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Title: Overview of the


1
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Presented to  U.S. Senate Staff    Rosita Worl,
Ph.D. Sealaska Heritage Institute    September
23, 2009
For more information contact Lee Kadinger at
907.586.9266 or lee.kadinger_at_sealaska.com  
2
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska is the aboriginal homeland of four major
cultural groups
  • Inupiat Yupik (Eskimo)
  • Unangan Alutiiq (Aleut)
  • Athabaskan
  • Tlingit Haida (Canadian Tsimshian migrated to
    Alaska in the 1880s)

3
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Contemporary Alaska Native institutional forms
and arrangements differ from that of other
federally recognized tribes. This difference can
be attributed to the
legislation that resolved the Alaska Native
aboriginal land claims with the United States.
4
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
The Treaty of Cession 1867
  • Russia sold Alaska to United States
  • Uncivilized tribes subject to laws for
    aboriginal tribes

Russian exchange copy of the Treaty of Cession,
March 30, 1867. National Archives.
5
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Foundation of Indian Laws Based on the Marshal
Trilogy
  • John Marshall Supreme Court Decisions established
    the following three principles
  • Aboriginal land (Johnson v. McIntosh 1823)
  • Tribes can only transfer aboriginal title to the
    federal government and not individuals

6
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Federal trust responsibility (Cherokee Nation v.
    Georgia 1831)
  • Establishes trust relationship
  • Creates domestic dependent nations
  • Political Status of Indian tribes (Worcester v.
    Georgia 1831)
  • Recognizes inherent powers of tribes

7
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Organic Act of 1884
  • Recognized Indian possessory rights
  • Indians or other persons shall not be disturbed
    in the possession of any lands in their use and
    occupation or claimed by them

8
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska Statehood Act of 1959
  • Disclaimed all right and title to any land by
    Indians, Eskimos, or Aleuts
  • Authorized State of Alaska to select 103 million
    acres

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the
Alaska Statehood Act, 1959.
9
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska Natives Unite
  • In the face of increasing land loss and threats
    to their hunting and fishing economy, Native
    tribal groups began to organize regional
    associations

Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native
Sisterhood Grand Camp Convention, 1951.
10
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • The geographical boundaries between the regional
    entities generally followed the ancient cultural
    and territorial divisions

11
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Alaska Natives united under AFN in 1966 to seek a
    just and equitable settlement of aboriginal land
    claims

Current board of directors of AFN.
12
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Fee Simple Title Versus Trust Lands
  • Alaska Natives break with the reservation model
    to settle their aboriginal land claims
  • Alaska Natives seek legislation to obtain full
    control and fee-simple title of their lands
    rather than lands held under trust by the
    government

13
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971
(ANCSA)
Congress adopts a new model to extinguish
aboriginal land claims that include the following
major components
14
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Corporations
  • 12 regional Alaska Native corporations (ANCs)

15
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • 203 village corporations
  • 13th region
  • Established for Natives who were not permanent
    residents of Alaska
  • Received pro rata share of financial settlement,
    but did not receive land nor was it entitled to
    receive revenues from mineral or timber
    development of the regional corporations

16
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Land Total of 45.5 million acres to be conveyed
    under fee simple title

17
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • 22 million acres
  • Surface lands to village corporations divided on
    population basis except for Southeast Alaska
    villages
  • Southeast Alaska Indian villages allowed only a
    single township or 23,040 acres. The Tlingit and
    Haida had received a 7.5 million award for
    federal withdrawals of 20 million acres in
    Southeast Alaska.
  • Five communities in Southeast Alaska did not
    receive ANCSA lands referred to as Landless
    communities

18
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • 16 million acres
  • Surface and subsurface lands to six regional
    corporations divided on total acreage within each
    region
  • These regions, Ahtna, Arctic Slope, Chugach, Cook
    Inlet, Doyon and NANA, each claimed large
    aboriginal land base, but had small populations

19
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • 2 million acres
  • Cemeteries and historical sites
  • Four Native urban corporations, formerly Native
    communities, but were predominantly non-Native
    cities in 1970s
  • Native communities with populations less than 25
    residents referred to as Groups
  • Allotments which had been filed before ANCSA

20
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • After these distributions, any land remaining was
    allocated among all but the 13th regional
    corporations on the basis of population. This
    enabled all the 12 regional corporations to
    obtain some surface lands, which amounted to
    several hundred thousand acres in the case of the
    more populous regions. The regional corporations
    also received the subsurface lands of village
    corporations.

