N A T I O N A L C O N G R E S S O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N S

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1 N A T I O N A L C O N G R E S S O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N S Resolutions Committee Recommendation Resolution #: REN Title: To ensure the Survival of Alaska s Indigenous People by the passage of an Alaska Native Restoration Act Comments: Suggest focusing this resolution on Item #2 in the list restoration of aboriginal hunting and fishing rights in Alaska. There is a broad consensus among Alaska Native people on this proposal, and there is an urgent need making this resolution emergency in nature. Recommendations: The Resolutions Committee suggests removing #1 and #3 that Congress should transfer all corporate lands away from the Alaska Native Corporations and to the Alaska tribes, and that Congress mandate the enrollment of the corporations. #3 is already an adopted NCAI position, #SAC , Supporting All Alaska Native Tribal Members Born After 1971 to be Automatically Enrolled to Village and Regional Corporations. There is likely not a consensus among Alaska Native people on #1, and this type of proposal would be better considered at an Annual Meeting where it could be debated by many more Alaska tribal leaders. Sponsor a member in good standing (yes/no)?:

2 N A T I O N A L C O N G R E S S O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N S The National Congress of American Indians Resolution #REN E XECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRESIDENT Jefferson Keel Chickasaw Nation FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT Juana Majel Dixon Pauma Band of Mission Indians RECORDING SECRETARY Edward Thomas Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska TREASURER W. Ron Allen Jamestown S Klallam Tribe R EGIONAL V ICE- P RESIDENTS ALASKA Cynthia Ahwinona Nome Eskimo Community EASTERN OKLAHOMA S. Joe Crittenden Cherokee Nation GREAT PLAINS Robert Shepherd Sisseton Wahpeton MIDWEST Matthew Wesaw Pokagon Band of Potawatomi NORTHEAST Lance Gumbs Shinnecock Indian Nation NORTHWEST Fawn Sharp Quinault Indian Nation PACIFIC Don Arnold Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians ROCKY MOUNTAIN Ivan Posey Shoshone Tribe SOUTHEAST Larry Townsend Lumbee Tribe SOUTHERN PLAINS George Thurman Sac and Fox Nation SOUTHWEST Joe Garcia Ohkay Owingeh WESTERN Ned Norris, Jr Tohono O odham Nation EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jacqueline Johnson Pata Tlingit NCAI HEADQUARTERS 1516 P Street, N.W. Washington, DC fax TITLE: To ensure the Survival of Alaska s Indigenous People by the passage of an Alaska Native Restoration Act WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and WHEREAS, since time immemorial, Alaska s tribes have hunted, fished, and gathered on the lands and waters of what is now the State of Alaska; and, WHEREAS, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) has transferred 44.5 million acres of tribal land to state-chartered profit corporations in fee simple title with no land reserved for Alaska s tribes and their governments; and WHEREAS, the US Supreme Court has ruled in State of Alaska vs. the Native Village of Venetie that these lands are not owned by the tribes and are not Indian Country; and WHEREAS, this transfer of ancestral lands to corporate ownership, and the Venetie Decision, has severely crippled Alaska s tribes and their governments by taking away land needed for governmental jurisdiction, homes, customary and traditional uses, hunting and fishing, law enforcement, education and social and economic development; and WHEREAS, section 4(b) of ANCSA summarily extinguished the aboriginal hunting and fishing rights of Alaska Indigenous people; and WHEREAS, access to traditional and accustomed places for hunting, fishing, and gathering is a fundamental Human Right without which Alaska s Native People and cultures cannot exist; and

