The Doyon Board of Directors selected Doyon shareholder Norm Phillips as their new President and CEO. Mr. Phillips is originally from Rampart, Alaska and a graduate of University of Alaska, Fairbanks with a B.S. degree in Geological Engineering. He has been working for Doyon for the last 20 years in the Lands and Natural Resources department. According to the Doyon press release, Phillips says,

“I am proud that Doyon is headquartered in Fairbanks, on the north bank of the Chena River, my hometown. I appreciate this opportunity to work with the board and the excellent management team we have in place throughout the Doyon Family of Companies. And I confident that Doyon will continue to grow and prosper.”

NANA will providing a one-time dividend to their shareholders to commemorate its 35th anniversary. The dividend is $9 per share and will be paid April 11 to more than 11,400 shareholders.

The source of this money comes from two factors coinciding at the same time. As Zinc prices increase, so is Nana’s share of their Red Dog mine profits. Just as recent as November, they paid their largest ever dividend of $15/share.

Of course, through the ANCSA 7(i) agreement - all Alaska Native shareholders will benefit. This unique “sharing” provision in ANCSA is just one of the many aspects that differentiate ANCs from other for-profit corporations.

Past president of Doyon was elected to the Doyon board of directors as a write-in candidate.

Read the article from the Fairbanks News-Minor here.

I have highlighted some text of an article written by Mary Kauffman and found on sitnews.us. While Alaska’s US congressman Don Young was in Ketchikan, Alaska over President’s Day weekend, he sat down to speak to the local media.

Congressman Young spoke about the importance and urgency for the federal government to finally settle Sealaska’s final land conveyances.

Young said, “One of the things that I believe is that both the Native Land Claims Act and the Statehood Act have not been fully implemented as far as ownership of land.” He said after almost 50 years of statehood, Alaska is still short 50 million acres of land that the state does not have title to.

 

There is a huge amount of land that Sealaska, the landless groups and the Native Land Claims Settlement haven’t gained title to also and that’s been going on since 1971, said Young.

 

H.R. 3560, The Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization Act, is bipartisan legislation introduced by Young in November 2007 that will allow the Sealaska Native Corporation to receive its remaining land conveyance under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 - after more than 35 years since the Act was signed into law.

 

If passed, “This legislation will redress the inequitable treatment of the Native Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska - Sealaska Corporation - by allowing it to select its remaining land entitlement under Section 14 of ANCSA from designated federal land in Southeast Alaska,” Young said in November.

 

When announcing the bill, Young said, “It’s unfortunate that after more than 35 years since the passage of ANSCA, Sealaska has still not received conveyance of its full land entitlement. As a result of its small land entitlement, it is critical that Sealaska complete its remaining land entitlement under ANCSA in order to continue to meet the economic, social and cultural needs of its Native shareholders, and of the Native community throughout Alaska.”

 

“Primarily there is a dispute between the agencies,” said Young, “and I don’t think agencies should go contrary to what the Congress passed in the law.” On Monday he said, “We ought to take and get these things done as fast as possible.”

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens spoke Monday, February 18, 2007 at the Native Issues forum at the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) hall in Juneau, Alaska. Senator Stevens is currently the longest serving Republican in the US Senate. It is hard to overstate his impact on Alaska Natives for the past 35 years.

Through his speech and the Q & A section, the Senator addressed many issues on the minds of SE Natives. He spoke most passionately about issues I happen to also feel very strongly about. These include the current situation of our villages and the feeling of young people “not having hope”. This is a serious problem.

Senator Stevens said “the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act would not be passed today.” He said “times have changed”. I could not agree more. The perception of Native Americans in general has changed dramatically since the early ’70s.

Video provided by True North Video Productions, LLC.