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Membership Rights

Facts

  • We are nothing without our membership—our families and children, and their children too. 

  • Equal rights to membership, tribal resources, and self-governance for all eligible citizens must be protected,  period. 

  • This includes all current and future rights, services, and benefits denied to descendants because “blood quantum” was prioritized and for other erroneous reasons yet to be fully explored. 

  • Right now, membership privileges to vote AND serve on our Council are offered only to those accepted adult members who choose to reside in Bethel for over a year.

  • Accepted members who reside in Bethel and nearby Y-K villages are routinely prioritized to access ONC rights, services, and benefits. This impacts citizens living elsewhere who account for well over 40% of ONC citizens. 

  • “Blood quantum” remains published by ONC as an eligibility requirement for the much needed ONC Bethel-focused affordable housing program. 

  • Descendant and adoptive member enrollment processes must be aligned to criteria set in Tribal Law. 

  • A simple and clear pathway to accept minor children as tribal members is not in place and this continues to erode their citizenship rights. 

  • There is probably a near forty-year backlog of membership denials based on “blood quantum” and other reasons not yet fully known. 

  • Each harmed person and family must be found and contacted directly to correct mistakes and to draw all back to us. 

  • As of April 7, ONC is 3,475 members strong. We are growing into a nation! 

  • More citizens are eligible. 

  • Enrollment applications are reviewed during monthly Council meetings following recommendations made at monthly or emergency enrollment committee meetings. 

  • Membership Demographics: A request remains pending for ONC to release detailed citizen demographics by Age, Citizen Type, Location, etc.

Calls-To-Action

  • Contact ONC “Executive Administrative Assistant”/“Tribal Enrollment Officer” jstanley@nativecouncil.org to apply or reapply for membership, or to confirm your membership status and contact information. 

  • Talk to your family and friends. Encourage them to enroll and engage. 

  • Contact ONC Enrollment Committee Members: Walter Jim (chair), Robert Lekander, Connie Sankwich, and Thaddeus Tikiun to share your views. 

  • Eligible citizens denied membership, and/or wrongly denied access to ONC because of current and past ONC mistakes are encouraged to find out about clear pathways for fair and timely resolution and restitution.

  • Call or COVID-safely visit ONC 

  • Contact Self-Governance Director Sophie Swope. Email sswope@nativecouncil.org. Call (907) 543-0501

  • Email Yvonne Kinegak and her CARES RELIEF staff cares@nativecouncil.org 

  • Email the ONC Housing Administrator ccockrift@nativecouncil.org

  • Ask for rights, benefits, and services to be restored for all citizens 

  • Review membership demographics—once obtained —and make your voice heard

Tough Questions

  • Who do we claim as ours? (Trust must be built and affirmed.)

  • What does being accepted as an ONC tribal member mean to you?

  • What does being denied enrollment mean to you?

  • What does “blood quantum” suggest about your perceived identity? To whom?

  • Have you or your kids and grandkids been made to feel you are not enough or are too much? How does that affect you? Them? Us?

  • If you could decide how our tribe includes or excludes descendants from membership, what would you set as criteria? Why? Why not? 

  • How should ONC openly communicate to and include all non-ONC Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Hawaiians living in Bethel? (Non-ONC Native people are included when calculating HUD funding allocations received by ONC to deliver safe and affordable homes; likewise some other program funding awarded to ONC). 

  • Should ONC (re)open enrollment to new adopted members who, like many of our families, moved into town to make Bethel their home?

  • Should ONC (re)open enrollment to descendants of adopted tribal members (once) living in Bethel (and now elsewhere)?

  • How does ONC plan to jibe membership rolls with collected 2020 US Census rolls including ONC membership designations? What processes are in place or contemplated?

  • Is there a better way for member parents to make their minor children known to ONC? (Birth certificates, adoption papers, affidavits, or other legal documents to more readily welcome next generations into our circle of care)

  • How does ONC treat emancipated individuals?

  • How does ONC automatically give “inactive members” “full membership status” after establishing one year residence in Bethel? What are the mechanisms and processes? Is there an established deadline before the annual meeting date of record? Does ONC let members know? How? When?

  • How should ONC encourage more engagement to strengthen—not loosen—ties?

  • Is ONC adequately and appropriately staffed to carry out various critical workloads at hand?

What We Can Learn From Other Tribal Nations

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