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TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2003

"Senator Campbell’s S. 522 bill defines Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporations as tribes. When ANCSA was passed in 1971, the surviving traditional elders of Chickaloon, together with a new generation of tribal members, refused to accept its validity. Without the consent of the traditional peoples, ANCSA claimed to "legalize" the appropriation of most of the land in Alaska away from the traditional tribal governments.

The Chickaloon Elders, along with traditional Peoples from throughout Alaska (most of whom were never allowed to vote on ANCSA) recognized the Act as termination legislation pushed through Congress by the U.S. military, oil companies and other corporations interested in exploiting the rich resources formerly under the protection of traditional tribal governments.

What is a corporation? Legal fiction with no brains or morals is what I’ve been told. Or, as the dictionary says, it is "assumption of a body," and assumption means "taking for granted.""

Get the Story:
Patricia Wade: Corporations are not tribes! (The Grand Forks Herald 4/22)