3 NCAI 2013 Midyear Resolution REN-13-0xx WHEREAS, this fundamental Human Right has been affirmed by the covenant on civil and political rights in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People; and WHEREAS, ANCSA allowed Alaska Natives alive on the date of ANCSA s enactment, December 18, 1971, to receive 100 shares of stock in their respective village and regional corporations, and thus part ownership of their ancestral lands, while terminating the land and other Indigenous rights of Alaska Natives born after that date by excluding them from ANCSA; and WHEREAS, ANCSA has divided the Alaska Native tribes and families into two classes by separating them on the basis of birth date and blood quantum - even dividing grandparents and parents from their children and grandchildren; and WHEREAS, ANCSA is one of the last Termination and Assimilation acts of the United States government still in effect, long after these shameful and tragic polices had been discarded for the rest of Indian Country, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American Indians to petition the U.S. Congress to correct the manifest inhumanities and injustices described above by amending ANCSA: 1. Transferring ownership and control of village and regional corporation lands back to Alaska s federally recognized tribes, and by recognizing such lands as Indian country under the jurisdiction of the tribes and their governments 2. Restoring the aboriginal hunting and fishing rights of Alaska Natives that Section 4(b) of ANCSA had summarily extinguished, and reaffirming the right of Alaska s Indigenous people to hunt, fish and gather in traditional and accustomed places in perpetuity; and 3. Mandating the enrollment of all Alaska Natives and Alaska Native tribal children born before, on, or after December 18, 1971 into the ANCSA regional and village corporations regardless of date of birth and blood quantum - eligibility to be determined by the tribe; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American Indians will work in good faith with the federally recognized tribes of Alaska and the US Congress to positively address and resolve the injustices enumerated in this Resolution in consultation with, and the support of, the Executive Office of the President of the United States. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.

4 NCAI 2013 Midyear Resolution REN-13-0xx CERTIFICATION The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2013 Midyear Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Atlantis Casino from June 24-27, 2013 in Reno, Nevada with a quorum present. President ATTEST: Recording Secretary

5 N A T I O N A L C O N G R E S S O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N S The National Congress of American Indians Resolution #SAC TITLE: Supporting All Alaska Native Tribal Members Born After 1971 to be Automatically Enrolled to Village and Regional Corporations E XECUTIVE C OMMITTEE PRESIDENT Jefferson Keel Chickasaw Nation FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT Juana Majel Dixon Pauma Band of Mission Indians RECORDING SECRETARY Edward Thomas Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska TREASURER W. Ron Allen Jamestown S Klallam Tribe R EGIONAL V ICE- P RESIDENTS ALASKA Bill Martin Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska EASTERN OKLAHOMA S. Joe Crittenden Cherokee Nation GREAT PLAINS Robert Shepherd Sisseton Wahpeton MIDWEST Matthew Wesaw Pokagon Band of Potawatomi NORTHEAST Lance Gumbs Shinnecock Indian Nation NORTHWEST Fawn Sharp Quinault Indian Nation PACIFIC Don Arnold Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians ROCKY MOUNTAIN Scott Russell Crow Tribe SOUTHEAST Larry Townsend Lumbee Tribe SOUTHERN PLAINS George Thurman Sac and Fox Nation SOUTHWEST Joe Garcia Ohkay Owingeh WESTERN Ned Norris, Jr Tohono O odham Nation WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and WHEREAS, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) did not account for future generations of Tribal Citizens to be included in its provisions, thereby excluding all Tribal Citizens born after 1971 from receiving shares in Alaska Native Village and Regional Corporations; and WHEREAS, the United States Congress has trust responsibility for our Tribal Citizens, and the capacity through its plenary power to enact legislation to correct this injustice by automatically enrolling our Tribal Citizens born after 1971 into our ANCSA Village and Regional corporations; and WHEREAS, shareholders were determined using our Tribal Rolls, and the determination of Native American heritage; and WHEREAS, the exclusion of some of our Tribal Members from ANCSA Corporations due to arbitrary birth date divides our society unjustly, and serves to create two classes within our Tribes; and WHEREAS, all 42 Tribes of the Tanana Chiefs Conference have unanimously passed a resolution in supporting the inclusion of those born after 1971, TCC Resolution EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jacqueline Johnson Pata Tlingit NCAI HEADQUARTERS 1516 P Street, N.W. Washington, DC fax

6 NCAI 2012 Annual Resolution SAC NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NCAI requests that the United States Congress, through the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, immediately draft and adopt legislation correcting this injustice by automatically enrolling our Tribal Members born after 1971 concurrently as shareholders in their Village and Regional Corporations upon enrollment in their tribe; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution. CERTIFICATION The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2012 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Sacramento Convention Center from October 21-26, 2012 in Sacramento, California, with a quorum present. ATTEST: President Recording Secretary Page 2 of 2