Alaska Natives – Page 4

House and Senate Repeal Alaska Exception (Section 910) of VAWA

December 12, 2014Victoria Sweet

Now it’s off to the President for his signature or veto:

Senator Lisa Murkowski and Congressman Don Young today teamed up to make sure that Section 910 of the Violence Against Women Act was repealed. Through numerous conversations with their House and Senate colleagues, the two Alaska lawmakers succeeded in having the provision removed from the law.

In the final days of the 113^th Congress, Representative Young worked directly with House leadership – including several interactions with Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and other senior House members – to secure expedited passage of the bill in one of the House’s final actions prior to adjourning. Meanwhile, Senator Murkowski worked with her Senate colleagues to build support for the action, including a call across Capitol Hill before the vote to Majority Leader McCarthy, encouraging his consent for the move that officially took place after tonight’s final budget vote.

“Alaska tribes asked me to repeal Section 910 of VAWA, and I thank the Alaska Delegation for working with me on their behalf,” said Murkowski. “But it doesn’t stop today; in the new Congress beginning next month, it will be imperative to ensure that our tribal courts in Alaska receive the funding they need to deliver the justice and protection the need and deserve – not only for training and capacity development, but also for operations.”

“Today I am pleased that the House of Representatives passed S. 1474, a bill which repeals Section 910 of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). In the many conversations I have had with Alaska Native leaders and families since the reauthorization of VAWA last year, I heard a consistent, clear, and powerful message: that Section 910 was an error and must be repealed,” said Congressman Young. “I was proud to work with Lisa in these final moments to ensure that one of the final acts of the House of Representatives in the 113^th Congress was to empower Alaska’s tribes and uplift Alaska Native women.”

Link to press release here.

Chabad Lawyer Mediates Between Inuit Tribes in Alaska – and Keeps Kosher

November 14, 2014Victoria Sweet1 Comment

Nice article on David Voluck, tribal court judge in Alaska, and what inspires him to do the work he does.

Full article here.

Some excerpts from the article:

“So, there are two ‘weird’ things about David Voluck,” he continued, laughing impishly, as is his habit. “Well, probably more than two, but two really weird things. First, I’m an observant Jew, which is not commonplace in Alaska. I’m also a tribal judge, the state’s only non-Native tribal judge — at least that I know of.

Indeed, Voluck stands as one of the country’s foremost authorities on the subject of Alaska Native tribal law — an author of “Alaska Natives and American Laws 2nd and 3rd Edition,” he literally wrote the book on it (well, co-wrote). In addition to maintaining a small legal practice and an adjunct faculty position at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Voluck currently presides over the Tlingit (pronounced “Clink-get”) & Haida tribal court in southeast Alaska and the Aleut community tribal court of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands. He has also worked with the Athabasca, Inupiat, Alutiiq and Yupik tribes and is currently helping to establish a tribal court on Kodiak Island. . . .

Raised in a Conservative “but not terribly religious” household, Voluck graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, with a B.A. in sociology of religion, before studying environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School. He soon threw himself headlong into environmentalism.

“There I was, demonstrating, hugging trees, chaining myself to bulldozers. But I could see I didn’t have the same fire as everyone else. In other words, this wasn’t the song I was looking for.”

Then, a friend recruited him for a legal internship representing the Tlingit & Haida in Sitka. As the tribe’s legal counsel, Voluck found he’d stumbled upon the human, cultural and spiritual side of environmentalism.

“Now, I started hearing the song,” he said. “From then on, Indian law became my obsession.”

Through his burgeoning relationship with Alaska Native populations, Voluck also began sensing parallels between their culture and his own. Every day, he told me, one tribal elder in particular would visit him, “and every day, he’d say the same thing: ‘David, our culture, our language, our heritage is very important; you must help us.’” . . .

And while practicing Judaism as a traveling circuit judge in one of the least inhabited regions on earth remains challenging, Voluck seems determined to continue what he considers his singular contribution to tikkun olam.

“Everywhere on earth, indigenous peoples are sustaining a massive assault on their survival,” he said. “And if there’s one group that’s figured out how to weather massive assaults on their survival, it’s the Jews.”

