Lori Townsend: The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act is 50 years old and December.

ANCSA has been amended in significant ways since it passed.

What changes do Alaska Native people want to see for the future?

Unknown: 100 years from now, when the original shareholders of ANCSA are no longer with us, who will be the decision makers in our corporations?

Who will have the votes?

Lori Townsend: The way forward for the future of the ANCSA corporations and the Native people who own and operate them is our discussion right now on an hour-long special edition of Alaska Insight.

Thanks for joining us for this special hour-long edition of Alaska Insight as we continue our series of reporting and programs on the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

You can find more on the series at alaskapublic.org/ANCSA50.

The year ANCSA passed, 1971: a lot was happening in the nation.

Half a million anti Vietnam War protesters descended on Washington, DC.

Gas was 36 cents a gallon.

And oil companies look to the North Slope hoping to build an 800 mile pipeline to Valdez, a project that was held up by a battle over Native land rights.

But after intense negotiations with Alaska Native leaders, supporters and congressional staff.

On December 18 of that year, Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which in turn cleared the way for the pipeline.

Delegates to the Alaska Federation of Natives were the first to hear the news.

Unknown: I present the president of the United States.

Lori Townsend: This grainy black and white footage was shot at Alaska Methodist University, now called Alaska Pacific University.

Delegates had to crowd around a loudspeaker to hear the President's phone call.

Unknown: I appreciate this opportunity to extend my greetings and best wishes to the convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives.

I want you to be among the first to know that I have just signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

This is a milestone in the Alaska's history.

Lori Townsend: The land claims settlement was also a milestone in world history.

Never before had there been a land conveyance of this magnitude, a deal that included 44 million acres of land and almost a billion dollars.

Although it was far short from what Alaska Natives felt they deserved.

It was an unprecedented victory for Indigenous peoples that changed Alaska forever.

Also remarkable, history was made as cameras rolled.

You're looking at the oldest known footage of the land claims fight, shot in February of 1968.

Just a few weeks later, and exploratory well would strike oil at Prudhoe Bay, confirming the largest field in North America.

Out of the more than 100 people who came to testify about the proposed settlement, only a few are alive today.

Among them, Emil Notti, who was president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and Willie Hensley, who had just been elected to the state legislature.

Notti, Hensley and other Native leaders had to go up against Gov.

Walter Hickel, who wanted to protect the state's claim to land awarded at statehood.

There were also powerful groups like the Alaska Outdoor Council, which argued too much land would be under native control.

But a compromise had to be reached, otherwise there would be no pipeline.

So who was behind the camera capturing this moment in time?

Lowell Thomas Jr, both a filmmaker and a state senator, who would later be elected lieutenant governor and serve under Jay Hammond.

This footage was only recently discovered after Thomas's death when his family entrusted a collection of his films to the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association, less than six minutes of silent film.

And although there's no sound historian say it speaks volumes Unknown: It gives a sense of just how amazing it is when a very small group of people are trying to change the leverage of history and trying to create a different pathway going forward to not be rolled underneath what's about to come to Alaska, but instead to have some part, enough leverage so that we can navigate this in terms that are entirely different than what had been going on before for Indigenous peoples in the in the United States.

It's trying to reimagine 200 years of prior policy and direction and say, "We do not want to do that.

We need something new and different that's not been yet imagined."

And you see that determination reflected in that hearing.

Lori Townsend: An excellent glimpse at the historic nature of the ANCSA agreement.

You can see more from the historical archives in a weekly TV series called "ANCSA at 50: The journey continues."

Every week, old films and documentaries will be featured leading up to Saturday, December 18, the 50th anniversary of ANCSA, culminating in a day-long rebroadcast of all of the programs.

You can watch the series every Thursday night at 8 p.m. on KTOO 360TV.

And for the next hour, we're going to discuss the history, current day activities and the outlook for the future of the ANCSA corporations and the Alaska Native people who own them and direct their business activities through their shareholder votes.

We'll also see additional short videos profiling younger Alaska Native people and their ideas for the future.

And we'll take your questions as we're streaming live online today at alaskapublic.org.

Then we'll rebroadcast this program on Friday evening.

My guests today represent a broad swath of Alaska from Nome in the Arctic to Juneau in Southeast and out to the Kodiak Archipelago.

Rosita Worl is the president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, Alex Cleghorn, serves on the Koniag Incorporated Corporation board, and Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle is the self-governance liaison for the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

Welcome, all of you.

Thanks so much for being with us today.

Really appreciate your time.

Rosita, this was clearly a big moment, the ANCSA passage.

