Native Movement Blog
Remember Their Names
On Nov. 20, 2022, five lives were lost, eighteen lives traumatized physically and mentally, and the entire queer community of Colorado Springs, CO and the United States shaken to its core. This is yet another instance of targeted violence against queer and trans bodies, in a larger national trend where 2SLGBTQ bodies are four times more likely to fall victim to violent crimes. That the shooting at Q Club fell on the eve of the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance adds a certain cosmic insult to injury, and added to our collective grief. Our hearts are with the victims, and their blood and chosen families. Say their names with us:
Raymond Greene Vance (he/him)
Kelly Loving (she/her)
Daniel Aston (he/him)
Derrick Rump (he/him)
Ashley Paugh (she/her)
We grieve alongside our queer and trans kin at the lives lost due to institutionalized violence faced by our 2SLGBTQ community all over the world. We rage, not only at the utter inaction of the state to protect our civil rights, but at current leaders who have the power to prevent violence against our bodies and our sacred spaces, as well as gun violence in schools and communities across the country, but choose not to.We deserve better, and we will fight for better. Our collective grief and rage is valid, cathartic, and sacred, and is one of the things that binds us together in our larger movement towards social, political, and economic equality for 2SLGBTQ people in this country. But in the process of reclaiming our bodies and our right to exist equally with others, we must not allow the oppressors to take away the most important thing we have to sustain us in this fight: JOY
Joy as liberation and an authentic celebration of who we are. Joy as a community builder and life-sustaining force for one another. Joy as defiance to institutionalized patriarchy and violence. Joy that we must create, sustain, and pass down to future generations of queer and trans kin, if we are to create a brighter tomorrow for our community.
You can learn more about Trans Day of Remembrance and watch last weeks livestream session here:
Support and Donate to Alaska Orgs that advance belonging and safety for our LGBTQ2S family:
MMIWG2S+ Alaska Run for Healing + Justice
We invite you to participate and honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls, Two Spirit+ and all relatives through healthy healing. The 3rd annual MMIWG2S+ Alaska Run for Healing, Run for Justice is a virtual 5K run, walk, or other physical activity dedicated to honoring missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and all relatives. This is a free virtual event open to all to share their participation between September 19th-24th. This event is meant to raise awareness and provide a healthy healing activity for our community to join.
Register using this link: https://forms.gle/q8qTqhdGTroooWnq7
To receive your bib and packet.
While this is not a race or competition, you can share your participation in the FB event and registered participants will be entered into a drawing for a swag bag! Check out the FB event each day to see others participation and posts from the working group on how to stay involved!
If you’re in the Anchorage area on September 24th, join us for an in-person participation at 1:00pm at the Alaska Native Heritage Center Lake Tiulana. We are looking for a few volunteers to help us with set-up and breakdown! (Volunteer Form Here). We encourage people to have runs with others in their own communities as well!
EVENT: Fairbanks Community Mural Project Celebration
Please join us Tuesday Sept. 13th, 12:00PM in Fairbanks at 60 Hall St. to celebrate the creation of our first community mural project as we recognize the artists, and featured community members including local elder Vernell Titus, local Native youth, and Native Movement staff leader, Naawieyaa Tagaban (Lingit). There will be food, hot drinks, and a community blessing led by our community organizers.
The photographs used in this mural were taken by Native Movement staff photographer Jeff Chen. The mural installation was a collaboration between Native Movement, Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition, and NDN Collective. The featured phrase – “What the hands do, the heart learns” – is a principle of the organization Movement Generation.
The mural focuses on large photographs taken during the recent Nenana Youth Culture Camp in July and was in collaboration of many hands in our community. There will be a performance by a local drumming group with song and prayer to bless the collective effort that went into the creation of this prominent art piece at the intersection of Wendell Ave and Hall St. across from the Morris Thompson Cultural Center.
This is the first phase of a collaborative community project and we want you to be involved! Submit to our interest form here.
Community Demands Pause of Nenana-Tochaket Road Development
Nenana, AK - As the leaves flush yellow on Toghotthele, a group of local Tribal members and land owners gathered inside the Nenana City School gymnasium with less than a week of notice from the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) to hear about the proposed Nenana Tolchaket Road expansion. Four tables are lined with plans for a 15 million dollar road project funded by the State of Alaska. The 20 miles of new road would open 140,000 acres of traditional use lands for industrial agricultural production from the Native Village of Nenana on the George Parks Highway to the Kantishna River bordering Denali National Park and Preserve.
Christina Sunnyboy, Chair of Toghotthele Corporation, Caroline Ketzler, 1st Chief of Nenana Native Village and Toghotthele Board Member, and Eva Burk, Vice Chair of the Toghotthele Corporation, Executive Director of Rock Crossing Consulting and Graduate Research Assistant with Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, spoke in a circle as a small group created their own public forum with the project staff. Burk said, “You are not considering the cumulative impact of this entire project. It’s not just this road and not just this agricultural land sale. On top of it all, our fish are already crashing. The key message is, this is not the time. The land and the waters are telling you. That’s why we are here.” As Burke spoke to the room, others unfurled a large banner decorated with hand-painted blueberries that read ‘No Consent. No Road’.
Christina Sunnyboy spoke next, “ there is not a total ‘in-support’, no one has asked us officially ‘are we with the project?’, but now that comment has reopened, we have a chance to make our voices heard. DOT has contacted us for possible road work, but what it does, It opens up Toghetelle lands, and I don’t believe it’s worth it to our shareholders.”
