INTRODUCTION

The AFN conference, " A Call to Action: Taking Community Responsibility," (October 10,11, 1994) was called in response to the final report of the Alaska Natives Commission which affirmed what the Native community has known for some time - that only they can solve the social, cultural, and spiritual problems that have plagued them for the last 30 years.

The tone for the conference was set by the opening statement of AFN President Julie Kitka, who asked the delegates to "send a clear message, to our people and government alike, that we - as Alaska Natives - intend to reclaim control over our lives."

Saying that the problems facing Natives had multiplied over the years, becoming more serious in scope, she told the Native leaders present that they had to "confront and overcome" these challenges now, as the "will to take hold of our future was slipping away... one village at a time... one family at a time... one person at a time." The alternative, she said, was to "do nothing," to "resign ourselves to our present circumstances;" and this, she said, "was not acceptable."

The only criteria set in the search for solutions were that they be ones Native villages could implement on their own without the need for new authorization from state or federal authorities, and further, that they not require the creation of new government programs. Government, Kitka said, had spent billions of dollars creating a "forest" of programs designed to keep Native people alive, and to solve their growing socialproblems. But, she said, the well-intentioned programs had not worked, they had instead, brought Alaska Natives to the brink of becoming "prisoners of dependency."

Saying that government still has a critical and positive role to fulfill in the lives of Alaska Natives, Kitka called for a "new partnership" with government, where it becomes an "investor" in the economic development of rural and village Alaska; trading welfare programs, hopelessness and depression for jobs, hope, and a new lease on life . She also asked that government and Native people together examine how the ever dwindling monetary resources are being appropriated in rural Alaska, to see if they are going where they are most needed.

The Native leaders present were asked to concentrate on the most basic issues facing Alaska Native communities: the alcohol fueled suffering; physical and mental health; joblessness; and dependency on government.

Called to "identify those things village governments, families, and individuals can do now to improve life for themselves," the village leaders who attended met for two days. The first order of business was to answer the question posed by AFN to its members: " Whose responsibility is it to end the alcohol-related violence and deaths?" and by extension, the social/cultural/ and spiritual problems that lie at the root of these tragedies.

The answer was unanimous, the conferees agreed it was their responsibility; and in so answering, the representatives of the Native villages present, quietly signaled a change of historic proportions.

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