A brief history of
The Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments
page 3

Wildlife - Organizing Natural Resources

Despite the fact Alaska Natives depend more heavily upon wildlife for their survival than does any other group in the country, neither ANCSA nor ANILCA recognized the right of aboriginal peoples to manage wildlife on their lands – a right exercised by many tribes in the Lower 48.
CATG’s first economic activity was to organize two co-ops to assist villagers in marketing fur and beadwork as well as clothing and other items sewn from skins.

Soon, CATG leaders felt the time had come to take a bolder step. Congress had passed amendments to Public Law 93-638, mandating that Federal agencies contract directly with tribes determined to run their own programs. CATG turned its attention towards health care.

“Health is the primary reason we’re here,” Alexander explains, noting that in times past, the people had their own traditional medicines, which served them well. “Then we came across TB, the flu, and some things we didn’t know how to combat - so we came away from using our own traditional medicine.” This put the medical care of the people - and the wage-paying jobs required to deliver it - largely in the hands of people living elsewhere.

IHS Tribal Management

As the 80’s drew to a close, that care was delivered through BIA and US Indian Health Service contracts administered by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a Fairbanks based, non-profit corporation serving over 40 villages throughout Interior Alaska.

Under the terms of P.L. 93-638, CATG villages sought to take over as much of that care as possible. Helping tribes take over their own functions is a TCC goal, and so, although some there were reluctant to see moneys and jobs transferred from the central office in Fairbanks to the Yukon Flats, CATG ultimately found support at TCC. CATG applied for an IHS Tribal Management Grant.

IHS not only denied the grant application, but criticized it sharply. CATG staff took the criticism to heart, and rewrote and resubmitted the same application a year later. This time, thee grant was awarded and was used to complete a feasibility study that launched a process that ultimately led to the CATG takeover of the Yukon Flats Health Center on June 1, 1994. In October, CATG took over Dental Services, the Health Aid Program, Community Health Representatives, Regional Health Planning and Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

A Need For Healing

Randy Mayo, who has served Stevens Village as both First and Second Chief and is now the Acting Chair of CATG, believes alcohol and drug abuse is a problem the villages must face head on. “How will it impact us all on all these issues our tribes must deal with if we have people so confused and medicated up on drugs and alcohol they can’t come in at 8:00 and sit down and digest facts?” Mayo asks.

“It can be tough to talk to an alcoholic,” says Floris Johnson, former director of the CATG Care Center in Fort Yukon. “They can be hard-headed and stubborn. They don’t like to admit they have a problem, but they do. It only works when they are willing to admit it, willing to stay sober. It affects the whole family.”

“There’s healing taking place in the Yukon Flats,” Johnson adds. “We see it. But this problem has been with us for three generations. It is a big problem. It may take three more generations to heal.”

History, page 4