Community Member, Kathleen Demientieff, Nenana Tribal Council Member, continued in the circle, “ I was born and raised in Nenana. I am subsistence fisher-woman, I am subsistence hunter and trapper, you name it. I am very discouraged by the State of Alaska. Very disrespectful against our tribal members. Even with Josh (Mayor) . We weren’t notified. We would have fought this. And now you have a schedule. I will call my representatives. I’m going to stop it.”
For nearly 3 hours the community exchanged passionate concerns on the rushed public process, unfinished environmental reviews and inadequate consultations with the Nenana Tribal Council from Alaska DOT. The most common message from the group was clearly around the lack of Tribal and community consultation, as well as an aggressive schedule of development on fragile wetland ecosystems that have been stewarded for generations.
First Chief Caroline Ketzler of the Nenana Tribal Council pulled the attention of the circle as she shared her story. “My family fought for their rights to hunt and fish on these lands and they won years ago against the state. Now you guys are opening it up to anyone and everyone. What do you think is going to happen out there? Exactly what happened in the Minto flats. Decimation. That’s exactly what it is. We are losing our animals and our fish right now. All of my life growing up I heard chiefs talking at the potlatches and they would tell me and everyone else in the room that ‘one day our animals will be gone from this land and all you will have is the land itself.’ That’s today. We run the risk of having people from all over in a pristine area that we’ve kept that way for generations. It’s not just you guys pushing a road in there. It’s way more than that. That’s my heart and soul in that country.”
Josh Verhagen, Mayor of the City of Nenana also spoke with the room, “ It’s not like I’m just lock step with everything the State wants to do. I’ve shared my concerns and have some pretty severe concerns with the agricultural project and this project, and some of them they have listened to. I think there is a more effective way to collaborate and it is to share our knowledge and share our resources. To find a way to make this a better situation. ”
As the meeting neared a natural closing, Johnathan Hutchinson, Principal Engineer and Project Manager for DOT, said “ If we can’t present this community with additional information and vice versa and network and share this information, we are not moving forward at all.”
Missing from the DOT delegation was a representative from the Office of History and Archaeology. The assessment of cultural use sites is necessary to upholding free, prior and informed consent under the the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples. The State plans to begin assessing cultural sites on Monday, September 12th despite the call from stakeholders present at the meeting for a pause in the process. Public comment is open through Sept. 30
Press Contacts:
Eva Burk, Vice Chair of the Toghotthele Corporation •
edburk@alaska.edu, 907-322-7467
Caroline Ketzler, First Chief Nenana Tribal Council •
carolinejketzler@gmail.com, 907-371-5277
Brandon Hill, Native Movement Communications Co-Director • brandon@nativemovement.org, 207-632-0861
Nenana Land Back Campaign
Native Movement invites you to donate today to support the Nenana Land Back Campaign and be part of uplifting Indigenous Nenana residents' visions for regenerative food systems, cultural connection & holistic land stewardship. Not only do they have a powerful vision, they are already engaging young people in small-scale ecological agriculture along with the hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering that has been practiced on these lands for generations.
The energy is palpable when Eva Dawn Burk shares about how the Nenana Native community is “working together to preserve our culture and how we are educating our kids about the lands around them. Our people have been disconnected for a long time and this culture camp is a way to bring the community together and reconnect, teaching our people how to be advocates for our land and that they are sovereign people.” Leadership of the Toghotthele Village Corporation, which is a major landowner affected by this project, has serious concerns about the rushed land sale this year. Decision-making went forward without their input. The proper studies and tribal consultation need to be complete beforehand. Learn more and get involved at https://fairbanksclimateaction.org/blog/nenana-land-sale
Response to the Inflation Reduction Act
Holding Climate Gains Hostage to the Fossil Fuel Industry is NOT Climate Justice
Last week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin reached a deal on long-sought climate legislation by releasing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). While the bill contains some energy production and carbon emissions reforms for which frontline communities have worked and organized, it holds much-needed measures hostage to continued subsidization of extractive industries.
The Inflation Reduction Act is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It masquerades as a win for the climate while perpetuating the oil and gas industry and other corporate-supported false solutions to the climate crisis like carbon capture and storage, biofuels, nuclear energy, and blue or gray hydrogen. Among the most insidious provisions is a requirement that all new solar and wind energy development on federal lands and waters must have a prerequisite oil and gas lease sale. The bill also mandates oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet, Alaska, where the federal lease sale was canceled earlier this year because of lack of industry interest. Mandated drilling in these special places perpetuates the treatment of them as sacrifice zones. Sacrifice zones are incompatible with a Just Transition, period. We cannot support the continued destruction of Alaskan ways of life in exchange for promises of lower emissions elsewhere.
Frontline communities fought for and won many historic investments in this bill. These include dozens of environmental justice programs, support for community-led efforts to clean up toxic pollution and adapt to climate change, and justice and labor standards. But these communities did not fight so hard only to trade these gains for giveaways to the fossil fuel industry that will continue to cause them harm.
We call on Congress to remove all harmful provisions in the bill, and we call on President Biden to utilize every tool available to him to mobilize the federal government to respond to the climate crisis in ways that invest in communities and do not perpetuate environmental racism.
Our Rights Won’t Be Taken by Alt-Right SCOTUS
Within the course of a week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) undermined Tribal sovereignty, opted out of combatting the climate crisis at the federal level, stripped bodily autonomy of people with uteruses, as well as revoked accountability if/when police not issue or honor Miranda rights.These recent decisions make it clear that SCOTUS’s primary purpose is to perpetuate white supremacy and patriarchy.
This is nothing new for Indigenous, Black, brown and LGBTQ2S+ people. This country was founded on genocide, stolen land, and stolen and enslaved peoples — not on the principles and practices of legitimacy, equity or justice. And today, the current majority of SCOTUS judges undoubtedly believe in upholding the original intent of the all-white, slave-owning men who wrote the constitution.
