It’s been a hard-fought battle against the state for tribal sovereignty in Alaska, but legal experts say it’s an important moment for tribal authority in Alaska.
At the Kawerak Regional Conference Monday, Lisa Jaeger—a tribal government specialist with the Tanana Chiefs Conference—recounted a history of tribal sovereignty in Alaska, as well as an explanation for where jurisdiction for tribal courts ends and the state’s authority begins.
“The struggle after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, with tribes and their existence and their authority, has been in dispute since the act passed,” Jaeger said.
“The only reason that tribes now have this recognized jurisdiction is that tribes simply went forward, took care of business, protected their children, and did these things, were challenged by state court, and eventually found that yes, they do have this authority.”
That fight for local jurisdiction has led to the implementation of local courts as an alternative, at least in some cases, to the state’s criminal justice system. It’s a need that Nome’s Marie Katcheak says is driven by the failure of the state’s system to address the needs of tribal communities, especially in the bush.
“I think the justice system that has been imposed on us has so many regulations, they’re not paying attention to us in the establishment of justice,” Katcheak said.
“We already have established,” she continued. “We already know what we were doing. We already have our laws. We were being very well taken care of by our own people. The justice was there. We did not need somebody to come in again to tell us another system we need to be using when we did not understand their own laws.”
Kawerak’s in-house attorney John Bioff said his work with the regional nonprofit’s tribal court office has seen tribal courts in the region wax and wane, but nearly all are equipped to expand local tribal courts.
“There has been tribal court activity in this region,” he said. “All or almost all of our tribes have tribal court ordinances giving them the authority to do this work. Some tribes have been very involved in child protection cases. Some have been involved in juvenile matters, years ago.”
He said his office is prepared “to help with a tribe that maybe has never done it before all the way to tribes that have traditionally been very involved in it.”
While hammering out ways for tribal courts to handle things like misdemeanors at the local level may require a lot more work, Bioff said the tribally-handled child protection and adoption programs continue in the region.
