right up to our last breath, we exercise our sovereignty. When I die I have a special place at home—and I'm sure all these people have the same thing. Public Law 93-638, section 2(2) reads, The Indian people will never surrender their desire to control their relationships both among themselves and with non-Indian governments, organizations, and per sons. The treaty cession of Russia, proclaimed by the United States June 20, 1867, article 3, reads, The inhabitants of the ceded territory, according to their choice, reserving their natural allegiance, may return to Russia within three years; but if they should prefer to remain in the ceded territory, they, with the exception of uncivilized Native tribes, shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States, and shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion. The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws and regulations as the United States may, from time to -time, adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that country." Finally, Mr. Chairman, the regional and village corporations organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act has divided our Native tribes in Alaska. We recognize that the regional and village corporations are doing their best as business corporations set up under the State corporation laws. However, very few of our Native people are working in our corporations or their subsidiaries. We will be further divided after 1991 when stocks can be sold to non-Natives. The life of our corporations will be as long as it produces. Land, property, and shareholders existence will end somewhere. But tribes will continue to exist and our children will become members upon birth as always. Therefore, Chilkat Indian Village IRA Council, on behalf of Chilkat tribe, requests the Select Committee on Indian Affairs to heal the injuries imposed on the Alaska Native status by the Statehood Act and the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act by restoring tribal recognition to all traditional councils and all IRA councils. Mr. Chairman, the voices of regional and village corporations are heard in Washington, DC. But the voices of concerned traditional and IRA councils are dimly heard at the present time, both by the State and Federal Governments. Chilkat Indian Village, Mr. Chairman, is fortunate to have joined the Alaska Native Coalition through whom our voice is represented, particularly by John Borbridge, Jr. and Edward Warren. Our appreciation also goes to the Native American Rights Fund Staff in Alaska for their assistance. In closing, the American Indians and Alaska Natives appreciate the Select Committee on Indian Affairs for being an important arm of Congress of the United States because your decisions relating to us as Alaska Natives and Alaska tribes is very important to our government-to-government relationship and our survival. May God bless you all on the Select Committee on Indian Affairs as you deliberate on issues relating to the American Indians and the Alaska Natives who appreciate and enjoy and exercise self-gov ernment. Thank you on behalf of Chilkat tribe. Prepared statement of Mr. Hotch appears in the appendix.] The CHAIRMAN. We are pleased with the Ninth Circuit Court's recent decision that upheld your jurisdiction over the taking or non-taking of goods by non-Natives. The Court in so doing recognized that you had residual sovereignty over the land. Congratulations. I thank you very much. Our next witness is Ms. Clare Swan. STATEMENT OF CLARE SWAN, TRIBAL CHAIRPERSON, KENAITZE INDIAN TRIBE, KENAI Chairperson SWAN. On behalf of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, I thank you for holding these hearings. I am glad to have the opportunity to be here today. My testimony is not very long. The AFN report on the Status of Alaskan Natives is, indeed, a clear statement of the cultural and economic problems affecting us all today. Testimony by our Native leaders on March 3rd and on this day leaves little more to be said. We just need to get on with the work. We have many competent Native people to carry on this work and I wish only to add a cautionary thought to the recommendations. Of the five central themes cited in AFN's report, the loss of local Native control and responsibility is most crucial. I would ask all of you who work with our tribes and corporations to remember that when we delegate others the job of deciding solutions to our problems, then we must often deal with their perceptions. Too often, then, in signing the resolution giving others this authority, we sign away our responsibility. To those charged with making and implementing decisions for the lives of Alaska Natives, knowing and understanding your own motivations is vital. Alaska's tribal governments and corporations must find and make clear paths on which to walk together in strength. Events of the past weeks again prove that we are the only ones who can make a difference in our lives. In closing, Mr. Chairman, I offer this short poem in knowledge of what has gone before and in the hope that each Alaskan village and tribe will decide its own priorities and destiny. The