21
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • 4 million acres
  • Five reserves held as trust lands revoked
  • Klukwan, one of the five reserves, sought special
    legislation and was able to retain its reserve
    lands and select one township
  • Natives of these reserves formed seven
    corporations to hold their land including both
    surface and subsurface, but were not entitled to
    monetary benefits under ANCSA

22
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Only remaining reservation in Alaska was for the
    Tsimshian, who emigrated from Canada and were
    granted the Annette Island reservation by
    Congress in 1891
  • 1.6 million acres
  • Five regional corporations were allowed to select
    1.6 million acres in lieu of subsurface rights to
    lands in the National Petroleum Reserve and
    various fish and wildlife refuges

23
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Capital
  • Payment of 963 million distributed to regional
    corporations on a per capita basis for the
    extinguishment of all aboriginal claims
  • The 13 regional corporations were then required
    to distribute 50 percent to village corporations
    based on number of original tribal shareholders
    and to individual tribal shareholders or at
    large tribal shareholders not enrolled to a
    village corporation

24
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Enrollment
  • Secretary of Interior authorized to prepare a
    roll of all Natives who were one-fourth degree or
    more Alaska Natives and who were born on or
    before the date of enactment of ANCSA and who
    were living on or before December 18, 1971
  • Both regional and village corporations issued one
    hundred shares of stock to each Native enrolled
    in their region

25
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Enrollment
  • Approximately 27,000 Natives, whose permanent
    homes were away from their villages, were
    enrolled only in regional corporations as
    at-large tribal shareholders and were not
    enrolled in village corporations
  • More than 78,000 Alaska Natives were initially
    enrolled as tribal shareholders

26
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Subsistence
  • Subsistence hunting and fishing continues to be
    fundamental to Native culture and is the primary
    economy in rural Alaska communities

27
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • First AFN draft and Senate version both included
    provisions to protect subsistence, but final bill
    extinguished any aboriginal hunting or fishing
    rights that may exist
  • The Conference Committee report made clear that
    Congress intended for the Secretary of Interior
    and the State of Alaska to protect subsistence
  • The Secretary of Interior failed to initiate any
    action and the states legal regime precluded
    protection of Native subsistence

28
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Congress adopted a subsistence priority for rural
    Alaskan, Native and non-Natives, in 1980 within
    the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation
    Act (Public Law 96-487)
  • ANILCA required the state to manage fish and
    wildlife on federal lands consistent with its
    provisions to protect subsistence uses by rural
    residents

29
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • The state failed to comply with ANILCA
  • The federal government assumed management of
    subsistence uses on federal lands in 1990 and
    created a dual management system for subsistence
    which continues today

30
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Resource Sharing
  • ANCSA is unique in many aspects and one provision
    is the antithesis of profit-making corporations
  • The concept of revenue sharing was developed by
    Native leaders to equalize the resource revenues
    between those regions which were resource rich
    with those which were resource poor

31
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Section 7 (i) requires regional corporations to
    distribute 70 percent of their profits from
    mineral and timber development to other regional
    corporations
  • A minimum of 50 percent of 7 (i) revenues must be
    distributed to village corporations and at-large
    tribal shareholders

32
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
33
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • A total of 800 million 7(i) funds has been
    distributed among the regions from its initial
    implementation through 2004
  • The revenue sharing funds have proven to be vital
    to the survival of many struggling corporations
  • One regional corporation facing bankruptcy
    leveraged a 10 million loan based on anticipated
    7 (i) revenues

34
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Assimilation
  • Congress wanted to avoid creating reservations or
    racially defined organizations and supported
    corporations as the vehicle to implement ANCSA
  • Congress rejected any possibility of keeping the
    enrollment open for Alaska Natives born after
    1971
  • Congress limited the restriction on the sale of
    ANCSA stock until 1991

35
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Retribalization of ANCSA
  • Natives became alarmed that the restriction on
    the sale of stock that was to end in 1991 could
    lead to loss of land
  • They also came to realize that aspects of ANCSA
    conflicted with their traditional cultural values

36
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • AFN went to Congress and secured the ANCSA
    Amendments of 1987, commonly called the 1991
    Amendments (PL 100-241) that basically served to
    re-tribalize their corporations

37
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • The Amendments included provisions
  • To provide automatic protections for land and
    Native corporation stock
  • To allow for the enrollment of Natives born after
    1971
  • To authorize special benefits to Elders
  • To create settlement trusts for the health,
    education and welfare of tribal shareholders

