"There’s a power struggle going on between Alaska Native tribes and corporations, and that battle was taken to Washington, DC last week. The board chairman of the Sealaska Native Corporation in Southeast, Albert Kookesh, was in Washington with the Alaska Federation of Natives, for whom he serves as co-chair. He was attending an event designed to bring unity to the Alaska Native and Indian American message, but Kookesh used some of his time in a White House meeting to advocate for corporations.

He and other representatives of the Alaska Federation of Natives met with Kim Teehee, President Obama’s senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs. And Kookesh says he told her corporations need more recognition in Alaska.

Kookesh says corporations want to join groups like the National Congress of American Indians, which called for last week’s indigenous gathering in Washington. He at first said Alaskans can’t join NCAI, but then clarified that Alaska’s tribes can – but not its corporations."

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Kookesh Pushes for Recognition of Alaska Native Corporation (Alaska Public Radio Network 10/17)