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