More than a thousand Alaska Natives, young and old, from across the state are met today at the 33rd annual Elders and Youth conference. The event, hosted by the First Alaskans Institute, is usually an opportunity for 13 to 18 year olds to learn about leadership, civic engagement and consensus building alongside their elders.
This year’s conference theme is Ancestral Imperative: Adapt. Unite. Achieve. and it runs through Wednesday morning.
Attendees are encouraged to talk seriously about issues facing their communities, and there are many afternoon workshops focused on language, culture, subsistence and policy. One of the first orders of business requires regional groups to elect new members to the Statewide Elders and Youth Council.
The day began with a welcome and blessing from the Rev. Luke Titus and the Rev. Anna Frank, both are Tanana Athabascan from Interior Alaska. The custom is typical of Alaska Native gatherings in which many of the attendees are not from the surrounding area. When the conference is held in Anchorage, for example, the group is welcomed by representatives from the Dena’ina Athabascan community.
Liz Medicine Crow, the institute’s president and CEO, addressed the crowd along with former state lawmaker Willie Hensley, who serves as the organization’s board chair.
Hensley talked about how the Elders and Youth conference first started as an opportunity for Alaska Native youth who spent most of the year at boarding school, away from their home communities.
“We didn’t have the opportunity to interface with our parents, aunts and uncles, our communities, we were away from our language, we were away from our stories. There were a lot things about the culture that we missed out on because we were gone for years at a time,” Hensley said.
The conference took on a more solemn tone briefly when Medicine Crow advised the gathering about an ongoing manhunt in Fairbanks. Just after midnight on Sunday, a Fairbanks police officer was shot and seriously injured. The suspect in that shooting is yet to be apprehended. Fairbanks police say they’re looking for an Alaska Native man in his 20s.
Medicine Crow said the organization has talked to Fairbanks police.
“They are aware of all of our visitors coming in and they want to make sure that you have a good experience as well, but it just requires a little more awareness of what’s happening around you when you go out and about,” Medicine Crow said. “Remind our men, remind our brothers to keep their heads up and to be safe.”
Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott is scheduled to address the conference Tuesday afternoon.
This year’s youth keynote address was given by Joan Inga Barnowski, 11, who is Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) from Old Harbor, a city in the Kodiak Island Borough. As part of a science project she worked on earlier this year, the 6th grader tested homes in her community for radon, a known carcinogen. Based on her initial work, potential issues were identified in several homes. In her speech, Barnowski advocated for youth to be aware of the environment and to be good stewards.
Raphael and Vivian Jimmy, both Yup’ik from Mountain Village, will give the elder keynote address Tuesday. The couple now lives in Anchorage where they lead the Kuigpagmiut Dance Group. Raphael is 91 and Vivian is 87.
Some of the workshops listed on the conference agenda include Food Sovereignty: Working on Seal, The Return from Carlisle, Social Justice Issues: An Alaska Native Perspective and Spoken Roots: Writing Ourselves, Our Communities and Our Histories.
This year’s conference theme is Ancestral Imperative: Adapt. Unite. Achieve. The conference is open to people of all ages and backgrounds.
The conference runs through Wednesday morning and will be broadcast live on 360 North.