What do you see as the best parts of the settlement looking back now?

Unknown: Well, I guess, first of all, you know, I was very privileged to be at Alaska Methodist University as a student.

So I heard you know, I heard that, that announcement coming from the President, and I heard the excitement of our people, you know, shouting, you know, their, their appreciation, affirmation, except for one region, and you we have to remember that we did have one region that did not support that exact settlement.

But I think it was really the culmination of, you know, the recognition that we own the land that we have always owned this land.

And I don't like to say that our aboriginal title was extinguished, but to me, the most significant thing was that the United States of America recognized that Alaska Natives indeed had title to Alaska's land.

Mm hmm.

Lori Townsend: Well, thank you, Alex, how about for you.

Looking back, I'm sure you weren't around at that time.

But looking back, what do you think what really stands out to you about the best parts of this settlement?

Unknown: Sure.

Um, I think that you're right, I was not there.

And I was born after ANCSA.

And, and so looking back, for me, I see our elders and our ancestors who crafted the solution, given the hard situation that they were in.

And I think that they were making the best of a challenging situation and that they were looking forward to the future.

And that, that we are now enacting those hopes for the future.

We're 50 years in, we spent significant time figuring out how these institutions worked, and are now planning for the next next 100 years.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

Thank you.

Megan, what are your thoughts about what has worked best within ANCSA?

You, of course, we're not around at the passage either.

But reflecting on all that's come to pass since then, what stands out to you?

Unknown: Yes, it's a tremendous honor to be here.

Thank you for the invitation.

I actually did not start learning about ANCSA because when I was raised in Nome, it wasn't a part of our school curricula.

So I learned about ANCSA have from our Alaska Native leaders as a staffers for Senator Murkowski and it's a tremendous honor and a blessing because the story of ANCSA is the story of many leaders across our state who have stood up these corporations and really delivered to the next generation, a statement of wealth.

We're incredibly blessed to be in this era of empowerment, to have a voice, to be a shareholder.

Our Native corporations drive the Alaska economy, whether it's mining oil and gas, or the fisheries.

So to have a stake in our wealth is, you know, what it's all about in the our relationship to the land is secured, and there's work to be done.

But we're only in a position of strength.

Thank you.

Lori Townsend: All right, when we'll talk about some of that work to be done as we move through this hour.

And I want to remind our online viewers that you can submit questions or comments, and we'll collect those in a document that I'll try to get in front of our guests today during this hour.

Rosita, I want to turn back to you the video that we just watched at the beginning.

Professor Ongtooguk's words "to not be rolled underneath what's about to come to Alaska."

The historical look at inks as passing there was a lot for Native people to celebrate.

But there was also inherent problems within the legislation, it was written seemingly with the intent to make it all dissolve after 20 years, the sunset clauses would have ended enrollment in 1991 shares could have been sold to anyone and non native people could have bought up shares and control the corporations, the land could have been sold, or at least at risk of being sold.

Amendments changed these things.

But why would that 20 year sunset be in ANCSA, unless the idea was to make it go away?

To dissolve it?

Unknown: Exactly.

First of all, you have to remember that Congress's objective for ANCSA was very different than native peoples of you know, desire.

We wanted ownership and control of our land.

And so that ultimately led to the simple title and to corporations.

Congress, on the other hand, wanted full assimilation, economic assimilation, social assimilation of Alaska, native people into the, into the mainstream, into the larger society.

But Native people had it in their mind, you know, that we wanted to retain our culture.

And so when those when, you know, when our people realized that there were flaws in ANCSA, and this would be in the 1980s, mid-1980s, where we began to have a series of meetings, I think AFN sponsored about five different meetings, and our people came together.

And they talked about what are the common values that we have as Alaska Native people?

And so that resulted in the 1991 legislation, us going back and saying, "We are Native people, we want to make sure that we have our continued land ownership forever."

So we had, you know, there were things set up like the land bank, we also said in our culture, we, you know, give a special benefits to elders, so they got rid of that non pro rata distribution.

And then I think the most important one was they said, that our children have a right to own land they have, because of their cultural membership in tribes, clans, that they have a right to have ownership in land.

And so we ended up you know, pursuing that amendment, we ended up having to compromise, we wanted automatic enrollment.

Secretary Hodel didn't want that.

And so we ended up with that compromise, where we had to vote to enroll our shareholders, our Native people who are born after 1971.

But as I said, it was really Congress, they thought they saw it as a vehicle for economic assimilation.

Lori Townsend: Alex, turning to you, you noted some past confusion about what ANCSA did and did not do as it relates to tribal status and sovereignty.