Non-Profit Organization Works to Train Interpreters for Yup’ik Speakers in Alaska Courts

November 3, 2014Victoria Sweet1 Comment

In some areas of Alaska many elders and even middle-aged community members grew up with Yup’ik as their first language. The resulting language gap for these individuals has created problems when they are involved in court hearings. To combat these problems, the Alaska Institute for Justice is heading up an effort to train Yup’ik interpreters specifically to work in courts, medical facilities, and other institutions. The experts involved with this training are working to create a Yup’ik legal glossary with an emphasis on words that describe problems such as: sexual assault, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and parental neglect and abuse.

“Our goal is to make sure that all Alaskans have access to the services that they need regardless of their ability to speak English,” said Robin Bronen, executive director of the justice institute.

Full article available here.

Hello My Name Is: Alaska Native Voices Calling Out for Safety of Native Women

October 6, 2014Victoria Sweet

Synergy, the Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody’s (RCDV: CPC) twice a year newsletter, is now available! Synergy, FVPSA, 30th & VAWA 20th Anniversary Issue, No. 2 of 2 is dedicated to increasing awareness of violence against women in tribal communities generally, and Alaska Natives specifically. This issue includes an article titled Hello My Name is: Alaska Native Voices Calling Out for Safety of Native Women; an overview of the Tribal Law and order Act; and a playwrights view on the idea for and development of, Sliver of a Full Moon, a play highlighting the collective success of Native women’s voices to change laws so that their children and grandchildren will have a better future.

The newsletter is available for download here.

New Scholarship on Impacts of Excepting Alaska Natives from Federal Indian Law

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is Samuel Gottstein’s “An Era Of Continued Neglect: Assessing the Impact of Congressional Exemptions for Alaska Natives,” published in the Boston College Law Review.

The abstract:

Although Native Americans in the contiguous United States have benefited from recent congressional reforms, Alaska Native communities were largely ignored. Despite the widely acknowledged crisis of sexual assault and domestic violence in rural Alaska Native communities, Congress has explicitly exempted Alaska from legislation that would otherwise give people in these communities the ability to protect themselves. Although public outcry has prompted pending legislation in Congress to repeal some of these exemptions, such as the Alaska Safe Families and Villages Act, even that legislation does not go far enough to achieve a permanent and effective solution to what is a life-or-death problem for many Alaska Natives. This Note argues that Congress and the State of Alaska should expand Alaska Native tribal sovereignty to give Alaska Native communities the ability to stem the tide of this epidemic.

Al Jazeera: “Alaska ballots fraught with issues for Yup’ik speakers”

August 19, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Forthcoming B.C. Law Review Note on the Impact of Congressional Exemptions for Alaska Natives

August 6, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Boston College Law Review will publish “An Era of Continued Neglect: Assessing the Impact of Congressional Exemptions for Alaska Natives,” now posted on SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

This Note examines Congress’s recent efforts at reforming Native American criminal justice systems while exempting Alaska Natives. This Note argues that Congress and the State of Alaska should expand Alaska Native tribal sovereignty to allow Alaska Native tribes to prosecute crimes like domestic violence and sexual assault in order to more effectively promote safety and justice in rural Alaskan communities.

News profile of History of VAWA and Alaska Natives

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Al Jazeera has “Proponents fight for change so Alaska Natives covered by VAWA: Complicated history excludes Alaska Native women from Violence Against Women Act.”

Judge Voluck Op-Ed on Alaska Native Tribal First Response to Violence

July 7, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Judge David Voluck has published an op-ed “Peace in the home and the tribal first response to violence” in two versions: (1) the Alaska Daily News; and (2) the Alaska Dispatch.

The Author’s Note at the end of the Dispatch version is helpful:

Author’s note: For people interested in learning more about safety and justice in Alaska Native communities, please see Indian Law Order & Order Commission Report to Congress and U.S. President: Roadmap to a Safer Native America; Chapter 2 “The Time for Reforming Justice for Alaska Natives: The Time is Now.” ;U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian / Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence: Alaska Hearings June 12, 2014. “Joint Statement on Eliminating Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls.” Alaska Natives Commission final report, 1994. Alaska Commission on Rural Governance and Empowerment: Final Report to the Governor (1999).