title of the poem is "Dena'ina Found and Lost." Dena'ina is the name of my tribe, an Athabascan Tribe. They found our land and used its riches, now there is not enough for them and none at all for us. They found our land and filled our spaces, now there is not enough room for them and none at all for us. They found our words and changed their meanings, now even that is not enough for them, and what is left of us? Thank you Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. I thank you very much. I shall make certain that members of the committee look at your testimony very carefully, especially your poem. I think it says a lot. Our next witness is the vice president of the Ninilchik Traditional Council, Virginia Kvasnikoff. STATEMENT OF VIRGINIA KVASNIKOFF, VICE PRESIDENT, Ms. KVASNIKOFF. Thank you Senator Inouye for allowing me to testify today. I testified last year at your hearing when you were here the last one at 11 p.m. Do you remember? Honorable Senators Frank Murkowski and Stevens, good afternoon. My testimony is going to be very simple and it is in response to the status report also. These status reports are very scary to me. I don't like seeing these things. I think from my standpoint as a adult to read these things and of our young people what it must mean to them to read this stuff. My response is what is happening to a proud people? Some are dying and some are living. Weighing the statistics that those are surveying, but according to statistics, we are doomed. But I look around me and not all of us are raised by alcoholics. We were raised by hard working, God fearing people. The 638 amendment passed for Native people to take control of their lives. Some have successfully done just that and some haven't but are still trying. The Native students of Alaska are 75 percent of the national average in academic skills. But the rural schools have fewer dropouts than the urban areas. Arriving at percentages are somewhat of a mystery. Is it absenteeism, incompetent teachers, language barriers, parenting skills, or different standards in communities, or a combination of all? If we fall short, what can be done to remedy it? Students of Alaska are leaders of tomorrow. Think of yourself in their shoes. They went to school for 12 years and then they go to another school and they are not up to the standard. They have to go to school some more just to learn enough to be where they're supposed to be, which should have been taught in the first place. It is a bad situation. Then he reads the paper and watches the news and finds out that the young people are taking their lives and this is another cause of depression. The media plays on the bad things that happen to the people and there is very little written about the good things. Couldn't some of the good things be emphasized? A lot of Native people and Native leaders are pretty prominent and doing quite well in our government and are respected and influential. It seems like some of that could be put into print and give people a little encouragement that they are doing something good. Then there are the standards. We are judged by standards. You know the village standards are different. You go into urban villages and they have different standards than rural villages. So students coming from villages going to an urban standard represents a drastic change. Couldn't our standards be modified so that we can accept standards from both worlds? Also, our standards even in the villages are changing due to the influx of people, more restrictions on hunting and fishing, and our lifestyles are changing. Our diet and our hunting fishing take a lot of time and effort and it is a family affair. In village life, it riddles everything involved. I don't know how to change these things. Maybe someone else has the answer. It is ironic that some of the things that were introduced to our culture-like the alcohol and the drugs and the sugar that they traded to the Indians and Natives for their goods and lands and whatever they could get-now they have decided that those things are no good for us. But it was good for us when they could get things they wanted. Another thing that they are talking about is parenting skills. There are so many teenage pregnancies. How could you teach parenting skills to a child? Some of the elders' teachings are not acceptable in the modern culture. And the divorces and the separations that all disrupts all the family members. The children are left or go to different homes. I think they are harming our values, our families are suffering. I think more emphasis should be put on the hard work it takes to keep a family together and not just take the easy way out. That's all I have to say. I thank you honorable Senator Inouye for listening to my testimony. [Prepared statement of Ms. Kvasnikoff appears in the appendix.] The CHAIRMAN. I agree with you that the report is a frightening document and no one would want to read those statistics. The only way that we can face up to these facts would be to read the report. I also concur with you that all too often our media would emphasize the negative and very seldom touch upon the positive