Indigenous Affairs
RSSIndigenous Affairs in Alaska covers Alaska Native and American Indian governance, tribal institutions and cultural life. It spans ANCSA corporations, tribal councils, subsistence rights, language revitalization, repatriation of ancestral remains, and federal tribal policy.
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Week of Sep 28
Koniag to pay $1,200 Elder Benefit to original shareholders 62 and older Oct. 9
Koniag will pay $1,200 to original shareholders 62 and older on Oct. 9, its fall Elder Benefit. The benefit began in 2018; a spring payment was added in 2024.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska State Museum free on Indigenous Peoples Day as Dorothy Grant exhibit nears close
The Alaska State Museum in Juneau is free Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day, one of the last chances to see its Dorothy Grant Haida fashion retrospective.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Murkowski cosponsors Senate resolution marking Filipino American History Month
Murkowski is the only Republican cosponsoring a Senate resolution recognizing October as Filipino American History Month. Hirono, D-Hawaii, introduced it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Sealaska sells European seafood business to Japan's Sojitz, says sale will help expand shareholder programs
Sealaska sold its European seafood business to Japan's Sojitz and says the sale will help it expand shareholder programs. Neither side disclosed the price.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska Native students in Juneau and Klawock to pitch tech prototypes to Elders
Alaska Native students in Juneau and Klawock will build tech prototypes this fall to solve community problems, then pitch them to Elders and industry leaders.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Dillingham council votes Thursday on exempting Tribal land from property tax
Dillingham's council votes tonight on exempting land owned outright by federally recognized tribes from city property tax. Commercial buildings stay taxed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tlingit & Haida gets $300,000 to build dementia services for Southeast elders
Tlingit & Haida received $300,000 to hire dementia staff, screen elders, and connect them to regional services through 2029.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
UAF gets federal award to run Alaska Native elders resource center
UAF won a $215,343 federal award to run a resource center training Alaska's 43 tribal elder-service programs in dementia care, disaster prep, and healthy aging through 2029.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
More from Indigenous Affairs
Sealaska Heritage Institute wins federal grant for Juneau's Tlingit language school program
Sealaska Heritage Institute won a five-year federal grant for Juneau's Tlingit language school program, months after warning it would lose its principal.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
AVCP opens comment on $14.5 million Y-K Delta aid plan through Nov. 13
AVCP opened public comment Tuesday on a $14.5 million aid plan for cash, heating and child care covering 2027 to 2029 in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, with comment due Nov. 13.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Court orders former Curyung Tribal Council accountant to repay $125,834 to tribe
Federal court ordered former Curyung Tribal Council accountant William Corbett to repay $125,834 after he embezzled funds through forged checks and falsified payroll documents.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Olgoonik Corporation approves elder distribution for original shareholders 60 and older
Olgoonik elders who were original shareholders: confirm your address and payment details before Oct. 9 to receive this year's elder distribution.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Norton Sound Health Corp. gets federal grant for youth sexual health and life skills classes
Norton Sound Health Corp. will teach sexual health and life skills to young people in Nome and 15 Bering Strait villages under a five-year federal grant.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tlingit & Haida gets $1.05 million for youth classes in Juneau and Angoon and help for kinship caregivers
Tlingit & Haida landed about $1.05 million in federal grants for teen pregnancy-prevention classes in Juneau and Angoon and help for relatives raising kids.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Knik Tribe to lead effort to keep drug-affected families together in Mat-Su and Kenai
The Knik Tribe will lead a five-year effort to keep children affected by a parent's drug or alcohol use safely with their families in the Mat-Su and Kenai.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Norton Sound Health Corporation gets $250,000 federal grant for produce prescription program
A $250,000 Indian Health Service grant will help Norton Sound Health Corporation give food-insecure households monthly produce vouchers or shipments.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Coming up
ANCSA: Why It Matters
The Hotel Captain Cook, 939 W 5th Ave, Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Class
Public Comment Deadline: Dingell Act Native Allotment Relinquishment (GS-5241)
Public notice
NAGPRA Repatriation Request Deadline
Public notice
NAGPRA Repatriation Eligibility: BLM Alaska Human Remains
Public notice
About Indigenous Affairs
Indigenous Affairs in Alaska takes in Alaska Native and American Indian governance, tribal institutions and cultural life. It spans the regional and village corporations created under ANCSA, tribal councils and consortiums, and the peoples of the state, among them Tlingit, Haida, Athabascan, Yupik, Inupiat and Aleut.
Recurring questions include corporation shareholder elections, scholarships and distributions, the return of ancestral remains and cultural items from museums and federal agencies, language revitalization, tribal authority over fish, wildlife and land, and tribal health and elder programs funded by federal grants.
