AFN 2024: Our Children, Our Future Ancestors

As the sun filled the Dena’ina Convention Center’s windows the morning of Thursday October 17, Benno H. Cleveland led a procession of veterans to the main stage. To the tune of the National Anthem, the decorated group guided by a Prisoner of War flag snaked around thousands of chairs and stopped at the front of the room, saluting stars and stripes and kicking off the 2024 Alaska Federation of Natives Conference.
Thousands gathered in Anchorage from across the state for the conference, which can double as a family reunion, Representative Neal Foster said. “I’m always running into either friends, family or people I didn’t know were family,” Foster told the Nugget as someone walked up to greet him.  
In the main conference room, the Bering Strait Region was given royal treatment with their designated section front and center to watch former AFN president Julie Kitka deliver her keynote speech and kick off the event.
“Good morning AFN President Ben Mallott, that’s a different one for me to be able to say that,” Kitka began prompting laughter and applause from the audience.
Sticking with the convention’s theme of Our Children, Our Future Ancestors, her address to the convention was a letter to her two grandchildren.  “I want to tell you what AFN is to me, why I have worked so hard on behalf of the Alaska Native people through AFN, what we have accomplished, and finally, what I see as part of our collective future. I know when you grow a little older, you can view this message. I do it with love for you, your parents, our entire family and the AFN family,” Kitka said.
Kitka announced her retirement in February after serving as president for 33 years.
Following her speech leadership from each region presented her with a parade of gifts. President and CEO of Kawerak Melanie Bahnke brought carvings from Savoonga and Chair of the Bering Straits Native Corporation Board of Directors Roy Ashenfelter brought a BSNC “swag bag” and jacket from Naataq Gear.

Preceding Kitka’s speech was a five-minute video from Governor Mike Dunleavy. He spoke about how Alaska, and the world, has changed since he took office in 2018. To recap he made a quick list: typhoons, Starlink and artificial intelligence. Dunleavy discussed broadly what his administration has accomplished during his incumbency, working toward his goal “to make Alaska the best place to live and raise a family, whether that’s in an urban, or rural community.”
The days of AFN are jam-packed, and there’s always something new to see in the lobby of the convention center. Crowds transit on the escalators, moving between floors where hundreds of booths sit stacked with both eye candy and edible candy.
On the bottom floor of the Dena’ina Convention Center a bustling craft fare sprawled throughout the great room. Hundreds of vendors displayed handmade jewelry, ceramics, scarfs, hats and clothing. Among them were Alice Bioff along with daughters Sara and Amy, busy selling the innovative designs of clothes from Naataq Gear store. Bioff’s signature design was seen on convention attendees all weekend. “We’re so grateful for the reception from all over the state,” Bioff told the Nugget. She could only pause for a moment as the table was flooded with customers, some travel to AFN because of Naataq. “I came into town today just to buy this,” Helen Stafford of Palmer said as she zipped up her new coat. “I found her on Facebook a couple months ago.”
A few aisles over in a booth shared by a mother and son, originally from Gambell, beaded earrings and ivory carvings were presented neatly on green tablecloths. Robert McCoy-Apangalook and Barbara Apangalook sat amongst their wears, which included a bedazzled and fringed purse with the words ‘Land Back’ in red lettering.
Outside at the entrance to the building were folding tables managed by bundled up vendors, braving the winds of the city. They had smoked salmon in many shapes and forms for sale. Some tables held bright purple cups of Eskimo ice cream.
A rack of elegant, fur-lined parkas stood in the middle of the salmon tables. Eva Deva, a self-taught artist grew up in Kiana watching her mom make parkas, but it wasn’t until much later she found the interest to make some of her own.
“All my life I’ve always been looking and yearning at artists and wishing I knew, but nobody taught me!” Deva said. When her daughter was born, she made her first parka out of a sheet. Deva has come a long way, decades later, now she uses fur to line the hood and incorporates intricate details into the trim. As delegates and convention goers poured out of the building, they stopped to try on the coats.  

