AFN rallies behind Peltola at first in-person convention since 2019

By Megan Gannon
Last Thursday morning, thousands gathered in the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage for the first in-person gathering of the Alaska Federation of Natives since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“Those virtual conventions just didn’t work for me,” said Julie Kitka, president of AFN, the largest statewide Native organization. “I’m so happy that our convention’s in person this year. It’s been a long couple years, and it is good to see you.”
Signs of the ongoing pandemic still lingered. Some attendees wore masks, others lined up to receive COVID-19 vaccine boosters and flu shots at the conference center, and Kitka and other speakers highlighted the challenges of the last three years.
Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, noted in her address that while over 1,300 Alaskans lost their lives to COVID-19, that figure was far less than the 15,000-25,000 deaths projected. She also said that the Alaska Native population was expected to be disproportionately impacted by a factor of four, which did not turn out to be the case.
“While we were expected to fail, we swam together, and we thrived,” Zink said.
Zink thanked AFN and tribal leaders for mobilizing to make sure their communities got their fair share of vaccine doses. She noted that in the early days of the vaccine, Alaska was among the states with the highest vaccinations per capita rates. A few heroes of the pandemic were honored during the convention, including Linda and Shara Davis, a mother-daughter healthcare duo from Mekoryuk in the Y-K Delta who vaccinated 98 percent of their community, a rate that has not been replicated elsewhere in the state.
Over the next three days, AFN looked much like it did in pre-pandemic times. Attendees from all over the state bought and sold wares at the craft fair. They danced during packed Quyana nights. They assembled around tables to discuss challenges like changing education systems and managing resources. They met with Indigenous guest delegations from other corners of the world, including New Zealand and Japan. They debated resolutions meant to set AFN’s political priorities. And they were courted by candidates seeking votes in the upcoming November election.
One those candidates received an especially joyful welcome. Thursday morning’s already high energy exploded when Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat and the first Alaska Native representative in Congress, was getting ready to deliver her keynote address. Co-chair of AFN, Joe Nelson, took the stage and introduced himself as coming from a Tlingit matrilineal line of Brown Bears.
“I’m making this introduction now because it’s just such a powerful moment in our history coming out of the pandemic, and it’s our Native, Indigenous thinking that is on everybody’s minds, and it’s our Indigenous women that are breaking new ground by bringing their ancestral knowledge and wisdom,” Nelson said to cheers. “I really want us to focus in on and channel the power of our mothers, our grandmothers in this moment as real leaders that are guiding our way forward, because it’s real, it’s happening, it’s happening now.”
AFN co-chair Ana Hoffman then introduced Peltola, comparing the freshman congresswoman’s journey to the “courageous and adventurous” life of the salmon that matures in rivers and streams, navigates treacherous ocean waters, but always comes back home.
“Like the salmon, Mary has a most purposeful journey,” Hoffman said. “Let us gather around her and like the salmon may we move in unison to show how mighty we can be together.”
The crowd stood and cheered for nearly a full minute, with many waving campaign fans printed with Peltola’s face, before she could begin her speech.
“There is no greater honor for somebody who was raised in the bush to come to AFN,” Peltola said.
She began with a tribute to the late Republican congressman Don Young, whose death in March led to this summer’s special election that Peltola won. For 49 years, Young served as Alaska’s sole representative in the U.S. House. Peltola welcomed his family on stage, and Young’s oldest daughter Joni Nelson presented her with her father’s bolo tie.
“Now I’m a real congressman for all Alaska,” Peltola said, in a nod to Young’s slogan.
She spoke of this year’s convention theme, which was “Celebrating Our Unity.” “Alaskans have always had to work together, our weather, our terrain, our tininess within our vast landscapes demand unity within every community,” Peltola said.
She admitted that she was taken aback by the overwhelming amount of national and global interest in the race for Alaska’s sole congressional seat, which, she attributed to a widespread lack of unity. “There is such a lack of unity right now,” she said. “This pandemic has shown us that we are pack animals. We need people, we need each other, we are not meant to be alone, we are not meant to be isolated.”
Peltola said that currently the pervasive messages in electoral politics seem to be about hate, fear and self-pity.
“There is no place for hate and fear and self-pity if we’re going to survive and thrive and overcome our challenges,” she said.
