Alaska Federation of Natives convention

The Alaska Federation of Natives decided to table a vote on Ballot Measure 1 that calls for a minimum-wage increase.

Eight Alaska Native leaders and one civil rights attorney were honored with Alaska Federation of Natives President’s Awards on Friday.

In a few years, Alice Bioff’s Naataq Gear has found thousands of Alaska customers for high-performance atikluks.

New president Ben Mallott said he hopes to bring back the handful of large regional organizations that have left the organization in recent years.

The 2024 theme is “Our Children — Our Future Ancestors,” and the convention includes public events.

At AFN’s convention, U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola urged Alaska Natives to get involved in politics to help revive the numbers of salmon and other fish.

The Barrow Dancers’ performance was dedicated to Craig George, a bowhead whale expert on the North Slope who died in July.

The organization also supported continued predator control to boost the Mulchatna caribou herd and called for an independent investigation into Alaska Native incarceration deaths, among other actions.

An exhibit at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention looks at the work of Bill Hess, and his 40 years of photographing Alaska Native veterans.

Also, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said she plans to update the Federal Subsistence Board, and the Department of Justice is launching a pilot program that would allow Alaska tribes to pursue criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians in some cases.

Others include a tribal healer, an affordable housing pioneer, an educator who published an Iñupiaq language dictionary, and parents raising their children to “know who they are, where they’re from.”

The annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention runs through Saturday at the Dena’ina Center.

They want to ask Congress to change the law so the protection applies “up and down the river,” not just sections associated with federal lands such as parks or refuges.

The convention operates as a forum for debate and policy development for the Alaska Native community and includes cultural presentations and events.

Award winners this year include a master carver, a nurse and a longtime Alaska state trooper.

The organization also supported a reduction of “intercepted” salmon in the Area M region in the Alaska Peninsula, in an effort to help collapsed salmon runs recover in Western and Interior Alaska.

On the final day of the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention, all candidates in statewide races took the stage to address convention-goers from all corners of the state.

Dance groups from across the state, international guests and attendees shook the floor of the Dena’ina Center for the first in-person Quyana performances at AFN since 2019.

Alaska’s Republican senior senator said at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention that she’ll rank Peltola first on her ballot in the U.S. House race.

Much of the convention’s focus was on all that’s happened during the pandemic, from floods of funding to new policies and programs for Indigenous communities.

The event is often artists’ single biggest moneymaker, and its closure during the pandemic added to losses.

After going virtual the last two years, AFN’s annual conference returns in person at the Dena’ina Center. Here’s a roundup of events.

Also on Saturday, the state’s largest Native group gave several awards for exemplary actions and lives.

The Alaska Federation of Natives called for more action to reduce crimes, particularly against women.

Audience members packed the Carlson Center in Fairbanks to watch dance groups from across the state perform at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.