Last week, SCOTUS dealt a blow to tribal sovereignty, ruling that states have “jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country”(Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma). SCOTUS is rarely a beacon for upholding Tribal Sovereignty, yet the sovereignty and self-determination of Indigenous Nations continues to be inherent, regardless of a colonizer’s approvals.
At the end of last week, SCOTUS ruled the Environmental Protection Agency does not have authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants because Congress has not specifically authorized EPA to do so in the Clean Air Act (West Virginia v. EPA). During a time of increasing climate crisis, SCOTUS is crippling the most basic climate mitigation strategies.
Amongst the onslaught of SCOTUS decisions was the disregard for 50 years of protected bodily autonomy — the right to safe abortion (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization). While this decision is truly staggering and laden with racism, misogyny, transphobia, and classism, many knew this day was coming. Congress has failed to codify abortion rights, and without federal protections, the right to body autonomy for people with uteruses is now subject to the whims of state politics.
The Vega v. Tekoh decision flagrantly reduces the accountability of police when they dishonor the Miranda rights of citizens in police custody. The reduction of accountability means that if taken into questioning, a person can be subjected to unjust interrogating and coercion, which may impact their trial and they would have no avenue for redress to hold police accountable nor change the impact the acts have on a trial. Although the decision does not reduce the obligation to issue Miranda rights, this decision will exacerbate the racist biases that funnel people into the prison industrial complex.
The undermining of Tribal sovereignty, the disregard of the increasing climate crisis and the attack on our rights over our own body’s has long impacted Black, Indigenous, People of Color, queer, and lower income people at disproportionate rates. These recent decisions perpetuate systemic racism further.
These recent decisions were only a few in a SCOTUS storm, and while they may feel like deep losses, we must remember that this was the result of actions by a few and we are many. We are engaged community members – relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors. We will continue to pick up signs and rally. We will continue to venture into the halls of our local governments. And we will continue to call and write our elected leadership.
We must vote our values, and we will continue to build safety and security for ALL people. Our work to give voice to the rights of Mother Earth and all those who have long been marginalized or disregarded is more urgent than ever.
What Can YOU Do?
Get engaged - Find out who has been organizing in your community already and get involved. People already organizing on these issues need fresh energy. We need you. Host a sign making event, organize your neighbors to visit your elected leadership, and know the candidates in the next elections (local, state, and national).
Work on Healing - It’s okay to feel hurt. We need to move through grief in order to heal. To fight injustice, we must be healthy, whole people. We must continue to take care of each other and our communities during hard times. Particularly as People of Color, Black, Indigenous, queer, and economically oppressed people, healing is not a luxury - it is a necessity. In the words of Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Donate to Planned Parenthood Alaska: Donate Online Today
Abortion funds: https://www.plancpills.org/donate;
Birthworkers, such as the Alaska Native Native Birthworker Community: https://secure.everyaction.com/IXCe_XZI5kSPSlpzgTdCVQ2
Our human rights and the sovereignty of Native Nations are INHERENT, yet we have witnessed before the rolling back of inherent and hard won rights. We know that we must continue to both advocate for and exercise our rights.
Native Movement believes in grassroots community organizing and the power of people collectively advocating for justice. Native Movement will continue to uphold and acknowledge Native Nation’s sovereignty, fight for our human rights and resist the settler colonial powers that try to suppress our rights.
Closing Thoughts from Arts in Action Fellow
As Claire wraps up her Arts in Action Fellowship Program with Native Movement, we wanted to express our deepest gratitude to her for her work and support during the past three months. We look forward to seeing where her art practice takes her! Here are some final reflections on her time with us:
My time as Native Movement’s Arts in Action fellow is coming to a close. It has been a three month journey in which I have spent a week in Sitka with the team, attended the Just Transition Summit in Anchorage, learned to screen print, and have worked independently to create a piece to share with Native Movement.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to create a piece of art that reflects my shared values with Native Movement. I decided to make a piece on language revitalization. I am so excited that it will be shared within the community.
Though I have enjoyed the entire three months, a highlight that will remain with me is our first week together in Sitka. I loved that the organization’s annual planning meeting was centered around an important community event; the yaaw ḵu.éex’. That initial week was a good indicator of how the rest of my experience would be. Native Movement is a truly community focused organization and I am so happy that my art is in good hands with them.
The Arts in Action Fellowship with Native Movement is a 3-month part-time position which provides hands-on experience working with our team. The goal of this Fellowship is to give space to be creative in a collaborative environment, build capacity in our communities for Arts in Action, and support BIPOC, and queer artists/creatives who are interested in expanding their skills around Arts organizing.
Act of Continued Colonialism
Written by
Aqpik Apok, Gender Justice Director
Enei Begaye, Executive Director
cover photo: Illuminative
US Supreme Court Decision is an Act of Continued Colonialism, a Historical Step Backward
The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade is sickening, it is an abhorrent attack on human rights and the sovereignty of choice that people with wombs have over their own bodies. Native Movement is outraged and aggrieved at this historical backward step in the work to secure body sovereignty, autonomy of choice, reproductive justice, and fundamental rights to health care. Access to abortion is a basic human right, it is responsible healthcare. Reproductive choice is a fundamental right of all those with uteruses.
“The loss of 50 years of hard fought protections should enrage all who believe in freedom, access to safe healthcare for all, and ultimately just systems,” said Enei Begaye, Native Movement Executive Director.
In Alaska the US Supreme Court decision will not impact Alaskans’ legal rights to abortion, just yet. The Alaska Supreme Court has a history of continued protection of legal rights to abortion.