ANCSA did not extinguish tribes, but did affect tribal control of hunting and fishing resources.

Talk about the distinction between tribal sovereignty and how that differs from the Native corporations.

Unknown: Tribes are governmental entities.

Right?

And there was confusion for many years.

I think confusion is a kind word about whether or not ANCSA terminated tribes.

And there was nearly over 20 years of efforts to clarify that ANCSA did in fact, not terminate tribes in Alaska.

And I think part of that confusion is about misunderstanding about status of land and what that means as far as tribal government control or ability to regulate.

Tribes in Alaska do not have the same kind of land status as tribes in the Lower 48.

I think another thing that often also gets missed is that tribes in the Lower 48 are not a monolith, right?

How their land is held and how they were colonized changed as people moved east to west.

So ANCSA did not terminate tribes.

Tribes exist as governments have relationships with tribal citizens based on that status.

And corporations have relationship with shareholders.

Corporations' role as an economic engine or economic enterprise to provide resources, provide benefits, whereas governments exist to help regulate, govern, and fill that that role in Alaska, unlike other parts of the country, we have a series of Supreme Court decisions that make it very clear that tribes continue to exist and have jurisdiction or authority over tribal citizens regardless of land status.

Lori Townsend: Thank you.

Megan, quickly, we're going to go to another video segment here in just a moment, but your job is self-determination liaison.

What does that mean to you?

What does self-determination mean?

Unknown: Self-determination is the right to determine your own government.

It may be the reflection of our Indigenous values and how we govern our communities.

I serve as self governance liaison for Norton Sound Health Corporation.

And in my role, we are creating a tribal utility cooperative.

So our regional tribal organization is starting to serve our cities.

And so we work with our cities, our tribes and our village corporations, who are the landowners to advance water and sewer development in the Bering Strait region.

And it's a beautiful experience of Indian self-determination because we have really diverse cultures in the Bering Strait and Inuit diplomacy is full of respect.

And if you learn how to respect among the most respectful people in the world, it's truly a blessing.

Thank you.

Lori Townsend: Thank you, Megan.

Let's take a look at how Alaska Natives first became shareholders and how that is now changing.

To qualify as an original shareholder in an Alaska Native corporation you had to be born before December 18, 1971.

That arbitrary date divided Alaska Native generations and even families.

But the corporations are slowly opening up to new generations of shareholders allowing young Native people to have a voice in shaping the future.

Indian Country Today's Meghan Sullivan has more.

Unknown: Tlingit áyá xát, Yakyadi yóo xát duwasáakw.

Alyssa London has always felt most at home with her blanket community.

I am a proud clink at woman who grew up with her family telling her who she is and where she comes from.

London knows her cultures past and lives out the values and traditions daily.

It's the future she has questions about.

So I would like future generations to not have to defend their identity as much and to just be able to be raised with that sense of who they are and to just be able to continue to walk in the footsteps of their, their parents and grandparents and uphold that legacy.

This is a historic moment for the Native of Alaska.

When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed into law, it established 12 corporations.

Those who were at least one quarter Alaska Native and born before December 18, 1971, were eligible to receive 100 shares in their corporation.

So now, corporations are faced with a big decision: open up enrollment to descendants born after the initial date, or stick with original shareholders only.

Anytime you have a policy that says you get this and you don't it creates divide.

Corporations will also have to decide whether to allow descendants who are less than a quarter Alaska Native to enroll If we continue to use blood quantum as a measure of how native we are, there is a time in the future where there will no longer be native people.

Ayyu Qassataq, whose Inupiaq, was born after the gangsta deadline, meaning she couldn't enroll in her regional or village corporation.

But last summer, her mom gave her a small number of shares.

That means she can further contribute to her home region through her voting rights as a shareholder.

It really lit a fire within me to ensure that these corporations and organizations that represent Alaska Native people are inclusive of our Native people.

Alaska Native shareholders can't sell their shares, but they can pass them on in their wills or gift them to others.

Some argue that the setup is fair because it doesn't dilute the worth of the shares.

Others believe it is unreliable.

Descendants might not get any shares or have enough to pass down to their children.

Now a mom herself, Ayyu was thinking ahead to our enrollment policies might impact future generations of Alaska Natives.

The much bigger picture is what are we setting up for the future of these corporations if we are not including our people?

A hundred years from now, when the original shareholders of ANCSA are no longer with us, who will be the decision makers in our corporations?

Who will have the votes?

Six out of 12 regional corporations have opened up enrollment to descendants of the original shareholders.

