The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association last week called for the removal of Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Tara Sweeney over her proposal to give Alaskan Native Corporations (ANCs) part of the tribal portion of funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), the National Congress of American Indians and the Akiak Native Community of Alaska also sent letters opposing Sweeney’s proposal. They haven’t yet publicly called for her ouster as head of the BIA, but according to some sources, there’s a growing movement in that direction.
Sweeney is the first woman and the first Native Alaskan to serve in the position, which she assumed in 2018. She is the former executive vice president and shareholder of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., or ASRC, one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Arctic Slope is one of the corporations that would benefit from her proposal.
Chairman Rodney Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Chairman Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe both wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt, urging them to ask President Trump to remove Sweeney as assistant secretary.
They wrote, “We write to request that you call upon President Trump to remove Tara Sweeney as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. She has lost the confidence of Indian tribes. Charged with a large public trust, she unfairly sought to divert emergency Tribal Government resources to state-chartered, for-profit corporations owned by Alaska Native shareholders, including her and her family. Further, she seeks to deny the very existence of Indian Country.”
Bordeaux was reportedly “incensed” because Sweeney never discussed plans to include Alaskan corporations. He wrote last week, “As Indian nations, we always stand on our treaties. Our treaties reserve our original rights to self-government and sovereignty. Our Indian lands are recognized by treaty as our ‘permanent home.’ Treasury must include all Indian lands, enrolled tribal members (our tribal citizens), our tribal government employees, and our tribal government expenditures.”
He continued, “Alaska Native villages have village councils, and they are recognized on the list of federally recognized Indian tribes. In contrast, Alaska Native Corporations are state corporations subject to state law and state taxation. There’s no tribal sovereignty there. Their lands are fee lands under state jurisdiction and taxes. The Supreme Court says they are not Indian lands. Treasury can’t count state corporations as Indian tribes or ANC corporate lands as Indian lands.”
Last Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “President Trump’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney is diverting funds for tribal governments during coronavirus to for-profit Alaska Native Corporations. We can’t put these corporations before tribal governments and people. Sweeney used to be an exec for an ANC, and she wants to profit!”
Sweeney responded to Schumer’s accusation, saying, “Even for you, this is an ignorant and despicably low attack that could not be further from the truth. Perhaps you should read the law you negotiated and voted for, as Alaska Native are entitled to receive the funding.”
Others also disagree with Sweeney’s interpretation. In an April 15 letter from the Akiak Community, Chief Michael Williams wrote: “I write to oppose the award of any portion of the Coronavirus Relief Fund to private for profit corporations organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).”
He noted that the fund was created under Section 5001 Title V of the CARES Act to provide assistance to “state, local governments and tribal governments.
“The term ‘tribal government’ is used 15 times in Section 5001,” Williams wrote. “The whole point of the fund is to cover public services provided by governments, not to make payments to private companies.”
Most Native Alaskan entities are organized as corporations rather than reservations under the Alaska Claims Settlement Act of 1971, and that fact is meaningful, said Williams. “A for-profit corporation, including an Alaska Native for-profit corporation formed under ANCSA, is a private company controlled by its shareholders and a board of directors. It is not a ‘tribal government.’”
CNIGA Chairman James Siva’s April 13 letter made the same point. “It was the clear intent of Congress that the Coronavirus Relief Fund be used to help state, local and tribal governments to meet their ongoing financial obligations and expenditures in the face of declining revenues. This funding was provided to us in recognition that, unlike corporate enterprises, government run businesses provide funding for essential government services such as public safety and healthcare.”
Siva added, “While we strongly support necessary funding for federally recognized Alaska Native Villages alongside all federally recognized tribes, we cannot support disbursements to non-governmental entities that were otherwise set aside for tribal governments. Funding for corporate shareholders is available through the corporate funding mechanisms of the CARES Act, which tribal governments are not eligible to access.”
Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, added to the firestorm by writing, “Alaska regional and village corporations established pursuant to ANCSA do not possess such a government-to-government relationship with the United States.” She also wrote, “Notably, Alaska regional and village corporations do not have recognized governing bodies, since they maintain a corporate structure and—as noted in our previous letter—are incorporated under Alaska state law, and are also therefore absent from the List of Federally Recognized Indian Tribes.”
Critics of Sweeney’s proposal point out that Alaskan lands were never considered Indian land after Alaskan tribes in 1971 rejected the reservation system of the lower 48 states. Instead of reservations, the tribes received fee land under state jurisdiction. They note that Alaska’s Native Corporations have never in the past been considered the equivalent of tribal governments, but state-chartered corporations.
