact
TapeAlaska, PO Box 696, Palmer, AK 99645 for information about
Holding Our Ground.]
PROGRAM SUMMARIES:
1. The People, the Land, and the
Law
Comprehensive 30-minute survey of the burning issues facing Alaska's Native
community in the second half of this decade. This tour over the vast landscape
of Alaska Native affairs serves as an overview of the topics to be treated
in depth during the other 14 segments.
2. The Land and Sea
The ages-old Native feeling about the land comes across the airwaves like a
fresh breeze. Two starkly different realities are presented—the Native
concept of oneness with the land and the Western notion of land ownership
and development. How do these contrasting philosophies fit the Native in
rural Alaska?
3. Subsistence—A
Way of Life
Far from the political and legal controversies surrounding subsistence, Natives
carry on their traditional subsistence lifestyles. Hear their very personal
descriptions of subsistence, what it is, and what it means to them. An important
aspect of this documentary will be to delve into the mix of subsistence and
cash economies.
4. Sovereignty—What
it Means to People
Self-determination is the heart of a rising grassroots political movement.
The listener will learn that this quest by Native people to control their own
futures reaches far into the past. And the listener will discover that American
political theory is not as much at odds with the sovereignty movement as one
might think.
5. Traditional Councils and Corporate
Boardrooms
Who calls the shots in the Native community: A look at power, history, and
decision making. The audience will consider change from the perspectives of
traditional village rule to government and corporate bureaucracies.
6. The Land and the Corporations
Traditional Native lands became corporate assets because the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act created profit-making Native corporations to hold the
land. This segment will look at one of the toughest questions facing the
Native community today: "Do these Native corporations have an obligation
to develop their lands to earn a profit for their shareholders, or do they
have an obligation to preserve those lands for subsistence and for generations
to come?"
7. Risking and Saving the Land
Land owned by Native corporations can be lost through sales, corporate takeover,
bankruptcy, or taxation. This has generated so much concern among Natives
trying to save their land that there are now a number of options to prevent
loss of these lands. This program is an exploration of the major risks and
what alternatives are available.
8 Subsistence and the Law
Carrying on the subsistence lifestyle without interference from the law is
a thing of the past. Traditional ways of hunting fishing, and gathering are
now subject to political and legal changes and challenges in what may well
be Alaska's most bitter controversy. Hear discussion of the new role of Alaska
Natives as treaty-makers and game managers.
9. Sovereignty - How it Works
in Real Life
Local government control is a reality in some areas of Native Alaska. In other
areas Natives are working to implement their own unique forms of self- government.
Some have found self-determination in traditional government. Take a close
look at the communities where sovereignty is becoming a reality.
10. The Newborns—Left
Out of ANCSA
When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. passed on December 18, 1971,
all those yet to be born were left out. Now thousands of teenagers and toddlers
alike are on the outside of ANCSA looking in. The Native community is divided
into ANCSA shareholders and newborns, and the problems could get worse. Natives
young and old speak out in eloquent terms.
11. From Hunter, Fisher, Gatherer
to Corporate Director
The corporation idea—how and why it was chosen as a vehicle
for land claims. Was this a good way to give Alaska Natives
a piece of the American
dream, or was it a way of assimilating them? This program examines how Natives
have made the transition from traditional life to corporate director or shareholder
12. Changing
the Claims Act—The
Key Players
Nearly every Native organization in the state is jumping on
the "Let's
do something about ANCSA" idea. What began as grassroots dissatisfaction
with the act has now shifted into a well-organized movement. There is the Inuit
Circumpolar Conference, the United Tribes of Alaska, the Alaska Federation
of Natives, and Association of Village Council Presidents, and others.
13. Recommendations of the Alaska
Native Review Commission
An historic journey by Canadian Judge Thomas R. Berger has culminated in some
provocative recommendations about the options open to Alaska's Natives. Listeners
will hear a cross-section of views about what Berger reported and how this
may affect changes in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
14. Other Settlements with Indigenous
Peoples Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act inspired other indigenous peoples in
the world to seek land claims in the settlements with their countries. This
program will look at those efforts in Canada, Greenland, Australia, Norway,
and elsewhere. Now some of the land claims proposals of others are being studied
by Alaskans seeking to improve ANCSA.
15. The Dream versus the Reality
The final segment considers what people wanted all along in land claims and
what they got. Should all the hard work of the past be scrapped? How has
the dream changed? Voices of many people speak of the future, what they want
and how they will go about getting it for themselves and their Children.
16. Special Program--Berger's
Recommendations
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