ANCSA was signed into law to settle valid claims of unextinguished aboriginal title that blanketed almost all of Alaska. ANCSA was not a negotiated settlement. It was an Act of Congress. The document that exists today is the result of work by Congressional members and actual contents were not public information until after the final document was signed. While Alaska Natives may have voted in favor of moving forward with an agreement, this should never be construed as a vote in favor of the wording of the law itself. The public does not get to “vote” on the contents of laws created by Congress.

ANCSA is long and complicated. Its social-engineering provisions extend beyond the land claims it was intended to settle. Some of these provisions worked well; others have not, and ANCSA has undergone numerous amendments since its inception. No one knew ahead of time what would work, and one must hope that no one would recommend failing provisions be continued. One failure is actually an omission; ANCSA provided no land base for tribal governments.

It is this omission that Alaska tribes hope to address by removing the discriminatory language from the CFR. Governments need a land base if they are to be successful. Very few governments in the world succeed without a proper land base; examples include Monaco and Vatican City, and even these have clearly defined territory.

ANCSA was intended to be “accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the real economic and social needs of Natives” (43 U.S.C. § 1601(b)). Forty-three years later this goal is yet to be accomplished. The Indian Law and Order Commission report makes it very clear that an unacceptable situation exists in rural Alaska. Many tribal communities lack even the most basic services, resident law enforcement, and suffer extreme levels of violence and the highest unemployment in the state. Clearly economic and social needs have not been met.