"AFN"

“I don’t know if the gravity really is hitting everybody, but we’ve been arguing for recognition since statehood, and under this administration the attorney general has provided an opinion that, yes, tribes do exist, that we have inherent sovereignty,” said Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Dressed in full Gwich’in regalia, Potts recounted growing up in a modest dirt-floor hunting cabin in Eagle, losing someone close to suicide, and taking the conventions theme of strength in unity to get back to enjoying life again.

Seven resolutions will go for a vote before delegates at the full Alaska Federation of Natives convention..

The Alaska Federation of Natives is keeping a close eye on the new administration of President Donald Trump. The Native organization’s board is developing ways to negotiate with the current government in Washington, participate in decision making, and advance Alaska Native priorities.

The executive director of the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council said inconsistent access to behavioral health care contributes to the state’s high suicide level.

The federal government instituted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial trade of African elephant ivory, but many Alaskans are concerned the backlash from this ban is affecting other ivories. St. Lawrence Islander Susie Silook is the author of a petition to protect walrus ivory and other marine mammal by-products from various states’ legislation that would see it banned as a response to the federal ban.