“While we applaud the Alaska Supreme Court, there continues to be steep inequalities to safe and accessible healthcare particularly for women and trans people. More needs to be done here in Alaska. This national action only underscores the importance of protecting hard fought for rights locally AND the need to continue advocating for increased accessibility, safety, and affordability of reproductive health care for all. We call on Alaskan elected leaders to make their stance pro-choice” said Aqpik Charlene Apok, Native Movement Gender Justice and Healing Director.
“We stand in outrage and grief with all those across the country, particularly in states without any protections outside of the national protections, who have been stripped of their rights to bodily autonomy and access to safe healthcare. We stand with our relatives across the country who are facing the imminent loss of rights and access over the next month. This Supreme Court decision is an act of national terrorism and enables racism to thrive,” stated Enei Begaye, Native Movement Executive Director.
Eliminating safe access to abortion is equally political, economic, and racist. Lack of access to safe and affordable reproductive healthcare often keeps people with uteruses in lower wage earning jobs and ensures future generations remain chained to the system of economic disenfranchisement. This Supreme Court decision removes the agency and autonomy of already strained and stressed people from marginalized communities, furthering inequities in a country that does not provide universal healthcare, living wages, and paid parental leave. The impacts of the Court’s decision will continue the perpetuation of systemic racism that disproportionately funnels people of color through state agencies and the prison industrial complex.
As Indigenous peoples we know all too well a history of taking. The actions of the U.S. Supreme Court continues to take; the taking of our body sovereignty and self determination is a glaring act of colonialism which seeks control, abuse of power, and profit. We must remain aware and engaged by mobilizing and supporting actions locally and in solidarity across the nation.
“Today there is palpable grief, anger, and suffering as already patients are being turned away in tears at clinics across the nation. This decision is already starting a crisis on top of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, our current climate emergency and economic instability. We remind one another at this moment that we stand together and affirm collectively that no one controls our bodies,” said Princess Johnson, Native Movement Board Member.
Native Movement is partnered with organizations throughout Alaska and nationally; we are asking people to join a national day of action on July 9th, 2022. Alaska events are planned for Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, & Homer.
“Until all of us are free, the few who think they are remain tainted with enslavement.” -Lee Maracle (First Nations writer)
#BANSOFFOURBODIES #abortionishumanrights #ourbodiesourrights #RoeVWade #AbortionIsHealthcare #reproductivejustice #SCOTUS #votePROchoice
Your Language Loves You
Written by Claire Helgeson
As the current Arts in Action fellow, one of my tasks is to complete a piece for Native Movement to use that is relevant to the work they do as an organization. For this blog post, I wanted to share about the inspiration behind the piece I am creating.
One of the reasons my language journey is sustained despite the difficulty and obstacles is the grounding, healing, and strength it brings me. It gives me firm ground to walk in this world, and is much of the inspiration for my art. It is like a mother figure that is life affirming and nurturing, as well as providing rules to live by .
Our mothers are the first voices we hear, they are our first teachers. Intergenerational language transmission depends so much on the linguistic link between mother and child. I have witnessed so many powerful women language warriors who are determined to give their children the most precious gift of language and knowledge of who they are, because they know this will sustain them for the rest of their lives. It inspires me everyday at work seeing strong women who are building a school because there wasn’t one fit to teach their children what they wanted them to know about themselves and where they come from.
Our languages are meant for us.
They come from previous generations who always were aware of us and our wellbeing. They come from lands that sustained us, and they are the sound of the love for the land our peoples always had. Our languages love us in turn by soothing and healing colonial breakages in our minds, surrounding us with a container for our lives, and reforming a bridge for the deepest level of connection to others.
The Arts in Action Fellowship with Native Movement is a 3-month part-time position which provides hands-on experience working with our team. The goal of this Fellowship is to give space to be creative in a collaborative environment, build capacity in our communities for Arts in Action, and support BIPOC, and queer artists/creatives who are interested in expanding their skills around Arts organizing.
2022 Post-Legislative Debrief
2021 was a big year for Native Movement, as our team welcomed many new staff members on board–including Rebecca Noblin, Policy Justice Lead, and David Clark, Gender Justice Policy Communications Specialist, who were hired on because of their passions for systems change work, as well as their knack for understanding how political and governmental decisions affect the outcomes and decisions of communities across Alaska. Rebecca and David both had a big year in building out relationships with partner organizations and supporting their grassroots efforts, in addition to helping shape the organization’s systems engagement work. They’re excited to share some highlights from the year below!
Gender Justice and Healing
Native Movement’s Gender Justice and Healing Program focused largely on three main areas of policy: 2S/LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights/MMIWG2, and police accountability and reform.
While we engaged with our partners at Identity Alaska and Freedom For All Americans on H.R. 5, the national Equality Act - which unfortunately stalled in Congress and will likely have to be reintroduced - we were also engaging at the state level on HB 17: The Alaska Equality Act, which would have updated Alaska’s statutory Code of Civil Rights to include gender expression and sexual orientation. We also paid attention to HB 8: Banning Conversion Therapy, which would have outlawed the practice of conversion therapy for Alaskan health care providers, and held strategy conversations with our partners at The Trevor Project on how to best help advance those bills. Native Movement was also successful in helping Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates effectively hinder SB 140: Sex-designated School Sports Teams, which would have effectively banned transgender students from joining the appropriate team for sports; this bill was narrowly defeated on the Senate floor before the Legislature officially adjourned. We also followed and supported partner work, where appropriate, on SJR 4, which if passed would have allowed Alaskan voters to decide whether or not our constitutional right to privacy included the very personal and inalienable right to abortion - an essential reproductive right.
In the arena of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people (MMIWG2), we worked with partners to ensure the passage of the Violence Against Women Act 2022. We were disappointed in the lack of support from Senator Sullivan but appreciated Senator Murkowski’s support. We participated in our MMIWG2 working group’s policy forum in February.
