Mayor Mark Begich remarks
Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention
9:30 a.m.; Oct. 28, 2004; Egan Convention Center

Thank you, Trefon (Angason), for that introduction and for your service to this organization and our state.

Thanks also to Co-Chair Albert Kookesh, to President Julie Kitka, and to the entire AFN board for your tireless leadership on the issues vital to the Native peoples of our great state.

To Chief Dorothy Cook of Eklutna: thank you for granting me the permission to be here on your traditional lands.

Thank you to all AFN delegates for the honor to address you and welcome you to the village of Anchorage. This is the second AFN convention I’ve been honored to address you as mayor.

Tuesday evening, I was excited to speak at the Youth Conference. It was just before their dance, so I promised them two things: that my speech would be short, and that they wouldn’t have to see me dance. Like any good politician, I kept both promises.

It was inspiring to see so many eager young people and elders together, making an important link between the traditions of the past and the promise of the future.

This community is as excited to have you here as I know you are to visit each year for AFN. We know this is a special time, not only to do the businesses of AFN but to renew friendships, to visit family in Anchorage and of course, do a little shopping. We have made a special effort to make you feel welcome, with new signs at the airport and at local businesses, and through our community’s support for this convention.

Certainly AFN is good business for this city. But I want the relationship between you and your communities and state’s largest Native community to be much more.

So much of what’s good for Anchorage comes from rural Alaska – both in terms of natural resources and our rich cultural diversity. That’s why your convention theme this year – “Strengthening Our Economies” – is so timely.

As Anchorage benefits from the wealth produced by Native organizations and rural communities, I believe we have an obligation to you. To open the doors of our community to you. To stand arm-in-arm with you for fair and equitable state and federal policies and funding.

That’s why this summer we were honored to temporarily fill our newly created rural affairs position in my office with a young Athabascan woman from Fort Yukon and Nenana - Jessica Black.

Many of you may know her – she’s working on her master’s in Social Work. Jessica’s email address is: “Proud Gwichin,” so that tells you something about her.

Thanks to Denali Commission funding, Jessica thoroughly researched relationships between Anchorage and rural Alaska. Her work was excellent.

She found very close economic and social relationships between the urban and rural peoples of our state. For example, Alaska Native corporations employ over 12,000 people with a payroll of over 400 million-dollars. Much of that benefits Anchorage.

Jessica also found that the number of Alaska Native people living in Alaska’s urban areas, especially this city, is growing. Today, about 42 percent of Alaska Natives live in Anchorage. That’s projected to grow to over 50 percent in just 15 years.

As I promised a year ago, work even closer with rural Alaska we’re in the process of permanently funding and filling our Rural Affairs Coordinator position. Copies of Jessica’s report and information about our other initiatives to work with rural Alaska are on the city’s website at “muni.org.”

I know you will hear a lot about next week’s election during this convention. People tell me every day that they believe this election is one of the most important in a generation, or even in their lifetime – for our state and our country. Our state and country are at a turning point.

Consider what’s at stake. At the state level, predictions are for a budget surplus this year of perhaps 800 million-dollars, the result of record high oil prices.

How that money is invested will be vital for every Alaskan. Because of past state budget cuts, the very existence of some rural villages is threatened. I believe the state’s agenda must include: fair school funding, adequate public safety, good jobs, and decent health care for every Alaskan - regardless of where they live.

Just as I have stood with you in the past on education funding, subsistence and fighting against shameful discrimination, I will stand with you today and into the future for what’s right for all Alaskans.

At the national level, equally important decisions will be made about halth care, affordable prescription drugs, education standards, care for our veterans and seniors, how Native organizations are funded.

Solutions to these problems are best achieved when Alaskans work together. We have to reach back into history to know how to do this. Just as my father did when he served in Congress.

I know one of my dad’s proudest achievements in Congress was working across party lines with Senator Stevens and others, to help pass the landmark Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. That happened just about a year before his airplane disappeared.

He did what politicians did back then – he put Alaska first. Not party politics or buckled under political threats or special interests. He always did what was right.

My own experience was when I served on the Anchorage Assembly when the majority of the members were Republicans. It was a time when the state legislature wanted to reduce education funding to rural Alaska for the benefit of urban Alaska. I thought that was wrong. We crossed party lines and opposed that bill, which later failed. Education funding to rural Alaska was preserved.

We’ve seen many other examples of success when Alaskans join hands, regardless of political party, to put Alaska first. A united Alaska is a prosperous Alaska. This is the Alaska I’m most proud of.

Because so much is at stake next week, we are doing everything possible to encourage Alaskans to vote. We are happy to partner with the State to open a voting station just a block away to assist the many visitors coming for AFN. Whatever community you live in across Alaska, you can vote this week.

The City Hall voting station is open every weekday from 8 in the morning to 5 every evening. Please take time to vote.

In preparation for this convention, I have directed city agencies – especially the Police Department – to extend every courtesy to you. We want your time in Anchorage to be productive and safe. In your packets, you should have a copy of the newly published “Alaska Native’s Guide to Anchorage.” It should help you find your way around safely.

In closing, let me again welcome you to Anchorage and wish you a productive convention. I know Anchorage and rural Alaska will prosper if we respect each other and work together. Let us remind ourselves it is not about just the week we spend together at the convention. It’s about what we do together all year long.
 
Thank you for allowing me to address you. Quyana.

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