Before Peltola could leave the stage with her hands full of gifts, including an ivory carving, a candle and a pack of bubble gum, a group sitting in the Y-K Delta’s section of the crowd stood to sing and pray for her. Tears filled Peltola’s eyes as other spontaneous displays of love and support spread throughout the audience.  
In “Mary’s house”—as former Gov. Sarah Palin called AFN—it was difficult to imagine Peltola losing the November election, but there was a heavy focus on encouraging voter turnout during the convention. A few events were devoted to boosting turnout for young Alaska Native voters in support of Peltola, including a Saturday night concert with Portugal. The Man as the headlining act.
There was less unity when it came time to vote on this year’s AFN resolutions on Saturday afternoon. The two resolutions considered in the subsistence category sparked an hour-long debate on the floor.

Resolution 22-2—which was submitted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Kawerak, Inc. and Bethel Native Corporation—would see AFN request that the Alaska Department of Fish & Game support measures that decrease intercept of Chinook and chum salmon in Area M. This state-managed fishing area has been a battleground for regulation, as it’s believed that the commercial fisheries in this region are a driving factor of the crisis in Western and Interior Alaskan, where salmon runs in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers have crashed.
Resolution 22-3—submitted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference and Kawerak, Inc.—would see AFN request that the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council address salmon bycatch and salmon mortality issues in fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands affecting coastal Western and Interior Alaska salmon stocks.
Delegates lined up behind the microphones to debate these measures after a move to postpone the resolution indefinitely failed.
“I really have to take a step back here and talk about how sad I am that we have to fight so hard here to be heard, to try to protect our salmon,” said Brian Ridley, Tanana Chiefs Conference president. “It’s more than just a food source. It’s our survival, our culture.” Ridley noted that just 12,000 Chinook and 23,000 chum salmon made it into Canada via the Yukon last year while millions were being intercepted in Area M. “We;re not asking to shut down that fishery,” he said. “We’re just asking this body to help us conserve the salmon and help them come back in our area…If we made a mistake, it was trusting the state and the federal feds to protect our salmon, the state supposed to prioritize subsistence, but they don’t.”
Some speakers also lamented having to find solutions in a system where the fisheries are regulated under the U.S. Department of Commerce, and not a natural resources body that has a responsibility to sustainability. “The government is forcing us to fight with each other,” said Louie Green, Jr. of Bering Straits Native Corporation and Sitnasuak Native Corporation. “We need to find consensus.”
Meanwhile, others stood to make their opposition to the resolutions known.
“This is anything but unity,” said Dennis Robinson, president of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska. “I’m ashamed of the AFN board for even allowing something like this is so divisive to come to the floor.”
Despite vocal displays of dissent and several delegates abstaining from voting on the measures altogether, the two subsistence resolutions still passed by a wide margin when they went to a vote. (Kawerak, Inc., BSNC, and the Kawerak tribes all voted in favor of the resolutions.)
AFN delegates also passed several other measures. One called for the U.S. military and other government agencies to immediately address waste and abandoned debris at sites in rural Alaska. Another called for state and federal authorities to assess the infrastructure needs of communities affected by ex-typhoon Merbok and help those areas prepare for future disasters. Another still called for agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA and FEMA to work with AFN on addressing flooding, erosion and other impacts of climate change and increase funding to mitigation efforts.
The delegates also voted in opposition of a constitutional convention. Every 10 years, Alaskan voters are asked whether they want the state to hold a constitutional convention, which would allow elected delegates from across the state to propose, debate and ratify any changes to Alaska’s constitution. Alaska’s constitution was written during a convention from 1955 to 1956 and has been amended 28 times since. There has never been another constitutional convention, however, several conservative groups have been pushing for voters to cast their ballots in favor of one when they go to the polls in November.
The resolution that AFN passed said a constitutional convention would be “expensive” and “dangerous.”
“It would open the entire Constitution for revision on a wide range of critical issues and pose risks to tribal/Alaska Native interests that are embedded in the Constitution with the likelihood of delegates with views that are antagonistic to those interests,” the resolution text read.
Lastly, in executive session, the delegates voted to endorse Lisa Murkowski for reelection to the U.S. Senate and, unsurprisingly, Rep. Mary Peltola for reelection to the U.S. House.