AFN schedule

For more AFN coverage, check out the Dispatch's AFN Blog

The 44th annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention starts early Thursday morning at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage and burns on until the closing banquet Saturday night.

Keynote speakers (and father and daughter) Willie and Elizabeth Hensley will speak Thursday morning. On Monday morning, Willie Hensley spoke to the Elders and Youth Conference and said that "elders and youth used to meet separately, but now we know that we need one another desperately."

U.S. Rep. Don Young and U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich will address the convention, each on a separate day, and Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan and Gov. Sean Parnell will speak Thursday.

The Anchorage Daily News had a great story on what is expected to be a major theme at this year's convention: subsistence rights. From their story: "The details are complex but the central question is straightforward: Should rural Alaskans taking fish or wildlife for their subsistence use get first dibs over other Alaskans, as promised under a 1980 federal law?"

The convention will also host a lot of business activity. Thursday afternoon a report from ANCSA CEOs will be presented by chairman Will Anderson, and caucuses will be held by ASRC, AHTNA and NANA. There will also be presentations by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. and the Denali Commission.

Health issues will be a major focus of the convention. On Thursday there will be presentations by leaders of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Alaska Native Health Board, and on Friday an hour-long health panel will take place.

On Thursday, "For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska," a PBS film, will be shown during lunch. You can read the ADN story about the film, by Mike Dunham, here, and the Anchorage Press' story, here.

For an update on U.S. Interior Department Issues, video presentations will be made by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Larry Echohawk, assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

The convention will be opened with an invocation from the Rev. Doctor Michael Oleksa, of the Orthodox Church, and will be closed by a benediction by Fred Jack, Bush branch president from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

To see the AFN schedule, click here.