Native Movement is one of the prime sponsors of the Alaska Coalition for Justice (ACJ), a statewide grassroots group that advocates for better police accountability and reform throughout the state of Alaska, which first convened in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by police. Through policy working group meetings at ACJ, we partnered with ACLU of Alaska, Alaska Black Caucus, and Fairbanks NAACP on spreading the word about the 8 Can’t Wait Legislative Package. This package - a series of Senate bills carried by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, which later saw companion legislation introduced by Rep. Geran Tarr in the House - followed Campaign Zero’s 8 Can’t Wait policy recommendations, which aim to drastically improve police accountability and reduce instances of police violence. One bill out of the package - SB 7: Public Access to State Trooper Policies - successfully passed the Legislature.
Climate and Environmental Justice
In the 2022 legislative session, Native Movement worked with partners and allies on legislation that has implications for Native rights, climate and environmental justice, democracy, and economic justice. We are happy to report that we made some progress toward building the good, and for the most part we stopped the bad. Here’s how the bills we worked on fared in the 2022 Alaska legislative session.
The Good News
One big victory is that the legislature passed the Tribal Recognition bill (HB123/SB108), and it will now go to the Governor for his signature. This bill requires the State of Alaska to formally recognize all 229 federally-recognized Alaska Native Tribes. It does not grant or expand sovereignty, because sovereignty is inherent and pre-existing, but it codifies a government-to-government relationship between Tribes and the State. It is similar to and consistent with the ballot measure. If the Governor signs the bill or allows it to pass without signature, the ballot measure will be canceled under a provision of the Alaska Constitution that nullifies ballot measures if the Legislature passes a substantially similar law. If Governor Dunleavy vetoes the bill, the measure will remain on the ballot in November.
We also saw the passage of the Broadband bill (HB363). If signed into law by the Governor, this bill will allow Alaska to take advantage of federal infrastructure money coming to the state to improve broadband. The bill that will create a broadband office and advisory board to implement the build-out of broadband in Alaska. For all Alaskans, especially rural Alaskans, broadband can help every facet of life, especially during a pandemic, where we rely on remote connections to sustain ourselves without being at risk. Adequate accessible broadband improves health outcomes, increases educational opportunities, increases public safety, supports economic innovation and infrastructure, and improves civic engagement.
Another victory is stopping legislation that would have housed a green bank at AIDEA. The AIDEA Green Bank bill (HB170/SB123 aka Dunleavy’s greenwashed bank) would have created an entity within the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) that would finance energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations. This entity, or green bank, is a model for leveraging state funds with private sector capital. While we theoretically support the idea of a green bank, we are highly distrustful of AIDEA’s ability to properly manage such a fund. Thankfully, the AIDEA green bank did not pass, and supporters of the measure acknowledged at the end of the session that AIDEA is not the appropriate entity to house Alaska’s green bank. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that Alaska gets the green bank it deserves, one that is transparent, accountable, and prioritizes community-driven projects in rural Alaska, which is not possible to do within AIDEA as it currently exists.
In addition to the AIDEA greenwashed bank, there is a whole slew of bad Dunleavy bills that we helped stop. These include:
Repeal of salmon stream protections (SB97) – This Dunleavy bill sought to give the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the power to authorize commercial development on any state land regardless of its status—refuge or park or otherwise. It also sought to repeal the Recreational River statutes that protect six popular and anadromous Mat-Su rivers: the Little Susitna River, the Deshka River, the Talkeetna River, Lake Creek, Alexander Creek, and the Talachulitna River.
Directional drilling into Kachemak Bay (HB82) – This Dunleavy bill would have authorized subsurface natural gas drilling and development in Kachemak Bay, which is currently off-limits to oil and gas development.
Increased timber sales on state lands (HB98) – This Dunleavy bill would have increased DNR’s power to offer state forest land for timber harvest. The state canceled a large timber sale due to an appeal to a Forest Land Use Plan in 2017 - Forest land use plans, also known as FLUPs, are one of the final steps before a harvest moves forward. FLUPs provide guidelines like harvest methods and mitigation measures and serve as a last opportunity for public comment and agency consultation. HB 98 would have made FLUPs non-appealable or subject to reconsideration.
We also helped beat back the Dunleavy administration’s push to take over wetlands development permitting from the federal government. The proposed allocation of 4.9 million dollars in the Governor’s budget would initiate a process where the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) would assume “primacy” from the federal Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) over permitting development activities that impact wetlands protected under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. This would have led to less Tribal consultation, less analysis and public participation, reduced ability to litigate bad wetlands decisions, and a high cost to the state. Thanks to the hard work of our partners and the public, we were able to reduce the budget allocation to 1 million dollars to fund a study, with no allocation for permanent employees.
The Not-So-Good News
Unfortunately, one of Dunleavy’s bad bills did get through–the Microreactors bill (HB299/SB177). This bill will encourage nuclear energy development in Alaska by eliminating the current statutory requirement that the legislature be involved in designating land for nuclear microreactors. The entire nuclear fuel chain is destructive, dirty, and dangerous. Nuclear energy, even in the form of microreactors, is a false solution to climate change, and it has no place in Alaska. We are disappointed this bill passed, but the good news is that nuclear microreactors remain very costly and there are none currently in existence. We will continue to fight false solutions like nuclear energy in Alaska.
Additionally, several bills we supported did not get passed in this session.