Back inside, a large group gathered in the main ballroom to hear from Congresswoman Mary Peltola on Thursday afternoon. All weekend, handheld sticks with cutouts of Peltola’s head bobbed around the halls of the Dena’ina center, courtesy of her campaign. Often just a mention of her name on stage brought cheers from the audience.
During her speech Peltola reflected on her past two odd years in Congress, which she admitted had been disappointing due to the dysfunction of her peers.
“This Congress has been the least productive the most do-nothing Congress since the Civil War,” she said. “And that is not something that I’m proud of. I find it horrifying.”
Campaign ads that disparaged opponent Nick Begich were also noted. Peltola apologized for their negativity, explaining that a lot of national attention, and money, is being placed on the Alaska congressional race because there is such a narrow party margin in the House.
“And I just want to make sure everyone in this room knows I’m on Team Alaska, the only team I’m on is Team Alaska,” Peltola said, sparking cheers from the audience. “We do not see things through a partisan lens. We see things through a human lens.”
Later, as a full moon hovered over the city of Anchorage, a crowd returned to the convention center for the first evening of Quyana Night. At 8 p.m. We Dance, We Survive took to the stage. Savoonga Dancer were made up of over 30 young dancers and drummers, the M.C. commented how well the group fit the theme of the convention. They performed on a stage fit for a rock band to a cheering crowd of thousands. On the last dance some members of the audience joined in. To close, the young group lined up and in a unified chorus sang a song in Siberian Yupik and English.
The conference reconvened Friday while the moon was still visible in the sky. Senator Dan Sullivan stepped up to the podium that morning for his address.
Sullivan focused heavily on subsistence and veterans. “Alaska Native people have served our country in the military at higher rates than any other ethnic group in America,” he said. “That is what I call special patriotism, particularly when they were still facing shameful discrimination battle.” Sullivan explained how many Alaska Natives deployed to Vietnam missed the deadline to apply for their Native allotments, with thousands still not enrolled to this day. “So that’s why I recently introduced a new bill to extend the Alaska Native Vietnam veterans allotment program for five more years,” he said. The crowd replied to this sentiment with cheers.
Tyler Ivanoff, challenger in the Alaska House Representative race against incumbent Neal Foster, could be seen around the convention; adorned in his bear claw necklace, carrying his campaign sign and taking selfies with friends.
Pulled aside by the Nugget and asked about her experience so far, Melanie Bahnke said she was enjoying the convention and connecting with familiar faces. “Everyone says: ‘Happy Native New Year!’” Bahnke said, beaming.
AFN picked up on the tails of the Elders and Youth Conference which was held Monday through Wednesday in the Convention center hosted by First Alaskans Institute. CEO Roy Agloinga, originally from White Mountain, gave a summary of the event. “It’s been such a high energy, good energy several days,” Agloinga. The theme of Elders and Youth was “Our Language, Our Food.” This year the language of the year was Dinjii Zhuh K’yàa, the language of the Gwich’in peoples, next year it will be Inupiaq, he announced.
To conclude the day there was a quick update on the Alaska Legislature Bush Caucus, a presentation from Get Out The Native Vote, and explanation of Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal rank choice voting in the state.

On Friday evening another session of Quyana night was held with dancers and drummers performances. Sivuqaq took to the stage first. The Anchorage-based dance group is made up of people from or descendants of St. Lawrence Island. June Gologergen Martin coordinates the group that ranges from 15 to 20 members. Martin grew up in Savoonga and now lives in Anchorage. She told the Nugget how important it is to dance and practice the songs of their ancestors. “It always feels really good after we perform, because it’s like healing,” she said. The group was started in 2008 to connect a community of St. Lawrence Islanders living in Anchorage back to dancing. “We all love to get together for potlucks and we include our Eskimo dances and songs,” Martin said.
Though it had been a while since the group performed for an audience, once they got on stage it all came back to them. A beautiful thing, Martin noted.
On the final day of the convention, the delegates met for a two-hour session to discuss the 19 proposed resolutions.
After modifications, additions, retractions and healthy debate, 18 resolutions were passed, including an endorsement of Congresswoman Mary Peltola and a resolution to vote no on Ballot Measure 2, and thus retaining ranked choice voting in elections.
In the afternoon Senator Lisa Murkowski, freshly back in Alaska after a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland, spoke to the convention, beginning with many thanks. “Thank you for opening your hearts. Thank you for opening your communities to me so that I can be a better representative for you,” she said.
Murkowski received the Denali Award which “recognizes the contributions of a Non-Native person who has demonstrated strong commitment, dedication and service to the Alaska Native Community and to Rural Alaska.” The award was presented by AFN co-chair Joe Nelson. “On behalf of the AFN board, just a genuine, AFN, we love you. We thank you. We can’t think of anybody better to receive the Denali award than Senator Murkowski,” Nelson said.
Honored, Murkowski said the award is a good reminder of the work still to come to benefit all of Alaska’s people.