Legislation

Amending ANCSA is the only way to correct this congressional oversight and end this half-century-long fight for our landless communities.

There have been several legislative attempts to recognize Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee and Wrangell through varying bills, but unfortunately no previous legislation advanced through Congress due primarily to unrelated partisan politics delaying the process.

Within the last four legislative sessions, we have been the closest to getting the necessary amendments that would recognize our landless communities and give them the land owed. We are grateful for the efforts of the late congressman Don Young for carrying this bill for so many years. We are also so grateful for our former legislator Mary Peltola for not only continuing to advocate and carry the bill, but for also bringing our landless communities the closest we have ever been to getting the bill passed. As we enter this 119th Congressional session, we are so fortunate that Representative Nick Begich quickly reintroduced our bill early in the session. Of course, Senator Lisa Murkowski has been our staunch advocate on the Senate side with the support of Senator Dan Sullivan.

Legislation would grant all five landless communities the opportunity to form urban Alaska Native corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA), conferring 23,040 acres that are duly owed by the federal government to Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee and Wrangell.

The time has come to publicly and officially acknowledge these five communities as original Alaska Native villages with valid claims to their lands and their future.