ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | PDF
Version
(Tape changed to Tape #4.)
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: (Already speaking before recorder turned on). . .the list is a Mike Williams. (Pounding noise and people speaking in background.)
MR. WILLIAMS: Hello, my name is Mike Williams. I'm from Akiak, Alaska. I'm Vice-chairman, of the Akiak IRA Council, and, you know, I have been involved for the last about 20 years -- 15 to 20 years in our tribal government, and village corporations, and municipal governments; and one interesting thing is, you know, why are we in this fix right now today in Alaska? With all the resources that we have; we have all the oil; we have all the gold; we have all the minerals; we have all the fish; we have all the timber; we have all of those, and the Alaska Native people, us, are having to go through this process to take care of our problems.
And if we had all those resources that were developed and the payment that all the tribes in Alaska would receive, we' d have the best health program, best, education program, best of everything right now at this time. But it isn't so, because, you know, all of the dollars are going away from the communities and not generated within the communities; and we have problems with water, sewer, and all those suicides, alcohol, and all those social ills that we face.
I will talk a little bit on the governance. We've heard it before today; but my big concern is having three, four, five governments within the small community and -- for an example, in Akiak, you know, our community is split, and we're having family wars, and, you know, we have hard feelings -- political hard feelings to our own family members; and we're fighting amongst ourselves; and the only -- I think, before the arrival of different forms of government, we had our own; and I think, you know, that -- our people handled them well; and regardless if it's domestic, or criminal, or whatever issue, I think it was dealt with.
And we had our resources -- the moose -- the living animals and the fish, you know, they were taken care of by our own laws. You know we have our own laws towards that -- towards those resources.
I think -- to make this really short, I think, you know, we as Yup'ik people have become dependent upon somebody else coming in and giving us free -- of everything free: free health care, free education, and you know what? Those things aren't free.
But I think, in order to sol -- fix or solve the problems that we have today, I think, first, we need to revitalize our own forms of government that we had before; utilizing our elders; and have tho -- and have our people be recognized by the state. You know, I -- you know, sometimes I feel like a Palestinian -- Palestinians, because -- you know, because of no recognition of that existence. And I just kind of feel like an outlaw at times when I get my views out in the area of tribal sovereignty and those. But I think we need to, whichever way the village wants to form their government, please do it, and we'll help you.
You know, I think -- like I said, we've become dependent over a hundred years and experienced all these little forms of government; and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, I didn't really agree with it. I opposed it during my high school days in Chemewa Indian School in Oregon; and I totally opposed it, and I thought to myself, what about our elders back home that are going to become capitalists overnight from being a hunter/gatherer to fo -- becoming a board member or chief executive officer and all those? Because we were just, you know, going from fall camps, to spring camps, to winter camps, and moving all the time, and putting on a three-piece suit; and in a very few years -- and, you know, with all these laws imposed upon us, you know, it had devastating effect on a -- the chain -- you know, on our quality of life.
So, governance is, you know, I think the issue that I think our villages need to be informed of what is happening at the national level through the federal government; and the -- and, you know, if all the villages are informed, then, you know, we would -- our life would be better our there. But, you know, with ANCSA, most or all of our elders or people didn't know what was happening; didn't realize the implications or the -- you know, what kind fix we are going to be getting into. But those are my general feelings; but, you know, we need to really organize in our areas.
Like, for instance, I'm from the western Yukon-Kuskokwim area; and I would see viable tribal government there in our region and exercised democracy.
And one issue I would like to bring out is issue of alcohol. Right now, there's no liquor stores or anything in Bethel or our area; and -- but the booze is still coming in, you know by the damp status. They can bring in booze, and everybody, you know, is getting rich out there; not -- I mean, very few people are getting rich out there, but, you know, the bootleggers. But if we had a regional tribal government, and everybody voted to ban that, then we would have that authority to do so; but right now, as it stands, we cannot do that; and, you know, those are the issues that we're dealing with right now.
I think empowerment is very important to the communities; and we are not threat to -- we are no threats to either the state or the federal government. You know, how --
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Not to interrupt, but we -- we're going to have to stick to about ten minutes. You've been quite a bit over. We have quite a few to testify; and we have an hour and a half left.
MR. WILLIAMS: Oh, did I
talk that long?
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Yeah.
MR. WILLIAMS: I mean, I (laughing) --
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: And so if you want to --
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: I have one question.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: -- wrap it up in a sentence.
MR. WILLIAMS: Ye -- do you have a question?
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: If you're done.
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: I do have just one question. You mentioned regional tribal government, which is a term I haven't heard today. I've heard village tribal government, but not regional. Would you explain that, please?
MR. WILLIAMS: I think Willie Kasayulie mentioned the regional tribal government. The --
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: I heard him upstairs
say: "Tribal, village."
MR. WILLIAMS: -- I think, what is that government? You give the powers to the villages, but you still have that regional --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Confederation.
MR. WILLIAMS: -- confederate -- confederated tribes. I think, yon know, that has been looked at.
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: I see. Thank you.
MR. WILLIAMS: Uh-huh (affirmative).
MR. GARBER: Mike, you mentioned --
MR. WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah.
MR. GARBER: -- I mean, at the very beginning, the importance of resources, and the richness of resources in this state. And we know that we've historically depended on resources for subsistence. Well, one big issue always comes up, and that is that non-Natives are always concerned about tribes, because they think they're non-development -- that they oppose development. Do tribes in your area, maybe individually or as a whole, oppose all development, or what are their views on development?
MR. WILLIAMS: No, I think, you know, our views are that, you know, we can -- you know, with sensible development, we can develop our fishery; we can develop our tourism, or whatever; but under our own powers. And, you know, I think, you know, those are -- we're not opposed to any kind of economic development I don't think; but I think, you know, those are the things that we need to keep informed of our villages; and we can do it.
MS. ANAGIK: Can I --
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Do you have any --
MS. ANAGIK: I just wanted to comment. I -- and that deals with the Congressional appropriations that flow into the villages.
(Whispering.) What is that amount? Do you know? About 400 million?
MR. GARBER: 250 -- 200.
MS. ANAGIK: Two hundred to two hundred fifty million.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: I don't think they can hear you back there, Helen.
MS. ANAGIK: I think these Congressional appropriation are constitutional under the Constitution, because of the fact that Alaska has, in the past, the IRA Traditional Act, which was passed in 1934, and amended in 1936 to include bands or groups of Alaska Natives. That established the legal status by which the Congress has always recognized its plenary authority to deal with the Alaska Native villages. So, it's -- I think it's real important. You know, I'm bringing this to the attention of the other Governance Task Force members, because there are substantial revenues that flow from the U.S. government to these villages, which are essential to rural Alaska. That's all that I'd like to say.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Do you have any comment? Well, thank you, Bill -- Mike.
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