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 | Exhibit
List
| PDF Version
Deposition Exhibit #1 - Testimony
of Eileen Kozenivkoff
TESTIMONY OF EILEEN KOZENIVKOFF
BEFORE THE ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
PUBLIC HEARING FAIRBANKS, ALASKA JULY 18,1992
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak of my concerns about the social and
economic status of Alaska Indians, Eskimos,
and Aleuts.
Biographical
My name is Eileen Kozevnikoff. I am the daughter of Floyd Wheeler
and Martha Stein Wheeler. Both my parents are Eskimo. Although
I was born in Nome, I was
raised in the Athabascan village of Tanana on the Yukon River. I married Ted
Kozevnikoff in Tanana and I have two children and three step-children who are
Eskimo and Athabascan Indian. Although both my husband and I are employed,
subsistence plays a big part in our lifestyle. We are commercial and subsistence
set-net
fisherman; salmon, whitefish, moose meat and caribou are staples of our diet.
I
am currently a director on the Executive Board of Tanana Chiefs
and I serve on the Governor's Task Force on the Homeless; I
have served on the Tanana Chiefs
Health Board; and the Alaska Native Health Board. I am a past president of
the Tanana Tribal Council. Through the years I have been employed in Tanana
with
Indian Health Service, by the Yukon-Tanana School District, by the City of
Tanana, and most recently as the Executive Director of the Tanana Tribal Council.
I am
a volunteer EMT with the Tanana Tribal EMS program.
Native Village Tanana -
Tanana Tribal Council
Tanana is a village that focuses on Self-Determination. The City
of Tanana incorporated as a first class city in order to operate
its own school system.
The Tanana Tribal
Council contracts directly with BIA and IHS under P.L. 93-638 to provide a
broad spectrum of programs to Tanana Tribal and Community members. The Council
operates
the Tanana Health Center, the EMS system, the Social Services and Alcohol programs,
Higher Education, HIP housing, Realty, and a number of other BIA and IHS programs.
The Tribal Council is a fully functioning
governing body with an active Tribal Court.
Healing and Sobriety
There is a strong sobriety movement in Tanana that uses personal
growth and self-esteem as its core. The Council views empowerment
as the key to healing
and growth for
the tribe and members of the tribe. Tribal sovereignty is seen as a crucial
part of that empowerment. There must be more funds appropriated by
the federal and
state government to provide access to treatment programs that deal holistically
with both alcohol and drug abuse; providing therapy for underlying problems
as well as focusing on the disease.
Economy
The four hundred and eighty people in Tanana are economically poor. There
is very little cash economy within the community; summer fire fighting
provides
the only income for a number of people in the village. In years like this
one where there are no fires, the economic outlook is grim. Although people
are
able to exist on subsistence hunting and fishing activities, basic necessities
like
electricity and propane require cash. Tribal Council members feel strongly
that welfare programs such as AFDC, food stamps and general assistance have
worked
to devalue subsistence actives and are keeping people weak and dependent.
Welfare programs need to be changed into employment programs for able bodied
recipients. Economic development that takes into consideration the traditions
and subsistence
lifestyle of tribal communities must be developed. Strong management trainee
programs need to be a part of the economic development.
Contract Health Care
There has been an increasing reliance on welfare programs by
community members since the Tanana IHS hospital closed in 1982.
The closure of the Hospital not
only took away jobs from the tribe but also took away access to direct medical
care within the region. Since federal contract health care dollars require
that low income people sign up for and use Medicaid benefits before any IHS
dollars
can be used, this forces people into the welfare system just to have basic
medical care needs. The Tanana Tribe is adamantly opposed to this practice
because the
tribe feels that the federal government has a trust responsibility for health
care for Indian people and that Indian Health Service is an entitlement rather
than a need-based program. Once people have been forced to complete the demeaning
and intrusive application process for Medicaid, there is often a sense of
defeat that makes AFDC, food stamps, and other welfare programs
an easy next step.
The regulations regarding the use of Contract Health funding must be changed
so that
Indian people are not forced into the Medicaid and welfare systems. Every
effort needs to be made to keep people independent not dependent.
Village-based Health
Tanana is extremely fortunate to have a Health Center staffed
by mid-level practitioners. There is a tendency for IHS and
TCC to be complacent about
the Health Aide system
of health care available in most villages. This is wrong. Although many health
aides are experienced and skilled, some villages have health aides that have
very little training and almost no experience. Health Aides are presented
with critical medical and trauma cases with the added burden that almost
all are
close friends or family. The support system for the health aides is not sufficient
and village clinics are often very poorly equipped. I have seen patients
who were treated and medi-vaced from the Tanana Health Center that probably
would
not have survived if they lived in a village with only a health aide. Access
to medical care is a very critical problem. Women must travel to Fairbanks
to
deliver their babies leaving behind family and other young children. The
cost of their stay in Fairbanks while waiting to deliver is extreme. Indian
Health
Service must do a thorough and objective study of unmet health care needs
for village people. Village clinics should be surveyed for adequacy of equipment
and medications. Level of training and level of support for health aides
should
be analyzed. Established accepted standards of medical care should be the
basis of comparison. Access time; availability of aircraft; qualilty of inflight
escort and care should also be a part of the study. Consideration should
be
given, to
providing a prematernal program in Fairbanks that includes family units and
day care for mothers awaiting delivery.
Social Problems
Although there is a strong healing and sobriety movement in Tanana,
alcohol continues to be a major problem as does the use of
cocaine. The federal government
must
fund treatment programs based on traditional cultural healing practices.
The federal and state governments also need to encourage and support tribal
government intervention to stop the sale and use of drugs on the village
level.
Years of dysfunction within families have caused
a pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior that many times include
sexual
abuse of children. The problem
is multigenerational.
The federal, state and tribal governments must work to
educate judges and social workers about the differences between
pedaphiles and "casual" sexual
abusers. Emphasis within village culture must be on healing the abuser and
the abused rather than just punishment and retribution. There is a frightening
lack
of therapists skilled in healing children who have been, sexually abused.
Often the system of intervention is more abusive to the child than the original
act.
Justice and Sovereignty
The State of Alaska wastes scarce resources fighting the concept
of tribal self government and yet is not able to provide essential
governmental services
itself.
Numerous felony assault cases have gone uninvestigated by the State. Break-ins,
domestic violence, theft, and other serious offenses are never prosecuted
if they occur in a Native Community. If a tribal member is charged with a
crime,
there is no court in Tanana and very inadequate legal representation. Many
people are told to plead "no contest” even when there is serious
doubt about the guilt of the party charged. The federal government needs
to firmly assert
its trust relationship to the native people of Alaska and to defend the tribes
from the often malicious interference of the State of Alaska. The energy
and resources of tribes are being wasted in the fight with the State of Alaska
to
preserve the essential sovereignty of the tribe. The federal government must
provide better education to non-Indians about the basis of the trust relationship
and the body of Indian law that recognizes the right of tribes to govern
their own affairs. Much of the concern about tribal sovereignty is based
on ignorance,
fear, and racial bias.
The Answer
The key to the survival of the culture of the Indians, Eskimos,
and Aleuts of Alaska lies in the empowerment of village people.
The federal and state
governments
can foster the empowerment of tribes and tribal people by encouraging tribal
governments and initiatives rather than fighting them.
This document was ocr scanned. We have made every attempt to
keep the online document the same as the original, including
the recorder's original misspellings or typos.