38
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Today four regional ANCs have enrolled Natives
    born after 1971 as tribal shareholder and many
    provide special benefits to Elders

39
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • ANCs have also promoted the maintenance of
    traditional cultures and subsistence hunting and
    fishing through their financial support of AFN
    and direct expenditures

40
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Many ANCs have formed heritage organizations to
    perpetuate and restore traditional cultures and
    language

Sealaska Heritage Institute, a nonprofit, was
founded by Sealaska Corporation to perpetuate and
enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures.
41
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Congressional Recognition of ANCs as Tribes
  • Congress explicitly stated that ANCSA and the
    1991 Amendments are Indian legislation enacted
    pursuant to its authority under the Constitution
    to regulate Indian affairs
  • In the 1991 legislation, Congress declared that
    it was not expressing an opinion on the manner
    in which shareholders choose to balance
    individual rights and communal rights.

42
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Congress requires OMB and all federal agencies to
    consult and collaborate with ANCs in the
    development of federal policies that impact on
    Native corporations and on the same basis as
    Indian Tribal governments under Executive Order
    13175
  • Congress has enacted over 100 federal statutes
    that define ANCs as tribes for special statutory
    purposes such as the Indian Self-Determination
    and Education Assistance Act 25 U.S.C. 450b(b)

43
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Congress has also enacted a series of legislative
    acts to provide special benefits to Alaska
    Natives including allowing ANCs
  • to implement a tribal shareholder employment
    preference
  • to sell their Net Operating Losses under which
    they brought 426 million in ANCSA coffers
  • to authorize ANCs as eligible for SBA 8 (a)
    programs

44
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Performance of ANCs
  • The financial performance of ANCs has been
    varied. Some have tottered on the brink of
    bankruptcy while a few have had extraordinary
    success
  • A State of Alaska economist pointed out the
    greatest significance of ANCs economic
    contribution is that it represents new activity
    in the states economy and accrues benefits to
    the state

45
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • A 2006 economic report of the 13 regional
    corporations and three Native village
    corporations reported the following
  • Revenues 6.965 billion
  • Dividends 119.9 million
  • Statewide Employment 15,467
  • Alaska Native Employment 3,619
  • Scholarships 21.8 million
  • Charitable Donations 22.47 million

46
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • ANCs have become an economic and political force
    bolstered by beneficial federal policies and
    programs that have contributed to their success
  • ANCs have a record of sharing their resources
    and reinvesting their returns in their tribal
    shareholders and communities

47
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska Native Tribes and Regional Tribal
Non-Profits
  • Natives are also represented by tribes, regional
    tribal non-profit organizations and housing and
    electrical authorities, and health organizations

48
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Regional Tribal Non-Profit Organizations
  • After the settlement of the Native claims in
    1971, the tribal non-profits turned their full
    attention to providing governmental services
  • They became quasi governments providing a range
    of governmental services and advocating on a
    number of political fronts including subsistence
    hunting and fishing

49
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • With the exception of the Central Council of
    Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska and the
    Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, the
    regional non-profits, housing authorities, and
    health organizations are not recognized as tribes
  • They maintain a relationship with the federal
    government as tribal organizations with authority
    to contract to administer federal governmental
    services subject to the approval of the villages
    under Public Law 93-638 Indian Self-Determination
    Act

50
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • Alaska Native Tribes
  • The government-to-government relationship between
    the federal government and tribes was not altered
    by the enactment of ANCSA
  • Over 200 tribes exist in Alaska, but the
    conveyance of lands to ANCs meant that tribes in
    Alaska were to be governments without a land base

51
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • The State of Alaska challenged the tribes power
    to levy taxes
  • In 1998 the Supreme Court decided in Alaska v.
    Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government that
    ANCSA lands did not constitute Indian Country
  • The tribes are united under the Alaska
    Intertribal Council and continue to safeguard
    their tribal status

52
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
Alaska Native Institutional Development and Change
  • The traditional social organizations, such as
    clans and extended family social units, continue
    to play a central role in the cultural and
    ceremonial life of Alaska Natives as well as to
    contribute to the well being of their social and
    economic life
  • Alaska Natives have also adopted new
    institutional forms to represent their political
    and economic interests and to ensure their
    cultural survival

53
Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
  • An overriding objective common among all Native
    institutions has been the integration of their
    cultural values into these new institutional
    forms
  • to resolve the myriad of social pathologies they
    endure and the third world conditions that
    characterize their communities, and
  • to achieve economic and social self determination
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