And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 07:48:11 -0800
From: MICHELE WRIGHT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Alaska Tribal News Story
Tuesday, March 9, 1999
State rural panel calls for
limited Native self-rule
By TOM KIZZIA
Daily News reporter
Rural Governance Commission
At a time when Alaska is "pulling apart at the seams,"
only Gov. Tony Knowles can take steps to assure that
Native institutions have a place in the state, members of
the governor's Rural Governance Commission said
Monday.
Meeting with two of Knowles' top aides, the
commission said the words "Native" and "tribe" seem
taboo in the Alaska Legislature. They called on
Knowles to heed their call for state recognition of
limited tribal self-government.
The alternative, they said, would be growing Native
militancy, civil disobedience and a turning away from
the state to the federal government.
"The wedge is deeper and more hurtful than many
people understand," said former state Sen. Arliss
Sturgulewski, who said the 10-month-old commission
had traveled to the Bush to hear village sentiments. "I
think we're at real peril if we do not recognize what's
really happening in this state."
"The governor can do a lot, just as governor," said
Tanana Chiefs Conference president Will Mayo.
Commission members said they want the state to do
more contracting with tribes and involve tribes more in
managing natural resources, for example.
Knowles chief of staff Jim Ayers offered no specific
promises to the commission at its Anchorage meeting.
But he said Knowles recognized the importance of
Alaska's diversity.
Ayers urged the commission to work with the new
federal Denali Commission, created at the behest of
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. He said the commission
appeared to have a secure source of funds and an
interest in finding a way to make Alaska's rural
governments work.
"That's where the governor feels the future is. It's not in
trying to work some deal out with the Legislature,"
Ayers said.
Some Republican legislators have argued that the state's
laws must be colorblind and should leave the historical
recognition of tribes to the federal government.
Commission members said they found the visit from
Ayers and Attorney General Bruce Botelho reassuring.
But the Denali Commission is a federal initiative. They
said they remain worried by what they view as attacks
on rural Alaska inside state government.
Last year, urban-rural divisions broke out in the
Legislature over school-funding formulas and
subsistence. This year, commission members said, new
splits are emerging over continued subsidies for village
electricity, tribal authority over welfare, and the
possibility of eliminating the Department of Community
and Regional Affairs.
"It's the only agency (rural Natives) feel can hear them
and that they can trust," said commission member
Marlene Johnson.
Ayers said no restructuring decision had been made but
the department wouldn't be eliminated without
providing an alternative for rural Alaska.
Other issues perceived to be anti-Native were raised
Monday, especially a new voter-approved
official-English law. Willie Kasayulie of Akiachak,
president of the School Board of the Yupiit School
District, said the state's preparation of a new exit exam
for high school seniors is viewed by many rural
villagers as a threat.
"We know for sure that many Natives will fail that exit
exam," he said.
At a time when Canada is creating the Nunavut territory,
where politics will be dominated by a Native majority,
Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough and North Slope
Borough have met together - a "historic" first - to begin
discussing common interests, said Northwest Arctic
Borough Mayor Chuck Greene.
"There's a sense in rural Alaska that this commission is
our last chance," Greene said. "I think they're just
holding out to see what happens here."
The rural governance commission was appointed by
Knowles at the time of the U.S. Supreme Court's
Venetie decision, which said tribes had only limited
authority in Alaska. It was charged with finding creative
ways to improve self-governance in rural Alaska.
"We want to help heal, not continue in any way to drive
people apart," said commission co-chairman Byron
Mallott. "This is a last chance for the state to come
right."
Despite the governance commission's high profile in
rural Alaska, the group was forced to cancel a meeting
in December because it ran out of state funding, Mallott
said. Ayers took blame for that and apologized.
The commission said it plans to present final
recommendations to Knowles by June. It is discussing
measures that would encourage the state to clarify
contracting policies with tribes, strengthen village
public safety, and cooperate with tribes on health,
welfare and resource programs.
"If the governor will not provide the leadership in
resolving this, I think Alaska is going to be in real
trouble," said commission member Vic Fischer, another
former state senator.
Native leaders said Monday they expect the new Denali
Commission to focus mainly on construction projects. In
addition, the Alaska Federation of Natives is holding
hearings around the state as the group draws up
recommendations to make to Congress about rural
governance.
AFN president Julie Kitka told the commission Monday
that many Natives are watching northern Canada, where
the new territory of Nunavut will celebrate its inception
April 1.
"Nunavut will have a great impact on what people here
think about government," Kitka said...
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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