aspects of life. The committee, you may be interested to know, has just started a project to document the successes in Indian Country so that people in Indian Country can see that there are many great success stories throughout Indian Country. When that is finished we will give you a copy. Senator STEVENS. Mr. Chairman, you might be interested to know that I was in Kotzebue last night-and you would be interested in this, too, Ms. Kvasnikoff-and of the graduating class in Kotzebue of 30 students, 14 students were Honor Roll and 7 of them were National Honor Students-almost half on the Honor Roll and one-quarter in the top 1 percent of the Nation. There is great progress being made, I think. In trying to recognize what you're saying and what the Chairman is saying, we should find the role models for these young people and make sure they understand that education and progress and accomplishment are possible. Although we need the other statistics, too. We've got to have those to convince people we need help. The CHAIRMAN. Our next panel consists of Mr. John Juliussen of Seldovia Native Association; Derenty Tabios, Executive Director of the North Pacific Rim of Anchorage; Mr. Nick Peterson, mayor, city of Akhiok; Ms. Nina Olson, Kodiak Area Native Association; Ms. Mary Ann Mills, Sovereign Indigenous Women of the Arctic, Sterling, AK. STATEMENT OF JOHN JULIUSSEN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Mr. JULIUSSEN. Chairman Inouye, Senators Murkowski and Stevens, welcome to Alaska. My name is John Juliussen and I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Seldovia Native Association. I am here to support the passage of S. 611. As you know, the proposed changes to the Indian Health Service eligibility regulations have a massive impact on Alaska. The changes may be delayed again, but is reasonable to predict that at some point in time the government will modify the system to restrict what it sees as a growing access to services. We assume that the proposed regulations, basing eligibility on tribal enrollment, will eventually be implemented. This will retain the political consideration of Native status, as is right. But it will also evoke a new set of problems for many Alaska Native villages arbitrarily left off the Department of Interior's 1986 list of tribal entities. If a village is not acknowledged as a tribe on that list, then it obviously cannot have an official tribal membership and tribal members can therefore be denied access to Indian Health Services. From our reading of it, Senate Bill 611 will significantly advance the Federal Government in the direction of removing this problem. The current Federal Acknowledgement process was clearly designed with the Lower 48 in mind, requiring applicants to prove first that they are Indian and then that they constitute a tribe. Its orientation to Lower 48 Indians has made it more difficult to implement in Alaska. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act already completed the first step in establishing who is Native, and that definition has proven adequate for over 17 years. Direct descendants of Natives are Natives too, and descendency is relatively simple to establish also. The second condition, being a tribe, invokes interesting conceptual issues. Deciding on an operational definition of "tribe" was not a goal of many Alaska Natives until it became clear that the process of becoming a tribe required approval by the United States. A need arose in the 1930's for Alaska Natives to engage in processes that entailed writing constitutions (in English), holding elections, mailing forms to the Department of the Interior, and on and on, in order to gain Federal recognition and, in some cases, acquire land held in trust as reservations. The fact that tribe was clearly an Indian label which did not fit reality well in large segments of Alaska did not matter as much as the need to complete the Federal processes. Often a tribal council was an alien form of making decisions as was holding an election-but Native people followed the rules to gain approval by the Secretary of the Interior. When everything worked, individual villages became tribes and achieved their goal of Federal acknowledgement. But many did not complete these many tasks. Hundreds of villages were included in ANCSA, some of which had already been recognized federally but many of which remained as traditional as they had ever been, isolated, and as autonomous as ever. The stringent criteria used in determining inclusion in ANCSA succeeded in doing, for all practical purposes, what the Federal Acknowledgement Process was intended to do. Litigation surrounded the passage of ANCSA and a final list of unquestionable tribes has resulted. But now, after 17 years, some of those tribes have been segregated and relegated to a peculiar status, listed by the BIA as recognized non-tribes in Alaska. That, practically speaking, is what the December 1988 list contains. The Native village of Seldovia is one of those villages that for unknown reasons missed being included in the 1986 list of acknowledged tribes and has now been relegated to the 1988 list of recog |