In 2015, Calista shareholders voted to open enrollment to descendants and removed blood quantum requirements.

Their shareholder base has since grown from 13,000 to over 34,000.

We're very much about sharing our, in our community helping others part of that was Calista's shareholders feeling that they wanted to share in the ability to enroll as a shareholder.

Calista's Communications Director Thom Leonard was born two months before the ANCSA deadline, meaning he could enroll while his younger siblings couldn't.

Once separated by an arbitrary date, his whole family is now able to be a part of the corporation Being able to provide and support those opportunities for the next generation is important.

Alix Lacy is one of those new shareholders.

Lacy is part of Hooper Bay's tribe where her family is from.

She lives in Anchorage and was able to enroll into Calista as a descendant around a year ago.

So this is a picture of me and my grandma, and I'm considered the descendant of her so she is the reason why I'm enrolled in Calista.

While Lacy feels closer to her tribe, she values the educational and professional opportunities that our Corporation provides.

They do, you know, finance my school.

I do get dividends, I, um, there's a lot of opportunities that are available to me from being a descendant and from that region that I'm grateful for.

Shareholders will ultimately determine what happens to the corporations and the traditional lands they oversee.

In order for the lands to be in good hands in the future, in order for the corporations to be run well, that there needs to be more involvement of younger generations, either in board settings or in like leadership development roles.

London's excited to help shape what the next 50 years of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will look like.

Alongside the new perspectives and dynamic thinking of other young Alaska Native shareholders.

For Indian Country Today and Alaska Public Media, I'm Meghan Sullivan.

Lori Townsend: The blood quantum issue related to future enrollments, Indian Country Today reported that the two questions are: One, should it be open to those who are one quarter Alaska Native but born after the one the 1971 date?

And two, should enrollment be open to Alaska Natives with less than one quarter blood quantum?

So for all of you and Rosita, let's start with you.

Is there a better way that Alaska Native people, not the federal government should define as who should be considered Native for the purpose of shareholder status and also tribal enrollment?

Rosita, what's right here?

Unknown: I think first of all, we have to go back to what you know what started all of this, and it was land and land is the basis of our physical survival and our cultural survival.

And Alaska Native children had a right to ownership of their land because they were Alaska Natives.

The blood quantum was something that was introduced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

And as I said, Congress wanted to assimilate Native people.

We went back to Congress tried to amend that to allow for the perpetual enrollment of Alaska Native youth.

But as I said, Secretary Hodel and others were adamantly opposed to that.

We ended up with this compromise.

I have to say that I want to congratulate Calista for in my mind doing the right cultural thing, in terms of getting rid of the blood quantum and, and going conforming to our traditional cultural ways of perpetual enrollment, of perpetual membership, I should say, of our youth.

They have a right to our land to that touch that stock, which is the touchstone to our land, they have a right to it in and of their own selves.

So in my mind, you know, I think Calista did the right thing.

I think we have to get rid of the blood quantum.

The studies that we've done here at the Sealaska Heritage Institute clinic shows that the diminishing or increasing number of Alaska Natives who are less than the 1/4 blood.

And if we continue with the blood quantum at the 1/4 blood quantum, we are going to see the extinction of our of our culture.

Lori Townsend: Alex, turning to you.

As an attorney, what do you think would make sense for the future?

And should it be sort of universal for Alaska Native people?

Or should every tribe make their own determination in this regard?

Unknown: Great question.

First, I do want to dispel a misconception.

Every tribe does set their own citizenship requirements.

Each of the 229 tribes in Alaska have the ability, and many of them have set their own citizenship requirements.

So and those are separate from shareholder status that may be set by the 12 regionals or the 200 and so village corporations.

So I'm not concerned about tribal citizenship, tribes decide that that's a core aspect of sovereignty.

For shareholder status, I think that each region will grapple with this on on its own.

And half the regions have decided to open some sort of shareholder status.

But some of them have different shareholder statuses based upon the decisions in each region.

In our region, we have asked our shareholders to prioritize what the corporation is doing on this issue, and it's at this point is not a priority in our region.

But I understand in other regions it may be.

Lori Townsend: Well, it's clearly a painful issue for many Native people.

By email, we had a comment saying "I was born in Alaska, and I am an ANCSA left out.

I was a child when ANCSA was formed.

It's not my fault, I was left out.

Are you doing anything to try to get the left out people enrolled?"

This is from Anita, originally from Skagway.

And we also had a comment from someone who said not all Natives were in the settlement, especially natives who went to war for our country, bringing up the issue of veterans.

I wanted to remind folks too, that you can also comment, if you want to send comments to Facebook Live where we're streaming right now.