Our partners at Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) worked very hard to pass the PFAS Use and Remediation bill (HB171/SB121), and we were there to support this important work. HB 171 and SB 121 would have required greater protections for communities by preventing and addressing PFAS contamination, including setting of enforceable drinking water standards for a number of PFAS as well as requirements for polluters to pay for safe drinking water and blood tests for people affected by PFAS contamination. As our friends at ACAT reported, “In total, HB 171 and SB 121 had nine full hearings, which included hours of public and invited testimony. . . . We saw a lot of action and interest from legislators from all political leanings, and they worked together to come to an agreement by making amendments. We held rallies and press conferences, released scientific and community reports, and folks gained a greater understanding of PFAS as a public health crisis in Alaska. What’s more, our good trouble did not go unnoticed, as several articles were published in news sources across the state and on television.” While we were disappointed this important legislation did not pass in 2022, we will continue to work with ACAT to address PFAS pollution in Alaska.
We also did not see the passage of the AIDEA Reform bill (HB271) - HB 271 would have added public accountability reforms to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. It would have increased the terms of board members; required that the board pass legislative confirmation; increased public notice and testimony opportunities; and required additional reporting and accountability. We always knew that getting this bill passed would be a long-shot, but it provided a great opportunity to highlight how problematic AIDEA is.
Another bill that did not pass that we would have liked to see pass with amendments was the Renewable Portfolio Standards for Utilities bill (SB179/HB301). This legislation would have established a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in Alaska’s Railbelt region, the interconnected power grid from Fairbanks to the Kenai Peninsula. The legislation proposed that electric utilities on the railbelt generate energy from renewable resources following a timeline that would get us to 80 percent renewables by 2040. It would have supported solar and wind energy to transition away from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, it also allowed for large hydropower projects such as the Susitna-Wantana Dam, which can have serious consequences for fish passage and other wildlife. We would like to see renewable portfolio standards that do not promote large-scale hydropower, and we will continue to work for a transition to energy that is truly renewable and just.
Finally, the Bill to limit governor’s appropriation power (HB177) had a mixed outcome. House Bill 177 sought to uphold the legislature’s Constitutional power of appropriation by limiting the authority granted to the governor in statute to amend the budget by receiving and expending additional money that becomes available after the budget has been passed by the legislature. This bill would have ensured that federal funds that come in through such federal legislation as the infrastructure bill would not go directly to the governor and instead go through the legislature for appropriation. Although this bill did not pass, through the budget process the legislature ensured that it retains the right to appropriate any such funds that come in before the 2023 legislative session.
Thank you to all our partners and supporters who worked alongside
us to build the good and stop the bad.
What will Native Movement’s policy team be up to over the summer? We will be working with our partners at the AKCES Table, Native People’s Action, and other organizations to ensure that our communities have as much information as possible about this fall’s primary and general elections, which will employ the ranked choice voting method that was approved by Alaskan voters during the 2020 general election. We will also be working with partners to dream up the proactive legislation we want to see in the next legislative session. Want to stay up-to-date on what we’re up to and how you can get involved? Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media!
Oil and Gas Companies Exit from Arctic Refuge Leases
Shared from Gwich’in Steering Committee Press Release • OurArcticRefuge.org
Fairbanks, AK – The Gwich’in Steering Committee applauds the exit of major oil and gas companies from their leases on sacred land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Regenerate Alaska, owned by parent company 88 Energy, has requested a refund from the Bureau of Land Management of its leases acquired in the government-mandated sale in January 2021.
And this past weekend, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Chevron and Hilcorp quietly paid $10 million to Arctic Slope Regional Corp. to exit their legacy leases, which allowed for testing for oil and gas deposits in the Arctic Refuge in the 1980s (the results of which were never fully made public).
These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along: drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not worth the economic risk and liability that results from development on sacred lands without the consent of Indigenous Peoples.
The Gwich’in are united against any development of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge. This land, which we call Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place where Life Begins), is vitally important to the Porcupine Caribou herd, which has sustained our communities for millennia. The Gwich’in Steering Committee has advocated for protection of this land since the 1980s, and in recent years, has been joined by international allies who have raised their voices to stand with us.
The results speak for themselves. A majority of Americans support protecting the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge; twenty-nine global banks now have a policy to decline underwriting oil and gas projects in the Refuge; and fourteen international insurers have also made such commitments. The Biden administration temporarily halted lease activity due to concerns raised by a fast-tracked environmental review by the previous administration, and the United Nations has three times sounded alarms about the harm and human rights violations to the Gwich’in from proposed oil and gas development in the sacred Coastal Plain.
While we gladly welcome the news of these exits, it is a reminder of how much more work is necessary to protect this sacred land, our animals, and our people. Now, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) – a public corporation of the State of Alaska – is the only remaining major holder of oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge.
“AIDEA must show respect to the Indigenous communities they have been overlooking in Alaska projects,” said Bernadette Demientieff, Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “We are spiritually and culturally connected to the land, water and animals. The Gwich’in people and our allies will never stop fighting to protect Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit.”
PRIDE Month is Here!
Pride month honors the work towards liberation of LGBTQS2+ individuals, advocates, and allies in our communities in the US and across the world. Pride month is celebrated with parades, marches, concerts, parties, and much more with the Pride flag displayed throughout the month. In 1999, to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 in Manhattan President Bill Clinton declared June “Gay & Lesbian Pride Month”.
Learn more about the revolutionary context and story of this month of celebration with Learning for Justice, Here.
Join us for our series of #PRIDE Events starting this week! More details of later events TBA:
Queer Masculinities - Virtual Mxns/Mens Gathering
THURSDAY JUN 2 AT 5:30 PM
Join Native Movement for our online Mens/Mxns Gathering June 2, 2022 • We welcome anyone self-identifying masculine, men, mxn, and/or queer folx to join the conversation! This gathering is proactive and shaped by those who participate- so please join in! Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87221873241
Third Annual Diversity in the OUTdoors!
