The following are public statements provided at hearings held in Fairbanks and Anchorage the 17th and 18th of October 1969 prior to the passage of ANCSA. They provide the reader with some of the issues and concerns discussed prior to the passage of ANCSA.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF ALASKA FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF ALASKA (FAIRBANKS),
J. M. KRONINGER, CLERK, OCT. 4, 1966
The Inupiat Eskimos tribally represented as the Arctic Slope Native Association, petitioners v. The Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the Department of the Interior; the State of Alaska
Petition for injunction
The Inupiat Eskimos of Arctic Alaska, the indigenous and original occupants of that part of Alaska known as the Arctic Slope, and their duly elected group or tribal representatives known as The Arctic Native Association, the same being the sole tribal or group council authorized to do business in their name, hereby petition the Honorable Court and the Justices presiding therein for an injunction against the above named respondents to prohibit them from any further selling, leasing or sub-letting or in any way of further disposing of the land or the resources, or the revenue from said land, resources, or the exploratory rights to, or any other interest derived from said land lying within the boundaries of an area lying north of a line running east from the Bering Sea along the 68 deg N. latitude to the 147 deg., W. meridian, thence north along said meridian to 68 deg. 30 min. N. latitude, thence east along said latitude to the 141 deg W. meridian; an area to which the Inupiat eskimo holds unextinguished aboriginal title by reason of use and original occupancy from time immemorial, said use and occupancy occuring until the present day, and said title has never been terminated by law, treaty, or sale.
In January 1966, said Association, for and on behalf of all Inupiat eskimos, being duly authorized by the tribe to do so, filed a claim of protest, as prescribed by law in such cases, to demurr against the violations of the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Alaska, of this unextinguished title by their arbitrary and uncompensated appropriation of said lands. To date they jointly and severally have failed to halt these practices.
Therefore petitioners pray that the honorable Court and the Justices presiding therein, issue said injunction without delay ; said injunction to continue in effect until such time as title of the Inupiat is duly resolved, or until such time as equitable compensation is granted for the expropriation of said lands, the resources and minerals thereof, as provided by law, in such like cases.
It is further requested, that all such revenues as have heretofore been realized by the State of Alaska within the area of protest, and all similar funds accrued by the Bureau of Land Management in like manner, from the sale of land leases, or of royalties derived from minerals, or the leasing of said land, or the leasing of the mineral rights of said land, be held in escrow by the United States Government until such title is resolved and, or equitable compensation is made for expropriation of same:
And that the interest accruing from such funds be allotted to the Inupiat eskimos, in the name of their group or tribal organization, the Arctic Slope Native Association to defray legal expenses and other business expenses deemed necessary by the tribe or group in promoting and protecting their various interests
And that the above be made a clause of said injunction.
Legal basis for request of said injunction
I. Recognition of Aboriginal title in like cases.
(1). Article 6 Clause 2, The Constitution of The United States.
(2). United States Treaty with Russia 1867, Article III.
(3). Johnson v. Mackintosh, 8 Wheat 543, 547
(4). Mitchell v. United States 9 Peters 711, 745-746.
(5). H.J. 207 1947, R. Rivers amica curae, U.S. Court of Claims upholding aboriginal title.
II. Distinction between sovereignty and title:
(1). Louisiana Purchase Treaty 1803 conferred sovereignty and subsequent purchases gave title.
(a). Black Hawk Treaty 1832 (Enc. Britt. 11th Edition, Vol. 14 page 735: 7 Stat 347.).
(b). Shawnee Treaty 1825.
(c). Chippewa and Sioux Treaties of 1837
(d). Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs re: purchases of Indian Titles. 1872
(2). Act of May 17,1884,23 Stat. 24,26.
(3). Act of June 6, 1900, Sec. 27; 31 Stat. 321, 330.
III. Other acts and opinions supporting petition for injunction.
(1). Act of May 17,1884, (i.d.)
(2). Act of August 8, 1947, Sec. 3(A).
(3), Solicitors Opinion M 31634 and concurrence of the Sec. of Int.
(4). Administrative Opinion Sec. of Int. 27 July 1945, Conclusion.
(5). Supplemental opinion Sec. of Int. 11 January 1946.
This document is submitted in the name of and on behalf of the group or tribe of aboriginal natives known as the Inupiat Eskimos, residing in, and using, and occupying the above described area, by authority delegated to me as an officer of the Arctic Slope Native Association, said Association being the duly elected representative of the tribe or group.
HUGH NICHOLS,
Executive Director, Arctic Slope Native Association.
Now appears before me this date 28 September 1966, one Hugh Nichols known by me personally to be an officer of the Arctic Slope Native Association, and who solemnly swears to the facts as attested to in the above Document.
SADIE NEAKOK,
Magistrate, 2nd Judicial District, The State of Alaska, Barrow, Alaska.
Done under my hand and seal this 28th of Sept. 1966.
[SEAL OF OFFICE]
SADIE NEAKOK,
Magistrate, Barrow.
Source: Alaska Native Land Claims Part II, "Hearings before the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-first Congress First Session on H.R. 13142, H.R. 10193, and H.R. 14212, Bills to Provide for the Settlement of Certain Land Claims of Alaska Natives, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.