And you can also email us alaskainsight@alaskapublic.org.

Let's discuss how some Alaska Native people see the power dynamic between tribes and corporations.

We'll first hear from Lynda Jones, who says she thinks the corporations have an outsized role compared to tribes.

Unknown: Of course, the corporation is going to have more power than the tribe, because they have money.

And their job is to as a corporation, they're supposed to make money and they're supposed to make a profit.

So I feel like the tribes are short-handed in that way.

Lori Townsend: That's a very short clip.

But very succinct.

Megan, let's turn to you know, how do you see this?

Are tribes shorthanded when it comes to political or other types of power?

Or is it a difficult comparison, since tribes and corporations are very different entities?

And tribes are the sovereigns, not corporations so really, who does have the power?

Unknown: That's a question for the generations.

And I think that you know, everyone will have their own answer.

And I come from a region where there's tremendous amount of cooperation, where we recognize that our corporations have political strengths through their economic power, and the tremendous sharing of wealth that occurs across our state from, you know, ASRC, Nana, and Sealaska.

Every time I see a shareholder from those regions, I say thank you for the 7i, because without it, a lot of our corporations would not have survived.

And so I think that when there's a tremendous amount of cooperation, you really have to know your roles.

And our corporations play a very critical role in community development in that whether it's securing the rights of way for water and sewer, or making land available for development.

Our corporations have to be at the table with our tribes, because it's the tribes that are receiving assistance in establishing pathways.

And one issue I want to, you know, really highlight is the lack of access to market growth in that if you heard of this economist that Julie Kitka introduced to AFN maybe a decade ago now as Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist who wrote 'Why capitalism triumphs in the West and fails everywhere else."

And that basic notion talks about property rights, and the challenge we have to address our housing crisis in our communities is a legal definition, to access mortgage banking, whether it's 100 year lease, so that our shareholders can, in a sense, get a mortgage on the land and build homes, because as you know, we have a crisis when it comes to housing in our communities, and our corporations play a role.

And that's a role not often recognized, but it's a critical one.

And so that's, you know, truly everyone will have an answer.

That varies depending on their philosophy, but I'm a type of person that believes, the more the better, and it you know, our corporations have prepared us to be successful into the future, because with that economic power, our corporations have delivered, that's political power.

That means we have the ability to define our way of life on our lands, and continue to have that have that voice.

Thank you.

Lori Townsend: Thanks, Megan.

Rosie, when you think of the work of tribal governments compared to Corporation leaders, is there a power struggle?

Or has there been in the past?

Unknown: Well, I think there was a struggle, because if you remember, in, when we were debating the 1991, legislation, we actually had a provision where we would be able to transfer lands to tribes, if the corporation so voted, you know, to do that.

And our congressional delegation was opposed to that they impose some disclaimers that threaten the powers of tribes.

And so we, as a Native community pulled back from that, from that provision.

And we've always said that we were, you know, we said, as Alaska Native people, that we would support tribes.

And I think it's really important to remember that in Alaska, we have a very different institutional arrangement arrangement than that of the Lower 48.

So we have corporations, we have, and Native corporations are very different from other corporations.

So I have to stress that Congress recognize that right away in the saying that it is the responsibility of corporations to to assume social and economic responsibility.

That was one thing that made us different, but then also the cultural base of our land.

And our people said that we are a native corporation.

And I remember a lot of the early training where business consultants would come into the boardroom and say, You cannot mix business and non business.

But we, as Native people said, "No, we as Native people have obligations to our people," and we weren't thinking of them just as shareholders.

And then, of course, you know, corporations have historic sites, you know, and historic sacred sites are important to us.

They don't generate revenues, but they do sustain our culture.

The other thing about Native corporations we have to remember is that while we do not claim to have sovereign authorities, Native corporations are tribes for special statutory purposes in over 117 legislative acts.

And those legislative acts provide benefits for Alaska Native people, Alaska Native communities.

So I mean, it's it's a broad picture, but we are different from the Lower 48.

And I think in the last several years, we've worked out the tensions or we are working out the tensions that existed between tribes and corporations, although we have the Chehalis case where we were challenged, you know, as Native corporations, to not be able to have these kinds of special benefits that we are entitled to as Alaskan Native people.

So it's a very complex story.

But, but I think we're working it out.

I don't think all of the tensions have gone away.

But I do think that as Native people, like Megan says, you know, the more institutions that we have working for us and in Alaska we have all of these specialized institutions that work for us -- housing, electrical authorities, health -- those make us different than the Lower 48.

