Ten resolutions passed during the Association of Village Council Presidents’ annual convention last week, and only one failed. That’s a huge change from last year, when AVCP passed one resolution that it introduced and tabled the rest. AVCP says that what happened last year was because the resolutions were not submitted by deadline.
This year, the tribes met the deadline. AVCP’s executive board introduced five resolutions this year. The other resolutions came from Quinhagak, Bethel’s Orutsararmiut Native Council, Alakanuk, and the Nunakauyak Traditional Council of Toksook Bay.
The ones that passed include a resolution opposing the proposed Donlin Gold mine, and one honoring Bethel’s own hometown hero: 2019 Iditarod Champion and four-time K300 Champion Pete Kaiser. Another resolution recognized state Senator Lyman Hoffman’s more than four decades of public service for his constituents. An additional resolution encouraged villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to fully participate in the 2020 Census, which kicks off in January in Toksook Bay.
Other resolutions included supporting the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact, fully funding public safety infrastructure, supporting the Alaska State Legislature Village Public Safety Officer Working Group, and finally, a resolution to convert AVCP’s Chief Executive Officer position into a contract employee. Current CEO Vivian Korthius was the first one that the nonprofit hired, rather than elected. As for the resolution which failed, that was a complicated measure to change the way that tribes would be represented within the organization.
The resolutions that passed will be presented at the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention in Fairbanks in October.