JUN 6 AT 8 AM – JUN 13 AT 11:45 PM
Native Movement is proud to host Diversity in the OUTdoors! We celebrate PRIDE month by inviting LGBTQS2+ folx and allies to enjoy the OUTdoors. This week, submit your video or picture here to share your adventures! We work to close the adventure gap; the notion that there are certain barriers to the outdoors; whether racially, financially, or gender-based which applies both professionally and recreationally.
Call on EPA to finalize Permanent Protections for Bristol Bay
The EPA has released their proposed determination for permanent protections in Bristol Bay which kicks off a 30-day public comment period. Please take a moment to submit your comment and share with your community!
"For too long, Pebble has been an ever-present threat in Bristol Bay. Future generations should not have to live with the threat of mining that would devastate our cultures, communities, and sustainable economy. Native Movement joins the United Tribes of Bristol Bay in asking the EPA to use its Clean Water Act authority this year to ensure that Bristol Bay's pristine lands and waters are protected forever.
The majority of Alaskans support EPA action to end the threat of Pebble and want to see Bristol Bay protected for good. It is time for the EPA to expedite the 404(c) process and finalize protections this year. The 404(c) protections should prevent Pebble, and other potential large mining operations like it, from storing or disposing of mining waste at the headwaters of our fishery. The EPA’s action must protect several critical sub watersheds: the North Fork Koktuli, South Fork Koktuli and Upper Talarik Creek, all of which support the productivity of Bristol Bay's wild salmon and are under threat from Pebble and large-scale mines like it.
Introducing Arts in Action Fellow, Claire Helgeson!
My name is Claire Helgeson and I’m the 2022 Arts in Action fellow at Native Movement! I grew up in Seattle, Washington, and have lived on Áak’w Ḵwáan land, Juneau, for five years. My family originates from Scan- dinavia and the Celtic regions of Europe. I carry the Woosheektaan name Shkaayiltín. Alongside making art, I work with Tlingit and Haida’s Lingít language immerson preschool, Haa Yoo X̱ ’atángi Kúdi.
My passion for Indigenous language revitalization inspires much of my work. Being in the Lingít language community in Juneau has brought so much into my life. I am inspired by the powerful healing that our languages bring. I have encountered this healing globally in my travels to Ireland to learn my ancestral language, Gaeilge. I am excited to find ways to continue to express the link between my art and my love for language through this fellowship.
Ireland is my place of inspiration. I have been traveling there since 2018. Beginning
to learn the language has been an abundant journey for me. I love drawing connections between my experiences in the language there and here in Juneau. When I am there I gather new ideas and inspiration to bring back to my studio. I find balance as an artist by doing collaborative projects with people in Alaska and in Ireland. I am grateful for the full life I have!
Instagram: @claire.helg
https://www.clairehelgeson.art
The Arts in Action Fellowship with Native Movement is a 3-month part-time position which provides hands-on experience working with our team. The goal of this Fellowship is to give space to be creative in a collaborative environment, build capacity in our communities for Arts in Action, and support BIPOC, and queer artists/creatives who are interested in expanding their skills around Arts organizing.
STATEMENT ON THE LEAKED DRAFT SUPREME COURT DECISION
Native Movement is grieved and outraged by governmental moves to eliminate essential human rights regarding citizen’s decision making agency over our own individual bodies.
The draft Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is clearly reflected in a history of relentless attacks from governmental agencies and industries on Indigenous lands, waters, and bodies from the onset of colonization. The absence of free, prior, and informed consent perpetuates many forms of violence, from Indigenous Nations to individual persons, the undermining of sovereignty and self-determination has always been and continues to be about control, abuse of power, and profit.
The draft supreme court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a direct attack on our ability to exercise inherent human rights including body sovereignty – the right to choose what happens to our own sacred being. Accessible, safe, and affordable reproductive health care, including abortion, must be available to everyone. Eliminating safe access to abortion is as much political as it is economic, keeping people with uteruses in lower wage earning jobs and ensuring future generations remain chained to the system of economic disenfranchisement. This Supreme Court decision removes the agency and autonomy of already strained and stressed people from marginalized communities, furthering inequities in a country that does not provide universal healthcare, living wages, and paid parental leave. The impacts of the Court’s decision will continue the perpetuation of systemic racism that disproportionately funnels people of color through state agencies and the prison industrial complex.
In Alaska the news of the draft Supreme Court decision is compounded by local state proposed legislation (SB140) to ban transgender youth from school sports, furthering once again the removal of body autonomy. This bill specifically aims to regulate the bodies of K-12 girls who wish to participate in sports. Policies that seek to control, erase, and eradicate trans people are entirely inhumane and utterly cruel. Trans, two-spirit, and gender expansive individuals are valuable contributing members of our communities, they have the right to childhoods free of trauma and erasure.
Native Movement sees both the Supreme Court draft decision and the Alaska State legislature’s proposed Anti-Trans Sport bill (SB140) as acts of great violence. Additionally, in the week of National Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (May 5) these acts are particularly heinous. These collective acts of violence further underscore the deep systemic inequities disproportionately impacting women, trans and non-binary relatives, and people of color. The crisis of MMIWG2S is the criminal result of the U.S. justice systems which control and dismember Indigenous Nations by intentionally failing to protect Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people.
Native Movement believes in the power of collective organizing – people power. We reclaim agency as we seek community protection and demand our voices be heard, rising together, voting, and mobilizing to fight for justice.
#voteprochoice #defendabortion #protectranskids #endtransphobia #MMIWG2S #abortionishumanrights #ourbodiesourrights
Nughelnik: Remembering Forward : Conference May 20-22
The Alaska Just Transition Collective is excited to announce the second Just Transition Summit on May 20th-22nd, 2022 on Dena'ina Land in Anchorage, Alaska.