But they work for us as Alaska Native people.

Lori Townsend: Is do you have any concern, though, about you mentioned all of these references, congressional references to the corporations as tribes for certain purposes?

Is there any concern about that blurring the line between what indicates what is a sovereign nation and what is a business entity?

Do you have any concern about about that?

Unknown: No, I don't.

Tribes know, I mean, tribes clearly know that they have sovereign authority, that they have a government-to-government relationship with the federal government, whereas native corporations do not have that kind of sovereign power, but they do have these special entitlements as Alaska Native corporations.

Lori Townsend: All right, Alex, what do you think most Alaskans don't understand about ANCSA and the relationship between tribes and corporations?

Unknown: Oh, wow.

Where to start?

I think that most Alaskans don't understand the interrelationship between corporations and tribes and our nonprofit entities that provide these services.

I think that most Alaskans may not recognize that.

While I'll speak to my region that the Kodiak Area Native Association was the first board for Koniag, it was named in ANCSA.

So some of the nonprofit entities preexisted the ANCs.

I think that many Alaskans don't understand that because of where you live, you may not be eligible to be a tribal citizen.

And that there is not 100% overlap.

And that is not by specific choosing of Alaska Native people.

That is because of how ANCSA works and how tribal citizenship works.

And finally, many Alaska Native or Alaska people do not understand how well these institutions do work.

They hear the concerns.

They hear instances where it's not working, but they don't know the full extent of the tribal health system, or the other nonprofits that work to provide services to Alaska Native people.

Lori Townsend: Alright, thank you.

Let's hear another perspective on the differing roles of tribes and corporations.

Thom Leonard works for Calista and says there has been confusion about the distinctions, and that tribes and corporations should work together.

Unknown: Especially with the CARES funding, the first round went to tribes, which is important, and Calista fully supports that.

But there are a lot of Alaskan Native corporation shareholders who are not tribal members.

And so they were left out, they weren't able to benefit from some of those programs.

And understanding those key differences, I think is important.

And moving forward, we definitely need to work together, tribes, shareholders together towards supporting each other.

Lori Townsend: Alright, Alex, I want to stay with you for just a moment.

There was a lawsuit that tribes brought over CARES Act funds, should there have been a separate allocation for the Alaska Native corporations?

Do you have any concerns about conflating how that came together to have the funds, both for tribes and agencies in the same kind of pot of money?

Unknown: I think it's really hard to say because of how the litigation played out.

Right, I think that having it rolled out in the way that it did was a product of the litigation and the pause that was put on ANCs being able to access that funding.

And I think that there were several complicated things going on, that sparked that lawsuit.

There was disagreement between Lower 48 tribes and the initial decision to cut out tribes that had large economic gaming operations from participating.

And I think that that then rolled into where we ended up in this litigation.

I, you know, I think that the representative from Calista said it very well.

I am not concerned because we are not all the same people.

And so tribal citizens were able to benefit from the first round, and shareholders who are not able to be tribal citizens are now being recognized in the second round.

Lori Townsend: Megan, turning to how do you see this?

Do you see efforts to better coordinate services between tribes and Native corporations in your region?

Unknown: I do want to add to Alex's point, in that our corporations are vested in this economy and they're invested, you know, across the United States of America, so the pandemic impacts to our corporations was real.

So providing that relief to our corporations was essential so that they can continue to be strong entities into the future.

It's not the first time that Congress has had to help our native corporations.

There if you'll remember the NOLs in the 80s that occurred and so, there should be, you know, no uneasiness in anyone's mind.

The importantness of that relief.

Lori Townsend: Alright, you know, we're getting more questions through Facebook Live.

And again, you can also email us, email us alaskainsight@alaskapublic.org.

And here is someone who is sort of picking up on what you were talking about earlier, Megan, as it relates to the need for housing.

And this person writes, "is there going to be any solution for housing in our villages?

I miss home, and I can't even rent a house there because there is no housing to use.

I know I'm not alone in this question.

This is an issue at home."

And then in parentheses, it says Ambler and Shungnak.

So we know this is a big problem.

Are you hearing of new ideas?

Or you had mentioned this this idea that you had about being able to leverage the land that you have?

But are there other things on the horizon that give you hope for taking some of the pressure off when it comes to housing?

Unknown: Absolutely, this infrastructure bill that the President signed this week provides tremendous, and I can't express my gratitude enough to the Alaska delegation that voted for this infrastructure bill, which provides historic funding for water and sewer, for housing for broadband for roads, it'll you know, drive and reinvest in our communities in ways that we have never felt before.

