Law | Opinion

Jenny Bell-Jones: Clearing up misconceptions about Alaska tribes

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

An aerial view of the Akiachak Native Community, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that prompted the Obama administration to include Alaska tribes in the land-into-trust process. Photo from Calista Corporation

Tribes have always existed in Alaska, professor Jenny Bell-Jones notes in response to an opinion written by an attorney whose work on Native issues has been compared to the Ku Klux Klan:

When Assistant Secretary of the Interior Ada Deer added Alaska's tribes to the federal register in 1993 she did not invent tribes; she made their relationship with the federal government official. Tribes had always been here in some form and they certainly predated contact with Europeans. Tribes are governing political entities and it would be completely untrue to suggest that no such Alaska Native entities existed prior to 1993. Some of these tribes already had an established relationship with the federal government through the Indian Reorganization Act of 1936; Mrs. Deer's action made those relationships official for all of our tribes.
To suggest that tribes only exist today because of their addition to the federal register in 1993 ignores a long history that is well supported by legal documentation, anthropology and archaeology. Since legal history is the area I know best, I'll just mention a few instances. The Russian American Treaty of Cession references "tribes" (1867). The Tlingit and Haida Jurisdictional Act was signed into law in 1935 to allow "Tlingit and Haida Tribes" to bring their claims against the United States to court. The Alaska Citizenship Act of 1915 required Alaska Natives to sever tribal relationships in order to be eligible for citizenship. Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States (1955) talks about the Tlingit Tribe. The Court in In Re McCord, 1957, clearly recognized the existence of a tribe at Tyonek. ANCSA itself, while containing little discussion of tribes, clearly recognizes that they exist in Alaska by including them in the definitions at the beginning of the Act and it contains no language eliminating them. At no time has Congress ever made any kind of proclamation to the effect that no tribes exist here nor has it ever terminated any Alaska tribes.
The idea that tribes were somehow created as political entities either by the Department of the Interior or the Native American Rights Fund is really not supported by any factual evidence. Tribes are here with us today and they have always been here. Today they are trying to fill some very serious gaps that exist in their communities in terms of public safety, health, education and economic development. Those gaps cannot be filled by the Alaska Native corporations, which are not governing entities and are responsible only to shareholders. Around 60 percent of Alaska Natives are not shareholders in the corporations and that number is growing.
Whether the tribes can further their goals by placing lands they own into trust remains to be seen, but at least they now have the opportunity to use this additional community development tool if they wish. Helping them to do this would be in the best interest of the state and we should request that no further action be taken at our expense to block their efforts.

Get the Story:
Jenny Bell-Jones: To suggest tribes didn't exist in Alaska until the '90s ignores legal history (Alaska Dispatch News 7/4)

Another Opinion:
Don Mitchell: The road to 'Indian Country' in Alaska (Alaska Dispatch News 7/3)

Also Today:
State loses another round in fight against feds over Alaska tribal lands (Alaska Dispatch News 7/2)
Alaska Natives win major land rights case (The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 7/2)
Federal court sides with tribes in Alaska Indian Country land rights case (Alaska Public Media 7/1)

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision:
Akiachak Native Community v. Department of the Interior (July 1, 2016)

Federal Register Notices:
Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (December 23, 2014)
Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (July 1, 2014)
Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (May 1, 2014)

Relevant Documents:
Dear Tribal Leader Letter from Kevin Washburn (April 30, 2014)

District Court Decisions:
Akiachak Native Community v. Jewell (September 30, 2013)
Akiachak Native Community v. Salazar (March 31, 2013)