Title: Overview of the
1Overview 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
2Overview 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)
3Overview 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.
4Overview 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.
5Overview 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
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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
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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
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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.
9Overview 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.
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Act
- The geographical boundaries between the regional
entities generally followed the ancient cultural
and territorial divisions
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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.
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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
13Overview 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
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Act
- Corporations
- 12 regional Alaska Native corporations (ANCs)
15Overview 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
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Act
- Land Total of 45.5 million acres to be conveyed
under fee simple title
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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
18Overview 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
19Overview 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
20Overview 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.
21Overview 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
22Overview 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
23Overview 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
24Overview 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
25Overview 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
26Overview 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
27Overview 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
28Overview 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
29Overview 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
30Overview 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
31Overview 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
32Overview of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act
33Overview 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
34Overview 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
35Overview 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
36Overview 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
37Overview 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
38Overview 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
39Overview 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
40Overview 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.
41Overview 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.
42Overview 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)
43Overview 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 -
44Overview 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 -
45Overview 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
-
46Overview 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 -
47Overview 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 -
48Overview 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 -
49Overview 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 -
50Overview 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 -
51Overview 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 -
52Overview 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 -
53Overview 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