So this is an opportunity for a conversation, it's an opportunity to understand roles in development.

And that's something you know, we have conversations with our communities.

Every day as we are starting this tribal utility cooperative at Norton Sound Health Corporation.

We talk with our village corporation, our tribes and our cities about whose role is what and how do we work together?

Do we need legal assistance here?

Do we need technical assistance there?

And so it's a huge opportunity, there's tremendous amount of hope.

And we have a lot of work ahead to really address housing and other challenges in our community.

Lori Townsend: I'm so glad that you mentioned the infrastructure bill, we could have spent an entire hour just talking about what that could mean for the state and especially rural communities and the big needs for infrastructure and housing and broadband as we know in those areas.

So thank you for raising that.

We'll have to reconvene a conversation about that as that money starts to filter into the state.

Let's watch another profile of a young Alaska Native man who wants to balance a modern education with the values and traditions of his people so he can continue to feel grounded in his culture, and have success in the contemporary world.

Reporter James Gaddis has more.

Unknown: Looking back on his people's past, Aaron Tolen is working to ensure their future success.

I'm a descendant of CIRI and Bering Straits, and then I am a class C shareholder of Chugach The 25 year old from Anchorage traces his family lineage to Nome and Ketchikan even though I was born and raised in the city, and I didn't really grow up speaking my language, they tell me I uphold a lot of the Alaska Native values.

Tolen is referring to his family, my family inadvertently taught me a lot of the lessons that I now you don't practice every day.

For example?

They always told me to smile, because it uplifts the room.

Tolen smile and knowledge and understanding of his native heritage has only grown since attending UA now as senior the Anthropology major minors in Alaska Native studies and Alaska Native business management.

Tolen is also the former president of the Native student council, where he's been a role model and support system for younger students I try to challenge them and put them in, you know, areas where they haven't been before.

Similar to how my mentors did with me because I, since I was very quiet, they made me do a lot more presenting and put me up at the front and had me speak out a lot more.

Tolan believes he can best help his people thrive by utilizing the power of his Native corporation.

Now an HR clerk with Chugach, he envisions being on the board one day where he can do the most good, especially as it relates to shareholder issues.

He points to the growing Alaska Native population and the limited number of shares among them.

There's now becoming a dilemma of who's going to get shares and, you know, if you don't get a share, will you still be able to get you know, reap the benefits from the corporation?

More opportunities for kids to experience culture camps, and the creation of a network of Native clubs is also on his agenda.

A more inclusive and positive future built on the legacy and support of those who came before him.

Just having the backing and knowledge of my ancestors, gives me confidence and going out there and being able to say it wherever I go, you know that I am born and raised here and I'm Indigenous.

In Anchorage.

I'm James Gaddis.

Lori Townsend: Rosita, let's turn to you now.

As an anthropologist, you know how Alaska Native culture has shifted and pres revered through the decades from being suppressed by boarding schools, governments and churches to today's efforts to proudly teach language and cultural practices.

When you see a young person like Aaron Tolen, what does that say to you about the future for Alaska Native people?

Unknown: I have faith in our youth.

And I have faith in our future.

What I see, especially here in Alaska, is that our children are embracing our culture.

And thanks to the efforts of native corporations that established cultural organizations such as the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and I could go around the state and name other cultural organizations, they're really dealing with countering the suppression of our culture.

And we now see that our culture is being integrated into the schools.

And I like to acknowledge that our elders were actually the ones who came to the corporations and told them, it was their responsibility to make sure that our culture survived.

And so a lot of them did establish these cultural organizations.

And they work they are working hard to integrate language and culture into our schools, because they see the benefits of it, not only the cultural benefits, but we see that our children are actually doing better academically, we've seen increased academic scores, we're seeing school retention, improve with that acknowledgement of native peoples identity and being taught in school.

So you know, I, I'm absolutely an avid fan of that, I think that our children are doing well.

In fact, I remind some of our board members that our children, young children probably know more about their culture than they do, because they grew up in a period where Native people were ashamed, and our culture was suppressed.

So I have great hope that our our children are going to do better than us.

And they're going to be educated too.

So they're going to be able to fight for our cultural survival.

Lori Townsend: All right, Alex, your thoughts about the differences for today's young Alaska Natives compared to the struggles of their parents and grandparents, and how you see that manifesting in the future?

Unknown: Sure, well, building on what Rosita has shared, I think that, you know, the investment in culture and connection is important for our young people so that they know where they are, and who they are to us.

And when they are ready, they're going to be stepping into the shoes of guiding our corporations leading our tribes.

