AFN president publicly criticizes Parnell for appealing subsistence rights case

Gov. Sean Parnell gave opening remarks to delegates at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention Thursday. (Photo by Jennifer Canfield/KTOO)
Gov. Sean Parnell gave opening remarks to delegates at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention Thursday. (Photo by Jennifer Canfield/KTOO)

The head of Alaska’s largest Native organization publicly criticized Gov. Sean Parnell Thursday morning, the opening day of the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Anchorage.

Immediately after Parnell’s opening remarks, AFN President Julie Kitka called him out during her report to the convention.

“We began this year under attack. Gov. Sean Parnell and his administration decided to appeal the State of Alaska v. Sally Jewell, or the Katie John case, to the U.S. Supreme Court.” Kitka said. “The governor and his legal team were trying to overturn Native victories at the lower courts and shift the balance between the federal and state government over management of subsistence on federal and public lands.”

The case was an attempt by the state to assert management rights over navigable waters on state and adjacent federal land. At the heart of the issue was the difference between the state’s constitution and federal law. Alaska’s constitution mandates equal access to fish and game for all residents. Federal law gives subsistence hunting and fishing priority to rural Alaskans.

Parnell was not in the room at the time; he left the main room at the Dena’ina Center  to sign a bill in another room making Alaska’s Native languages official languages of the state.

The week after last year’s AFN convention where Parnell also gave opening remarks, the administration announced the state would appeal the Katie John case. AFN made a large effort during that convention to raise funds for their “subsistence war chest.”

Leaders in the organization vowed to fight the state over the matter. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s petition to appeal the case in March.

“Nineteen years of litigation. Nineteen years you’ve heard year after year at the convention about this. This is a victory that we have earned through a conscious and powerful defense as our rights as a people and we should all be proud,” Kitka said. “On a side note, I have a question for you. If political candidates are asking for your votes, does it matter what their position on subsistence is? If they continually sue Native people in court over our inherent and God-given rights, will we vote for them? (People in the audience said ‘no.’)  Just wanna know.”

The focus of Parnell’s remarks at last year’s convention was digital learning. This year he talked about the state’s efforts to work with tribal courts.

“We listened to what Alaskans said about the need for culturally accepted remedies,” Parnell said. “We said, ‘We must protect the constitutional rights of all.’ And you said, ‘There must be a way to increase tribal involvement.’ And we said, ‘We will find that way together.’ We will work with you and we will continue to do so for as long as it takes because justice is a journey and healing is the prize.”

The State of Alaska intervened in a case earlier this year, challenging a tribal court’s authority to extinguish the parental rights of a person who is not a member of their tribe. In the Simmonds v. Parks case, the Minto tribal court terminated the parental rights of Bessie Stearman, a Minto tribal member, and Edward Parks, a member of the Stevens Village Tribe. Just months before the termination, Parks had beaten Stearman badly enough that she suffered three broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The state asserted that it was trying to protect the Parks’ constitutional rights.

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