The Alaska Federation of Natives brings these institutions together at its annual convention, and federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service fund many tribal programs. Subsistence hunting and fishing rights are a closely related subject.
More from Indigenous Affairs
Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik
The Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik. The tribe says 72 elders are its last first-language speakers.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Ketchikan Indian Community gets $900,000 to revive its fleet for subsistence trips, training and charters
Ketchikan Indian Community is putting 23 boats back to work with a $900,000 federal grant: elder-led subsistence trips, youth training and halibut charters.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Week of Sep 21
Eight of nine Alaska tribes get smaller military cleanup agreements in latest Defense Department round
Nine Alaska tribes signed new Defense Department agreements to clean up old military contamination. The money has shrunk every year since 2023.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Three Alaska tribal housing groups win $15.7 million in federal grants for 58 homes
Three Alaska tribal housing groups won $15.7 million in HUD's latest competitive round, enough for 58 homes in Haines, Galena and Anchorage.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Tlingit & Haida delegates reelect Richard Peterson as president
Tlingit & Haida delegates reelected Richard Peterson as president Thursday and chose Clinton Cook as first vice president at the tribe's 91st Tribal Assembly.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla May Request Return of 11 Ancestors and 16 Items in October
Four museums and federal agencies hold at least 11 Alaska Native ancestors and 16 cultural items the Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla may request returned starting in October.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Senate Indian Affairs Committee advances Native housing rewrite to full Senate
A Senate committee advanced a rewrite of the law funding village housing. It would let aid reach teachers and nurses who earn too much to qualify now.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A federal grant funds Tlingit & Haida's plan to hear child protection cases
The Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court is preparing to open its own child protection cases, using authority Alaska courts recognized more than a decade ago.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
The Lake Clark subsistence commission meets Oct. 3 to review federal wildlife rules
Sockeye is more than 60 percent of everything Port Alsworth and Nondalton take. The commission that advises on those rules meets on Oct. 3.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Federal rules leave some village homes out of water projects
Homes in Alaska villages are left out of federally funded water projects because a spouse or grandparent who owns them is not a tribal member.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Nine candidates are running for three Aleut Corporation board seats
Nine candidates are running for three Aleut Corporation board seats, and the early proxy deadline is 5 pm Wednesday. Final deadline is Oct. 14.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska Native tribes begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs
Ten Alaska Native tribes and health organizations begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs next week, sharing about $4.1 million in federal money.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Week of Sep 14
The Indian Health Service is paying an Alaska firm to clear a coding backlog
An uncoded clinic visit is an unbilled one, and unbilled means money the clinic never sees. IHS is paying an Anchorage firm to help catch up.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Bert Adams takes over as Sitka Tribe of Alaska general manager
Bert Adams started as general manager of Sitka Tribe of Alaska on Aug. 17, ending nine months without a permanent leader after the previous manager resigned in November 2025.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska contracts tagged with the anti-DEI clause go almost entirely to Native corporation firms
Nearly all Alaska contract dollars carrying Trump's anti-DEI clause went to Native corporations. No agency has said if the clause covers Native preferences.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Federal notices clear 11 Sitka ancestors for return
Two federal notices make at least 11 ancestors and 11 funerary objects eligible for return to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million to keep growing food above the Arctic Circle
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million for Alaska Native food sovereignty work. The USDA calls it national security. The people doing it call it something else.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
BIA sends nearly $800,000 to five Alaska tribal governments, most of it road money
The BIA sent about $794,000 to five Alaska tribes this month, mostly for roads in Y-K Delta villages that have no road system.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
An Alaska arts staffer built a free tool to describe images for screen readers
An Alaska arts council staffer built an AI tool that writes image descriptions for screen readers in 2023, then made it free for anyone to use.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Congress weighs $500 million in tribal water money Alaska can't reach
Congress is moving $500 million for one California tribe's water rights, a kind of federal money that Alaska's tribes, by their legal status, can barely reach.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Unalaska student wins national naval history award for Angoon bombardment project
Unalaska student River Zaochney won a national Naval History Award for a project on the 1882 Navy bombardment of Angoon, a Tlingit village the Navy formally apologized for in 2024.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
House subcommittee hears testimony on conveying 21,578 Denali acres to Doyon
Doyon selected a sacred rock formation in Denali as its own in 1978. Forty-eight years later, Congress is still deciding whether to hand it over.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Dena'ina artist's work is headed for downtown Anchorage's signs
Dena'ina artist Sebastian Garber's MOA50 designs reach downtown Anchorage's wayfinding signs next year, drawing on Indigenous quillwork patterns.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Federal library grants open to qualifying Alaska Native tribes and corporations
Qualifying Alaska Native entities offering library or archival services can seek $6,000 to $150,000 from IMLS by Nov. 13.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