Because the the gift of education, the gift of cultural connection, also comes with it, the the hopes and dreams that they will also then carry this on.

And I think that as we continue this experiment forward, I think that those connections are going to be key.

I know, particularly for our shareholders and our tribal citizens who live away from their homelands, who don't live on Kodiak, or don't live in Alaska, that cultural connection is so important, and is their ability to know that when we were there for them now when we need them, they will be here for us.

Lori Townsend: And Megan, how about you?

Do you see a better future for young people to thrive in both the modern way of living and more opportunities for maintaining their connection to their cultural heritage, their identity as Native people?

Unknown: Absolutely, the most critical element is that making sure the next generation become shareholders, understanding the notion of perpetuating our native relationship with the land, you know, to be on our homelands, how our ancestors raised us to speak our languages.

Living our way of life hunting and fishing on our lands, is the foundation of land stewardship, and the next generation of native people must be incorporated into this legal arrangement of ANCSA and if our corporations don't do that, then we're simply left out.

In my previous role as chief of my tribe, I am not a village corporation shareholder, so I have no legal tie to that land, where I'm from.

So we have serious issues ahead.

And it's my hope that through the AFN convention or other related, you know, political relationships across our state that we might amend ANCSA one day to guarantee that the next generation becomes shareholder shareholders otherwise, we might be waiting in perpetuity as you know, for some corporations that may not be the priority to incorporate new members.

And so there's got to be some way to start that conversation in a respectful way.

Thank you.

Lori Townsend: All right.

Thank you for that.

Rosita, you're, we're getting into the last few minutes here, your final thoughts on the importance of ANCSA, both to Alaska Native people, and also the entire population of the state?

I think many Alaskans who are not Alaska Native don't realize ANCSA's impact on the economy of all of Alaska, what would you, what would you say to help people understand that?

Unknown: Well, when we want them to learn, in fact, you know, our one of our missions is to promote cross-cultural understanding.

So we try to educate the non-native population, about Native corporations about our culture.

And I think, I think we need to do a better job of it in the schools.

And then also, I think, you know, there are communities, and I'm pretty proud of Juneau, you know, where, where we are saying, we're going to make, you know, the northwest coast arts capital, but it means that it means educating people about our culture, about our native corporations, the great contributions that they make, to Alaska's economy.

I was watching a film yesterday of one of our villages in 1971.

And in that film, they were talking about, you know, the lack of economic opportunities, the lack of jobs, and, and, and then to see that same community today, to see the economic opportunities that they have, is really astounding.

But the other thing is that we do know that native corporations, that they're, if we look at the percent of non-natives who are working for the corporations, more than likely they are represent 50% or more of native corporations workforce, so I think the word is, is getting out there to many, many non-native people, they're seeing the economic strength and vitality of Native Corporations.

So, you know, I think we're, I think we're, we're moving along in that direction.

Lori Townsend: Alright, and, and Alex in just about 30 seconds, your thoughts for the future?

Unknown: I think that the future involves a lot of collaboration, a lot of figuring out now that we figured out roles, focusing on how to best leverage the rights and obligations of tribes and of corporations.

And that's what I look forward to in the future is really working together to solve these issues.

Lori Townsend: All right.

Well, thank you so much.

I really appreciate all of you being on with us today.

Alex Cleghorn, Megan, Alvanna-Stempfle, Alvanna-Stempfle and Rosita Worl, thank you so much all of you for being with us today.

ANCSA's passage forever changed Alaska and the relationship between tribal citizens, state and federal government and the business economy of the states.

Adapting from a subsistence culture stretching back thousands of years to successfully running major corporations generating billions in revenue in just a few decades, is a testament to the resilience and innovative thinking that has kept Alaska Native communities and cultures thriving for generations.

The ability to build financial success, create jobs, and also support and prioritize language revitalization, culture and tradition will keep Alaska's first people connected and rooted in their heritage while also engaging with the commerce of tomorrow.

It will be exciting to see where the next generation of Alaska Native leaders decides to invest and build businesses for the future of their shareholders, tribal members nd the overall economy of laska.

That's it for this dition of Alaska Insight.

Be ure to tune in daily to your ocal public radio station for laska Morning News and Alaska ews Nightly every weeknight.

Be art of important conversations appening on Talk of Alaska every Tuesday morning, and visit our website alaskapublic.org for reaking news and reports from cross the state.

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We're going to take a reak now for a bit through the oliday season.

Alaska Insight ill return in January.

I hope ou have a wonderful holiday ime with your family.

Thanks or joining us.

I'm Lori T wnsend.

Good night