Nughelnik: Remembering Forward defines and explores collective healing through the lens of a Just Transition. We look forward to sharing space, celebrating togetherness, and grounding ourselves in our vision for a just path forward once again.
Nughelnik is a Dena'ina phrase that means "It is remembered within us". Thank you to Joel Issak & Helen Dick for this translation.
Follow along at justtransitionak.org for more updates, announcements, and application details
What is State Primacy Over Wetland Permitting and Why Is It a Problem?
The Dunleavy Administration is making a push in its budget proposal this year to take over wetland development permitting from the federal government. The proposed allocation of 4.9 million dollars in the Governor’s budget before the legislature would initiate a process where the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) would assume “primacy” from the federal Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) over permitting development activities that impact wetlands protected under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. This week, the House Finance committee included money for state primacy in its budget negotiation package. State primacy would be very problematic for many reasons.
Less Tribal consultation. Well-functioning and intact wetlands are critical to the protection of salmon, especially in their early stages of life. Wetlands and peatlands also serve a climate-protecting function, a major force in earthly carbon sequestration. Alaska Native peoples have been lovingly tending Alaska’s wetlands since time immemorial. Currently, with federal primacy, the federal government must conduct government-to-government consultation with Alaska Native Tribes regarding wetland permit decisions to seek input and mitigate impacts to the land and water on which Tribal members rely. While DEC is maintaining that it does and will consult with Tribes, the experience of Tribes who have been repeatedly requesting consultation and having those requests rejected belies this contention.
Less analysis and public participation. When the federal government permits a project, it is legally required to elicit public participation and analyze the environmental, cultural, and subsistence impacts of projects under several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). The NEPA analysis will no longer be required for wetlands if the state takes over permitting, which would remove an essential avenue for Tribal and public participation. It is not clear how NHPA and ANILCA analysis will occur under a state permitting regime.
Reduced ability to litigate bad decisions. Under state primacy, if the state acts unlawfully, citizens will be forced to litigate in state court, which has a loser pays rule. That means that in certain cases if a citizen brings a lawsuit in state court and loses on their claims, regardless how valid those claims are, the citizen will have to pay the attorneys’ fees of the other side. This rule significantly chills legitimate public interest litigation.
High cost to the state. Wetland permitting is expensive, and it’s not clear that the state has done its homework to determine how much wetland permitting would cost. Implementing this program will cost millions of dollars for a service the federal government is currently performing without cost to Alaska.
Easier to push through unpopular development. The Dunleavy Administration, DEC, and mine promoters want state primacy over wetland permitting to streamline the industrialization of areas like the Bristol Bay watershed. Unable to prevail in the court of public opinion or with the Federal EPA, the Dunleavy Administration is now attempting an end-run around both to permit the Pebble Mine.
If you’re concerned about state primacy over Alaska’s wetlands, you can contact the House Finance Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and your own senators and representatives. Let them know that state primacy is too costly from a financial perspective and that cutting out Tribal governments and chilling public participation in these critical decisions is unacceptable.
Nuclear Energy is a False Solution
Too Dirty. Too Dangerous. Too Expensive. Tell your legislators to vote NO on SB 177/HB 299, the micro nuclear reactors bill that would make it easier to bring costly, dangerous nuclear energy to Alaska.
On Monday, March 21, at 3 pm the Senate Resources Committee is holding a hearing on SB 177. This bill, which was introduced by Governor Dunleavy, encourages nuclear energy development in Alaska by eliminating the current statutory requirement that the legislature be involved in designating land for nuclear energy sites.
The entire nuclear fuel chain is dirty.
Uranium mining produces radioactive waste that causes cancer and other diseases, and a disproportionate number of mines in the US have been on Indigenous lands.
Uranium enrichment plants have a long history of leaks and spills and are located predominantly in Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
Nuclear energy is dangerous, with spills and leaks of radioactive materials causing significant contamination and pollution.
Nuclear energy is more expensive than many renewables, and development is slow.
Hazardous nuclear waste must be stored in perpetuity, burdening future generations with the risk and responsibility of storing it.
Take Action >>> Use the Form below to send a letter to your Representatives
Herring Protectors Respond to Board of Fish Process
Herring Protectors are urging the Board of Fish to vote to reduce the harm being perpetrated against people and ecosystems that depend on herring.
Herring Protectors are urging the Board of Fish to vote to reduce the harm being perpetrated against people and ecosystems that depend on herring. But the State must recognize that it can’t solve the fundamental conflict at the heart of the Sac-Roe industry, except by returning control to the rightful stewards of these fish. Until then, there will be conflict, and great risk of continued herring collapse. It’s time to return to an approach with 10,000 years of proven history. Return stewardship of the herring to the people of Sheet’ka Kwaan.
Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA) has proposed a few modest changes to this management regime: sound proposals that would result in more herring being left in Sitka Sound where they belong, to feed our communities and power our marine ecosystems. These proposals would especially protect the mature, females that guide reliable spawning behavior and keep herring coming back to Sitka year after year. But even if the Board adopts all of STA’s proposals, it won’t resolve the fundamental problem with this fishery, which is that culturally, ecologically, economically significant forage fish simply shouldn’t be ground into fish meal.
On the other hand, the Sac-Roe/fishmeal industry has submitted several proposals attempting to limit subsistence access, while aggressively trying to remove the guardrails to their own industry at the expense of subsistence users and the larger ecosystem that our communities and other commercial fisheries rely on. We urge the Board of Fish to stand with the people of Sheet’ka Kwaan (Sitka) and support the on-the-ground community members who rely on the herring.