The Alaska Federation of Natives has rolled out plans for its October convention in Anchorage with a program dedicated to up-and-coming generations of Alaska Natives.
AFN President Julie Kitka says this year’s theme, “Our Children, Our Future Ancestors,” is timely.
“I think it will be a very unique convention,” said AFN President Julie Kitka, ”and also very forward-looking too.”
Kitka says the gathering will take up “The Way Forward Report,” produced by a national commission on Native children named for two late elders -- Alyce Spotted Bear, a Great Plains tribal leader, and Walter Soboleff, a Lingít scholar and religious leader from Southeast Alaska.
Both were passionate advocates for Native children. Before Soboleff died at the age of 102, he often encouraged young people to “Take care of the older person you are going to become.”
Kitka says the commission’s report was sent to President Biden and Congress in February and makes many recommendations that deserve a thorough review at the convention.
“We can improve things for our children, not to be satisfied with the way things are,” Kitka said,
“that things can improve -- and we can make it easier for them and expand opportunities.”
After 33 years, this will be the last convention Kitka will oversee as president. Although she announced her decision to step down earlier this year, Kitka says she was both surprised and honored to be asked to deliver this year’s keynote speech.
“Time is right for change, and I view the transition at AFN as an opportunity for someone new to step in and shoulder the responsibility -- and bring a whole new set of ideas and way of doing things,” she said. “This is part of the process. It’s good.”
Kitka says the AFN Board plans to select her replacement before the convention, so it’s likely the new president will also address the convention.
Kitka says she expects subsistence and national politics to take center stage.
She says Rep. Thomas Baker’s proposal, to pass a constitutional amendment allowing subsistence management on federal lands to return to the state, was the first time in more than two dozen years that the state has had this discussion. The Kotzebue Republican’s resolution, HJR 22, failed to get support this past session, but Kitka says it’s worthy of a deeper discussion during AFN.
“I think that one of the biggest things at the convention is the national issues going on, for the Native community to show that it cares,” Kitka said. “I think that’s going to be a very dominant issue.”
The three-day gathering is set to begin on October 17. It is the state’s largest convention, drawing delegates and their families from across the state.
